A disappointing season-ending loss couldn’t diminish what the Ankeny football team had accomplished in the previous 11 weeks.
The fourth-seeded Hawks advanced to the UNI-Dome for the fourth time in the last seven years before dropping a 42-7 decision to No. 1 Johnston in the Class 5A semifinals on Friday afternoon.
Unlike the team’s previous trips to Cedar Falls, this year’s postseason run was somewhat unexpected at the beginning of fall camp.
“We had zero returning starters on offense to start the year,” said Ankeny quarterback Mason Machan, whose squad finished with a 9-3 record. “Nobody believed in us, but we believed since June that we would be able to make it here. We did that, and we proved to a lot of people that we were better than they thought.”
Junior safety Levi Yeager was among the players who stepped up for the Hawks during Friday’s loss. He made a team-high 11 tackles and also forced a fumble that teammate Ace Parton recovered.
“We were ranked like 14th to start the season,” Yeager said. “So for us to get this far means a lot.”
In the end, Ankeny was simply overmatched by a better team. Johnston (11-1) dominated Friday’s game on both sides of the ball–much like it did in a 27-0 victory over the Hawks on Oct. 2.
The Dragons outgained Ankeny by a 397-144 margin and racked up a huge advantage in time of possession, running 60 offensive plays to just 36 for the Hawks.
“We didn’t play our best the first time around,” Yeager said. “We thought we were going to learn from our mistakes and just build off of that. We had nothing to lose, so we played with everything we’ve got.”
Unfortunately, Ankeny was not at full strength in the backfield. Junior running backs Caleb Alhussaini and Cooper McDowell both suffered broken collarbones during the Hawks’ win over Waukee in a first-round game on Oct. 30, while senior Devan Goode has been limited due to an injury and had just one carry on Friday for minus-3 yards.
That left senior Dawson Whitinger as the team’s primary option at running back, which forced Ankeny coach Jeff Bauer to take the hard-hitting linebacker off of his defensive unit.
“Dawson goes so hard, and we didn’t want to gas him by going both ways,” Bauer said. “Hunter Minner came back this week, and he’s a good linebacker. We needed a running back, and we thought Dawson could be a playmaker that they haven’t seen. We just never got that going. Dawson didn’t practice on defense all week, because he was really our only option at running back. Goode was here, but his ankle still was not 100 percent. So we thought that was our best chance. We tried to expand the playbook for Dawson this week, but unfortunately Johnston’s defense is just so good. They really got into the backfield early on, and that kind of put us behind the eight ball.”
Johnston built a 28-0 halftime lead while holding the Hawks to just two first downs in the opening 24 minutes. The Dragons were led by quarterback Trevin Helming, who completed 17-of-19 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns.
All three of Helming’s scoring passes came in the first half and went to sophomore receiver Kamryn Chapman, who had six catches for 74 yards.
“We did feel really confident,” said Ankeny receiver DJ Tate. “We played one of our worst games of the season the last time, and we came in here with a positive mindset that we could bounce back and flip it and get the win.”
Ankeny’s only scoring drive of the night came on the first possession of the third quarter. The Hawks drove 78 yards in 12 plays behind Machan, who completed passes of 25 yards to Tate and 13 yards to Jamello Cooper to set up a 5-yard touchdown pass to Tate on fourth-and-goal.
“It just felt great,” Tate said. “We work all week for that. We’ve been working all season to get there. Whenever I get my name called, I just make the play.”
Tate was tackled short of the end zone, but he stretched the ball across the goal line as he tumbled out of bounds.
“I just had to reach my arm out there and just hope it got over,” he said.
Machan provided most of Ankeny’s offense, completing 9-of-16 passes for 106 yards. He also had a team-high 10 carries for 15 yards.
“I can’t say enough about Mason and what a fine young man he is,” Bauer said. “How he developed into a top-notch high school quarterback in my opinion. I hope he gets a chance to go play somewhere else because he’ll be successful.”
Tate had three catches for 37 yards, while Cooper added three receptions for 22 yards. Whitinger ran eight times for 28 yards.
“I just told DJ that he’s going to be a heck of a player. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some DI schools his senior year at the Ankeny games,” Machan said of the sophomore. “He was awesome to throw the ball to. They all were–Mello, Quin (Somers), Gavin (Hanfelt), Garrett (Bauer). It was a fun year.”
Following Tate’s touchdown, Johnston used its potent ground attack to control the clock the rest of the way. Dante Davis scored the Dragons’ final two touchdowns on a pair of short runs, putting the running clock into effect with 5 minutes 21 seconds left to play.
Davis ran for 85 yards on 18 carries while sharing the rushing load with Emri Jones, who gained 81 yards on 17 attempts. Jones had a 1-yard scoring run in the first half.
Minner had eight tackles in his final game for the Hawks. He will graduate along with Machan, Whitinger and 19 other seniors.
“We’re upset that we weren’t able to get it done today,” Machan said.
Bauer said he’s proud of how his offensive line, anchored by senior center Dalton Elliott, developed into an elite unit. The Hawks averaged just more than 50 points per game since being held scoreless in the earlier loss at Johnston.
“Those are some great young men,” Bauer said. “How our offensive line grew, they’re not the biggest guys up front. But they battled and did what they needed to do to get better each week. The amount of points and yards we put up in the previous five weeks was awesome.”
Ankeny will return some of its top playmakers next season, including two of its leading receivers in Cooper and Tate. Those two combined for 990 yards and 15 touchdowns on 68 catches.
“Next year we’re going to be another top team and hopefully we’ll get back to this moment and the outcome will be different and we’ll win,” Tate said.
