The Ankeny football team didn’t need a heavy dose of Daniel Larmie on Friday night.
The leading rusher in Class 5A, Larmie scored the game’s first touchdown before the fifth-ranked Hawks relied on some other weapons and a strong defensive performance to beat Des Moines Roosevelt, 49-0, at Ankeny Stadium.
“We were trying to limit Larmie, and we had some guys step up into big positions,” said Ankeny quarterback Kael Roush, who completed 11-of-19 passes for 180 yards. “Larmie is the best running back in the state and teams know that, so showing that we can spread the ball around is really good for our offense.”
Roush passed for three touchdowns in the win, two of them to Andrew Brandhorst in the first half. He later found Nathan Richmond for another scoring toss late in the third quarter.
“It’s great to get another win,” said Brandhorst, who caught three passes for 67 yards. “We did think we could have success through the air. (Offensive coordinator Rob) Luther strives to be balanced on offense, but when we see a matchup we like, we want to attack it.”
Larmie entered the game with 427 yards rushing on 68 carries in the first two games. He was on pace to run the ball more than 300 times this season, which could have made it difficult to keep him healthy.
After scoring on a 4-yard run with 4 minutes 9 seconds left in the first quarter, Larmie was used sparingly the rest of the way. He finished with 91 yards on 16 carries.
“The coaches were talking and we were like, ‘Daniel’s not touching it 30 times tonight,'” said Ankeny coach Jeff Bauer. “We wanted to move it around, and that was good. We have some other guys who can make some plays, but we just kind of got comfortable when he’s getting 5 yards a carry. And then he got a helmet in the thigh like the third play of the game, so it was a little bit of a different night for him.”
Ankeny (2-1) quickly put the game out of reach following Larmie’s touchdown. Daniel Frazee recovered a Roosevelt fumble three plays later, then Roush lofted a 25-yard scoring pass to Brandhorst with 2:03 to go in the period.
“We tried to spread the ball around tonight to keep everyone fresh for our next games,” Brandhorst said. “We have a lot of weapons who all need touches, and I think Kael did a really good job of spreading the ball tonight.”
The Hawks needed just 8 more seconds to find the end zone again. On Roosevelt’s next play from scrimmage, La’Marious Clark picked off a pass near midfield and took it to the house for a pick-six.
“(Defensive coordinator Todd) McGhghy and the defensive staff do an awesome job of scouting and preparing our guys,” Bauer said. “Mars is special; he’s very special. He’s so instinctive. You can’t teach what he has.”
Things got worse for the Roughriders (1-2) when Ankeny’s Landon Hepp pounced on the ball on the ensuing onside kick. That led to an 11-yard touchdown run by Cooper McDowell on the opening play of the second quarter.
Mason Machan then passed to Hayden Carlson for a two-point conversion, extending the Hawks’ lead to 29-0.
“We had a good week of practice leading up to the game, and coach Luther had a good game plan for the week and we executed well,” Roush said. “We were trying to get a good lead on them, and it was fun to see some of the guys who work really hard during the week on scout team get some action. The scout team is awesome, and they work really hard.”
Roush connected with Brandhorst again for a 17-yard touchdown pass with 4:22 left in the period. That gave Ankeny a 36-0 advantage at halftime and put the running clock into effect.
Roush hit Richmond with a 1-yard scoring pass in the final minute of the third quarter. A long pass to Carlson set up the touchdown.
The Hawks later completed the scoring when Ben Fairchild recovered the ball in the end zone after a Roosevelt punt deflected off a lineman and went backwards.
“Obviously, we had some big plays,” Bauer said. “We played well defensively. Offensively, I thought we were a little sloppy. We had too many penalties for our liking. Things that we shouldn’t have messed up, but we did. We have lots of things to work on this week.”
Ankeny will now gear up for Friday’s annual Jag-Hawk showdown against Ankeny Centennial (2-1), which is coming off a 47-6 win over Des Moines Lincoln on Thursday at Mediacom Stadium in Des Moines. Running back JJ Morgan scored four touchdowns for the Jaguars for the second week in a row.
“It’s a real good matchup,” said Bauer, whose team will be looking to avenge last year’s 31-10 loss to Centennial. “They’re very good. Obviously, it’s two really good running backs, and both of them have to be among the top five in the state. And it’s a rivalry game, so it should be interesting. Hopefully, it’s a lot closer than last year.”
