Earlier this week, Ankeny Centennial co-head football coach Ryan Pezzetti lauded the experience of his team’s offensive line.
“We have five or six (players) on the line who have played before and that’s huge,” Pezzetti said. “That’s where the games are won or lost–in the trenches.”
He turned out to be prophetic.
Centennial’s Braeden Jackson rushed for 237 yards and three touchdowns, and the third-ranked Jaguars dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in the second half in a 31-10 victory over No. 2 Ankeny on Friday.
“They’re a physical team,” said Ankeny coach Jeff Bauer. “The story of the game was that we couldn’t stop their run, and we couldn’t run.”
The Jaguars avenged a pair of losses to their crosstown rival a year ago. They scored 28 unanswered points after Ankeny took a 10-3 lead in the second quarter.
Centennial was especially dominant in the third quarter, when it outgained the Hawks by a 183-28 margin. Jackson rushed for 130 yards in the third quarter alone, including scoring runs of 24 and 25 yards.
“They were driving on us,” Bauer said. “They’re a big, physical team.”
Ankeny, meanwhile, was held scoreless in the second half. The Hawks drove into Centennial territory three times in the fourth quarter, but one drive ended with a turnover on downs and the next two resulted in interceptions by the Jaguars’ Isaac Bruhl and Malachi Curvey.
Ankeny quarterback Luke Anderson completed 22-of-38 passes for 312 yards, but the Hawks were held to just 26 yards on the ground.
“I thought we protected pretty well,” Bauer said. “I don’t think Luke took a sack. But they’re physical, and they put some pressure on us. We had a few big plays, but we just couldn’t sustain things.”
Ankeny appeared to have the momentum when Anderson fired a 79-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Brandhorst on the first play of the second quarter, giving the Hawks a 7-3 lead.
An interception by LaMarious Clark on Centennial’s next play from scrimmage then led to a 30-yard field goal by Ryan Harrington with 10 minutes 2 seconds left in the first half.
But Ankeny was unable to finish its drives the rest of the way.
“I thought Luke did a nice job tonight,” Bauer said. “He threw the ball up. We were close on that one (pass) right before the half. If we hit that one and go up, then maybe they can’t run like they did.”
Brandhorst caught six passes for 136 yards in the loss. Owen Fischer had four catches for 100 yards, and Evan Irlmeier added eight receptions for 55 yards.
But the Jaguars held Ankeny’s running back duo of Daniel Larmie and Caden Henkes to a combined 34 yards on 15 carries. The Hawks’ longest run was a gain of 7 yards by Larmie on their first drive in the third quarter.
“We’ve been here before,” Bauer said. “We just have to make some adjustments and come back better next week.”
Ankeny will travel to No. 4 Southeast Polk on Friday for a rematch of last year’s Class 5A championship game, which was won by the Rams, 49-21. Southeast Polk (0-1) opened its season with a 20-17 loss to No. 1 Valley.
