The Webster City Lynx football team will open their home schedule on Friday night, as the Lynx host the Spencer Tigers at Lynx Field in non-district action. Webster City faced the Tigers in Spencer a season ago and came away with a dominating 34-7 win in Northwest Iowa. Webster City holds a 10-6 series lead between the two schools, dating back to 1965.
Spencer enters Friday night with an 0-1 record following a 27-10 loss to (3A) #7 Humboldt in Week 1. The Tigers return an experienced backfield led by senior quarterback Cael Brunning. Brunning threw for just 411 yards and 4 touchdowns as a junior, but his first game as senior saw him go 10/20 with 145 yards and a touchdown against the Wildcats, higher numbers than expected in the Tigers flexbone attack. Brunning also led the Tigers in rushing with 50 yards on 10 carries on Friday night. A number of backs will join Brunning in the backfield, including seniors Tommy Lauck, Miles Robbins, Jack Berends and Preston Pitts, as well as junior Kamden Young. Young was the leader of that returning group a year ago, rushing for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Miles Robbins did do some damage as a junior. Brunning was able to spread the ball around in the passing game and find targets such as Ryan Matthiesen, Lucas Elser and Brady Vreeman, although his one touchdown pass was to running back Preston Pitts. The offensive line is a sizeable one, anchored by 6-5, 270 lbs senior Cole Cantrall.
Defensively, linebacker Jack Berends put together the best performance against Humboldt with 3 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 TFL. Fellow senior Miles Robbins provides some speed on the defensive line as he tallied a sack against the Wildcats as well, as Kahne Wyman bookends the other side of the defensive line. The rest of the linebacking core is young after losing Adrian Carrillo from last season, but Lucas Elser looks to step into a bigger role as a senior. Brody Jordan was the Tigers leading tackler in 2023, but Jordan did not play in the opener against Humboldt. The defensive backfield does have experience with players such as Tommy Lauck, Brady Vreeman and Dylan Timmer back.
Webster City will look to build off a promising season-opener against Fort Dodge, in which the Lynx ran for over 300 yards and the offensive line looked better than in recent openers. Look for Jayden Weinzetl to have a bigger impact on the defensive side after registering just one tackle in the win over Fort Dodge.
Kickoff is slated for 7 PM on Friday Night from Lynx Field, and can be heard on The Home and Away Voice for Webster City Football 92.9/1570 KZWC or streaming online at kqradio.com!