(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
Ankeny football coach Jeff Bauer just wanted to see his squad execute and handle business coming off the Hawks’ loss to Johnston in a top-five showdown a week ago.
And by the end of the first quarter on Friday in Ames, the Hawks were already pushing for a running clock.
Seventh-ranked Ankeny got the bounce-back win and a nice tune-up for its upcoming game against No. 4 Valley by dominating the Little Cyclones on every side of the ball in a 55-3 victory.
“I didn’t tell them anything about score or what we were expecting,” said Bauer, whose team improved to 5-2 on the season. “I told them we have to execute, get better and we executed pretty well tonight.”
Ankeny’s offense put together seven drives ending with touchdowns. Running back Daniel Larmie ran for three scores, while quarterback Kael Roush passed to Owen Fischer for two more and caught a pass from Fischer for another.
The bulk of the damage came in just the first quarter when Ankeny scored four of its eight touchdowns, three of which came in a span of 60 seconds in game time.
Larmie wasted little time getting the Hawks going after breaking a run outside and taking it 48 yards for a touchdown on the game’s opening drive. He ended the night with 10 rushes for 142 yards.
After one of just two first-half punts by the Hawks, Roush rolled out and found a wide-open Fischer for a 6-yard touchdown connection and the first of the season for the senior receiver.
“I’ve been saying that Owen Fischer is a big-time player, and we just haven’t focused on getting him the ball and we did tonight,” Bauer said.
The Roush and Fischer duo, along with Larmie, put the game out of reach for the Little Cyclones with a little help from Ankeny’s special teams.
Ankeny recovered two kickoffs back-to-back after Fischer’s opening touchdown. The first was an onside kick up the middle that Ames wasn’t expecting, and the second came off a pooch kick that bounced past a Little Cyclone and was recovered by the Hawks near the sideline.
The trickery wasn’t done as the Hawks made it 21-0 by having Fischer throw it to Roush for a 15-yard touchdown following the onside kick.
Larmie found his way into the end zone from 10 yards out for his second score to make it 28-0 before the end of the first quarter.
Both the Roush and Fischer duo and Larmie would collect their third touchdowns of the night in the second quarter to lead Ankeny into half with a 42-3 lead. Larmie scored from 3 yards out before Roush went back to throwing the ball to an open Fischer before the half ended.
“I thought Kael took another step,” Bauer said. “It’s all about taking steps with him and when he gets up where he needs to be, I really feel like he’s going to be special. He’s been getting better each week.”
Sophomore Cooper McDowell scored the offense’s last touchdown of the game on the first drive of the second half when he leaped over a downed defender and followed his blocks for a 44-yard scamper into the end zone.
Ankeny ended the night with 263 rushing yards, while Roush completed 13-of-17 passes for 145 yards. The Hawks had eight different receivers catch a pass for 173 yards. Fischer led the way with six receptions for 72 yards.
On the other side of the ball, the Hawk defense forced three turnovers and turned one of them into a touchdown.
Ankeny forced the Little Cyclones to punt three times in the first half and tallied its first of three interceptions late in the second quarter.
“We had to clean up some things and get to some things that we needed to improve on,” Bauer said. “We did that tonight, and that was the goal.”
As soon as Ames quarterback Jaydan Mitchell threw the ball, sophomore cornerback Grant Fischer knew he was in the right spot and intercepted the pass, which led to Roush hitting Owen Fischer for their third touchdown of the night.
Junior Dawson Whitinger put the final nail in the coffin in the third quarter with some assistance from senior corner Daniel Frazee.
Pressure applied to Mitchell by Frazee on a blitz forced a deep throw into double coverage by Whitinger and La’Marious Clark. Whitinger picked off the pass and returned it 27 yards for a pick-six.
Even when some of the backups started to take over, plays were still being made.
Ryleigh Egeberg immediately got the ball back for the Hawks following Whitinger’s touchdown. Mitchell’s pass over the middle went right to the junior linebacker for Egeberg’s first career interception.
“It’s good (to see the backups),” Bauer said. “You think you get to play all of the second half, but with the running clock it goes so fast and you only really get a couple opportunities.”
The defensive line kept constant pressure on Mitchell and backup Jonas Strosahl with senior Tyton Westemeier leading the way with two sacks.
A dominating win over the Little Cyclones (1-6) was just what the Hawks needed heading into their showdown against Valley on Friday at Ankeny Stadium.
The Tigers are sitting at 6-1 with wins over No. 2 Dowling Catholic and the No. 13 to 15 trio of Indianola, Ankeny Centennial and Waukee. They’re coming off a dominant 49-0 shutout over Sioux City North.
“It was a good game,” Bauer said. “We needed a game like this obviously heading into next week against a really good opponent like Valley.”
