The Ankeny football team didn’t have an answer for Johnston’s high-powered offense.
The top-seeded Dragons scored touchdowns on six of their first seven possessions and cruised to a 42-7 victory in the Class 5A semifinals on Friday afternoon at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. No. 4 Ankeny finished the season with a 9-3 record.
Johnston got a 69-yard kickoff return from Henry Clevenger to open the game and never looked back.
“The defense actually battled–it took them nine plays (to drive 28 yards) on that first possession,” said Ankeny coach Jeff Bauer. “But then offensively we didn’t get a first down and then you’re like, ‘Oh boy, here we go.’ I thought the defense played well the first quarter, but they got a little gassed. (The Dragons) just have so many guys, and physically I think they took it to us up front on both sides of the ball and it showed.”
Johnston (11-1) outgained the Hawks by a 398-144 margin. The Dragons will play defending champion and No. 2 Dowling Catholic (11-1) for the Class 5A crown on Friday at 7 p.m.
Ankeny was looking to avenge its 27-0 loss at Johnston on Oct. 2, but the Hawks had trouble getting their offense untracked with a depleted corps of running backs. The team’s only touchdown came on the opening drive of the second half, when Mason Machan tossed a 5-yard scoring pass to DJ Tate on fourth-and-goal.
“That was a good feeling. We fought,” said Machan. “As an offense, we wanted to try and claw our way back into this thing. But we just weren’t able to get it done.”
We will have much more on the game later this weekend.
