The Denver football team ended their season on Friday, October 24 by falling to West Branch 22-15 in the opening round of the state playoffs. The two teams played a phenomenal game that would have to come down to the final play to be decided.
The Bears began the scoring in the first quarter with a 79-yard punt return touchdown after holding the Cyclones to just one first down on their opening drive of the game. The Cyclones wouldn’t let that lead stand for long, however, as they responded by going on an 80-yard touchdown drive that was capped off by a 12-yard Jackson Joerger rushing touchdown. Carter Lanus would power in a two-point conversion, and the Cyclones led 8-7.
In the second quarter, the Cyclones would extend that lead to 15-7 as Joerger would once again find the end zone for a rushing touchdown, this time from five yards out. After the two teams traded punts, the Bears would find their own response in the form of a 65-yard touchdown drive. After a successful two-point conversion, the two teams were once again tied at 15.
For the entirety of the second half, both defenses stole the show. Any promising drives that either offense began to build was quickly brought to a stop, and the score remained untouched until there was under a minute to play in the game. With 56.8 seconds remaining in the game, and after starting with great field position, the Bears would score on a 10-yard rushing touchdown to extend the lead to 22-15.
With under a minute to play and their season on the line, the Cyclones made a valiant attempt to tie the game for a third time, but would come up just short. After a couple of Joerger runs and completions to Brayton Hovey and Carter Lanus, the Cyclones had the ball on the 14-yard line with just one second to play.
On that final play, the Cyclones would drop back to pass, and the Bears would bring extra pressure. Joerger attempted to roll out of the pocket to avoid the pressure and had plenty of room to run to the right side. As he looked to get past the line of scrimmage, however, a Bear defender would just catch him from behind and end the Cyclones’ season with a sack.
The Cyclones finished the game with 216 rushing yards on 60 rushing attempts. Lanus and Joerger led the effort on the ground, as they finished with 95 and 91 rushing yards respectively. Joerger also finished with 110 total passing yards to give himself 201 total yards in the game.
The Cyclones also held the Bears to just 209 yards of total offense. Lincoln Roethler led the team with 8.5 total tackles, and Cody Koepke finished with two of the team’s four total tackles for a loss.
Head Coach Rhett Barrett was happy with the way his team played while also acknowledging some missed opportunities that could have been the difference between a win and a loss in such a close game.
“I thought both offensively and defensively we play very well. We had to run the ball well and play good defense, and we did both. We just didn’t convert in certain situations that we needed to. In the second half, we had three [possessions] in the red zone and we didn’t score. In playoff games, you’ve got to put those babies in,†said Barrett.
Barrett also reflected on the season as a whole, believing with the talent the Cyclones had and the form in which they were playing to end the season, this could have been an even better season with an early season statement win.
“I believe that if we could have gotten this win against West Branch, we could’ve advanced to the semifinals just because these guys were starting to figure things out. We were taking steps [to being a great team], we were just a little bit behind to start the year. I think it all started when we played [Wapsie Valley]. We needed a game that could perk us up. We got that at the end of the season against [Vinton-Shellsburg], but I think if that [morale-boosting win] would’ve happened at the beginning of the season, we would’ve been a much different team,†Barrett detailed.
The Cyclones finish their season with a 4-5 record in their first season in class 2A. Four of those five losses came against ranked opponents. They also finish the season having outscored their opponents 239-152 for an average point differential of 9.7 points.
