In a game they controlled the whole way, it took the Linn-Mar boys almost 60 minutes to finally put away Prairie, 2-1, Tuesday night on the frozen tundra of their home field.

The game winner came with 20:41 to go when junior midfielder Jason Gingrich smacked a line drive from the 10-yard line high into the far left side of the net.

“Jason (Webb) dropped the ball off. I took one touch and the ball dipped into the corner,” Gingrich explained after scoring his fourth goal of the season.

He had a foot in the Lions’ only other score of the night, too, on a pass to Hunter Wong with 29:45 left in the first half.

The freshman midfielder slammed a long shot past Prairie Adam Kueny to knot the score at 1-1.

The visiting Hawks’ sole tally came with the match less than two minutes old on a straight-on penalty kick right down the middle from Spencer Gaddis.

On the first of Prairie’s few scoring chances all night, Linn-Mar goalie Jared Belin came out of the net  to contest a one-on-play. In a tussle for the ball, he and Gaddis collided and the foul was called on Belin.

“It was a 50/50 ball,” said Lions Coach Corey Brinkmeyer. “It could have either way.”

After that, though, Prairie was held in check.

“Overall, we pretty much shut them down,” said Gingrich.  “We possessed the ball most of the game and were able to move it downfield. And we got a lot of scoring opportunities.”

In the first half alone, Linn-Mar had at least 10 clean shots at the goal while the Hawks were stymied.

“I told them at halftime that we had plenty of good looks,” Brinkmeyer said. “We just needed to hit them them away from their goalie.”

After a tough 1-0 loss to top-ranked Kennedy Saturday on an 8-7 shootout, the coach said he felt it took his team awhile to settle into a rhythm Tuesday night.

“But once we got that first goal, I thought it was our game to win,” Brinkmeyer said. “We’re basically a ball possession team. And we were getting good passes.”

With the victory, Linn-Mar (7-2) avenged an early season 1-0 loss to Prairie. The Lions are ranked 12th in this week's poll that came out Tuesday.

“We got redemption, and I feel pretty good going forward,” Brinkmeyer said.

The Prairie Hawks, on the other hand, are going in the opposite direction.  After winning its first eight games of the season and climbing to No. 1 in the Class 3A polls, Coach Curt Lewis’ squad has now lost three in a row and dropped to No.4.

“The last three games we haven’t played with any heart, any passion,” Lewis said.  “Linn-Mar obviously wanted it more than we did tonight. We need to make some changes to get guys in that want to compete.

“But we’ve still got a lot to play for.”