After twice falling behind by three touchdowns, the Ankeny Centennial football team could have let its season come to an uneventful conclusion.
But the Jaguars refused to go away quietly.
Visiting Centennial rallied for a pair of scores and had a chance to drive for a tying touchdown in the final minutes before third-seeded Johnston held on for a 34-26 victory Friday in the opening round of the Class 5A playoffs. The No. 14 Jaguars finished with a 5-5 record.
“I’m super proud of them. They played from bell to bell,” Centennial co-head coach Ryan Pezzetti said. “You look at our schedule and how we competed. We just had a couple of mistakes, and in these big games there are going to be mistakes. They made some, and we made some. At the end, we just came up a little bit short. But I’m extremely proud of the kids.”
Johnston (8-2) advanced to the quarterfinals behind junior quarterback Trevin Helming, who completed 17-of-19 passes for 216 yards–many of them resulting in key third-down conversions. He threw for one touchdown and ran for another.
“We actually played against (Helming) in baseball this year,” said Centennial linebacker Will Morris. “I think he started as a freshman or sophomore. He’ll have a bright future for sure, and he balled out tonight.”
Jeremiah Armstrong ran 25 times for 126 yards and two touchdowns for the Dragons, who will host No. 6 Valley (8-2) on Friday. Armstrong also caught four passes for 41 yards while filling in for injured starter Emri Jones, who was limited to just five rushing attempts.
“They’ve got a great team,” Pezzetti said. “They were missing a couple of pieces from midseason, but they have an outstanding team.”
The Jaguars started their rally after Armstrong scored on a 1-yard run to give Johnston a 34-13 lead with 4 minutes 35 seconds left in the third quarter. They responded with a long drive that was capped off by Brekken Miller’s 22-yard scoring pass to Cade Newman with 20 seconds to go in the period.
After forcing a punt, Centennial then drove for another touchdown. Miller found Owen Gasperi in the end zone from 7 yards out on 4th-and-4 to cut Johnston’s lead to 34-26 with 5:56 remaining.
The Jaguars’ PAT attempt was blocked for the second time, but it was still a one-possession game.
“We obviously got punched in the mouth that first quarter, but I thought our offense and defense played great the second half and gave ourselves a shot,” Morris said.
Johnston picked up two first downs on its ensuing possession before the Dragons were forced to punt. The Jaguars, who were out of timeouts, took over near midfield with 1:23 to go after blocking the kick.
However, Johnston’s defense–which got eight tackles from linebacker Owen Hupfer–rose to the occasion. Miller passed to JJ Morgan for no gain on first down, then threw three straight incomplete passes to end the rally.
The Dragons kneeled twice to burn the final 62 seconds off the clock.
“You want to celebrate these seniors and what they accomplished in their careers,” Pezzetti said. “I couldn’t be prouder of them and our staff. What we did with these kids and what they did together, the wins and losses don’t indicate a lot of things. But when you look at our schedule and how we did and how we fought, I couldn’t be prouder of these kids and coaches.”
Centennial overcame a rash of injuries to qualify for the playoffs. Morris was among the players who missed some time on the field or continued playing through some pain.
“It obviously wasn’t great,” Morris said of his final season on the gridiron. “I played through some injuries, and I’m excited to get back to work for baseball.”
Morgan ran 17 times for 174 yards and two touchdowns in his final game as a Jaguar. Miller, a sophomore, completed 8-of-16 passes for 95 yards and two scores.
Centennial simply had too big of a hole to climb out of after Johnston dominated the first half. The Dragons got a 31-yard touchdown run from Armstrong on the game’s opening drive, then extended their lead to 13-0 on Helming’s 14-yard scoring pass to Kanaan Reinders on the first play of the second quarter.
The Jaguars got their offense going when Morgan broke free for a 50-yard run to Johnston’s 14-yard line. Two plays later, he scored on a 4-yard run up the middle to cut the deficit to 13-6.
Centennial had a chance to drive for a tying score late in the half, but Johnston’s Bryce Beacham stepped in front of a Miller pass and picked it off near midfield with about 2 minutes left. The Dragons then drove 51 yards in five plays and took a 20-6 halftime lead on a 3-yard run by Helming with 13 seconds to go.
“You’ve got to gamble,” Pezzetti said. “You got to force the issue a little bit in big games like this. We felt like it was maybe getting away from us a little bit. We wanted to get (a score) before the half, and you know what, you can’t fault our kids for playing hard.”
Another turnover early in the second half allowed Johnston to increase its advantage. After the Dragons’ Anderson Schiesl recovered a fumble, Beacham caught a lateral on the next play from Helming, then fired a 37-yard scoring strike to Reinders to make it 27-6.
Morgan raced 47 yards for a touchdown on Centennial’s next play from scrimmage, but Johnston again answered with a long drive that took about 6 minutes off the clock. Armstrong found the end zone for the second time to cap the drive, setting the stage for the Jaguars’ comeback that ultimately fell short.
