No. 3 West Lyon shuts out Hinton

Battling through a competitive district in Class 1A, the Hinton Blackhawks football squad dropped their second district game of the season Friday night. The Blackhawks faced off with the third-ranked team in the state in West Lyon and the Wildcats kept their streak hot as they rolled to their 23rd straight district win with a 29-0 victory over the Blackhawks.

The Wildcats started their attack right away in the first quarter, opening up a 22-0 lead by the beginning of the second quarter.

In the first quarter, Hinton coach Steve Diediker said, "We simply got out-blocked and out-tackled."

Diediker added that the Blackhawks gave the Wildcats some momentum early. On West Lyon's opening drive, after reaching a first down, the Blackhawk defense shut down the Wildcat offense on the next set of downs, forcing West Lyon to punt.

Unfortunately, Hinton's momentum was short-lived as the Blackhawks fumbled the punt return and gave the Wildcats the ball on the 24 yard line. West Lyon took the ball straight to the end-zone on the first play of the ensuing drive to take a 7-0 lead.

"It went from a momentum stop to them scoring a touchdown," Diediker said.

Things continued to look dismal for the Blackhawks as they went three-and-out and the next series.

The Wildcats continued to boost their own momentum on their home field, turning a six-play drive into a 42-yard touchdown with 5:12 to go in the first quarter.

Still struggling to recover, Hinton's offense recorded another three-and-out, giving the Wildcats the ball back with time remaining in the first quarter. West Lyon tacked another touchdown on the board with a 13-yard pass at the beginning of the second quarter. A two-point conversion boosted West Lyon's lead to 22-0.

"We were down 22-0 early and we played better after that," Diediker said. "We had some drives in the second quarter, one ended on their 24, a 17-play drive."

Hinton held off the Wildcat defense for the remainder of the half and continued to impress on a couple second half drives.

West Lyon took their opening drive of the third quarter 10 plays to the three yard line, but the Blackhawk defense kept the Wildcats out of the end-zone. A similar West Lyon drive was stopped by Hinton's defense at the start of the fourth quarter.

But with 5:37 to go in the game, West Lyon found the end-zone a final time with a two-yard run, giving the Wildcats a 29-0 lead and the eventual win.

"In the third quarter, we played them pretty evenly," Diediker said. "That first quarter was all West Lyon. They are one of the most storied programs in Iowa. We just weren't ready to play in the first for some reason. We gave them momentum in the first and that's all they needed."

The Blackhawk defense totaled 65 tackles in the game. Leading the effort was Kole Vondrak who totaled 11 tackles, including six solo stops. Tim Youtzy and Stephen Koithan each made four solo stops and two assists while Adam Struve totaled seven tackles with three solo and four assists.

Alex Vondrak and Kevin Huggenberger totaled six tackles apiece while Kyle Huggenberger made seven total stops in the game.

Nick Becker wrapped up the only interception for Hinton, returning it for 12 yards.

While Hinton's offense didn't produce any points in the game, the Blackhawks produced 167 yards of total offense on the night.

Through the air, sophomore quarterback was 4-11 for 37 yards. His targets were Youtzy and Adam Struve. Struve pulled in one catch for eight yards while Youtzy wrapped up three receptions for 29 yards.

On the ground, Youtzy was a force, rolling up 84 yards on 21 carries. Zach Yoerger added 25 yards on six carries while Aaron Book ran five times for 17 yards.

Craig Brown handled the punting duties for the Blackhawks, totaling 145 yards on four punts.

Brady Schindel was the main kickoff returner, returning three for 59 yards. Becker returned one kick for 29 and Youtzy returned a kickoff for eight yards.

With the loss, Hinton falls to 2-2 in the district and 3-3 on the season. West Lyon remains perfect at 4-0 in district play with a 5-1 overall record. The Blackhawks stay on the road next week with a district match-up in Paullina against South O'Brien. The Wolverines fell to 1-3 in the district Friday night with a 49-13 loss to Lawton-Bronson.