West Lyon rolls in Beef/Ag Bowl over Central Lyon G/LR

First, a few observations. West Lyon could be really, really good this year, no surprise. The new uniforms are, well, different. Those pants are something else. Heat played a part in the dominating win. West Lyon is 2 classes smaller but was easily deeper and it showed with all the players that were in and out. Central Lyon has some young players that have a nice future, but West Lyon was just better this year. The whole TV thing was fine, I guess. There are things to work on but wow, Big Blue really showed some strength. Heyer is still a beast and Bennet F running the ball was awesome to see, we missed him last year. Brandon ran and threw the ball well. The D and O lines were dominate much of the game. I also liked the new formations and taking stabs downfield. We are going to be tough to handle. Way to win the Beef bowl boys!! GO BIG BLUE!! ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa | Every time you looked here Thursday night, it seemed like a different player was carrying the football for West Lyon. Nine guys, in fact, toted the pigskin for the deep and talented Wildcats in a 35-13 season-opening victory over longtime rival Central Lyon/George-Little Rock at Dick Null Field. In typical West Lyon fashion, the Wildcats racked up 232 rushing yards on 52 carries and appear poised to make a serious run this season. Senior quarterback Brandon Snyder ran for two touchdowns and passed for another in the annual Lyon County Beef Bowl. This year, though, the Iowa High School Sports Network upped the ante by televising the game live locally and to six other states regionally, dubbing the game the Agriculture Bowl. What the viewers saw was a polished and veteran squad against a young Central Lyon/George-Little Rock team that started sophomores at quarterback and running back. The host Lions didn’t help their own cause by losing three fumbles and throwing an interception and were forced to play catchup all night long on a hot and steamy night at A.O. Vogel Sports Complex. “It was hot but we battled through the first half, then came out in the second half hungry,” said Snyder, named the Ag Bowl’s most outstanding offensive player. “They scored early on us but we responded and that’s kind of our main theme this year is responding. We came out in the second half and really put it on them and there was no going back from there.” Senior Kaleb Heyer, the leading rusher on last year’s 9-2 West Lyon squad, led the way with 85 yards on 13 carries. Senior Bennett Feuchtenberger, who rushed for a team-high 803 yards as a sophomore before having his junior season cut short by an injury, tacked on 44 yards on 10 tries. Snyder, meanwhile, had 40 yards on 14 carries, scoring on runs of 1 and 10 yards. He also flipped an 11-yard touchdown pass to Paul Ter Wee, which is indeed a rare occasion for a West Lyon team. “We had a lot of guys carry the ball and we stuck with it through four quarters,” said longtime West Lyon Coach Jay Rozeboom, who has a 204-38 overall record in 21 seasons and three state titles. “We have a lot of good athletes and the kids have really worked hard in the offseason and we hope that pays off for us. “It’s win No. 1 against a great team and it’s a great rivalry. Now we have to roll up our sleeves, go to work and see how we can improve ourselves.” West Lyon got a gift touchdown at the 5:27 mark of the first quarter after the Lions coughed it up at their own 1-yard line. Feuchtenberger plowed in for the Ag Bowl’s first TD a little over a minute after the Wildcats were stopped on downs at the Central Lyon/G-LR six. A bad snap with quarterback Pete Menage in shotgun formation was recovered by West Lyon’s Jed Van’t Hof, setting up a 12-play, 65-yard scoring drive capped by a 3-yard plunge by Vaughn Moser with 1:05 left in the half. Central Lyon/George-Little Rock struck on its opening possession of the second half when Menage, a sophomore, found classmate C.J. Roths open on a swing pass. Roths slipped a tackle and raced 54 yards to paydirt, pulling the Lions within 13-7. West Lyon, however, answered with another 12-play march, this one covering 57 yards. Snyder scored on a quarterback sneak at the 4:31 mark of the third quarter. Kyle Groeneweg made a diving catch for a 28-yard play on third and 11 from the 44, keeping the drive alive. The Lions were lined up for the game’s first punt late in the third quarter when another errant snapped forced the punter to run for just two yards to the 31. Four plays later, Snyder passed to Ter Wee for a score and Snyder tacked on a 10-yard TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter. Central Lyon/George-Little Rock’s Menage completed 10 of 18 passes for 155 yards in his first varsity start. The mistakes and West Lyon’s superior talent, however, were too much to overcome. “We knew it was going to be a tough battle, they’re big and physical and once you start letting them get into their game it’s pretty tough,” said Central Lyon/George-Little Rock Coach Toby Lorenzen. “We gave them some short fields and had a lot of that first-time jitter stuff. We knew there would be a little of it but we had way more than we should have. “We had some momentum going and some positives going on those first couple of drives, but gave them the ball down there deep on that first one. We were able to battle back and do a little better job of it but it’s going to be a learning curve and we just have to try and accelerate that learning curve.” Lorenzen, who’s seen plenty of good West Lyon teams in 19 seasons as head coach, said this one ranks up there with the best of them. “I told Jay I expect them to be state champs,” Lorenzen said. “They have a lot of people carrying the ball and you’re not going to find an offensive line any bigger than that offensive line in the state.”