Rams’ season comes to an end in state quarterfinals
Glenwood spent much of Friday chasing Sergeant Bluff-Luton, but the Warriors’ ground game proved difficult to catch.
Sergeant Bluff-Luton’s offense ran for 327 yards without punting once, ending the Rams’ season with a 28-17 win in the Class 4A quarterfinals in Sergeant Bluff.
“My hats off to them, they’re a really good team,” said Glenwood coach Cory Faust after the game. “I’m just frustrated we didn’t play better on defense. I think it’s coaching because we gave them too much stuff tonight and weren’t ready to play and we weren’t getting off the ball very well on defense.
“But hats off to them, (Sergeant Bluff-Luton) they have really good players, top to bottom, they block really, they’ve got good balanced and can do a lot.”
That Warriors were on point from the opening kickoff. After they returned the opening boot to the Rams 32-yard line, they quickly got up 7-0 three plays later on Emmet Kneifl’s 23-yard scamper.
Glenwood would answer on its opening possession, marching 75 yards in 10 plays to tie the game up at 7-7 on Dylan Powles’s 12-yard TD run.
But SB-L wouldn’t slow down. They put together back-to-back scoring drives – sandwiched around a Ram punt – to take a 21-7 lead with just over 10 minutes to go in the opening half.
The Rams answered on its ensuing drive when Myles Longmeyer hauled in a dart from Haze Stephens and raced past his defender for a 75-yard TD hookup to cut the lead to 21-14.
After the Ram defense held on a fourth-and-seven at their own 33, the offense had a chance to get even on the scoreboard when Glenwood drove down to the SB-L 22-yard line but couldn’t convert a fourth-and-4 after Faust elected not to kick the field goal.
Glenwood would head into the break trailing 21-14.
The Rams picked up where they left off to open the third quarter, using a heavy dose of the run game to move into the red zone. But the drive stalled once again, this time at the 6-yard line and Faust sent in Jace Tallmon who delivered on the 23-yard field goal to cut the lead to 21-17 with just over five minutes to go in the half.
But Glenwood couldn’t hold the momentum.
SB-L took over at the own 32 and ran the ball 10 times in a 12-play drive capped by quarterback Justin Ehler’s nine-yard touchdown scramble. The point-after made the score 28-17 with just over 10 minutes to go in the game.
The drive, which ate over seven minutes of clock, took some wind out of the Rams’ sails.
“Every time you get it down there like that you have to get points and we didn’t,” Faust said of choosing to kick the field goal on his team’s opening drive of the third quarter. “It felt like we had momentum running down the field like we did and it felt like kicking the field goal was the right thing to do to get points on the board. I thought we had been playing better defense to close the first half, and we felt confidence we could get a stop on defense, but we didn’t.”
Glenwood would turn the ball over on both of its final two possessions.
The Warriors, who beat these same Rams in similar fashion back in September 27-13, racked up 327 yards rushing among their 373 total yards.
The Rams finished with 348 total yards.
Stephens finished his night 10-of-17 passing for 202 yards. The junior added 88 rushing on 12 carries.
Longmeyer hauled in four balls for 152 yards to go with his TD.
Max Koehler led the Glenwood defense with 9.5 tackles. Powles added 8.5 stops. The pair combined for three tackles for losses.
Glenwood closes its season with a record of 8-3. In all, 19 seniors suited up in the black and gold for the last time in the game.
“I’m really proud of these seniors and the progress they’ve made,” he said. “Not just as players but as people and the accountability they have for themselves. They raised the standard of our program. Their sophomore year they were 3-6 and it was a sad state of affairs and they didn’t like that.
“There’s a core group of guys that really worked hard, held each other to a high standard and I’m just really proud of what they did and the progress they made over the years.”
Sergeant Bluff-Luton (11-0) plays Carlisle (11-0) in the Class 4A semifinals Thursday at the UNIDome in Cedar Falls with a spot in the state championship game on the line.
Scoring Summary
SB-L 14 07 00 07 28
G 07 07 03 00 17
Game Summary
SB-L – Emmet Kneifl, 23 run (kick good).
G – Dylan Powles, 12 run (kick good).
SB-L – Justin Ehlers, 1 run (kick good).
SB-L – Carter Hayes, 15 run (kick good).
G – Haze Stephens to Myles Longmeyer, 75 yard reception (kick good).
G – Jace Tallmon, 23 yard field goal.
SB-L – Ehlers, 5 run (kick good).