(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
The Ankeny football team just couldn’t find a way to get its offense and defense to sync up in a top-five showdown.
As fourth-ranked Ankeny’s offense started to get going in the second half, so did No. 5 Johnston and the Dragons were able to pull out a 30-21 victory on Friday at Ankeny Stadium.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” said Ankeny coach Jeff Bauer. “Offense really struggled in the first half. We came out in the second half, had some good drives and scored two touchdowns. The defense disappointed the second half because what we’ve done all year, we didn’t do. We had a lead with under 4 minutes to go and couldn’t hold it.”
It was a tale of two halves for Ankeny’s offense and defense as they struggled to get on the same page.
Early on, both defenses dominated as the two teams combined for three punts and a turnover on downs on the game’s first four drives before the Dragons were able to put points on the board first.
Johnston relied heavily on junior running back Emri Jones and senior receiver Tino Daye to find ways to beat a strong Ankeny defense, and they were ultimately able to get the Dragons down the field before Trevin Helming found Henry Clevenger for a 16-yard touchdown pass.
The Hawks kept it within striking distance, though, by forcing a pair of punts on Johnston’s next two possessions.
Ankeny standout La’Marious Clark then came through with another big play.
The Dragons threatened to take a 10-0 lead going into halftime with a 34-yard field-goal attempt with 3 seconds left. Clark not only blocked the kick, but he scooped up the ball for a house call to tie the game at 7-7 going into the break.
“(Clark) is huge,” Bauer said of the senior defensive back’s impact on the team. “He’s so solid and so good. He’s instinctive, he competes and he gets his hands on the ball all of the time. Blocked field goal and runs it back and gets an interception. He was all-state last year, and he’s definitely one of the best in the state.”
The Hawks were able to carry that momentum into the second half when the offense was finally able to break through on its second drive of the third quarter.
Daniel Larmie recorded his game-long run of 16 yards to set up a quick toss from Kael Roush to Andrew Brandhorst, who broke free from a defender to take the ball in for a 20-yard touchdown connection.
“We knew we had to start opening it up and throwing the ball a little bit more,” Bauer said. “I thought Roush had a good second half and made some nice throws. Andrew Brandhorst, obviously, is very good.”
But from there, the offense and defense just couldn’t build off each other’s momentum.
Johnston was able to tie the game up at 14-14 on a one-handed snag from Daye on third-and-goal from the Ankeny 3, and the Hawks answered with a punt.
Clark added to his standout game with an interception that put the Hawks in Dragon territory, but the drive ended with a 49-yard field-goal attempt from Canden Ganahl that bounced off the crossbar.
“It was a total team loss,” Bauer said. “Special teams were really good. It’s too bad that 49 and a half yard field goal wasn’t just 48 (yards).”
The Dragons were able to drive and took the lead on a 25-yard field goal by Ricky Solis Downing, which was answered by a huge drive from Ankeny’s offense that saw Roush convert on 4th-and-9 in Hawks’ territory before finding Brandhorst on a 17-yard touchdown connection.
Ankeny just needed one stop, but Johnston was able to work its way down the field and capped off the drive with a 32-yard touchdown run by Jones to give the Dragons a 24-21 lead with under 2 minutes left.
The Hawks’ bid for a fifth straight win ended when Roush was stopped inches short of a first down on a 4th-and-4 keeper from their 26-yard line. Johnston burned off the rest of the time on the clock with a final play jump ball going to Daye for a 26-yard touchdown.
Daye finished with 12 catches for 138 yards. Jones racked up 219 yards on the ground on 41 carries.
“(Jones and Daye) are good, and we’ll see more talent like that in a couple weeks against Valley,” Bauer said. “You play in 5A, and you’ll come across (that talent) often.”
One of the biggest downsides of the Hawks’ loss did ultimately provide a silver lining for the team moving forward.
Larmie has been a workhorse for Ankeny after racking up just under 900 yards and seven touchdowns running the ball in its first five games.
But the Dragons kept Larmie in check on Friday.
Larmie rushed for only 46 yards on 14 carries, and that was just one of the struggling pieces with the offense.
However, once the Hawks were able to get the ball moving in the second half and put up a couple of scoring drives, they proved to themselves that the offense doesn’t have to fully rely on their standout running back to carry a massive workload.
“That’s probably one of the good things that probably (came from this game),” Bauer said. “We (got the offense going) in the second half without getting Daniel running, and that’s a good thing. Teams aren’t going to keep letting us run Daniel 35 times a game for 200 yards. That might be the hidden blessing here.”
While the Dragons improved to 5-1 with their fourth consecutive win, Ankeny dropped to 4-2 on the season. The Hawks are still firmly in the Class 5A playoff picture, but they know that there’s still plenty of room to grow before they reach that point.
“We’re not as good as we thought we were. We’re going to have to work a little bit harder in practice this week and self-assess,” Bauer said. “We’ll be back. This isn’t the end of the year, but we can’t be satisfied being who we are right now.”
The Hawks will go on the road for a potential bounce-back game at Ames (1-5) on Friday. The Little Cyclones are coming off a 28-21 win over Council Bluffs Lincoln.
