L-S football holds off Wayne rally on Homecoming

SULLY — Lynnville-Sully head football coach Mike Parkinson doesn’t want to rely on big plays.

But the Hawks couldn’t have started their Class A District 6 contest against Wayne any better on Friday night.

Making his first career start at quarterback, Connor Deal’s strike to Terran Gosselink on the first play from scrimmage went for a 65-yard touchdown and Lynnville-Sully led wire-to-wire during a 37-30 victory on Homecoming.

“We have talked about running that pass play all week against this team. It was cool to see it work,” Gosselink said. “That was the best thing that could have happened to Connor. Throwing a touchdown pass on your first play as a starter is pretty awesome.”

Gosselink got moved to wide receiver during the week. His first touchdown of 2024 gave the Hawks’ an early lead and a big second quarter lifted L-S to its fourth straight win over the Falcons.

The Hawks led 8-6 after one and outscored Wayne 23-6 in the second. L-S came into the contest with a 28-0 disadvantage in that period.

“We let them back in the game a few times. That seems to be the way we’ve done it this year,” Parkinson said. “We have to find a way slow that up. I was really proud of them in the second quarter though. That’s been a quarter we’ve struggled in all year, but we played really well tonight. Now, we have to put that together for four quarters.”

The Hawks led Danville 22-7 after three in the season opener before winning by eight.

After leading Wayne 31-12 at halftime, the Falcons made things interesting with 18 unanswered points and got their deficit to one score multiple times.

“That’s happened more than once this year,” Dawson James said. “We know how to at least get through those situations and it can only help us for later in the year.

“We had to stop the run game and for the most part we did a good job with that.”

Wayne (3-2, 1-2 in the district) out-gained the Hawks 387-276 and had a 21-10 advantage in first downs.

But big plays helped L-S grab the early lead. After the 65-yard touchdown that opened the game, the Hawks also got a 76-yard catch and run from Michael Spooner that set up their second touchdown and Jack Bowlin’s 45-yard pick 6 pushed the margin to 24-6 late in the second.

Gosselink added to the host’s lead 16 seconds later when he blocked a punt and returned it 16 yards for the touchdown.

“It feels good to get a win back at home and hopefully this gives us some momentum,” Bowlin said.

The L-S defense forced a three and out after the early touchdown. But a pick 6 the other way from Wayne’s Karter Murphy gave the Falcons some momentum.

“We missed a block. And kind of missed the throw,” Parkinson said. “Bad things happen when you miss a block in the open field. The kid made a good play.”

Three straight three and outs kept the score at 8-6. Wayne’s first strong drive of the game was aided by a few L-S penalties. The possession eventually ended with a turnover on downs.

Deal connected with Matthew Mintle for 17 yards on the Hawks’ next possession, but the drive stalled due to a holding penalty and a Wayne sack.

The Falcons picked up first downs on four straight plays on their next drive. Fisher Buckingham gained 10 yards in two plays and Murphy (13 yards and 10 yards) and Buckingham (12) moved the chains on three consecutive plays.

But again, the Hawks forced a turnover on downs after an incomplete pass and two runs that went for 1 yard.

L-S started its next possession from its own 13-yard line. Deal connected with Spooner on a screen pass that went for 76 yards on the first play from scrimmage.

“If you are going to throw the football, you can’t just chuck low percentage plays all the time,” Parkinson said. “You have to find ways to make things happen. We were in a lot of third and longs, and I would rather not live in that world. There’s only so many plays you can call in those situations. We knew the screen game would be effective. That was in the scouting report, and we missed it earlier.”

After a false start penalty and two incompletions, Deal ran for 6 yards to set up a long fourth down. An offsides by Wayne moved the down closer and Deal hooked up with Bowlin for a 6-yard TD on the next play.

The Hawks missed a field goal prior to the offsides but elected to go for the TD after the penalty.

Bowlin’s 45-yard interception return for a touchdown came on Wayne’s next possession. The Falcons converted a third down on the third play of the drive, but a holding penalty later moved them behind the sticks.

“My guy went shallow which meant the outside linebacker was covering him,” Bowlin said about the pick 6. “I went to the open space where they usually have the two other guys fill. (Murphy) just threw it up and I went and got it.”

Gosselink’s blocked punt came after three straight incomplete passes from Murphy. He was unblocked on Wayne’s first punt of the night.

“The first punt, the guy didn’t even touch me. I was close on that one,” Gosselink said. “The one I did block, I just jumped and guessed right.”

The Falcons began their comeback with a long drive late in the half. The visitors marched 62 yards in 13 plays.

Murphy ran for one first down and completed passes to Buckingham and Lane Ogden for two more. The drive ended with Murphy throwing a 6-yard TD strike to Brennen Sims that just got past the goal line with .1 seconds on the clock.

The Falcons got the ball first in the second half and went nine plays on their first possession.

Bowlin halted the momentum briefly with the eighth interception of his career.

The two teams traded three and outs and L-S punted on three straight possessions.

Wayne got a 46-yard run from Buckingham and an 11-yard scamper by Murphy but eventually turned it over on downs before the Hawks’ third straight punt.

Starting with the ball on the L-S 47-yard line, the Falcons scored in three plays. Murphy connected with Mason Black for a 38-yard TD that ended the possession.

After the Hawks lost a fumble on their first play from scrimmage on their next possession, Wayne scored in one play on a 34-yard TD run by Murphy. That made it 31-24 with 9:40 to play in the game.

Lynnville-Sully (3-2, 2-1) got first-down runs from Gavin Fisk and Gosselink on its next possession but punted after seven plays.

Landyn Fisk pinned the Falcons deep in their own territory. They elected to go for it on fourth down but turned the ball over on downs after L-S tackled Murphy for a 4-yard loss.

James scored one play later from 2-yards out to push the advantage to 37-24. It was James’ first rushing touchdown of the season.

“When you are a team that spreads it out and throws a lot, you need something in your back pocket to go to that can get yardage at the line of scrimmage,” Parkinson said. “We got into the red zone last week a lot but came up empty. That doesn’t mean we need to change everything, but having a short-yardage package that we can go to when needed was important. Tonight we made some plays and had a few big plays off it, too.”

Wayne punted after five plays on its next possession, but another L-S fumble gave the ball back to the Falcons near midfield.

A 31-yard pass from Murphy to Black started the drive and Murphy’s 24-yard TD strike to Black capped the possession and cut the Hawks’ advantage to seven.

That’s as close as the Falcons would get though as Deal connected with Gosselink for 19 yards on third and 15 to ice the game.

Both teams scored five touchdowns in the game. The difference between winning and losing came down to L-S finishing 3-of-4 in two-point conversions and 1-of-1 in extra points.

James, who plays most of his offensive snaps on the line, capped the win with the 2-yard TD run late and converted three two-point conversion runs in the first half.

“You can’t be feast or famine on those big plays. We have to find a rhythm where you can hit underneath in the passing game and run effectively,” Parkinson said. “We are starting to turn a page. We were a lot better offensively tonight.”

Gosselink caught two passes for 84 yards and one TD, gained 17 yards on his only carry, finished with 11 tackles, two sacks and two tackles for loss on defense and scored on his own blocked punt.

Bowlin grabbed one pass for 5 yards and a TD, made nine tackles and snagged his second and third picks of the season and returned one for a 45-yard touchdown.

Deal, who replaced the injured Lannon Montgomery last week in the Hawks’ loss to Madrid, threw for 184 yards, two TDs and one interception. The 65-yard TD pass to Gosselink was the first varsity TD toss of his career.

“It was a great confidence booster for both of them,” Parkinson said about the long TD that opened the game. “We have a number of good receivers. It was super fitting for Terran to be the one who caught it, too. He’s a senior who we just asked to change positions. Connor had three options, and he did exactly what any good quarterback would have done and then hit Terran in stride.

“Connor did a lot of great things tonight. He also still has a lot of growing to do.”

Fisk rushed for 69 yards on 15 carries, Spooner caught two passes for 79 yards and Mintle’s lone grab covered 17 yards.

Murphy ran for 153 yards and one score on 24 carries to lead Wayne. He also threw for 198 yards, three TDs and two picks.

Black caught four passes for 104 yards and two scores, Sims hauled in four passes for 50 yards and one TD and Buckingham ran for 97 yards on 16 carries.

“We did a good job defending the run. The quarterback made some plays, but it’s hard to stop when you are trying to cover guys, too,” Parkinson said about Murphy. “It was a challenge. Eleven is a good ball player. We kind of keep seeing these same kids at quarterback — the guys who can run around all over the place.”

James finished with 10 tackles and one sack, Fisk added seven tackles and two tackles for loss and Spooner and Wyatt Mathis registered five tackles.

Jaiden Richards and Ben Squires tallied four tackles and Landyn Fisk, Mintle and Carson Maston all pitched in three tackles.

Notes: L-S starting quarterback Lannon Montgomery was in street clothes wearing a boot on his left foot. Parkinson expects him to be out a while. “I don’t know officially, but it’s probably a long road back for him,” Parkinson said. … The Hawks were 10.77-point favorites, according to BC Moore. … L-S is 5-1 against Wayne since 2018.