(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
Friday night’s showing in Waukee might have been one of the top defensive performances Ankeny coach Jeff Bauer has seen during his tenure at the helm of the Hawks’ program.
Ankeny marched into Waukee Stadium, locked the Warriors down on their home turf and walked away with a 26-13 victory for the Hawks’ first win of the season.
“It’s one of the best,” Bauer said of his team’s defensive performance. “Our defense was lights out. They ran to the ball, they made tackles, they were intense.”
The Hawks were feeling confident in a bounce-back game after they had the season opener against Waukee Northwest slip right through their fingers during the fourth quarter.
Needing a win in order to avoid an 0-2 hole to start the season, the Ankeny defense answered the bell in a big way.
The Hawks held Waukee scoreless for three quarters and didn’t allow a touchdown to the Warriors’ offense until there was only a minute left on the clock with an Ankeny victory already imminent.
“(The defense) did a great job,” Bauer said. “Waukee scored the first one on a kickoff and then we were playing prevent there on the last (touchdown). But (the defensive performance) was awesome.”
The Hawks set the tone on the very first drive of the game when Nathan Jenkins and Logan Wirtz denied Waukee quarterback Beckett Bakker on a 4th-and-1 from midfield for an early turnover on downs.
Waukee (0-2) thought it had a chance to potentially tie or take the lead from the Hawks in the second quarter when the Warriors drove the ball down to Ankeny’s 20-yard line.
La’Marious Clark led the Hawks with five interceptions during his Class 5A first-team junior season, and the now-senior defensive back ended that Warrior drive by undercutting Bakker’s pass for his first interception of the year.
“I saw a flood concept and the out (route Bakker) was looking at it, so I came down on it,” Clark said.
But no defensive showing shined brighter than the gut punch delivered in tandem with Ankeny’s offense in the second half.
Waukee had a chance to keep it a one-possession game and managed to put together a long drive in large part thanks to a big sideline catch on third down from four-star Texas A&M commit Evan Jacobson.
Once the Warriors got inside Ankeny’s 10-yard line, the Hawks had every answer for them.
On fourth-and-goal from the 3, the Hawks stopped them just short of the goal line for another turnover on downs.
“It was really big,” Clark said of the goal-line stand. “Our corner had to go out for a few plays, and I had to go to corner. Our (defense) dialed up a play, and it worked to perfection.”
Then Ankeny’s offense responded by driving the ball 99 yards back down the other way to put things out of reach.
Quarterback Kael Roush got them the initial first down on a scramble before Daniel Larmie broke off a 52-yard run to put them into Warrior territory. Roush ultimately capped things off by connecting with leading receiver Andrew Brandhorst from 2 yards out.
“We were the better team tonight, and we won in the trenches,” Larmie said after recording 186 yards and one touchdown on 31 carries. “That’s where the game is won, and I thought we pushed a lot more than they did.”
The first points of the night scored by the Warriors came right after on a kick return touchdown by Jai White, and the Warriors had another chance to make things close after forcing a turnover on downs.
Ankeny’s defense flashed again with Jensen Kildow recovering a fumble on the first play of a drive that could’ve pulled the game back to one possession with 4 minutes to play.
Instead, the Hawk offense got back on the field and Larmie put the dagger in on a 3-yard rushing touchdown with under 2 minutes left to play.
“It felt so good (to score the touchdown) because I was cramping at the end, and I just wanted to get off the field,” Larmie said. “Coach (Rob) Luther called up a really good play. The new offensive coordinator, we love him.”
The Hawks continue to see some good things behind their workhorse back in Larmie, first-year quarterback in Roush, and plenty of returning experience in the trenches and out wide.
Roush scored a pair of rushing touchdowns on the goal line, one during the first quarter and another in the third. He also threw the passing touchdown to Brandhorst in the final period.
One of the big things they’re still working on is cutting down on some of the mistakes that could prove costly during the season as the Hawks left some points out on the field in the first half.
Ankeny was already dealing with not having the services of kicker Canden Ganahl due to injury, which resulted in a missed PAT after the first touchdown of the game.
Then the second drive made it into Waukee territory, but ended on back-to-back holding and sideline penalties that pushed the Hawks too far back.
“It was a total team thing on both sides,” Bauer said. “The defense played well all night and the offense played well, but we shot ourselves in the foot in the first half with some penalties. Six (penalties) was way too many, so there’s a lot of room for improvement.“
Another holding penalty wiped away a touchdown pass from Roush to Owen Fischer right before halftime, much like the pass to Brandhorst at the end of the Northwest game. It ended with the Hawks missing a field goal and going into half with just a 6-0 lead instead of a two-touchdown advantage.
The Hawks know that once they can get some of the early season mistakes cleaned up, they can be a dangerous team to match up against in Class 5A.
Ankeny (1-1) now has a prime opportunity to move above the .500 mark when the Hawks come home to Ankeny Stadium to host Des Moines Roosevelt (1-1) on Friday. The Roughriders opened their season with a 28-16 loss to Des Moines Lincoln before defeating Des Moines East, 41-33, for their first win of the year.
