Panthers tossed away by Cyclones

HARLAN — Merrill Field in Harlan was accommodating after a long week for the Creston/Orient-Macksburg football team, but the Cyclone football team sure wasn’t in a 42-7 victory in what was the Class 3A District 7 opener for both squads.

Nick Foss ran rampant behind the play of Harlan’s large and experienced offensive line on his way to 231 rushing yards.

Foss’s first touchdown came after Creston/O-M quarterback Kylan Smallwood fumbled the ball on the second play from scrimmage, and after two Foss runs, Harlan laid claim to a 7-0 lead a little over a minute into the game.

Harlan’s next score came less than five minutes later, when Foss capped a four-play drive with an 11-yard sprint for a score.

Both touchdowns came around the right side of Harlan’s powerful offensive line, as the Cyclones excelled on off-tackle runs.

“We were trying to mix up our defensive fronts to give them some different looks,” Creston/O-M head coach Brian Morrison said. “They love the off tackle plays and we just tried to get them a little off balance but they came out and established the offensive line. We had them in some situations second and long and third and long and they converted.”

The Panthers were missing Dustin Merritt and Dale Boyer with injuries at the linebacker spots, as both would normally have been starters.

Instead, younger players were asked to step into the mix on defense.

“We should be full go next week with our linebacking corps,” Morrison said. It’s just one of those situations playing a freshman. It is what it us. Tremendous game, tremendous effort. He’s (freshman Garon Wurster, all of 145 pounds) going to be a heck of a football player for us.”

Others like Dalten Bierle (six tackles, one for loss), and Eli Loudon (5.5 tackles and a pass breakup) had to step up in situations neither has had much experience in during varsity action yet.

Smallwood picked up the Panthers’ longest play of the night on the drive following Foss’s second touchdown run, a 54-yard down the Panther sideline on a read-option keeper. Creston/O-M was still stopped in the red zone when Smallwood’s pass fell incomplete on an attempt toward Evan Jacobson.

The Panthers mounted several drives into Cyclone territory, only to see them come to a screeching halt.

The best example came on the Panthers’ last drive of the first half, Cody Wagner returned the kickoff 61 yards to set Creston/O-M up with its best chance to score in the first half.

Smallwood hit Wagner in stride beyond the Cyclone defense in the end zone, but the ball slipped through.

Panther Rylan Luther also later recorded a long kickoff return of his own to the Harlan 17-yard line after which the Panthers turned the ball over on downs.

Smallwood then fumbled on a blindside hit once more. Harlan took over with a 21-0 lead before half. Creston/O-M lost possession of three fumbles Friday.

Foss scored that last touchdown of the first half, as well as the first two of the second half to put the game out of reach. His 49-yard punt fake run for a touchdown down the Harlan sideline featured several broken tackles as the exasperated Panthers could not bring down the shifty Foss down.

“I think we got off the ball and kept moving. Rather than just getting stalemates, we moved them and created some seams. And if you create a seam, I’ll tell you what, Foss can take advantage of it,” Harlan coach Curt Bladt told Harlan News-Advertiser sports reporter Mike Oeffner.

The Panthers didn’t find the end zone until Kylan Smallwood evaded several Cyclone defenders and Cole Higgins caught a pass in the far back left corner of the end zone and tapped a foot down for a 14-yard score with 4:59 left in the game. That made the score 42-7.

Harlan ran for 326 yards on the ground, 158 in the third quarter and threw for 121 yards, almost all of which came from third-string quarterback Preston Mulligan, who came on in place of Brett Sears.

Smallwood ran for 129 yards on 12 carries, and completed 4 of 10 passing attempts for 51 yards.

The game brought a symbolic end to a tumultuous week, as the football team had five players removed from the team for being pictured in a KKK-reminiscent image. Reporting on the incident was done earlier in the week in the News Advertiser.

Morrison, after speaking with the News Advertiser about the situation concerning the former players, noted that he will not be making further comment on the matter.

‘The administration appreciates what Harlan did tonight as far as the extra security officers there, all the communications with the kids in school and everything the extra mile they went that night,” Creston activities director and assistant principal Jeff Bevins added in a statement Friday night.

“Mitch Osborn does a good job. Their administration, their coaching staff, they understand the situation. Our kids felt welcome. It was a great environment,” Morrison said.

Creston/O-M (1-2, 0-1) will play host to Denison-Schleswig (2-1, 1-0) on Friday. The Monarchs are coming off a 31-28 win over Atlantic. Creston/O-M defeated Denison-Schleswig 42-7 a year ago.

Harlan 42, Creston/O-M 7

Points by quarter

C/O-M 0 0 0 7 — 7

Harlan 14 7 14 7 — 42

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

Harlan — Nick Foss 11 rrun (Kyle Knudson kick), 10:50.

Harlan — Foss 11 run (Knudson kick), 7:09.

Second Quarter

Harlan — Foss 5 run (Knudson kick), 3:36.

Third Quarter

Harlan — Foss 49 run (Knudson kick), 11:24.

Harlan — Foss 2 run (Knudson kick), 8:52.

Fourth Quarter

Harlan — Caleb Bieker 1 run (Knudson kick) 11:54

C/O-M — Higgins 14 pass from Kylan Smallwood (Jacobson kick), 4:59.

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TEAM STATISTICS

Cr Har

First downs 10 21

Rushes-yards 32-153 41-340

Passing yards 51 121

Total yards 204 447

Punts-avg. 0 2-44.0

Return yards 233 46

Fumbles-lost 4-3 1-0

Penalties-yards 0 2-10

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — C/O-M: Kylan Smallwood 12-129, Mitchel Swank 15-52, 1 TD, Evan Jacobson 1-(-5), Loudon 1-(-10).

PASSING — C/O-M: Smallwood 4-10-0 for 51 yards, 1 TD

RECEIVING — C/O-M: Michael Gonzales, 1-25, Cole Higgins 1-14 1 TD, Eli Loudon 1-13, Cody Wagner 1-(-1).

PUNTS-AVG. — C/O-M: Jacobson 2-44.0.

TACKLE LEADERS (solo-assists) — C/O-M: Dalten Bierle 2-8, Loudon 2-7, Rylan Luther 3-5, Kolby Tomas 2-2, Garrett Dahl 2-2, Evan Jacobso 3-0, James McDonald 0-4, Garon Wurster 1-3, Smallwood 2-2, Blake Sevier 0-4, Trevor Downing 0-2, Steven Buckman 0-1, Payton Pryor 0-1, Austin Schnormeier 01, Kendall Crawford 0-1, Logan Shady 0-1, Camden Peterson 1, Mitchel Swank 1.

INTERCEPTIONS — None.

PASS BREAKUPS — C/O-M: Loudon 1.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES — C/O-M: None. Harlan 3.

TACKLES FOR LOSS (YARDS) — C/O-M: Bierle 1(-3), Luther 1(-3), Tomas 1-(-1).

SACKS — None.

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