There wasn’t much belief in the Ankeny Centennial football team following the Jaguars’ 42-13 loss at Indianola in their season opener.
But the players in the locker room never lost faith in themselves.
“We just had some small mistakes that we had to fix,” said Centennial senior Trey Porter.
Porter intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble, while quarterback Peyton Goode ran for two touchdowns to lead the Jaguars to a stunning 14-7 victory over second-ranked Ankeny on Friday at Ankeny Stadium. The win avenged last year’s 48-6 loss to the Hawks, who went on to capture the Class 4A state title.
“It feels amazing,” said Goode, who ran for 70 yards and passed for 103 more. “We took a hard loss last week, but our team rallied together this week and the team did a great job–on defense and offense.”
The win allowed Centennial co-head coach Jerry Pezzetti to tie the all-time record for coaching victories. He now shares the mark with Dick Tighe with 432 wins.
“It feels great,” said Ryan Pezzetti, who co-coaches the team along with his father. “This is a reflection on our coaching staff and our kids on what they put in this summer. Last week wasn’t what we expected and what we wanted. That team we put out there tonight is what we expected and wanted for the year. We’re excited obviously, and we’re going to enjoy it tonight.”
The Jaguars (1-1) took advantage of Ankeny’s mistakes to pull off the biggest upset in the history of the crosstown rivalry. The Hawks (1-1) committed several costly penalties and twice turned the ball over deep in Centennial territory.
Ankeny’s Colin Kadolph rushed for 224 yards on 34 carries, but it wasn’t enough.
“We just had too many mental errors,” Kadolph said.
A 29-yard run by Kadolph late in the first quarter put the Hawks in position to take the lead. But a pass from quarterback JJ Kohl, who transferred from Centennial to Ankeny after last season, was picked off by Porter in the end zone on the first play of the second quarter.
“They thought they were No. 2, but we proved them wrong,” Porter said. “We played great defense. (We’re an) army of 11 right here.”
The Jaguars sputtered on offense until midway through the second quarter, when Goode fired a 48-yard pass to Chase Schutty to ignite an 87-yard scoring drive. Goode capped the drive with an 8-yard scramble for the touchdown.
“They had a good game plan,” Ankeny coach Rick Nelson said of the Jaguars. “We figured they’d go back to their bread and butter (on offense), and their kids played hard. They didn’t look anything like they did against Indianola, and I figured that.”
On Centennial’s next possession, Goode spun out of a tackle at the line of scrimmage and dashed 36 yards to the Ankeny 33 to set up another score. Five plays later, Goode ran 6 yards over the left side to give the Jaguars a 14-0 lead with 3 minutes 42 seconds left in the first half.
“Everyone in the state said that we couldn’t do it, but as a team we knew we could do it and we did it,” Goode said.
Ankeny had a chance to gain some momentum late in the half, when the Hawks forced a punt and took over at Centennial’s 37-yard line. But after running for an apparent first down, Kadolph fumbled the ball and Porter recovered at the Jaguars’ 26.
“We shocked them early, got up and were in their heads,” Porter said.
Kadolph ran for 101 yards in the first half, then opened the third quarter with eight consecutive carries as Ankeny marched down the field. However, the drive ended with a turnover on downs at the Centennial 30.
“We honestly thought we were going to do a 50/50 split (between running and passing), but I’m not complaining,” Kadolph said.
On their next possession, the Hawks drove 69 yards in 12 plays and pulled to within 14-7 when Kadolph ran 10 yards for a touchdown with 1:10 left in the third quarter. Kadolph had eight carries for 58 yards on the drive, which included an offsides penalty against Centennial on fourth-and-2 that gave Ankeny an automatic first down.
“I was exhausted, but I just had to keep persevering,” Kadolph said.
After the two teams traded punts, Centennial took over at its 4-yard line early in the fourth quarter. The Jaguars then methodically drove down the field, using an 18-play possession to nearly run out the clock.
Goode ran for one first down and passed to Jackson Wyble for another. He was shoved out of bounds for a 5-yard loss on one play, but Ankeny was called for a personal foul penalty that again moved the chains.
“I don’t know what the penalties were, but I guess we’re leading the state in something,” Nelson said. “We just didn’t play very well.”
With about 2 minutes left, Carter Cahill ran for 4 yards on fourth-and-2 to pick up a huge first down at the Hawks’ 28. Ankeny eventually got a stop, forcing a 42-yard field-goal attempt by Brooks Wee that came up short with 1:11 remaining, but had to burn all of its timeouts in the process.
“Did you see that last quarter?” Porter asked. “(We had an) 11-minute drive. I have never seen something like that from our team. We are just going to get better and better each week.”
The Hawks advanced to midfield in the final minute before Kohl completed a 12-yard pass to Derek Johnson at Centennial’s 38-yard line. Kohl then spiked the ball to stop the clock with 17 seconds left.
After throwing two incomplete passes, Kohl dropped back on fourth down and then heaved a pass to the end zone that was batted down by Porter as time expired.
“I knew exactly where it was going,” Porter said. “JJ’s eyes–he looked straight to the receiver (Brady McCullough). I was backpedaling and I looked up and saw the ball, and I did what I do. I knocked it down.”
Ankeny finished with 295 total yards, 31 more than the Jaguars. Zach English made nine tackles to lead Centennial’s defensive effort.
Kohl completed 8-of-23 passes for 66 yards against his former team.
“My hat’s off to those guys. They did a nice job defensively,” Nelson said of the Jaguars. “We’ve got to figure out our passing game–what we can do and what JJ feels comfortable (with).”
