After giving up double digit points the week before against Humboldt, the #3 ranked Lions were back to their defensive best in shutting out the Ballard Bombers 35-0.  The shutout was the 4th of the season for the varsity squad.  The action opened with teams exchanging punts on consecutive possessions.  The scoring opened toward the end of the first quarter with a Paxton Farmer 5 yard TD carry off right tackle.  Elliot Neuberger did much of the heavy lifting on the drive with some nice runs.  After stopping the Bombers on the next possession, Ozzie Adams opened the 2nd quarter with a nice swing pass to Brent Tarr to keep the defense off balance.  The Lions brought it to Ballard’s 37 yard line and on a 4th and 1 Brent Tarr provided the highlight of the night.  Adams handed the ball to Tarr up the middle and he appeared to be stopped short of the first down.  Tarr kept churning and escaped the pile, sprinted to the right flat and scrambled 37 yards for a TD to the delight of home crowd.  The Lions defense shut down the Bombers the rest of the half with Tanner Tusha, Brady Horner, and Logan Kellogg playing well all night shutting down Ballard runners.  Tusha and Josh Brood also chipped in defending the pass, both providing an interception on the evening.   Tarr even got in the act defensively with 4 tackles for loss on only a handful of plays.  “You got a little look at Tarr at defensive end,” Wieck said.  “He did a nice  job coming in there spot-playing and you’ll see some of that when we get into the tough ball games.”

The 2nd half was more of the same, the Lions ground game dominating and defense shutting down Ballard runners and passers.  The wind and rain also became factors as well, as Ballard struggled with their punts against the wind, setting up the Lions with excellent field position for multiple drives.  Tarr and Farmer provided running TD’s in the 3rd quarter to put the Lions up 28-0.  Farmer capped off his excellent evening with another running TD in the 4th quarter to bring the final score to 35-0.

The Lions travel to Webster City next Friday to take on the Lynx in an important district match up.  Both squads are 6-0, so first place in the district is on the line.