Cadets pull away from Bulldogs

HAMPTON — Iowa Falls-Alden scored three unanswered after the Bulldogs pulled ahead momentarily in this Class 2A District 3 football game on the way to a 39-20 win on Friday, Sept. 18.

Karson Sharar ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Samuel Off added two more touchdown passes and ran for another as the Cadets improved to 3-1.

Coach Andy Bruemmer’s squad fell to 1-3 overall, but the coach is concerned with the preparation for the remainder of his schedule and beyond.

“We’re going to continue to prepare to win every single week,” Bruemmer said he told his team afterward. “It’s not that we prepared badly, we have to keep preparing to win every single week.”

When IF-A took the 6-0 lead in the first quarter, the Bulldogs came right back with a six-play drive that ended with a 30-yard pass play to Max O’Dell from Cal Heeren. Jordan Severs’ kick gave the Bulldogs the 7-6 lead for what lasted only two and a half minutes.

O’Dell went on to catch another 41-yard pass from Will Sackville late for two of the Bulldogs’ three scores.

The other score was an impressive 97-yard touchdown catch-and-run created by Marco Guerrero’s footwork. It broke a 42-year-old school mark previously held by Heeren to Wyatt Sutter for 95 in a game last year at Clarion-Goldfield. The record before that was held by Lon Hand to Duane Brass for 93 yards in a 1978 game against Rockford.

“Cal may have broken a school record on that one (the 97-yard touchdown catch-and-run),” Bruemmer said. “Max O’Dell, who can play gets another nice (catch and) run. Those are all things to get excited about, to look at and to build on.

“I liked the fire that we did…we kept fighting and a lot of things that we did well was after we got down by a couple of touchdowns. And then, Marco has a nice run after a catch.”

However, after IF-A gained the lead, it tacked on another quickly on an interception of Heeren deep in Bulldog territory. It took just four plays for the Cadets to tack on with a 33-yard pass play from Off to Nathan Frohwein.

The Bulldogs prevented another drive from going anywhere with a fumble recovery by Kale Folkerts, one of three by the home defense. Later, Braden Hansen had another and Mario De La Cruz recovered a fumble that ended the long IF-A beginning drive.

Logan Pfeffer also intercepted Off on fourth-and-goal from the four that eventually led to the Bulldogs’ long touchdown pass from Heeren to Guerrero.

“I just think the guys up front fought hard. We had a couple of breakdowns, but our line is coming together,” Bruemmer said, “they are getting better and I can’t wait until October and see how far we go in the playoffs.”

And Bruemmer spent some time talking about preparing for the remaining schedule.

“It goes back to the little things, the blocking, the tackling, the team football,” Bruemmer said. “It’s those things…It’s going to come to the mental side of the game, mentally getting ready to play football, I think we were there tonight. We had some lapses and I agree with one of our assistant coaches, coach (Cole) Miller, on the headsets, ‘if we could ever put together three or four drives, three or four quarters, we’re going to be a dangerous football team.’

“He’s right. We’ve got talent, I’m going to go look at the film, evaluate what we’re going to make changes and we’ll be all right.”

Iowa Falls-Alden 39

Bulldogs 20

IF-A          13     13       0     13        -     39

H-D              7       0       7       6        -     20

Scoring summary

First quarter

IF-A — Nathan Frohwein 7 pass from Samuel Off. (Kick blocked) 5:59

H-D — Max O’Dell 30 pass from Cal Heeren. (Jordan Severs kick) 3:15

IF-A — Off 6 run (2-point conversion fail) 0:40

Second quarter

IF-A — Frohwein 34 pass from Off (Ivan Orozco kick) 8:49

IF-A — Karson Sharar 11 run. (Orozco kick) 0:26

Third quarter

H-D — Marco Guerrero 97 pass from Heeren. (Severs kick) 0:28

Fourth quarter

IF-A — Sharar 15 run (Orozco kick) 10:49.

IF-A — Blake Janssen 30 run (2-point conversion fail) 5:49.

H-D — O’Dell 41 pass from Will Sackville (kick blocked) 1:48

Rushing (Att-Tot-TD) — IF-A (Karson Sharar 25-146-2, Blake Janssen 8-109-1, Gabe Hadwiger 13-99-0, Samuel Off 6-29-1, Jackson Kobe 2-9-0); H-D (Logan Pfeffer 8-30-0, Bryan Flores 3-22-0).

Passing (Att-Comp-Yds-TD-INT) — IF-A (Off 11-17-117-2-1); H-D (Cal Heeren 11-23-203-2-1; Will Sackville 2-2-39-1-0; Flores 0-1-0-0-0).

Receiving (Catch-Yds-TD) — IF-A (Nathan Frohwein 3-42-2, Sam Weaver 3-42-0, Janssen 3-20-0, Mason Kent 2-13-0); H-D (Marco Guerrero 1-97-1, Max O’Dell 4-95-2, Jordan Severs 1-18-0, Tate Schmitt 2-17-0, Mario De La Cruz 2-10-0, Pfeffer 2-3-0, Zayden Erdman 1-2-0).

Tackles (Solo-Tot-TFL) — IF-A (Gage Pohlman 5-6-1, Sharar 5-5.5-1, Nic Warrington 5-5.5-0, Kaden Steffen 3-3.5-1, Riley Rankin 2-2.5-1). H-D (De La Cruz 6-13.5-1, Schmitt 4-7.5-3, Kale Folkerts 2-6-2, Guerrero 4-5-0, Cole Freerks 0-5-0, Zach DeVries 2-5-0, Sackville 3-4.5-0, Payton McNeal 1-4-2, Flores 2-3-0, Pfeffer 2-3-0, Alex Koch 1-3-0).

Sacks — None.

Fumble recoveries — IF-A (Rafe Bessman); H-D (De La Cruz, Braden Hansen, Folkerts).

Interceptions — IF-A (Mead Tomash); H-D (Pfeffer).

Kick returns — IF-A (Janssen 2-47, Tomash 2-16, Off 1-2); H-D (Guerrero 2-48, O’Dell 2-20).

Punt returns — IF-A (Sharar 2-40, Janssen 3-30); H-D, None.

Kickoffs — IF-A (Orozco 7-243); H-D (Severs 4-174).

Punting — IF-A (Sharar 1-35); H-D (Severs 7-238).