HARLAN -- One year later, Harlan Community experienced a lot less drama in the first round of the Class 3-A football playoffs.
No last-minute miracle catches required this time, even though last year's hero, Willie Baughman, was in the house just in case.
Amassing nearly 500 yards of total offense and shutting out their sixth opponent in 11 games, the top-ranked Cyclones methodically handled Adel-DeSoto-Minburn, 48-0, in Monday night playoff action at Merrill Field.
HCHS recorded the program's second-largest margin of victory in 78 all-time playoff wins and also improved their unmatched record in first-round playoff games to a remarkable 30-0.
The Cyclones (11-0) also set up a 3-A quarterfinal rematch with No. 6 Sioux City Bishop Heelan (10-1) to be played Friday night in Harlan, starting at 7:00 p.m. (see separate story). HCHS defeated the Crusaders in non-district play, 24-6, earlier this season, while Heelan has knocked the Cyclones out of the playoffs in each of the last two years.
|
|
Last year in the first round of the playoffs, HCHS required a diving, 34-yard Baughman touchdown grab in the waning moments to rally past Spencer, 21-20. On Monday night, however, with the potential Heelan showdown lurking just 96 hours away, the Cyclones showed no signs of looking past the Tigers, who also lost at Merrill Field, 42-14, back in Week 4.
A-D-M (7-4 overall) brought a potent spread offense to town which was responsible for the last touchdown allowed by the Cyclone first-team defense - seven games ago. Tigers' sophomore quarterback Gavin Glenn - the leading passer in 11-player football this fall - passed for 345 yards in the first meeting, but was limited to 188 yards on Monday.
HCHS took away the deep ball for the most part, sacked Glenn seven times on the night and batted down several passes at the line of scrimmage.
"We knew they could throw the football really well," Bladt said. "Last time they burned us up for about 350 yards through the air and we had a hard time getting the ball away from them. But tonight the defense rose to the occasion.
"(Defensive end Ryan) Fahn had a lot of batted balls and tipped balls and so forth that slowed them down a little bit and put them in long-yardage situations, which we had a hard time doing last time. They'd throw that little curl route on us and get seven, eight, nine yards every time . . . and it was difficult to get them off the field."
Glenn completed a high number of underneath throws again Monday to his talented fleet of receivers, but finished just 19-of-40 overall with one interception. After running the ball nearly 60 percent of the time in their substate win at Le Mars, the one-dimensional Tigers attempted only a couple of designed runs all night in Harlan and finished with minus-20 yards rushing due to the high sack count.
The Cyclone defense basically lined up with six defensive backs and let their front four go to work with a steady pass rush.
"Our front guys played tough. They kept thumpin'; they're all tired. It's tough to pass rush all night," said HCHS defensive coordinator Ken Carstens. "(A-D-M was) willing to take what we were willing to give, and that was the short routes, so that was all right with us. Let them catch it and thump 'em."
Offensively, the Cyclones overcame several uncharacteristic pre-snap penalties to move the ball up and down the field almost at will. Averaging more than 71 yards per touchdown drive, including a nine-play, 97-yard march in the second quarter, HCHS netted 308 rushing yards on 41 carries.
Bruising senior fullback Matt Hoch showed off some wheels on the opening drive with a 50-yard touchdown run and finished with a career-high and team-leading 119 yards on 10 rushes. Junior tailback Dylan Barrett ran out of his own shoe at the beginning of a 57-yard run late in the first half and finished his night with 89 yards on 12 carries.
Hoch and Barrett both scored two touchdowns and gained 200 of their combined 208 yards by halftime as the Cyclones built a 28-0 lead. HCHS totaled 321 yards of offense by the break.
"Offensively, I thought we played reasonably well. We weren't quite as disciplined as I'd like," said Bladt, noting the team's eight total penalties (not all on the offense).
Hoch's 10 rushing attempts also tied a career high which just happened to come against A-D-M in the first meeting (Sept. 18).
"They didn't like him a lot, so we thought we'd feature him a little bit more and see how much they really didn't like him," Bladt said of the 6-4, 245-pounder. "The (50-yard TD) he broke right down the middle of the field was a good illustration that the guy's got pretty good speed. The defensive secondary people were having a bit of a tussle trying to catch him. That's a big old body going down the field."
HCHS quarterback Michael Kaufmann called his own number on a 24-yard TD run early in the third quarter, making the score 34-0. Moments later, Kaufmann floated a 27-yard scoring pass into the arms of Joey Buman that initiated a running clock for the final 19:44.
Kaufmann completed his final seven passes, finishing 9-of-11 for 176 yards, and backup Zach Osborn completed his only pass for nine yards. Osborn capped a 15-play, 57-yard scoring drive late in the fourth with an eight-yard touchdown scamper.
Hoch, in addition to his exploits on offense, led the HCHS defense with eight total tackles and had one solo sack. Fahn and Craig Connell both added six tackles, including two and a half sacks for Fahn. The sack parade also included a pair of solos by Joe Arentson and a solo and assist by Mitch Anderson.
Senior Brian Kloewer, who injured a shoulder in the previous game, showed no ill effects Monday in catching two passes for 56 yards and coming up with the game's only turnover on a first-quarter interception in the endzone.
A-D-M's game-opening drive had reached the Harlan 25-yard line with the help of a roughing the punter penalty, but two plays later, Glenn tested Kloewer deep and paid the price. Kloewer also picked off a deep throw on the Tigers' next series, but was out of bounds on the catch.
"I was pleased with the pass defense, and especially Kloewer," said Carstens. "They knew he was hurt, they tried him twice and he picked them both . . . and after that they decided not to throw the fly route on him anymore.
"When Brian picked that one off in the endzone, that was a big play because it kind of took the mo' out of them."
It didn't take away the fight, however; not just yet anyway.
Trailing only 7-0 and facing a fourth-and-21 at their own 15-yard line, the Tigers showed an absolute 'nothing to lose' mindset late in the opening quarter by attempting - and succeeding - on a daring fake punt. Glenn took the short snap from center as the up man and dumped a pass over the middle to Josh Sampson, who gained 23 yards and a first down before he could be corralled.
Bladt can cite several effective fake punts being run against his teams over the years, but doesn't recall running many himself.
"A fake punt is a great play. You've just got to have the intestinal fortitude to call it, I guess, at the right time," he said. "That was probably a good call because nobody in the world would expect you to do that. We realized what was happening but it was just too late and he made it by about two yards. If they didn't have a good (punter), that play wouldn't have worked because we wouldn't have been back that far."
The Tiger drive stalled three plays later - this time they actually punted - and the Cyclones mounted an eight-play, 75-yard response to go ahead 14-0.
The Harlan 'D' dodged a couple of bullets on A-D-M's next drive. First, the Tigers dropped a long pass that appeared destined for a touchdown. Then, after driving into Cyclone territory, Glenn fired an apparent 32-yard TD pass on fourth-and-10 that was nullified by a holding call.
Alex Reams' punt pinned HCHS at its own 3, setting up the Cyclones' 97-yard drive that seemed to change the game for good. Luke Lansman caught a 32-yard pass on the drive, which was capped by Barrett's 13-yard TD with 2:21 left in the half.
The Cyclones got the ball back exactly one minute later and drove 69 yards in five plays - aided by Barrett's one-shoe, 57-yard ramble - to go ahead 28-0 with 16.7 seconds remaining.
HCHS 48, A-D-M 0
Cyclones (11-0), Tigers (7-4)
Up Next: Friday, November 6
(Class 3-A Playoff Quarterfinal)
S.C. Heelan (10-1) at HCHS, 7:00
3-A First-Round Playoff Scores
Sioux City Heelan 34, Denison-Sch. 14
Harlan Community 48, A-D-M, Adel 0
Clear Lake 31, Ballard 17
Carroll 42, JSPC, Jefferson 7
New Hampton 29, Union, LaPorte City 22
Decorah 37, Marion 30 (2 OT)
Pella 10, Grinnell 7
Centerville 30, Clear Creek-Amana 13
3-A Playoff Quarterfinals
(Friday, Nov. 6 - 7:00 p.m.)
Heelan (10-1) at Harlan Comm. (11-0)
Clear Lake (11-0) at Carroll (11-0)
New Hampton (9-2) at Decorah (9-2)
Centerville (11-0) at Pella (8-3)
Cyclone Notebook
Running at Will
In two wins against A-D-M, Adel this season, the Cyclones racked up a combined 994 total yards. They rushed the ball 87 times in the two games for 733 yards, an average of 8.4 yards per carry.
A Flash to the Past
Of the Cyclones' 78 all-time wins in playoff history, only one margin of victory was larger than Monday's 48-0 win over A-D-M. In the fall of 1983, HCHS defeated Norwalk in a first-round contest, 49-0. The Cyclones also blanked Webster City and Oskaloosa on their way to the second of three straight state titles.
Game Summary
1 2 3 4 F
A-D-M, Adel 0 0 0 0 0
HCHS 7 21 13 7 48
HCHS: Matt Hoch 50-yd. run (Trent Wendt kick) - 1st qt., 7:51
HCHS: Dylan Barrett 1-yd. run (Wendt kick) - 2nd qt., 10:55
HCHS: Barrett 13-yd. run (Wendt kick) - 2nd qt., 2:21
HCHS: Hoch 2-yd. run (Wendt kick) - 2nd qt., 0:16.7
HCHS: Michael Kaufmann 24-yd. run (kick failed) - 3rd qt., 9:51
HCHS: Joey Buman 27-yd. pass from Kaufmann (Wendt kick) - 3rd qt., 7:44
HCHS: Zach Osborn 8-yd. run (Wendt kick) - 4th qt., 1:18
A-D-M, Adel ------ HCHS
11 First Downs 25
13-(-20) Rushes/yards 41-308
188 Passing yards 185
168 Total yards 493
19-40-1 Comp./Att./Int. 10-12-0
0-0 Fumbles-lost 1-0
5-34.8 Punts-avg. 1-35.0
7-73 Penalties-yards 8-55
HCHS Individual Statistics
Rushing -- Matt Hoch 10-119, Dylan Barrett 12-89, Michael Kaufmann 3-49, Justin Mills 11-29, Dan Schaben 3-14, Zach Osborn 1-8, Luke Lansman 1-0.
Passing -- Kaufmann 9-11-0, 176 yards; Osborn 1-1-0, 9 yards.
Receiving -- Brian Kloewer 2-56, Lansman 2-37, Joey Buman 1-27, Adam Cave 2-25, Barrett 1-16, Hoch 1-15, Josh Bruck 1-9.
Punt returns -- Lucas Musich 1-11, Eric Croghan 1-3.
Kickoff returns -- None.
Punting -- Trent Wendt 1-35.
Kickoffs -- Wendt 8-413 (51.6).
Field goals -- None.
Total Tackles (Solo-Assist) -- Hoch 8 (5S-3A), Ryan Fahn 6 (3S-3A), Craig Connell 6 (1S-5A), Anthony Hough 5 (3S-2A), Dillon Kramer 5 (3S-2A), Mitch Anderson 5 (1S-4A), Derek Schwartz 5 (5A), Joe Arentson 3 (2S-1A), Alex Markham 3 (1S-2A), Joseph Klein 2 (1S-1A), D. Schaben 2 (2A), Michael Klein 1 (S), Kloewer 1 (S), Alex Brown 1 (S), Calvin Schwery 1 (S), Croghan 1 (S), Musich 1 (A), Matt Mages 1 (A), Willy Henrich 1 (A), C.J. Seaman 1 (A), John Schwarte 1 (A), Ben Bruck 1 (A).
Tackles for loss -- Fahn 3, Arentson 2, Anderson 2, Hoch 1, Kramer 1.
QB Sacks (7) -- Fahn 2.5, Arentson 2, Anderson 1.5, Hoch 1, Kramer 0.5.
Interception-return yds. -- Kloewer 1-0.
A-D-M, Adel Individual Stat Leaders
Passing -- Gavin Glenn 19-40-1, 188.
Receiving -- Casey Frank 10-86, Chad Pickering 4-42, Alex Reams 3-34.
HCHS 48, A-D-M, Adel 0 - Scoring Drives
HCHS - 5 plays, 80 yards, 1:16 T.O.P. (Hoch 50-yd. TD run, 1st qt., 7:51).
Key plays: Barrett 16-yd. catch; Kaufmann 14-yd. run.
HCHS - 8 plays, 75 yards, 2:56 T.O.P. (Barrett 1-yd. TD run, 2nd qt., 10:55).
Key plays: Hoch 16-yd. run; Kaufmann 11-yd. run, plus ADM unsportsmanlike conduct penalty; Barrett 3-yd. run on 3rd & 1; Kloewer 18-yd. catch.
HCHS - 9 plays, 97 yards, 4:03 T.O.P. (Barrett 13-yd. TD run, 2nd qt., 2:21).
Key plays: Hoch 20-yd. run; Cave 10-yd. catch; Lansman 32-yd. catch; HCHS recovers own fumble; Cave 15-yd. catch on 3rd & 7.
HCHS - 5 plays, 69 yards, 1:05 T.O.P. (Hoch 2-yd. TD run, 2nd qt., 0:16.7).
Key plays: Barrett 57-yd. run; Hoch 10-yd. run; TD on 3rd & goal.
HCHS - 4 plays, 65 yards, 2:09 T.O.P. (Kaufmann 24-yd. TD run, 3rd qt., 9:51).
Key play: Kloewer 38-yd. catch on 3rd & 2.
HCHS - 4 plays, 55 yards, 1:08 T.O.P. (Buman 27-yd. TD catch, 3rd qt., 7:44).
Key plays: Hoch 15-yd. catch; ADM penalty for illegal contact below the waist.
HCHS - 15 plays, 57 yards, 10:42 T.O.P. (Osborn 8-yd. TD run, 4th qt., 1:18).
Key plays: Bruck 9-yd. catch on 3rd & 7; Mills 1-yd. run on 3rd & 1; Mills 1-yd. run on 4th & 1; TD on 3rd & 8.
