District co-leader hosts Creston

A team coming off a statement win in Class 3A District 6 hosts a Creston team seeking its first victory on Friday.

Carroll moved to 2-0 in district play and 3-3 for the season with a dominant 35-0 victory last week over a Greene County team that was 4-1 going in and gaining top-15 recognition from the IAfootball.com website.

Carroll and Atlantic lead the district with 2-0 records.

Running back Adam Malik scored two touchdowns on the ground and quarterback Camden King threw two touchdown passes for the Tigers in dropping Greene County to 1-1 in the district, and 4-2 overall.

“When Carroll got the ball, they were methodical down the field,” Creston coach Brian Morrison said. “Their quarterback is a good athlete. He runs really well and looks to be a tough kid. They don’t throw the football a lot. Their running back is a good one, he reminds me of the Harlan kid (Ayden Redmon). He’s not really like the Des Moines Christian kid or the Atlantic kid. He’s just a good, tough back with some speed.”

Coming off a shutout, the Carroll defense is also strong.

“Carroll’s defensive line is as good as we’ll see all year,” Morrison said. “We knew that based on their returning players, and their JV team last year, that Carroll was going to be a good football team, and they are. We have to be better.”

Tough schedule

Carroll’s .500 record is in part due to a stringent non-district schedule, including multiple close games within five points of state-ranked teams, including three Class 4A teams.

The Tigers opened the season with a 20-15 loss to 6-0 Gilbert, ranked No. 3 this week by the Iowa High School Athletic Association and No. 12 by IAfootball.com.

Spencer, a 1-5 Class 4A team, showed an effective running game in a 27-19 win that got Carroll off to an 0-2 start this season.

A good win for Carroll came in week three, 34-33 over a 3A Humboldt team that’s 3-3, but ranked No. 12 by IAfootball.com. Then Lewis Central, now a 3-3 team in Class 4A ranked No. 8 by IAfootball.com, edged Carroll 35-34.

That performance propelled Carroll to its 2-0 start in district play, which began with a 33-28 triumph against Harlan, the team that defeated Creston last week, 56-35.

“To be honest, Carroll controlled the game against Harlan for the most part,” Morrison said. “Harlan returned two punts for touchdowns, like they did on one against us. Carroll lines up with a tight end and a wing T look, and they run a lot of sweeps, counters, iso’s and dives.”

Stopping the run was an issue for Creston last week as Harlan rushed for 381 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 9.3 yards per carry. Redmon accumulated 243 yards on 17 carries with three TDs.

“The biggest disappointment was that I thought the previous two weeks we were getting better as far as keeping the ball in front of us on the run plays,” Morrison said. “We weren’t doing that Friday. Sometimes we had bad bad depth with our linebackers, or we were out of position and had to take a bad angle. Sometimes our secondary simply wasn’t making tackles in space. Not having David (Sandoval) at safety was a factor, because he tackled well against Des Moines Christian and Atlantic.”

Injury situations

Morrison said Sandoval is out for the season with a separated hip labrum. Also, outside linebacker Brodrick Phelps sustained a broken finger against Harlan and is sidelined this week. Up front, Morrison is hopeful Blake Hayes can return for some duty after an elbow injury that kept him out last week. Morrison said Hayden Levine played well last week at that defensive end position.

Some offensive players are getting practice time on defense this week to address those defensive depth issues.

“We’re giving (Jackson) Pettegrew some reps at safety and he’s also played outside linebacker for us,” Morrison said. “Gabe Kaufman is getting reps at outside linebacker, and Riggins Hanson just started getting reps at inside linebacker.”

Kaufman, a freshman, has shown promise at running back, with 81 yards last week including a 44-yard touchdown run. That takes some of the offensive load off Pettegrew, who has 497 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns this season. If Pettegrew is needed more on defense, those carries could be shared on offense.

On the offensive side, tight end Rhett Driskell, the team’s third-leading receiver, left the Harlan game with an ankle injury, but Morrison and offensive coordinator Garrison Carter said Driskell has looked ready to go in this week’s practices.

“Offensively, when we get rolling we do good things,” Morrison said. “Tanner has made some outstanding running plays when receivers are covered. A lot of his (582) rushing yards have been based on those situations. He’s making good decisions, and he has good targets in the pass game. Jace Purdum, Seth Gordon and Rhett Driskell are having good years as receivers.”

Ray ranks fourth in Class 3A passing with 1,167 yards on 99 completions in 155 attempts, with eight interceptions and three touchdowns. By comparison, Carroll’s King has attempted just 76 passes with 37 completions for 514 yards and four TDs. Malik has gained 819 yards on the ground with nine TDs.

Senior Quinten Polking of Carroll is the leading tackler among both teams with 41.5 total stops, and four tackles for loss.

Elsewhere in District 6 this week, Atlantic (4-2 overall, 2-0 district) travels to Greene County (4-2, 1-1); and Harlan (2-4, 1-1) hosts Perry (0-6. 0-2).

Creston (0-5, 0-1)

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 Hayden Levine 5-11 190 Jr.

or 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 Jackson Pettegrew 5-10 180 Sr.

CB Zadek Engdahl 5-9 145 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.