Cyclones shut out Creston, clinch district title

 HARLAN (Oct. 15) -- Things didn’t always go smoothly, but the Harlan Community football team pitched its second shutout of the season Friday night and clinched a district title with a 42-0 win over Creston at Merrill Field.
 Cyclone quarterback Teagon Kasperbauer passed for 298 yards and three first-half touchdowns while also being intercepted three times by a Panther defense that has 12 picks on the year.
 Connor Frame caught the first two TD passes and Aidan Hall had a 75-yard touchdown reception as well as a 10-yard scoring run early in the third quarter.
 The score was 28-0 until William Kenkel bulldozed his way into the end zone from two yards out with 2:35 left in the game. Two plays later, linebacker Brad Curren stepped in front of a Kyle Strider pass, caught a bullet and returned the pick-six 28 yards to cap the scoring.
 The top-ranked Cyclones improved to 8-0 overall and 4-0 in Class 3A, District 6, clinching a second straight outright district championship going into their Oct. 22 regular season finale at Knoxville (1-7, 1-3).
 Creston, which possessed the football for the first nine and a half minutes, dropped to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in district play.
 “A lot of good things, but... you always want to clean up and do better,” said HCHS head coach Todd Bladt. “Shout out to Creston. They played well and they had a good game plan for us offensively, put us in a bad situation a few times where we made some bad decisions. We’ve got to look at that and correct it, and it’s good that they pushed us and were able to expose us on a few things.”
 Bladt credited the defense for a “bend but don’t break” kind of night. Creston senior running back/wildcat Briley Hayes had some success running the ball at times with 29 carries for a net of 81 yards, but the Cyclones were able to sack Strider four times and had 11 tackles for loss.
 HCHS senior Jameson Bieker was an animal from his defensive tackle position, finishing with eight solo tackles and four assists, including three solo sacks and a TFL assist.
 The Cyclones led 21-0 at the half despite possessing the ball for only 4:13 out of 24 minutes, running just 14 plays and being flagged for five penalties. And in truly bizarre fashion, they finished the first two quarters without a single rushing attempt.

Full story in Oct. 19 Harlan Tribune

Harlan Community 42, Creston 0
    HCHS: Connor Frame 33-yd. pass from Teagon Kasperbauer (Stephen Leinen kick) - 2nd qt., 9:21.
 HCHS: Frame 10-yd. pass from Kasperbauer (Leinen kick) - 2nd qt., 6:16.
 HCHS: Aidan Hall 75-yd. pass from Kasperbauer (Leinen kick) - 2nd qt., 1:37.
 HCHS: Hall 10-yd. run (Leinen kick) - 3rd qt., 9:19.
 HCHS: William Kenkel 2-yd. run (Leinen kick) - 4th qt., 2:35.
 HCHS: Brad Curren 28-yd. INT return (Leinen kick) - 4th qt., 1:49.

Creston                          HCHS
12          First Downs          17
44-75    Rush att.-Yards    16-79
84         Passing Yards       298
159       Total Yards            377
7-15-1   Comp.-Att.-Int.     17-25-3
0-0        Fumbles-lost        1-1
4-35.5    Punts-avg.           0-0
5-40       Penalties-yards    7-60

Harlan Community Individual Stat Leaders
    Rushing -- William Kenkel 9-62, Aidan Hall 7-17. Passing -- Teagon Kasperbauer 17-25-3, 298. Receiving -- Hall 4-97, Connor Frame 5-86, Jacob Birch 6-84, Joey Moser 2-31.
    Punt returns -- Moser 3-26. Kickoff return -- Moser 1-24. Kickoffs -- Stephen Leinen 7-391 (55.9), 4 touchbacks.
    Tackles -- Jameson Bieker 8s/4a, Lucas Stanley 4s/6a, Matthew Sorfonden 4s/6a, Joseph Fah 2s/4a, Zane Bendorf 0s/6a, Garrett Assmann 2s/3a, Alex Monson 2s/3a, Will McLaughlin 3s/1a, Hall 3s/0a, Brad Curren 0s/3a.
 Tackles for loss -- Bieker 3s/1a, Stanley 2s/1a, Monson 1s/2a, Assmann 1s/1a, Sorfonden 1s/0a, Bendorf 0s/1a. QB Sacks -- Bieker 3s/0a, Bendorf 0s/1a, Monson 0s/1a.
 Interception-return yards -- Curren 1-28 (TD).

 
 

 

Harlan Newspapers

1114 7th Street
P.O. Box 721
Harlan, IA 51537-0721

(800) 909-6397
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