HINTON, Iowa | Hinton and West Lyon engaged in an old-fashioned defensive battle here Friday night.
Terrill Henrich’s 34-yard touchdown run with 1:33 remaining decided the matchup of top 10 Iowa Class 1A squads at the Held Complex, won by third-ranked Hinton, 14-7, over No. 8 West Lyon.
Henrich’s run was the second-longest play of the contest and it was a thing of beauty. The 177-pound senior took off around right end, then cut it back inside, outracing the Wildcat defense to the end zone.
“We pride on finishing strong and outlasting our opponents,” Henrich said. “We condition so hard and we just proved that tonight. On the touchdown, I saw Ross Wenzel, my guard, he made a great block and I just cut off of it and saw nothing but green in front of me.”
Henrich wound up as the game’s leading rusher with 85 yards on 14 carries and caught three passes for 54 yards. Hinton quarterback Jay Small passed for 160 yards, completing 14 of 29, including a 38-yard touchdown to Skyler Beller with 6:20 left in the second quarter that tied the game at 7-all.
That was the final scoring until the late touchdown jaunt by Henrich.
West Lyon, although pinned at its own 10 after a short kickoff return, still had time to mount a game-tying drive but on the first play, a rare Jaden Snyder pass was tipped and intercepted by Daniel Bishop at the 15-yard line.
When Henrich ran eight yards for a first down, all that was left was for the Blackhawks to line up in the victory formation for a couple of snaps.
“I would classify West Lyon as one of the best football programs in the state and whenever you can come out on top of them it’s a heck of an achievement,” Henrich said. “We did it for our guys coming out for alumni night. For everybody who ever wore a Blackhawk uniform.”
This was only the third time Hinton has beaten West Lyon, a perennial state title contender. The other two times came in 2012 when the Blackhawks advanced to the state championship game.
West Lyon’s defense produced the game’s first touchdown when Monte Pottebaum intercepted a pass at the Blackhawk 4-yard line. That set up a short scoring run by Dylan Huyser at the 5:32 mark of the first quarter.
Hinton drew even when Beller gathered in a Small pass, broke a couple of tackles and dove into the end zone to complete the game’s longest play, a 38-yarder, midway through the second quarter.
West Lyon turned it over on downs at the Hinton 27 before intermission and Dustin Brown had a 70-yard interception return for a touchdown nullified because of a holding penalty.
Hinton lost a fumble at the Wildcat 16 and had a 30-yard field goal blocked in the second half, but that was about the only offense generated by either team in the second half until the 70-yard scoring march capped by the Henrich touchdown.
“That was a battle, kids were just flying around on defense and everybody was limping and dragging their shoulders after the game,” Hinton co-head coach Bruce Held said. “Both teams got beat up. It was just old school Northwest Iowa football. It was a lot of fun and exciting to drive at the end and score.”
Held rolled the dice and went for it on fourth-and-one on the final drive. Small kept it and gained just enough yardage to move the chains.
“I just have faith in what we do,” Held said. “Maybe I’m dumb but I figure if we can’t get a yard we don’t deserve to win. That’s what Terrill does, if you get him out in open space he’s really difficult to defend. He had one run earlier that I thought was even better when he was just all heart, guts and desire and that kind of got everybody going.
“Those individual efforts are huge and he can provide that, he’s a talented kid. You earn it when you beat these guys, they don’t give you anything. They’re so well-coached and play so hard and it’s so hard to find anything that works against them because they are always in the right spot. It’s really hard to score against these guys.”
Hinton ran its record to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in District 2. West Lyon is 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the district.
“It was a hard-fought game and both teams played hard for four quarters,” West Lyon Coach Jay Rozeboom said. “We’re disappointed with the loss but not with the kids’ efforts. Their kid made a great play and they converted a couple of big fourth down plays, so hats off to them.”
West Lyon 7 0 0 0 -- 7
Hinton 0 7 0 7 -- 14
First Quarter
WL: Dylan Huyser 4 run (Jaden Snyder kick) 5:32
Second Quarter
H: Skyler Beller 38 pass from Jay Small (Terrill Henrich kick) 6:20
Fourth Quarter
H: Henrich 34 run (Henrich kick) 1:33
TEAM STATISTICS
WL Hinton
First downs 8 16
Rushes-yards 46-161 36-140
Passing yards 0 160
Passes 0-4-1 14-29-2
Total plays-yards 50-161 65-300
Punts-avg. 8-32.0 4-39.0
Penalties-yards 6-40 3-25
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: West Lyon – Dylan Huyser 21-82, Cody Klarenbeek 14-43, Jaden Snyder 7-23, Mitchell Rentschler 2-7, Monte Pottebaum 1-(-1). Hinton – Terrill Henrich 14-85, Jay Small 13-49, Skyler Beller 5-11, Joel Kirwan 1-1, Team 3-(-6).
PASSING: West Lyon – Jaden Snyder 0-4-1—0. Hinton – Jay Small 14-29-2—160.
RECEIVING: Hinton – Skyler Beller 5-56, Terrill Henrich 3-54, Brandon Vondrak 3-18, Truman Schmitt 2-23, Daniel Bishop 1-9.
