Two of the state’s top defensive units were on display Friday night at Ankeny Stadium.
In the end, the fourth-ranked Ankeny football team made just enough plays to hold on for a 26-20 victory over previously unbeaten Sioux City East. It was the Class 5A District 3 opener for the Hawks (4-1), who survived an onside kick with 20 seconds left to extend their winning streak to four games.
“Our defense played so well for almost three quarters,” said Ankeny coach Jeff Bauer. “Offensively, we played well. I just thought the fourth quarter we relaxed. We weren’t aggressive. We were passive, and it wasn’t pretty.”
Ankeny built a 26-0 lead before Sioux City East (4-1) staged a furious rally behind quarterback Cal Jepsen, who completed 26-of-49 passes for 316 yards and two touchdowns. He scrambled to his right and threw a 27-yard scoring pass to Tanner Boonstra on the final play of the third quarter to spark the Black Raiders’ rally.
The Hawks got a fourth-down sack from Hunter Minner midway through the final period that appeared to seal the win, but East forced a punt and then drove 74 yards in nine plays for another score. Amos Collins ran 3 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 26-13 with 1 minute 56 seconds left.
Aden Howard picked off a pass from Jepsen on the Black Raiders’ next possession, but Ankeny was again forced to punt and East quickly drove down the field in the final minute. Jepsen fired a 37-yard touchdown pass to Chris Ford to make it a one-score game.
However, on the ensuing onside kick, the Black Raiders booted the ball out of bounds. That allowed Ankeny to run out the clock–and breathe a sigh of relief.
“He’s a gunslinger,” Bauer said of Jepsen. “He’s a good football player, and they competed. They have some dudes. They’re a good football team, and for us to shut them out as long as we did was pretty cool. We were flying to the ball, and we tackled well. And then we stopped playing balls in the air like we should have, and we missed a couple of sacks that we shouldn’t have.”
East outgained the Hawks by a 240-93 margin in the second half. The Black Raiders finished with 357 total yards, 95 more than Ankeny.
Boonstra had eight catches for 157 yards. Ford caught nine passes for 96 yards.
Both offenses struggled to get going in the first half, but the Hawks eventually won the battle of field position and took a 19-0 halftime lead. A long punt return by La’Marious Clark early in the second quarter led to the game’s first points on a 33-yard field goal by Canden Ganahl.
“We needed a good spark,” said Clark. “It’s homecoming, and there was a lot of anxiety going on. I want to touch the ball as many times as I can, and those punt returns are a way for them to let me have that opportunity. I think it helped us out a lot.”
After a 4-yard punt by the Black Raiders, Ankeny extended its lead to 6-0 on another field goal by Ganahl. This one was a 24-yarder with 6:24 left in the half.
An interception by Grant Fischer on East’s next possession gave the Hawks another short field. Kael Roush then tossed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Brandhorst to make it 12-0 with 4:41 to go.
“We game planned all week,” Clark said of the team’s defensive performance. “We had a good week of practice, and it showed.”
After an East punt was partially blocked, Ankeny then drove 59 yards in six plays right before halftime. The Hawks scored again with 6 seconds left when Brandhorst caught a backwards pass from Roush and then threw 7 yards to Hayden Carlson in the corner of the end zone.
“That’s a little piece of the puzzle we’ve been looking for,” Brandhorst said. “We drew it up, and it worked. It was awesome to do that.”
Ankeny running back Daniel Larmie had another big game, rushing for 163 yards on 33 carries. The homecoming king scored on a 3-yard run with 1:57 left in the third quarter for what proved to be the winning touchdown.
“It’s good to beat a 4-0 team,” Brandhorst said. “Anytime you can do that, it’s going to be awesome.”
The Hawks will face another huge test when they host No. 7 Johnston on Friday. The Dragons (4-1) have won three straight games, including a 27-24 victory over once-beaten Iowa City Liberty on Sept. 19.
