Class 3A 10th-ranked Webster City used their unusual spinback ground game to run through the rain, mud and Perry defense for 403 yards and six touchdowns in posting a 42-7 District 2 victory Friday.
The game was moved to a 5:30 p.m. start due to concerns about the weather, and while rain fell throughout and the condition of Dewey Field deteriorated as the game progressed, it was two lightning delays during the intermission that might have had the biggest impact.
The two delays created a gap of nearly an hour between the end of the second quarter and the start of the third and appeared to have sapped all momentum from the hosts.
Webster City (6-1, 4-1) held a 21-0 lead late in the second quarter when Perry moved the ball on their only sustained drive of the game as time wound down in the first half.
Alexis Garrido hit Reece Dunlap with a 15-yard pass to move the ball to the one-yard line, with Garrido sneaking over for a touchdown with 42.8 seconds left. German Alvarenga’s PAT brought Perry (2-5, 1-4) to withing striking distance, at 21-7, and gave the hosts a lift as halftime began.
The long delay appeared to work against the hosts, as the Lynx came out and immediately moved the ball down the grid for a quick TD in the third quarter, with another score, and then another following a Perry fumble on the 14-yard line, setting the score at 42-7 and starting a continual clock.
Carter Bedford scored on an eight-yard run early in the game, with quarterback Dylan Steen breaking loose for a 31-yard TD with 1:20 to play in the first quarter.
Bedford’s seven-yard squirt pushed the score to 21-0 before Perry answered just before the break.
An 11-yard Bedford burst pushed the score to 28-7 to start the second half, with Steen plowing over from four yards out with 1:43 left in the third period. Nathan Ferrell hit his first four PAT boots, but missed his fifth attempt, leaving the score at 34-7.
Perry mishandled a wet ball on the ensuing kickoff and was forced to start deep in their own territory. The Jays promptly fumbled the ball away, and two plays and 29 seconds later Steen scored again on a four-yard run, with Bedford’s two-point conversion instituting the continual clock.
Neither team threatened in rapidly dissolving conditions in the fourth quarter.
Steen attempted two passes and misfired on both. He ran for 177 yards and three TDs on 20 carries, with Bedford gaining 120 yards and scoring three times on 21 totes to lead the ground attack for Webster City.
Garrido struggled in weather in which the passing game was destined to suffer, connecting on 6-of-18 passes for 78 yards. Dunlap (3-32), Brandon Kenyon (2-31) and Donald Chavez (1-15) had the receptions for the Jays.
Perry finished with two yards rushing on 20 carries, with Garrido (13 rushes for 11 yards) the most effective ball carrier.
Mana Martinez has 13.5 tackles and Kaleb Olejniczak 12.5 for the hosts, with Justin Stammer and Dunlap each making five stops and Luke Holtorf 4.5 while Carlos Calderon recorded a sack.
Perry hosts Greene County (1-6, 1-4) Friday for the 86th playing of the Cowbell Game. They will visit Iowa Falls-Alden (1-7, 0-5) Oct. 20 to conclude their season.
