(Story by Dom Tornabane)
The Johnston football team made a huge statement on Friday night.
The Dragons intercepted five passes, held visiting Ankeny to just 77 yards of total offense and rolled to a 27-0 victory over the previously unbeaten Hawks.
Ankeny was held scoreless for the first time since the 2018 season, when the Hawks lost to Dowling Catholic, 42-0.
“Our wide receivers couldn’t break free and get open,” said Ankeny coach Jeff Bauer. “That left us no place to throw.”
Senior quarterback Mason Machan had fueled Ankeny’s 5-0 start, passing for 856 yards and 11 touchdowns while completing nearly 70 percent of his attempts. But on Friday, he connected on just 6-of-13 passes for 20 yards.
Junior Jamello Cooper, who had 21 receptions for 211 yards and two touchdowns on the season, was held without a catch. And so was sophomore DJ Tate, who entered the game with 10 catches for 105 yards and two scores.
Johnston senior Bryce Beachem wreaked havoc on both sides of the ball. The Northern Iowa commit had four of the Dragons’ five interceptions and also caught 10 passes for 112 yards.
“It’s all my coaches’ preparation,” Beachem said. “They put me in the right spots, and my defensive line got the pressure on the quarterback and I was right there.”
Johnston racked up 353 total yards, but only scored two touchdowns. Ankeny’s defense repeatedly came up with stops in the red zone, forcing the Dragons to settle for four short field goals from Ricardo Solis Dowling–who also missed a 33-yard attempt early in the fourth quarter.
“We were proud of our defense,” Bauer said. “They played their butts off.”
Johnston relied heavily on senior running back Emri Jones, who ran 25 times for 128 yards. His backup, Dante Davis, scored the game’s first touchdown on a 4-yard run to make it 13-0 with 16 seconds left in the first half.
“They sent a lot of outside blitzes so keeping it tight and keeping it inside is what the game plan was,” Jones said.
The Dragons then opened the second half with an 11-play, 90-yard drive to extend the lead. UNI commit Trevin Helming capped the drive with a 4-yard pass to sophomore Kamryn Chapman, then Jones ran for a two-point conversion to make it 21-0.
Helming completed 17-of-25 passes for 183 yards.
“It starts with the run game,” Johnston coach Brian Woodley said. “Then we have weapons that Trevin can throw to.”
Both teams are now 5-1 on the season. The Hawks will try to rebound next Friday when they host Ames (2-4) for their homecoming game.
The Little Cyclones are coming off a 20-13 win at Council Bluffs Lincoln.
“We need to learn lessons from this, move on and go to work,” Bauer said. “It doesn’t matter who we play, that’s irrelevant. We have to get better Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.”
