The Webster City Lynx football team is coming off one of their biggest wins in a number of years on Friday. The Lynx upset then-(4A) #3 North Polk at home on homecoming by a score of 21-20, after trailing 13-0 more than midway through the first half. North Polk was Webster City’s highest ranked win since the Lynx toppled (3A) #8 Boone back in the 2016 regular season finale.
Webster City’s week 4 foe is another old 3A power in the West Delaware Hawks. The Hawks have made the playoffs 26 times in program history, but have only 1 state title to show for it in 1991. The Lynx and Hawks have met once before, back on Halloween 2011 and resulted in a 39-28 West Delaware win in the playoffs. The Hawks enter with a 1-2 record with losses to Western Dubuque and Decorah and a win against Union Community. The Hawks offense is predicated on a balanced attack, as quarterback Brent Yonkovic has throw for 423 yards and 4 touchdowns, while rushing for another 329 yards and 4 touchdowns. Yonkovic has not been as efficient as he would like, completing only 41.7% of his passes with 3 interceptions as well, but his ability to tuck and run helps out the Hawk offense. Sophomore Macoy Roling leads the running back room with 226 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Conrad Smith has been Yonkovic’s favorite receiver with 11 catches for 175 yards and 3 touchdowns. Junior Seth Jackson has also played well at receiver, with 9 catches for 148 yards.
Defensively, West Delaware’s bell cow has been senior linebacker Jack Smith. Smith is one of Class 3A’s leaders in tackles with 30 total, with a sack and 2 tackles for loss. Fellow linebacker Jeryn Funke has also been a big playmaker at linebacker with 20 tackles, and a team-high 3 sacks and 5 tackles for loss. Junior Memphis Voelker rounds out a talented linebacking core for the Hawks that will be challenged by Webster City’s single wing attack. The defensive line has been quiet thus far for West Delaware, with Noah Felton leading the way with 8.5 tackles for the group. Conrad Smith has the lone interception in the Hawks secondary, while John Beswick leads the secondary with 17.5 tackles.
Week 4 presents an opportunity for the Lynx to find ways to get quarterback Keegan Hisler and wingback Cael Nixon a chance to have some open space to run, in addition to Jaxon Cherry. Hisler and Nixon have averaged less than 4 yards per carry in the first 3 games, while we may see the Lynx test the West Delaware secondary early as well.
Kickoff is slated for 7:30 PM at Brown Field in Manchester and can be heard on 92.9/1570 KZWC or online at kqradio.com.