MANNING -- IKM-Manning killed two birds with one stone on Friday night, avenging its only loss of the season and also punching a second straight trip to the UNI-Dome with a 28-14 win over Kuemper Catholic in the Class 2-A playoff quarterfinals.
The No. 8-ranked Wolves (11-1) used a strong ball-control rushing attack and tenacious defense to outgain the No. 11 Knights (9-3) by 63 yards in a rematch game that featured no turnovers. IKM-Manning scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to lead 20-7 at the half and extended the margin to 28-7 early in the fourth.
The Wolves will now face No. 3-ranked Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley (12-0) in a 2-A state semifinal game next Monday (Nov. 16) at the UNI-Dome. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m.
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"I don't think too many people thought we could do this, but we just kept getting better and I think that we played our best game of the season Friday night, but hopefully we can play better yet. We're just real happy with what we've done."
Kuemper, the champion of District 8, won the first meeting between the teams, 35-28, in overtime back in Week 4, but didn't make it out of single digits on Friday until 5:16 left in the game.
Knights' quarterback Brandon Boldt (15-of-25) passed for 177 yards and two touchdowns but the team netted only 87 yards rushing on 35 carries.
"We added a few things since the first time we played them - some stunts within the defensive line and we started moving our linebackers around a little bit and just made them a little harder targets to block," Casey said. "I think it confused them a little bit about where we would be coming from and (from) what gap. The kids played really well. I think we had a better feel for what they wanted to do, also, and we were able to take some of those things away better."
Offensively, the Wolves rushed for 210 yards on 49 carries. Senior quarterback Bryce Irlbeck completed five of his seven passes for 117 yards, including a 33-yard TD pass to Tyler Muhlbauer that put IKM-Manning up 28-7 with 9:23 to play.
Jerad Croghan led the Wolves with 77 yards rushing and got the team on the board with an early four-yard touchdown run, while Jarad Gaskill rushed for 58 yards and added a pair of one-yard scores in the second quarter. Irlbeck added 52 yards rushing.
Coach Casey noted that the Wolves played turnover-free football Friday after turning the ball over four times in the previous matchup with Kuemper.
"That made a big difference," he said. "They didn't have any short fields, so they had to work for what they got. The kids really were focused and played really well. They listened to what we asked them to do as far as adjustments and they carried them out real well.
"I thought Bryce Irlbeck had a great game offensively and Rick Blake and Jason Opperman had great defensive games."
The Wolves' pass rush got to Boldt several times, combining for "four or five" sacks and forcing him to rush at times.
"We definitely had more pressure on him (than last time)," said Casey, "and that made his decisions tougher."
Ian Erickson was the Wolves' leading tackler with 13 total stops and had a hand in three sacks. Opperman made 12 tackles while Gaskill and Josh Ertz both had nine. Blake added eight tackles, including three total sacks.
Game Summary
1 2 3 4 F
Kuemper 7 0 0 7 -- 14
IKM-Manning 7 13 0 8 -- 28
IKM-M: Jerad Croghan 4-yd. run (Jay Petersen kick) - 1st qt., 8:47
Kuemper: Cody Williams 34-yd. pass from Brandon Boldt (David Hicks kick) - 1st qt., 6:55
IKM-M: Jarad Gaskill 1-yd. run (Petersen kick) - 2nd qt., 8:06
IKM-M: Gaskill 1-yd. run (kick blocked) - 2nd qt., 1:27
IKM-M: Tyler Muhlbauer 33-yd. pass from Bryce Irlbeck (Rick Blake pass from Irlbeck) - 4th qt., 9:23
Kuemper: Tyler Heuton 13-yd. pass from Boldt (Hicks kick) - 4th qt., 5:16
IKM-M ----- Kuemper
15 First Downs 15
49-210 Rushes/yards 35-87
117 Passing yards 177
327 Total yards 264
5-7-0 Comp./Att./Int. 15-25-0
0 Fumbles lost 0
3-34.0 Punts-avg. 3-30.7
7-45 Penalties-yards 2-15
IKM-Manning Individual Statistics
Rushing -- Jerad Croghan 16-77, Jarad Gaskill 15-58, Bryce Irlbeck 9-52, Matt Vogel 9-23.
Passing -- Irlbeck 5-7-0, 117 yards.
Receiving -- Rick Blake 2-47, Tyler Muhlbauer 1-33, Croghan 1-19, Gaskill 1-18.
Kickoffs -- Jay Petersen 5-252 (50.4).
Kickoff returns -- Gaskill 1-5.
Punting -- Gaskill 3-102 (34.0).
Punt returns -- None.
Field goals -- None.
Total Tackles (Solo-Assist) -- Ian Erickson 13 (3S-10A), Jason Opperman 12 (2S-10A), Gaskill 9 (5S-4A), Josh Ertz 9 (3S-6A), Blake 8 (4S-4A), Croghan 7 (4S-3A), Irlbeck 7 (1S-6A), Vogel 5 (2S-3A), Robert Tank 5 (2S-3A), Muhlbauer 4 (4A), Denim Schechinger 3 (1S-2A), Colten Ramsey 2 (2S), Jacob Dreier 2 (2A), Kyle Vetter 1 (1A).
QB Sacks -- Erickson 3, Blake 3, Ertz 2, Opperman 1, Muhlbauer 1.
