Panthers persisted with strong finish

In late September, the Creston football team stood 0-5 after a crushing 29-27 homecoming loss to Atlantic on the final play of the game.

Three weeks earlier, the Panthers rallied late to come up one point short (28-27) against Winterset, which would go on to become a Class 3A quarterfinalist. One week earlier, Creston had come back twice to tie a ranked Des Moines Christian team that moved to 4-0 in pulling away to a 44-31 victory.

It would have been easy to be discouraged at that point, but head coach Brian Morrison said Sunday at the team’s banquet that the senior leaders maintained a culture to keep working and it paid off in the end to finish a 2-7 season with wins over Greene County (42-35 on senior night) and at Perry (54-13).

“Right out of the gates losing the first week to Clarinda, and then the ‘woulda’ ‘coulda’ ‘shoulda’ game against Winterset (28-27 loss), some of our games were like that,” Morrison said. “I thought we played well against Des Moines Christian and had a shot until they separated toward the end of the fourth quarter. I thought we showed progression every week. These kids kept showing up and never had a bad practice.”

The only blowout losses were to district champion Carroll (50-0) and Class 4A playoff qualifier Glenwood (59-13).

“If there was a category for the best zero-and-whatever team, I think we showed that,” Morrison quipped. “We had a lot of inexperienced people step up and help us be competitive every week. The outliers were probably the Carroll and Glenwood games. Those were tough matchups for us.”

Before paying tribute to the 14 outgoing seniors, members of the coaching staff introduced 40 letterwinners from the sophomore and junior classes. Also, freshmen Riggins Hanson and Gabe Kaufman had considerable playing time on varsity this season and earned letters in their first year.

“The younger guys this year who helped us compete against good competition, those guys will be great leaders for us next year,” Morrison said.

With only 13 freshmen and two of them on varsity, Morrison noted that the freshmen joined the sophomores and a sprinkling of upperclassmen on the junior varsity unit. There were no specific freshman games.

“These guys played a JV schedule against sophomores and juniors on Monday nights and you have to give them credit for doing that and getting better,” Morrison said.

Morrison noted the team compiled a 3.16 grade point average and qualified for the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s Excellence in Academic Achievement Award. Additionally, 17 team members earned academic all-district honors with GPAs of 3.5 or above.

Coaches also presented all-district awards and announced four team awards. Junior quarterback Tanner Ray was named Offensive MVP and junior Tom Mikkelsen, who split duty between defensive tackle and inside linebacker, was the Defensive MVP.

Returner Seth Gordon, who also played wide receiver, was the Special Teams MVP and Scout Team MVP was Ben James. Team captains were Jackson Pettegrew, Gunner Martwick, Travis Lane and Davin Wallace.

In addition to Morrison, the high school coaching staff included Garrison Carter, Brandon Phipps, Casey Tanner, Alex Tamerius, Nathan Haley, Chad Needham, Tanner Webb and Briley Hayes.

AWARDS

Letterwinners

Seniors — Gunner Martwick, Lane Travis, CT Stalker, Jameson McDonald, Brodrick Phelps, Tysen Gillespie, Chasse Downing, Jackson Pettegrew, Ethan Holliday, Kal Barber, Garrick Clausen, Kylen Parsons, Seth Gordon, Evan Abel.

Juniors — Davin Wallace, Drake Wilson, Michael Wofford, Ryder Sharp, Joaquin Flores, Nico Leppla, Baret Lane, Hayden Levine, Hunter Kiley, Blake Hayes, Coltyr Frey, Durrell Haynes, Randy Shady, Thomas Mikkelsen, Kobe Chuong, Brodie Pashek, Jace Purdum, Tanner Ray, Lane Sand, Cason Scarberry, Colby Brammer, Rhett Driskell.

Sophomores — Charlie Anderson, Frank Martin, Brady McDonald, Tyler Travis, Colt Key, Corbin Jones, Zadek Engdahl, Caden Owens, Wyatt Burwell, David Sandoval, Noel Ornelas, Will Schaefer, Gunner Wright, Kayden Johnson, Connor Briner, Jose Avila, Ben James, Justin Myers, Nate Bentley.

Freshmen — Mason Wilson, Riggins Hanson, Gabe Kaufman.

Participation awards — Sebastian McVay, Kaden Mahan, Drake Wichhart, Esme Capra, Harrison Krantz, Colton Decker, Sam Garrett, Kade Goins, Weston Goodenberger, Jacob Gordon, Owen Bruce, Javen Hyde.

Team academic award — IHSAA Excellence in Academic Achievement.

Academic all-district — Charles Anderson, Ben James, Frank Martin, Justin Myers, Tyler Travis, Kobe Chuong, Rhett Driskell, Blake Hayes, Baret Lane, Jace Purdum, Tanner Ray, Ryder Sharp, Davin Wallace, Drake Wilson, Michael Wofford, Jameson McDonald, Lane Travis.

All-district offense — First team: Gunner Martwick (OL), Tanner Ray (utility), Jace Purdum (WR), Seth Gordon (R). Second team: Garrick Clausen (OL), Rhett Driskell (WR), Jackson Pettegrew (RB). Honorable mention: Chasse Downing (OL), Gabe Kaufman (RB).

All-district defense — First team: Tom Mikkelsen (DL). Second team: Coltyr Frey (LB), Cason Scarberry (DB). Honorable mention: Davin Wallace (DB), Blake Hayes (DL), Lane Travis (DB).

Offensive MVP — Tanner Ray.

Defensive MVP — Tom Mikkelsen.

Special teams MVP — Seth Gordon.

Scout team MVP — Ben James.

Team captains — Jackson Pettegrew, Gunner Martwick, Travis Lane, Davin Wallace.