HUMBOLDT - Like a seasoned surgeon with his favorite scalpel in hand, the Webster City offense sliced and diced its way up and down the field. And there was nothing Humboldt could do to stop it.
There were 13 runs of 10 or more yards. Thirteen first downs. More than 300 yards of total offense. Five touchdowns.
And then the two teams headed to the locker rooms for the 20-minute intermission.
Article Video
Tenth-ranked (Class 3A) Webster City (6-0, 4-0) cranked up the offensive machine to full power in the opening half for 33 points, and the Lynx went on to pancake the Wildcats, 46-19, in a District 3 contest on homecoming night in Humboldt on Friday.
"The real point of emphasis this week was to come out and play well right off the bat and not dink around in the first quarter, and we did that," WCHS head coach Bob Howard said. "We sure weren't flat and it was a good performance."
Junior tailback Keagan Parks bulldozed his way to three first-half touchdowns and four in the game. Junior spinback Jonny Davis added a touchdown run from 11 yards out and another score through the air - he found his favorite target, Caleb Crouthamel, open across the middle for a 16-yard strike - in the second quarter, as Webster City reached the end zone on its first five possessions of the game.
Article Photos
DFJ photo by Troy Banning
Webster City junior tailback Keagan Parks (9) breaks through an arm tackle on his way to a big gain on Friday against Humboldt. He rushed for 174 yards, 142 in the first half, and four touchdowns in the Lynx 46-19 win.
"It was awesome. The offensive line had probably one of its best games," Davis, who accounted for 149 yards of total offense - 80 rushing and 69 passing - in the contest, said. "They really blew up some holes, and Keagan did a great job and so did (wingback) Sam (Mossman). They just ran hard."
Humboldt (1-5, 1-3) had no answer to Parks' speed and power. He cut to the inside and blew by the defense for a 16-yard touchdown run just over two minutes into the game, used his speed on the outside to go into the end zone unmolested from 27 yards out later in the opening quarter, and added a 2-yard plunge right up the gut in the second period to help stake WCHS to a 33-12 halftime advantage.
Parks gained 142 of his game-high 174 yards in the first half. He averaged more than 10 yards per carry in the opening 24 minutes, but his chance to break the 200-yard barrier for the first time was eliminated when he missed most of the second half because of leg cramps.
Fact Box
| Scoring Summary | ||||
| First Quarter | ||||
| WC—Keagan Parks 16 run (Aaron Hoffman kick), 9:55. | ||||
| HUM—Dustin Skow 62 run (kick blocked), 8:04. | ||||
| WC—Parks 27 run (Hoffman kick), 4:41. | ||||
| Second Quarter | ||||
| WC—Parks 2 run (kick failed), 11:16. | ||||
| WC—Jonny Davis 11 run (Hoffman kick), 4:37. | ||||
| WC—Caleb Crouthamel 16 pass from Davis (kick failed), 0:45. | ||||
| HUM—Andrew Swan 29 run (pass failed), 0:08. | ||||
| Third Quarter | ||||
| WC—Parks 2 run (kick failed), 3:09. | ||||
| Fourth Quarter | ||||
| HUM—Caul Fevold 9 pass from Swan (Ian Hadar kick), 8:14. | ||||
| WC—Sam Mossman 29 run (Hoffman kick), 6:22. | ||||
| Game Stats | ||||
| WC | HUM | |||
| First downs | 19 | 14 | ||
| Rushes-yards | 53-361 | 38-209 | ||
| Passing yards | 69 | 169 | ||
| Return yards | 62 | 180 | ||
| Comp-Att. | 4-7-0 | 16-29-1 | ||
| Fumbles-lost | 3-0 | 1-0 | ||
| Penalties-yards | 4-25 | 3-25 | ||
| Time of Poss. | 22:47 | 27:13 | ||
| Individual Stats | ||||
| Webster City Lynx | ||||
| Rushing | ||||
| Player | Att. | Yds. | TD | |
| Keagan Parks | 21 | 174 | 4 | |
| Sam Mossman | 9 | 89 | 1 | |
| Jonny Davis | 15 | 80 | 1 | |
| Luke Shannon | 3 | 10 | 0 | |
| Josh Briese | 1 | 4 | 0 | |
| Aaron Hoffman | 1 | 7 | 0 | |
| Austin Myers | 3 | -3 | 0 | |
| Passing | ||||
| Player Com. Att. Yds. TD | ||||
| Jonny Davis | 4 | 7 | 69 | 1 |
| Receiving | ||||
| Player | Rec. | Yds. | TD | |
| Caleb Crouthamel 2 | 29 | 1 | ||
| Keagan Parks | 1 | 18 | 0 | |
| Boone Myers | 1 | 22 | 0 | |
| Tackles | ||||
| Player Solo | Ast. Tot. | |||
| Eric Tolle | 7 | 7 10 1/2 | ||
| Luke Shannon | 3 | 6 | 6 | |
| Daniel Stoakes | 4 | 3 | 5 1/2 | |
| Jonny Davis | 2 | 3 | 3 1/2 | |
| Garrett Gourley | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| Aaron Hoffman | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| Nick Erritt | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| Boone Myers | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| Sam Mossman | 2 | 1 | 2 1/2 | |
| Jose Garcia | 2 | 1 | 2 1/2 | |
| Humboldt Wildcats | ||||
| Rushing | ||||
| Player | Att. | Yds. | TD | |
| Dustin Skow | 11 | 103 | 1 | |
| Brandon Thilges | 17 | 68 | 0 | |
| Andrew Swan | 8 | 21 | 1 | |
| Nate Saathoff | 1 | 18 | 0 | |
| Brandon Myers | 1 | -1 | 0 | |
| Passing | ||||
| Player Com. Att. Yds. TD | ||||
| Andrew Swan | 15 | 27 | 135 | 1 |
| L. Dunscombe | 1 | 2 | 20 | 0 |
| Receiving | ||||
| Player | Rec. | Yds. | TD | |
| Caul Fevold | 6 | 81 | 1 | |
| Charlie Friedl | 5 | 44 | 0 | |
| Brandon Thilges | 4 | 34 | 0 | |
| Tre Rutz | 1 | 10 | 0 |
"Keagan had a solid night, and he had some nice pad-level finishes," Howard said. "Our (offensive) line has gotten better, too, and we're at the point in the season where we ought to start doing these things a little bit."
Mossman danced his way to 89 yards on the ground, highlighted by a fourth-quarter dash down the sideline that resulted in a 29-yard touchdown to give the Lynx the final cushion of 27 points.
WCHS finished with 430 yards of total offense. Davis completed 4-of-7 passes for 69 yards on his 17th birthday, and Humboldt even gave him a present when his first interception of the season - safety Tre Rutz stepped in front of a pass intended for Crouthamel and picked it off near midfield - was waved off because of a roughing the passer penalty on the Wildcats early in the third quarter.
Davis and company made Humboldt pay for the penalty, as a few plays later Parks busted through the line and dove across the goal line from 2 yards out for his fourth TD to give the Lynx a 39-12 lead.
Humboldt piled up 364 yards of offense, and a significant portion of those yards were generated by quarterback Andrew Swan. He completed 15-of-27 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown, and he also used his feet to break off a 29-yard TD run with just eight seconds remaining in the first half.
Wildcats' tailback Dustin Skow ran for 103 yards, 62 coming on a long touchdown run with 8:04 left in the first quarter to pull Humboldt within 7-6. But WCHS responded with touchdowns on five of its next six possessions, while the Wildcats punted once and turned the ball over on downs twice in their next three series.
And by then it was over.
"They had some good (offensive) linemen and good backs, but we followed our assignments and made them run into us," WCHS senior linebacker Eric Tolle said after piling up a game-high 10 1/2 tackles, including seven solo stops. "We were real focused out there."
Fellow linebacker Luke Shannon picked up six tackles and cornerback Daniel Stoakes had 5 1/2.
WCHS remained locked in a dead heat with third-ranked Clear Lake (6-0, 4-0) - a 35-0 winner over Ballard on Friday - atop the district standings. The two ranked teams will meet this Friday at Lynx Field.
Is Howard already stressed thinking about trying to slow down a Lions team that has won 29 straight regular season games?
"Most of the time I'm pretty nervous (and) stress is a big deal in my life, but this week is going to be fun," Howard said. "It's a big stage, we're definitely the underdogs and we've got nothing to lose. I don't want to sound like we're conceding because we're not, but it's going to be a different feeling and it's exciting."
Davis played it a little closer to the vest, but he says he's excited for the challenge as well.
"We'll start preparing on Monday and give it our best shot," he said.
WCHS and Clear Lake have met 64 times and the Lynx hold a 41-20-3 advantage. But the Lions have owned the series since 1997, winning 11 straight games by an average margin of 28.2 points.