The Cyclones carousel keeps on turning
With a combination of timely plays and stellar defense, the HCHS Cyclone football team took care of business Friday night on the road against the Atlantic Trojans with a 41-16 victory, winning its third consecutive game and keeping their playoff hopes alive.
"It's put a chip on our shoulder and it wasn't the way we wanted to go and we've really turned things around," said Senior Cyclone Jozef Reisz. "We've really stepped it up in practice and the coaches have been putting in good plays for us, and we've been doing good from there."
The Trojans struck first on a 3rd and goal. Senior quarterback Tristan Hayes threw to Senior Xavier Darrow for a 3-yard touchdown pass. Senior Hadin Thompson attempted the extra point kick, but it was blocked by Junior Cyclone Nick Gubbels.
However, it didn't take long for the Cyclones to respond when Junior Hagen Sorensen received the kickoff return and made his way to the 34-yard line. A few plays later on a 3rd and 3, Junior quarterback Gabe Arkfeld handed off to Senior Lukas Francis who sprinted to the end zone for a 42-yard touchdown run. Senior kicker Nolan Schwery added the extra point putting the Cyclones up 7-6.
The Cyclone defense was able to get some stops preventing the Trojans from making a big run, including a tackle by Reisz on 3rd and 10 putting the Cyclone offense back on the field where they responded in a big way.
"First of all, thanks to our D-Line and our linebackers for setting me up to get those tackles," Reisz said. "They're taking on the blocks, but I'm the person who has to go make the plays and that's what I try to do."
On a 1st and 10, Arkfeld found Junior Dallas McDowell for a 20-yard touchdown pass, expanding the Cyclone lead to 13-6. Schwery added the extra point.
In the second quarter, the Trojan offense was slowly making its way down the field with small runs, and the Cyclone defense getting stops from multiple players, including Sophomore Sam Shields and McDowell.
Another huge moment on defense came on a 2nd and 5 when Reisz and Sophomore Brody Bendorf came up with a stop, followed by another stop by Reisz and Senior Ben Leinen, preventing the Trojans from scoring.
"There's a stat here and it looks like we had 54 tackles between four guys," said Cyclone Head Coach Todd Bladt. "That's kind of a daunting stat there, and that means they ran a heck of a lot of plays."
Just before the first half concluded, the Trojan offense was on the 1-yard line, and Bendorf stepped up and delivered a big tackle to keep the Trojans off the scoreboard sending the Cyclones to halftime with a 14-6 lead.
"The play of the game was right before half on that fourth down right there on the goal line and we stopped them to keep them out of the end zone," Bladt said. "That was a huge play for us. That's kind of deflating for an offense."
When the third quarter began, Senior Cyclone Spencer Fink returned the kickoff to the 29-yard line. On the very next play, Arkfeld took matters into his own hands with a 71-yard touchdown run making it a 21-6 Cyclone lead. Schwery added the extra point.
The Cyclone offense scored again from their own 26-yard line when Arkfeld handed off to Francis, who went for his own 74-yard touchdown run, putting his team up 27-6. Schwery’s extra point kick was blocked by Freshman Trojan Koen Juhl.
"Gabe has shown his explosiveness," Bladt said. "He's dangerous with his feet right now. For Lukas, that was a great run. He really hit that with speed and almost got tackled in the backfield, but then he turned on the old jets and took her to the house."
The Trojans responded on the next play when Hayes found Junior Gavin McLaren for an 80-yard touchdown run, putting his team back within two touchdowns, making it 27-13.
With the third quarter winding down, the Cyclone defense was able to come up with more stops from Shields on a 2nd and 11, following by Sorensen, along with a big stop by Senior Bryce Van Baale and Reisz on the same play, which was later capped off just before the end of the quarter by Senior Alex Heithoff.
A few minutes into the fourth quarter, the Trojans managed to cut the Cyclone lead to 11 when Thompson made a field goal, putting the score at 27-16.
With less than five minutes remaining in the game, Arkfeld threw to Reisz for a 22-yard touchdown, expanding the Cyclone lead to 33-16. Schwery kicked the extra point.
"[Mark] Kohorst, [Jeff] Hassert, and [Steve] Boggess, they all do a good job scheming, and I think that just sets up Gabe," Reisz said. "Gabe can throw the ball anywhere he wants. I've just got to go up and catch it."
The Cyclones managed to score once more when the Trojan defense fumbled. It was recovered by Freshman Cyclone Foxx Argotsinger, which led to another touchdown when Arkfeld handed off to Francis for a 23-yard run. Schwery kicked the extra point making it a 41-16 Cyclone lead, and giving the Cyclones their fifth win of the season.
"I'm proud of them for bouncing back," Bladt said. "We had a couple of weeks there where we were feeling pretty sorry for ourselves, and sometimes you've got to pull the boots on and go to work. That's what they've been doing the last three weeks and they came out and took care of business tonight."
The Cyclones return home for its regular season finale against the 4-4 Knoxville Panthers, who are coming off a 35-6 victory over Perry. Offensively, the Panthers are led by Senior Brenden Woolsey with 1,113 passing yards and 227 rushing yards, and Senior Koby Higginbotham with 438 receiving yards. Defensively, Sophomore Jackson Clarke has 41.5 tackles.
"We've got to have a good focused week of practice like we have been these last few weeks and really just put a stinger on them right away," Reisz said. "That's what we're planning to do."
