Rams hold off Spencer in playoff victory

Spencer brought its state ranking to Glenwood. 

The Rams sent them home with a loss. 

Behind a rugged defensive effort and the return of quarterback Haze Stephens, Glenwood survived a 30-28 postseason battle Friday night to advance to the Class 4A quarterfinals.

With the win, the No. 8 ranked Rams (8-2) advance to face No. 2 ranked Sergeant Bluff-Luton in Friday’s quarterfinals in a rematch of a September meeting between the two teams. The Warriors (10-0) won that non-district game 27-13.

Against Spencer (6-4), the Rams trailed 7-0 after a physical, field position-battle of a first quarter that saw the two teams combine for 70 total yards and three first downs.

But Glenwood began to gain momentum in the second frame. After a nice punt return by Ethan Eisman set them up at the Tigers’ 15, Stephens capped a five-play drive to take the early lead. The Rams would miss the PAT to trail 7-6.

After forcing the Tigers’ fourth punt of the first half, the Rams’ took over at their own 19-yard line. They would need just two plays to take the lead when Stephens connected with Myles Longmeyer on an improbable 68-yard TD toss that saw the ball bounce off a Tiger defenders head into his hand before he raced into the endzone untouched.

Glenwood added to their lead on the opening drive of the third quarter when Stephens engineered a four play, 71-yard drive he capped with a nifty 59-yard keeper to make it 20-7 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the quarter.

“Our guys showed a lot of resilience, which I think they’ve shown all year,” said Glenwood coach Cory Faust after the game. “We haven’t always played real consistent football, but our guys have never stopped fighting. We kept getting better. The same was true tonight. We didn’t start the game very well, we hurt ourselves in some ways, but we kept battling. Credit to Spencer, that’s a gritty group.”

That gritty group wouldn’t go away.

After the two teams traded scoreless possessions, the Tigers finally punctured the Rams’ stout run defense when quarterback Larson Vulk slipped through the line on a 61-yard TD run to make it 20-14.

Glenwood would answer with a quick score of their own just 43 second later when Joe Leick darted 49-yards up the middle for a touchdown. The PAT made it 27-14.

But the Tigers would once again answer. Hunter Pearson raced 45 yards, breaking several Ram tackles, into the endzone to cut the lead to 27-21 with just over two minutes to go in the third quarter.

Neither team could muster much offense in the fourth.

The Rams, looking to burn clock, ran the ball on 10 of their next 13 plays and found themselves inside the Tigers’ 10-yard line with just over four minutes to go and facing a fourth-and-three. Faust chose to kick the field goal and Jace Tallmon came through, booting the 26-yarder through the uprights to give Glenwood an insurance score and a 30-21 lead.

Spencer would take over on their final drive at their own 37 and march into the Ram redzone. They would answer with a Vulk to Shelton Bendlin touchdown toss and make the extra point to cut the lead 30-29.

But the Rams made them eat up over two and a half minutes of clock.

Glenwood survived the Tigers’ onside kick, then took a knee three times and walked away with home playoff win.

After the game, Faust was quick to credit his defense. The Tigers’ run-first, option-based “flex bone” offense that required defenders to be gap and assignment sound on every snap. Faust felt like his team, for the most part, showed that.

“I felt like we were pretty dominant on defense most of the night, with the exception of about five plays where they got the ball to their playmakers and they made plays,” he said.

The Rams finished with 410 yards of total offense. And while the Tigers did tally 272 total yards 154 yards, two plays accounted for 106 yards of that total.

“They did a few different things tonight, they’re known for running the ball and they were a little sharper than what I saw on film last week so credit to them, going to the drawing board,” Faust said of some of the offensive changes he saw from the Tigers. “They hurt us a little more passing the ball for being a team known for running the ball. They did execute some in the passing game and make some big plays there. That being said that is what we wanted to make them do, to make them beat us doing something they weren’t majoring in. We found ways to get it done.” 

Stephens got it done all night for the Rams. After missing the previous two games due to injury, he rushed for 125 yards and two touchdowns and completed 8-of-18 passes for 130 yards and a TD.

“Such a gutty effort by him,” Faust said of his junior quarterback who started the year as a running back before being pressed into QB duties after starter Ben Carlo’s injury. “He’s a such a good competitor. We sure miss Ben, but I was really thankful we had Haze back this week and it looks like he’s healthy and we’re a tough to team to beat with either of those two guys so I’m thankful we have Haze and the core of our team healthy.”

Leick added 109 yards and a touchdown on the ground for the Rams.

Defensively, Dylan Powles led the way with seven tackles, including 3.5 for losses. Grahm Newberry and Lincoln Skarnulis each added sacks.

The Rams will head into their quarterfinal Friday in Sergeant Bluff as healthy as they’ve been in weeks. To avenge that earlier loss to the Tigers and earn a spot in the Dome, Glenwood would have to be sharp.

“It’s going to take a good week of preparation,” Faust said. “Sergeant Bluff is a really good team. They’re undefeated for a reason. We have to execute. We can’t beat ourselves. Our scout team will play a big role. They also have a unique offense next week and our scout team did a good job this week (for Spencer) and we’ll need that again this week.”

Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. Friday.

Scoring Summary

G  00  13  14  03    30

S  07   00  14  07   28

Game Summary

                  S – Larson Vulk to Logan Wum, 5 pass (kick good).

                  G – Haze Stephens, 1 run (kick no good).

                  G – Stephens to Myles Longmeyer, 68 pass (kick good).

                  G – Stephens, 59 run (kick good).

                  S – Vulk, 61 run (kick good).

                  G – Joe Leick, 49 run (kick good).

                  S – Hunter Pearson, 45 run (kick good).

                  G – Jace Tallmon, 26 field goal.

                  S – Vulk to Shelton Bendlin, 11 (kick good).