It’s been 21 years since Webster City last won a district football title. The calendar goes back even further – try 28 years – since a Lynx team ran through the regular season undefeated.

I know, I know, this is kind of like a no-hitter. If you mention it, you could jinx it.

Well, I’ll go ahead and take my chances.

From 1-4 at this stage a season ago to 5-0 in the present, fifth-ranked (Class 3A) WCHS looks like it could be a 9-0 team a month from now. Who can stop the Lynx from getting there? Only themselves.

The schedule sets up nicely over the final four weeks of the regular season. While the front-loaded slate wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, things could get a bit easier as the leaves start to fall and the stocking caps are brought out of hibernation.

The team’s victims to date – Gilbert, Clear Lake, Carroll, Algona and Greene County – own a combined record of 16-9, and only the Rams (2-3) are under .500. There’s irony in there somewhere, considering Greene County came the closest to knocking WCHS down a peg.

Gilbert and Algona both sit at 4-1, and it’s pretty clear who their blemishes came from.

Games against Iowa Falls-Alden, Humboldt, Perry and Boone – they are a combined 4-16 through five weeks – remain on the docket. Only IF-A (2-3) has won more than one game, while Perry (0-5) is still searching for that first taste of success.

That’s it then, right? It’s time for the Lynx to turn on the cruise control and just coast down that wide-open freeway towards 9-0.

Uh, no.

There’s little doubt that WCHS head coach Bob Howard will use Friday’s nail-biting 36-34 victory over Greene County as an example of what can happen when a team loses its edge for even a moment.

Granted, I don’t think that’s what happened on Friday. The truth is that the Rams are much better than their record indicates, the type of team that no one – WCHS included – wants to face early in the playoffs. Quarterback Daric Whipple could create his recruiting video just from the plays he made against the Lynx.

Howard knew the Rams were good. He made sure his players knew it, too.

“It was like I asked the kids after the game. I said, ‘Did I lie?’ I told them all week that (the Rams) can beat you. They’re a good team.”

What I took away from the most recent Lynx win was a sense of resilience that I didn’t necessarily know existed before the final quarter on Friday.

Dog tired after 30 carries and gang tackled at the end of most of them, could tailback Gavin Dinsdale put his head down and get three yards when WCHS absolutely needed them? Yep, he could.

Needing a touchdown for a cushion, or a first down late to keep the ball away from Greene County, could the Lynx find a way to get it done? A pair of 31-yard counters by wingback Payton Kannuan – one for a TD and the other to cripple the Rams for good – showed that, yep, they could.

It wasn’t perfect. There were missed tackles all over the field and miscommunication on the offensive line, just to name a few of the issues. But good teams find a way to win games when things aren’t going their way.

WCHS proved that it’s a good team.

Friday’s win should also galvanize the group, and I have a feeling Howard won’t let anyone look past Iowa Falls-Alden this week, regardless of the Cadets’ record.

It’s just the next step towards the possibility of 9-0.

“We’ve still got to get better and we know that,” WCHS spinback Avery Fuhs said. “We’ve got to keep pushing.”

I have no doubt that’s precisely what the Lynx will do.