Panthers travel to 2-0 Glenwood

GLENWOOD — Creston’s football team hits the road for the first time Friday with a road challenge at 2-0 Glenwood.

The Panthers (0-2) are coming off a furious fourth-quarter rally in falling 28-27 to Winterset, after falling behind 21-0 in the second quarter. Head coach Brian Morrison said a full four quarters of competing like the second half last Friday will be necessary in taking on the Rams.

Glenwood is ranked 14th in Class 4A by IAfootball after opening the season with a 32-7 victory over Atlantic before knocking off Harlan last week, 17-12.

“After that first quarter and a half Friday, we got better as a football team in a lot of areas,” Morrison said. “But we’ll have to continue to get a ton better, because this is by far the best team we’ve seen all year.”

The Rams are coming off a 3-6 season in 2024, but showed promise in two quality wins to open the current season. Running back Scott Reed ran for 157 yards last week as the Rams earned their first win over Harlan since 2019, and just their second in three decades.

Veteran squad

“They return a lot of kids,” Morrison said. “A lot of their guys were young last year, and their schedule was not easy last year. This year they look physical up front with tall, athletic kids who can move. Collectively their defense is a good unit with athletes. It’s not like one or two kids stand out. We’ll have to play our best football game. Hopefully we can compete for four quarters like we did the last two quarters against Winterset.”

Morrison expects Glenwood to have a 50-50 ratio of runs and passes on offense. Quarterback Ben Carlo, a lefthanded junior, is a threat in the read-option run game. He has completed 22 of 41 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns, with just one interception.

Receivers Jack Johnson and Kaden Crouch have combined for six receptions for 226 yards and two touchdowns after both surpassed 500 yards receiving a year ago.

“We have to have our good guys against those two, for sure,” Morrison said, “We saw some good receivers last week from Winterset, but these guys are really good ones.”

Creston’s offense relied heavily on running back Jackson Pettegrew last week. More than half of his carries were on direct snaps in a power formation that found success against the Huskies.

Pettegrew ended with 173 yards on 33 attempts and four short-yardage touchdowns. Quarterback Tanner Ray, the leading rusher in game one, completed 14 of 25 passes for 156 yards last week. Receivers Seth Gordon and Jace Purdum stretched the secondary with receptions in excess of 30 yards.

“We’ve had that (Tank) formation for many years,” Morrison said. “It’s for short yardage, and if we’re having success with it, we’ll stay in it sometimes. We were having success against Winterset because we did a better job with our push up front than we did against Clarinda. The thing that hurt us offensively last week was the number of penalties. When you put yourself in situations of first and 15 or first and 20 because of a false start or a hold, then it’s tough to do well offensively.”

There has been some illnesses on the team this week, Morrison said, along with a couple of injuries coming out of Friday’s game. All-district defensive lineman Tom Mikkelsen is hopeful for game night with an ankle sprain. Junior Hayden Levine could step in to help in the defensive line, if needed, Morrison said.

Nate Bentley, a 6-1, 185-pound sophomore linebacker, is being monitored in practice this week after being out for medical reasons. At a track meet in Glenwood last spring, Bentley was resuscitated after collapsing from a cardiac episode during a relay race.

“Nathan is going through a two-week period with a monitor on his chest, monitored through his cell phone, as he goes through practice live with us. Hopefully by Monday they’ll determine if he is full go for next week. He can help us. We could move some kids around a bit and become a better defensive football team.”

Morrison said junior Joaquin Flores, starting cornerback and kicker-punter, has been slowed by a leg injury, Morrison said.

“Hopefully he can play and at least still kick for us,” Morrison said. “We could also have (sophomore) David Sandoval helping us in the secondary.”

Creston (0-2, 0-0)

OFFENSE

T Garrick Clausen 5-10 225 Sr.

G Michael Wofford 6-0 200 Jr.

C Chasse Downing 6-4 270 Sr.

G Gunner Martwick 6-1 250 Sr.

T Layne Sand 6-5 235 Jr.

WR Jace Purdum 6-1 170 Jr.

WR Seth Gordon 5-8 160 Sr.

TE Jameson McDonald 6-1 185 Sr.

TE Rhett Driskell 6-3 190 Jr.

QB Tanner Ray 6-0 155 Jr.

RB Jackson Pettegrew 5-10 180 Sr.

K Joaquin Flores 6-0 160 Jr.

DEFENSE

DT Tom Mikkelsen 6-1 210 Jr.

DE Ethan Holliday 6-2 200 Sr.

DE Blake Hayes 6-2 205 Jr.

OLB Coltyr Frey 5-9 160 Jr.

ILB Colby Brammer 5-6 160 Jr.

ILB Kal Barber 5-8 160 Sr.

OLB Brodrick Phelps 5-11 160 Sr.

CB Joaquin Flores 6-0 160 Jr.

or David Sandoval 5-7 140 So.

CB Casen Scarberry 5-10 160 Jr.

S Lane Travis 5-8 160 Sr.

S Davin Wallace 5-8 170 Jr.

P Joaquin Flores 6-0 160 Jr.