(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
On a night when two of the top three football teams in Class 5A got beat, the 12th-ranked Ankeny Centennial Jaguars wanted to get in on the action of knocking off a top seed.
But Centennial just couldn’t find its footing offensively, and No. 2 Dowling Catholic took control in the second half as the Jaguars dropped to 4-4 on the season with a 27-10 loss on Friday at Valley Stadium.
“I thought our defense played great, and I thought our offense did some nice things too,” said Centennial co-head coach Ryan Pezzetti. “So we’ll have to build to where we’re trying to get at. We’re looking forward to week nine and the postseason.”
A lower seed knocking off a higher seed on Friday wouldn’t have been a big shock with No. 1 Waukee Northwest and No. 3 Valley both suffering losses.
The Wolves dropped a 31-28 decision to crosstown rival Waukee for their first loss of the season, while the Tigers went to Ankeny Stadium and fell 34-26 to No. 5 Ankeny.
And the Centennial defense tried its best to put the Jaguars in a position to force a third loss against a top-three team.
Will Morris set the tone early for Centennial when the senior linebacker intercepted Dowling quarterback Joey Nahas on the Maroons’ first drive of the game. The Jaguars then stopped Nahas on a scramble to force a punt on Dowling’s next drive.
“I thought our defense played really well, and that’s a building block going into week nine and the playoffs,” Pezzetti said.
It gave the Jaguars just enough time to capture the lead on a 34-yard field goal from junior kicker Noah Manning.
As the Maroons started to get their offense untracked, Centennial struggled to move the ball against a Dowling defense led by former Jaguar linebacker Carlos Blount Jr.
The Maroons took a 7-3 lead on a 1-yard scoring run by Ian Middleton, who rushed for 160 yards on 28 carries. Centennial immediately coughed the ball up after a completion from sophomore quarterback Brekken Miller.
Despite a sack from junior Nolan Bennett to force a Dowling punt, the Maroons closed out the half with a 24-yard field goal from Ryan Kuhn to make it 10-3.
“They’re a great defense and probably the best defense we’ve faced all year,” Pezzetti said of the Maroons. “You have to execute and do those things, and I thought we did.”
Centennial benefited from some timely penalty flags that wiped away two big Dowling touchdowns.
Iowa State commit Jeffrey Roberts took a slant route for a 93-yard touchdown that got nullified by an illegal formation in the first quarter. Sam Drexler had a 61-yard punt return touchdown erased by a blindside block in the second quarter.
Centennial wasn’t able to avoid the big plays altogether as a 46-yard reception from Roberts led to an 18-yard rushing touchdown from Middleton that put the Jaguars down by two scores in the third quarter.
Centennial had a chance to respond later in the period when the Jaguars had the ball on fourth-and-2 from Dowling’s 12-yard line. However, Miller’s pass attempt to Devan Goode fell just short for a turnover on downs.
Then, Brody Prill narrowly missed out on a pass breakup that opened the door for a 70-yard Preston Hofbauer touchdown that put the game out of reach.
“We had to finish and be consistent,” Pezzetti said. “I thought we were at times, but just not consistent enough. Dowling has some really good football players, and there’s no question about that. That’s how these games turn out sometimes.”
Dowling (7-1) has won seven straight games since opening the season with a 20-19 loss to Valley. The Maroons have allowed just 7.9 points per game during their winning streak, and on Friday they limited star running back JJ Morgan’s impact on the game.
Morgan, who came into the contest 100 yards shy of a 1,000-yard season with 13 touchdowns, had just 20 yards rushing in the fourth quarter when he was finally able to break off a big run. He was able to break a tackle and race to the end zone for a 56-yard touchdown, but it was a little too late as the Maroons burned off most of the last 6 remaining minutes before Kuhn added another 24-yard field goal in the closing seconds.
Despite the loss, Centennial is still in position to make the postseason. The Jaguars can likely clinch a playoff berth with a win over visiting Sioux City North (1-7) in the regular-season finale on Friday.
“This is our playoffs,” Pezzetti said. “You win, we feel we’ll be in and we’ll probably play one of the top five or six in the state, and we can’t wait.”
