Turnovers plague Hawks in third shutout loss

SULLY – “Gut check” was the phrase Lynnville-Sully head coach Mike Parkinson used while addressing his team postgame Friday night.

Continued mistakes resulted in Lynnville-Sully being shutout for the third time this season, this time in a 35-0 loss to visiting BGM Brooklyn.

Off to the team’s worst start since the current seniors were freshmen, gut-check time it is.

“We’re 1-5, and personally, I haven’t been in this position as a coach before,” Parkinson said, “so this is going to be a gut check time for me, too.”

Lynnville-Sully committed eight turnovers against BGM in a game its defense played better than the five-touchdown differential indicated.

BGM scored 21 points off Hawk turnovers. The Bears also started three of their four scoring drives in Lynnville-Sully territory thanks in part to miscues by the Hawks.

“I think what we did on defense tonight was pretty indicative of how we’ve been playing in terms of we’ve been playing good defense, we’ve just been putting ourselves in bad spots,” Parkinson said. “It’s difficult to play the short game on defense.

“We play a lot better when we have a lot of green behind us. When the green gets tight – our guys play hard, no doubt about it; they’re playing their tails off when they get in that (situation) – but any time you put yourself in those positions, that’s a difficult thing.”

What led to and became BGM’s third score seemed to be the turning point.

Trailing 14-0 and still very much alive, Lynnville-Sully blocked a BGM punt on the opening possession of the second half. Lynnville-Sully’s ensuing drive began at BGM’s 49-yard line and ended three plays later when Kobe Fisk fumbled inside the 20.

BGM recovered the fumble and then went 86 yards on 15 plays, a drive that ended when BGM running back Colton Massengale threw a 50-yard pass to Mayson Sherwood for a 21-0 Bears lead. The possession ate up 5 minutes and 44 seconds and saw BGM gain more first downs (four) than Lynnville-Sully gained after halftime (two).

“It was a chance to kind of put a nail in a little bit and get some big momentum,” BGM head coach Jerod Burns said of the drive. “That was definitely a big drive and it was kind of a staple in the game. It really kind of established the outcome of the game at that point in the game and gave our kids something to get excited about.”

Lynnville-Sully threatened several times in the first half only to have offensive series end without points. Five the Hawks six possessions before halftime crossed into BGM territory, including their second drive of the game that reached BGM’s 10-yard line before the Bears recovered a Hawk fumble.

The Hawks also struggled mightily in the passing game as all 10 of Fisk’s pass attempts missed his intended target, including three that were intercepted.

“We marched up and down the field, we made plays and then we … just didn’t have what we needed to have to finish tonight,” Parkinson said. “All week, we talk about, ‘You have to finish a drive.’ To me, it doesn’t matter if it’s a touchdown, a field goal, or a punt, we have to finish a drive, and that’s hurting us now offensively. I’m not going to put that on one guy because it’s not just one guy, but we’ve got to take to take care of the football.

“We played with them the whole game I thought. It wasn’t a show of one team that was absolutely dominant over the other. It was a show of one team that was really being destructive to itself in times when we didn’t need that.”

Lynnville-Sully totaled more rushing yards than BGM (201 to 179), led by Sage Ehresman’s 11-carry, 101-yard effort.

In addition to passing score, Massengale led the Bears’ offense with a rushing touchdown and 81 yards on 21 carries.

“We have to take that next step,” Parkinson said. “We have to learn from our mistakes instead of repeating them. Good things will happen when we learn how to finish. When we learn how to finish a ballgame or finish a drive or finish a play, now all of a sudden we’re a type of team that contends for something and not a maybe-type team. We’re a real team.”

Contact Sports Writer Ben Schuff at (641) 792-3121 Ext. 6536 or at bschuff@newtondailynews.com.