Ankeny Centennial’s Trenton Smith still remembers walking off the UNI-Dome field after a first-round loss to Cedar Falls in last year’s Class 5A football playoffs.
“That (game) was definitely in the back of our minds this whole week,” said Smith. “It was a pretty sour loss, and I think all of our guys kind of rallied. They knew this was a statement game, and we wanted to get it done.”
Nobody made a bigger statement than Smith.
The senior quarterback passed for a school-record six touchdowns to lead the Jaguars to a 42-13 victory over sixth-ranked Cedar Falls on Friday at Ankeny Stadium. Chase Schutty and Elijah Porter each had two scoring catches in the win.
“I expected us to be balanced,” said Smith, who completed 18-of-21 passes for 287 yards. “I didn’t expect to have six touchdown passes, but I give all my credit to the backs and receivers and to the o-linemen. They put in the work every single day, and I just give them all the credit.”
Centennial (2-1) has won two straight games after opening the season with a double-overtime loss to Ankeny. Cedar Falls fell to 1-2.
“The way we started off in the first game, we just ran out of gas,” said Centennial co-head coach Ryan Pezzetti. “We got a little bit better last week, and we took a monumental step this week. That Cedar Falls is a great team. They’re going to win a lot of games, and they’ve got very good football players. We just played great and couldn’t be happier for our kids.”
The Jaguars scored touchdowns on six of their first seven possessions. The only time they didn’t score during that stretch came at the end of the first half, when Smith took a knee to run out the clock.
“We know being balanced is the key to victories with 5A football in the state,” Pezzetti said. “And we were balanced. Our running backs did a great job, and our receivers and Trenton did a great job.”
Centennial drove 90 yards in 13 plays to take a 7-0 lead with 2 minutes 22 seconds left in the first quarter. Smith capped the drive with a 5-yard scoring pass to Braeden Jackson on third-and-goal.
The Jaguars then forced a quick three-and-out as defensive end Isaiah Bassett sacked Cedar Falls quarterback Tate Hermansen on third-and-10 for the first of his two sacks.
“I just get off the ball as fast as I can and as hard as I can,” said Bassett, who finished with 4.5 tackles. “I get low, and I’ve got to get under the tackles. And then when I know it’s a pass, I get around them as fast as I can. Swat their hands down–just do whatever I can to get to that quarterback.”
Smith completed five straight passes for 53 yards on Centennial’s next scoring drive. He rolled to his left and fired a 25-yard touchdown pass to Lawson Langford with 7:14 remaining until halftime.
Smith, who threw 10 scoring passes in 10 games a year ago, was just getting warmed up. On the Jaguars’ next possession, he threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Porter, who started the drive with a 25-yard run.
Cedar Falls finally got on the scoreboard with 13 seconds left in the half, when Hermansen threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Cade Courbat. But the Tigers’ momentum didn’t last long.
Centennial needed just three plays from scrimmage to score again in the third quarter. Porter raced 36 yards to the Cedar Falls 31, then Smith found Schutty with a pass to the end zone on the next play.
Those two teamed up again for a 27-yard scoring pass on fourth-and-6, giving the Jaguars a 35-7 lead with 4:38 to go in the third quarter. Porter then caught a 20-yard touchdown pass less than 2 minutes later to put the running clock into effect.
Porter ran 13 times for 128 yards and caught five passes for 87 yards. Langford had five catches for 69 yards.
“We have lots of weapons, and we should use them every week,” Smith said.
Hermansen scored on a 6-yard run with 8:05 left in the game, but Cole Pieper then intercepted a pass on the Tigers’ two-point conversion attempt. Pieper also led the Jaguars with 11.5 tackles.
Cedar Falls was held to just two scoring drives after racking up 377 yards in a 35-21 win over Johnston a week ago. Hermansen completed 9-of-11 passes for 110 yards, but the Tigers rushed for just 155.
“We were just playing as a team,” Bassett said. “The first game we lost, we didn’t play as a team. We made mistakes, and we let up. This game, we used the anger from the first game and the win from the second game against Ames to just really drive the team forward. Also, the fact that Cedar Falls statistically is a pretty good team, and they’re always strong and they do everything they need to. We just knew this game was going to be a bloodbath, we knew this game was going to be hard, and we just came in and used our momentum against them.”
The Jaguars will play at two-time defending Class 5A champion Southeast Polk (3-0) on Friday. The Rams are coming off a 42-7 win over Cedar Rapids Prairie.
“We just want to keep things rolling,” Smith said.
