WEBSTER CITY – Nobody ever said this undefeated journey that the fourth-ranked Webster City football team still finds itself on would be easy.

The Lynx only request would be that they quit making it so danged hard on themselves.

Despite statistics that would lead a sane person to believe it was a blowout, WCHS wasn’t able to put Humboldt away until just 17 seconds remained on the clock Friday night at Lynx Field. Gavin Dinsdale’s third rushing touchdown of the game wrapped up a 20-6 victory.

WCHS improved to 7-0 for the first time since 1987 and locked up its eight consecutive berth in the playoffs. The squad can check off one more goal – the program’s first district championship since 1994 – with a win at Perry on Friday.

“It’s really cool that this team and this set of seniors gets to have this (7-0 record). It’s really special,” Dinsdale said after lugging the ball a whopping 40 times for 164 yards, which pushed his career rushing tally to 2,577 yards – the sixth-best total in school history. “But now we’ve just got to go out and attack the next game.”

Obtaining the seventh win had more ups and downs than the Tornado at Adventureland.

An up – a preposterous 21-minute time of possession advantage, including holding the ball for 20:42 of the 24-minute second half.

A down – four wasted opportunities inside the red zone. The Lynx coughed up fumbles at the Humboldt 1-, 3- and 19-yard lines, and turned it over on downs at the Wildcats’ 4.

An up – 443 yards of total offense, including 348 on the ground, compared to just 171 yards for Humboldt, as well as a 24-11 edge in first downs.

A down – seven penalties that pushed WCHS back 69 yards, several of them procedural miscues that left head coach Bob Howard throwing his arms up in frustration.

“The fumbles didn’t bother me nearly as much as the procedural penalties,” Howard said. “But hopefully it’s a cheap lesson since we were still able to win the game.”

An up – limiting Humboldt (2-5, 2-3) to just 31 second-half yards while shutting out quarterback Drew Thomas on all eight of his passes. The dominant defensive effort was a big reason for why the time of possession disparity occurred and it also helped the Lynx run 43 more offensive plays, 81-38.

And that last up ultimately keyed the victory.

Thomas, a junior southpaw who torched WCHS for 414 yards and six touchdowns in 2014, connected on 8 of 14 passes for 94 yards in the first half. His perfect 13-yard fade to Taylor Wickett on fourth-and-8 pulled the Wildcats to within 7-6 with 4:45 to go before the half, and it remained that way until early in the fourth quarter.

But the Lynx (4-0 District 2) dialed up the pressure following the intermission. The clean pocket Thomas roamed during the first half was suddenly filled with defenders. Members of the WCHS secondary were also in better position and jarred a few balls loose.

Cornerback Landon Daniels intercepted Thomas twice, the second coming with 4:51 left in regulation as Humboldt was attempting to drive down the field while trailing 14-6.

“I knew I had to have a big game (Friday night),” Daniels said. “We definitely got more pressure on them in the second half and that helped.”

Linebacker Victor Jergens again led the defense with six tackles. Cooper Lawson and Cole Briese both sacked Thomas; James Cherry and James Van Diest shared a sack on the final play of the game.

“We stepped it up big time in the second half,” Jergens said. “We got used to their throwing it all over the place. (Thomas) is a good quarterback and if you give him time he’s lethal. We didn’t always get home, but we put enough pressure on him in the second half.”

Wingback Payton Kannuan churned out 114 yards on the ground, 98 of them coming in the second half, on 16 totes. He broke loose on a key 23-yard sprint on third-and-9 late in the fourth quarter, and it set up Dinsdale’s 15th touchdown of the season and 41st of his career on a 2-yard burst on fourth-and-goal.

Dinsdale’s frequent visits to the end zone have him tied with program legend Bill Chauncey for fourth all-time at WCHS. He has an outside chance to reach the all-time leader Frank Reinhardt, who ran for 49 TD’s.

“I was very relieved on that last touchdown because of my mess-ups,” Dinsdale, who was responsible for two of the fumbles, said. “We knew it was done at that point.”

Dinsdale blasted through the line from the 1 on the Lynx opening drive of the game to put them quickly out front.

Clinging to the 7-6 lead and staring at a third-and-21 late in the third quarter, Avery Fuhs launched a pass towards the WCHS sideline that his twin brother Alec was able to snag for a 28-yard completion. It set up a Dinsdale TD of 5 yards just 59 ticks into the fourth period.

“We just tried a little pump fake to try to get the (defender) to bite. He didn’t really bite, so I just threw it up to see if Alec could make the catch, and he made a great catch,” Avery Fuhs said after accounting for 165 yards of offense, 70 on the ground and 95 through the air on five completions.

Alec Fuhs and Jordan Moen both had two grabs for a combined 77 yards. Kannuan reeled in an 18-yard toss.

One of Moen’s catches – a 19-yarder over the middle – helped procure a first down after back-to-back penalties pushed WCHS back to a first-and-32 with under 5 minutes remaining in the second quarter.

Daniels’ second pick ignited a 68-yard drive that ate more than 41?2 minutes off the clock and ended with Dinsdale’s last touchdown.

“I was so proud of our offensive line and our secondary,” Dinsdale, who also made two tackles from his defensive end spot, said. “Our defense was great. We couldn’t have played any better.”

Now it’s on to Perry (0-7). Despite the fact that the Blue Jays have yet to win a game this season, Jergens says he and his teammates won’t take anything for granted in preparations for the Week 8 tussle.

“It’s very cool to be 7-0, but it’s not everything,” he said. “Now it’s on to the next one, and we know everyone is going to come for us and give us their best shot. We’ve got to be ready every week.”