AGWSR back gallops for 250 yards, five TDs against Clarksville

CLARKSVILLE — The recipe for AGWSR’s Jaden Penning was to the senior’s taste.

When you add an experienced and speedy three-time all-district running back to a solid line going up against a team just making its program return after a two-year hiatus into the mix.

Sprinkle in four key missing players already on the Indians’ side and the result was a 72-20 triumph for the Cougars over Clarksville on Friday, Aug. 29.

“We saw on film in their scrimmage last week that we thought all three of them (missing to start) were pretty good ball players,” AGWSR coach James Koop said. “If you lose three starters during the week…(no matter) why and it doesn’t matter, there’s so many different things, there’s injuries, there’s COVID, but any 8-Man team that loses three starters on both sides of the ball, that’s a huge hit.

“I really think Clarksville is a better team than what it looked like on the scoreboard. It’s just that they were missing three key components and didn’t even have a full week to prepare for that, so I think that would have been a big factor on the game tonight.”

Plus, on the very first play of the game from scrimmage, Isaac Backer fumbled the ball deep in the Indians’ territory where Darren Veld fell on it for a touchdown just 12 seconds into the game.

During that play, lineman Mason Raley left with an ankle sprain and didn’t return.

“It’s not broken, though, but he was in a lot of pain,” Clarksville coach Bob Goeller said. “(We had to) just go out and do the best we can. That’s all we can do. It took us a while, but we responded really well late in the second quarter, second half, started playing better; we came off the ball because we’re really young, not used to varsity speed and contact. It’s a totally different game than we’re used to.”

Goeller added that he wasn’t sure on the status on any of his four players who are out. He declined to say why they were unavailable, although all were on the sideline.

“All I know is tonight for sure,” Goeller said, “it’s out of my hands.”

Penning rambled for 250 yards and five touchdowns without touching the ball in the second half.

He did it all on just 12 carries.

“He, at halftime, thanked his line for blocking and Cale Culver at fullback,” Koop said. “That’s the type of kid he is, he’s a phenomenal athlete. He’s been a three-time all-district player.

“Jaden works hard and he’s a good leader, so all the good things that happen to him are great because he’s a great kid and he also works really hard to earn those things. Anytime you have a night like that, obviously your linemen have done a good job. I think we did a good job of maintaining blocks tonight and stuff like that for a first game.”

Goeller was not surprised by Penning’s play.

“I knew coming in they would be good,” Goeller said. “They are tough up front and an experienced team and they were almost in the playoffs last year, playoffs the year before. It was a test, for sure.”

After the ensuing kickoff, Isaac Backer returned the ball approximately 60 yards to score, but that was the last time the Indians saw the scoreboard in the first half and AGWSR took over.

Penning had long scoring runs of 66, 27, 70 and 32 to go along with a short field score in the first quarter. Four of his five touchdowns were in the opening period of play.

“We’re nowhere where we need to be to keep playing, because every game gets tougher every week,” Koop said, “but it was a good way to start the season.”

Clarksville fumbled eight times, four of which were recovered by AGWSR and two by Veld. All four recoveries directly led to scores for the Cougars. At halftime, unofficially the Indians had negative yards rushing, but finished with 35 carries for 60 yards to finish.

“We do ball drills almost every day, keep going back to them,” Goeller said. “Try to make it so, not quite live, but more realistic where guys are grabbing at the ball a little bit more. There’s a lot we can do. A lot to work on.”

Cale Culver added two scores with a 48-yard score to give the Cougars the lead for good.

“Our seniors played like seniors and that was important because we had two freshmen starting on offense and we had five guys that had never played varsity football at the position they were in,” Koop said, “and defensively, too, we had freshmen in a lot, so I thought the freshmen did a really good job and our underclassmen in general stepping into varsity roles. Good night.”

Goeller praised his team for not giving up and by outscoring AGWSR 14-6 in the second half. With a touchdown run by Cole Negen and a touchdown pass from McKade Bloker to Levi Kampman.

“Our guys played with a lot of heart, didn’t quit,” said Goeller. “They kept working and fighting and trying to keep things positive, so that’s good. You can’t ask for anything more than that. It makes it more enjoyable as a coach when you have kids who want to do that.”

AGWSR 72

Clarksville 20

AGWSR   44     22       6       0        -     72

Clarksville6       0       6       8        -     20

First quarter scoring

AGWSR — Darren Veld FR in end zone (Cale Culver run) 11:48

Clark — Isaac Backer 62 KO return (run fail) 11:34

AGWSR — Culver 48 run (run fail) 10:45

AGWSR — Jaden Penning 66 run (Bo Gerbracht run) 9:33

AGWSR — Penning 7 run (Culver run) 6:45

AGWSR — Penning 27 run (Culver run) 3:13

AGWSR — Penning 70 run (run fail) 0:27.7.

Second quarter scoring

AGWSR — Chase Harms 9 pass from Gerbracht (pass fail) 7:12.

AGWSR — Penning 32 run (Noah Cilkeman run) 4:11.

AGWSR — Harms 14 run (Cilkeman run) 0:46.5.

Third quarter scoring

AGWSR — Culver 41 run (run fail) 11:10.

Clark — Cole Negen 15 run (conversion fail) 4:20.

Fourth quarter scoring

Clark — Levi Kampman 1 pass from McKade Bloker (Negen run) 2:35.

Rushing (Att-Yds-TD) — AGWSR (Jaden Penning 12-250-5, Cale Culver 3-79-2, Noah Cilkeman 7-24-0, Chase Harms 1-14-1, Gabe Nederhoff 2-5-0, Ryley Bohner 1-3-0, Ben Puente 1-2-0); Clark (Isaac Backer 10-52-0, Cole Negen 13-19-1, McKade Bloker 6-8-0, Cooper Negen 2-(2)-0, Eli Schmidt 5-(6)-0).

Passing (Att-Comp-Yds-TD-INT) — AGWSR (Bo Gerbracht 1-1-9-1-0; Gabe Nederhoff 0-1-0-0-0); Clark (Cole Negen 1-1-15-1-0, Bloker 1-1-1-1-0, Cooper Negen 0-1-0-0-0).

Receiving (Att-Catches-TD) — AGWSR (Harms 1-9-1). Clark (Levi Kampman 2-16-1).

Tackles (Solo-Tot-TFL) — AGWSR (Zach Johnson 5-7-1, Penning 5-6.5-1.5, Cilkeman 6-6-0, Harms 4-5-0, Bohner 3-3.5-0); Clark, NA.

Sacks — AGWSR (Penning 1.5, Johnson, Tate Miller, Jared Granzow, Cade Rose); Clark, NA.

Fumble recoveries — AGWSR (Darren Veld 2, Gerbracht, Ben Reinke); Clark, None.

Interceptions — AGWSR, None; Clark, None.

Kick returns — AGWSR (Penning 2-24-0, Cilkeman 1-5-0); Clark (Backer 1-62-1).

Punt returns — AGWSR (Penning 2-18-0); Clark, NA.

Kickoffs — AGWSR (Harms 6-246, Penning 3-115, Culver 1-30, Aiden Heitland 1-30); Clark, NA.

Punting — AGWSR, None; Clark, NA.