(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
Penalties and miscues plagued the Ankeny football team during the first two drives of Friday night’s showdown against Des Moines Roosevelt at Mediacom Stadium.
But the Hawks quickly left their slow start in the rear view mirror and rattled off 43 unanswered points in a 43-7 blowout victory to remain undefeated at 3-0 heading into the Jag-Hawk rivalry week.
“Whenever you win you feel good, but it felt good to see some adversity and it’s been back-to-back weeks where we were able to fight back from being down, be able to rely on our brothers and make some plays,” said Ankeny senior quarterback Mason Machan. “That’s really what it is. We’ve got some playmakers, and that’s how you come back from adversity like that.”
Ankeny’s offense opened the game with a 15-yard reception from junior receiver Jamello Cooper before the Hawks ran into some issues with penalties and loss of yardage that forced them to quickly punt the ball away on their opening drive.
On the other side of the ball, Roosevelt’s option offense helped the Roughriders drive into Ankeny territory.
The Hawks gave up two more costly penalties with a defensive pass interference on third down and a face mask putting Roosevelt down to Ankeny’s 12-yard line.
Roosevelt sophomore quarterback William Arnold scored on a keeper from 3 yards out a few plays later.
“The first play on offense was good, then someone makes a mental mistake and doesn’t line up right, then we get a penalty and we have a missed block,” said Ankeny coach Jeff Bauer. “It was an ugly first drive, but we came back from that, played well and got better.”
The Hawks proceeded to dominate both sides of the ball after falling into the 7-0 deficit.
Caleb Alhussaini broke off a long run to open their next offensive drive, and the Hawks were able to go down and tie the game up with fellow junior running back Cooper McDowell punching it in for the first of six Ankeny touchdowns.
The defense immediately forced a three-and-out, and it led into an offensive drive with receptions by Alhussaini and Cooper helping line up senior Dawson Whitinger for a 2-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal.
Ankeny took the lead and never looked back.
“Coach (Rob) Luther preaches every day to be a goldfish, just flushing it, moving onto the next play and we’ve bought into that,” Machan said of the offense overcoming their slow start. “What happened doesn’t matter anymore, that’s the result and you just got to move on to the next one and make it two times better just because the last one wasn’t the best.”
Machan threw to junior receiver Quin Somers for a 12-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Senior tight end Landon Hutchins then hauled in a two-point conversion pass, giving the Hawks a 22-7 advantage at the half.
Senior running back Devan Goode extended the lead on Ankeny’s first drive of the second half with a 7-yard run.
Somers and Goode both recorded their second touchdowns of the night to help seal the game. Somers caught an 8-yard pass from Machan, and Goode closed out the scoring with a 6-yard run into the end zone.
“We’re taking steps and continue to take steps, keep getting better and keep expanding things,” Bauer said of his offense. “That’s three career starts for Mason, and he’s got to keep building on it and we know how good he can be.”
After Roosevelt’s opening drive, the Hawk defense had every answer for the Roughriders and their option plays.
Roosevelt (2-1) struggled to get the ball moving the rest of the first half and had to bounce between backup quarterbacks in the second half after Arnold exited the game following a collision with Ankeny linebacker Hunter Minner.
“This Roosevelt team played hard and I was very impressed,” Bauer said. “They didn’t back down at all and coach (Ernst) Brun is doing a good thing (at Roosevelt).”
Senior linebacker Rowan Doak shut down a pair of drives that were able to cross into Hawk territory with a sack on third down forcing a punt and a fumble recovery on fourth-and-11 from Ankeny’s 35 to open the fourth quarter.
The Hawks will now face Ankeny Centennial (2-1) on Friday at Ankeny Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
The Jaguars bounced back from a season-opening loss to Southeast Polk with a pair of victories. After posting a 23-20 win at Linn-Mar (Marion) a week ago, Centennial rolled to a 45-7 triumph over Des Moines Lincoln on Friday.
“For a lot of our seniors, it’s going to be our last time playing Ankeny Centennial in any sport,” Machan said. “We’ve been playing them for four years and we all got friends over there, so we’re excited. Anytime you’re 3-0 it’s fun, and when you get to play your crosstown rival it’s fun too.”
