(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
There’s no doubt that the Jaguars wanted to knock off Dowling Catholic at Valley Stadium last Friday, but there was just simply no time to dwell on their triple-overtime loss.
Instead, Ankeny Centennial kept its sights set on reaching the postseason and it resulted in a 45-3 bounce-back victory over visiting Des Moines Roosevelt on Friday.
“We played well,” said Centennial co-head coach Ryan Pezzetti, whose 14th-ranked team improved to 5-2 on the season. “Whenever you have a defeat like (the Dowling game), you always want to make sure you don’t have that one game hanging over you. We played well–at times we didn’t–but overall as a team, we played really well tonight.”
Centennial knew not to overlook a Roughriders team that started its season with a big win over Des Moines Lincoln before putting up 28 points the following week against Ottumwa, the current No. 6 team in Class 5A.
But with a strong defensive showing by the Jaguars, mixed with some forced changes at quarterback for Roosevelt, there was little the Roughriders could do to consistently move the ball.
Senior defensive back Cael Woods set the tone early for Centennial’s eventual 42-point victory.
With Roosevelt facing 3rd-and-8 on the game’s opening drive, Woods intercepted a pass at the Roughrider 27-yard line, sprinted along the sideline and dove to break the plane for a pick-6–his second of the season.
“I was dropping back and kind of baited the receiver a little bit,” Woods said. “I saw the ball coming and said, ‘Oh shoot, it’s coming.’ My friend (Adis Hambasic) came in and smoked me, so I’m surprised I even caught it.”
Outside of a missed field goal attempt in the final seconds of the game, the lone scoring threat Roosevelt had followed a 61-yard pass completion in the first quarter, which led to a successful 25-yard field goal.
Centennial forced Roosevelt to punt the ball away six times and also forced a turnover on downs late in the game with backup units in to close things out.
The Jaguars also benefited from Roosevelt’s injuries at the quarterback position. Starter Ty Scott managed to dodge some pressure and attempted to absorb a big hit near the sideline from linebacker Reed Anderson, but ultimately exited the game with an apparent lower body injury.
Roughrider senior running back Eddie Fulton stepped up to try to lead the Roosevelt offense with an option game, but also got banged up on a run during the third quarter with an apparent ankle injury.
“Roosevelt plays hard, and they’ve always got good kids. It’s a rich tradition down there,” Pezzetti said. “They take pride in who they are and what they do. They played hard from start to finish.”
Rylan Mallory closed the game out for Roosevelt, but there wasn’t much for the senior receiver to do to make any kind of comeback against the Jaguar defense in the second half.
Offensively, Centennial saw another big night from senior running back Braeden Jackson, who recorded his fourth three-touchdown game of the season.
Jackson had 53 of his eventual 158 rushing yards on the Jaguars’ first offensive drive, which ended with his 14-yard touchdown run. His second score on the ground came on a 67-yard sprint to the end zone in the third quarter.
Jackson also caught one of the two touchdown passes thrown by senior quarterback Chase Kluver. Kluver found Jackson by lobbing a ball up with pressure coming in and having the ball drop right into Jackson’s arms on the goal line for a 21-yard touchdown connection.
That score came two drives after Kluver found junior tight end Kane Brooks on a 27-yard touchdown connection in the second quarter.
Ryan Bendezu connected on his only field goal attempt of the night, which came from 38 yards out. He was perfect on point after attempts.
The Jaguars are looking to carry the momentum from their victory into next Friday’s game at Waukee Northwest. The Wolves (3-4) exploded for 65 points on Friday in a win over previously unbeaten Ottumwa.
“We just focus on the next game,” Woods said. “One game at a time. There’s more season ahead of us, but take it one week at a time. This game is done and in the past. Now we’re working toward Northwest.”
