Top ranked Cyclones muscle past Glenwood in 49-14 win

Harlan jumped out to a 42-7 halftime lead and racked up 532 yards of offense in a 49-14 victory over Glenwood Friday at Merrill Field in Harlan.

The Rams (2-2) tallied 278 total yards in the game but had trouble sustaining drives of their own or forcing stops by the high-powered Cyclone offense.

“Our performance was disappointing, no doubt,” said Glenwood coach Cory Faust. “We need to get better, and that starts with me as the coach.  Football specifically, and athletics in general, are not for the weak. We can learn from this and come back stronger if we want to.  We will need to get tougher in more ways than one.”

It was the Class 3A, No. 1 ranked Cyclones that were tough early. They scored touchdowns on their first four possessions with quarterback Teagon Kasperbauer hitting five different receivers. The senior finished his night with  school record 460 yards passing and six touchdowns on 19-of-27 completions.

“Teagon was dealing tonight,” said Harlan coach Todd Bladt. “When he’s on, he’s pretty lethal. Good on Teagon to mix it up and find them. He’s a reliable guy and he’s a great leader.”

The Rams lone first half bright spot was quarterback Kayden Anderson’s connection with Cody Krause on a 34-yard TD toss to cut the Cyclones lead briefly to 14-7 in the first quarter.

But Kasperbauer and junior wideout Cade Sears answered with an 81-yard TD and then a 45-yard TD sandwiched around an interception on defense to push the Cyclones ahead 28-7.

Glenwood’s final score came with seven minutes remaining when Anderson connected with Renner Bardsley on a 15-yard TD pass.

“Credit Harlan for most of the trouble we had,” Faust said. “Our inability to get guys healthy and practicing consistently has hurt us all season as well.  It’s tough to be successful when everyone isn’t on the same page. We didn’t help Kayden out in that regard.”

The Cyclones’ Cade Sears (191 yards, three TDs), Aidan Hall (123 yards, TD) and Jacob Birch (102, two TDs) all topped 100-yards receiving in the game.

The Rams’ Anderson finished 13-of-29 passing for 211 yards and two TDs. Krause grabbed four passes for 95 yards and a score. C.J. Carter led the ground attack with 64 yards on five carries.

There’s no rest for Glenwood as they are in back in action Friday hosting Des Moines Hoover in a district contest.

“We need to get healthy and execute better in all phases,” the coach said. “We have some scheme, technique and personnel tweaks that need to happen if we are going to be successful.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Alex Martin of the Harlan Tribune contributed to this story.