Turnovers, sloppy field not a problem for Rams in 14-6 win

Drizzle and rain. Five turnovers. Nine penalties. A lost onside kick. One offensive touchdown.

The recipe was all there for Glenwood’s third straight district football loss.

And yet, the Rams found a way to make the plays they needed in a sloppy game played on a sloppy field in a 14-6 victory over A-D-M in Class 3A, District 9 football on a rainy Friday night at Ram Memorial Field.

“Our resilience was really good tonight,” Faust said. “I thought on both sides of the ball we played well. We were moving the ball well and getting after people up front blocking. We’ll keep trying to get better.”

As temperatures hovered in the upper 50s and a light drizzle coated the field for much of the first half, neither team had much success moving the ball. In its first four possessions, Glenwood punted twice and turned the ball over twice.

But the Rams seemed to figure things out late in the first half. After taking possession with 3:56 to go at their own 35, quarterback Zach Carr engineered a 10-play drive capped by Colton Schutte’s one-yard plunge. The point-after gave Glenwood a 7-0 lead just before halftime.

Through four combined possessions in the third quarter – and a turnover each – the score would remain that way until a special teams play resulted in the Rams’ second touchdown.

After the Tigers intercepted a Ram pass at their own 1-yard-line, three straight runs netted just three yards and a punt. However, Glenwood would block the punt and lineman Zander Carda snagged the deflection and raced into the endzone from four yards out.

The 14-0 lead would hold for over 12 minutes as the Ram defense continued to stifle the Tigers – and force two turnovers – well into the fourth quarter.

But the Tigers did finally answer when running back Justice Paulsen raced into the endzone from 27 yards out with just over three minutes to go. The drive was the Tigers’ best of the night, a six play, 74-yarder that put some drama back into the final three minutes despite their having missed the point-after attempt.

On the ensuing kick off, A-D-M attempted a rare on-side kick and even more rare, recovered the ball when Bryce Holm’s kick caromed off a Ram and into the hands of a Tiger.

Taking over at the Ram 40 with 2:03 to go, the Tigers got completions of 14 yards and 13 yard from quarterback Tate Stine-Smith to move to the 13-yard line with 1:31 to go.

The drive would end there, however, as the ball was dislodged from Paulsen on a running play and recovered by the Rams.

“The way I saw he had one of our best defensive players, Eli Bales, uncharacteristically slip off the tackle and I was like ‘Oh no,’” Faust said. “And then Cooper Silvius came through with a clutch play and knocked that thing out. That was big for us.”

With A-D-M having exhausted their timeouts, Glenwood was able to run out the clock.

The Rams’ defense was tough all night, holding the Tigers to just 192 total yards and forcing four turnovers. In four fourth quarter possessions, the Rams grabbed three turnovers including the game-clincher.

“We kind of fell apart the last two drives but we really had a strong game defensively,” he said. “(Cornerback) Ryan Leath really stood out to me. He’s an outstanding defensive back. He has been all year. That interception he made and the plays he made on the ball were really good.”

Leath finished with three solo tackles and an interception. Bales added six tackles and a sack.

But as good as the Rams were on defense, the offense struggled with sustaining drives and penalties for much of the game. The finished with 270 total yards, turned the ball over five times (two interceptions and three fumbles) and had nine penalties.

“You never want those things but I think the conditions had a little bit to do with that,” Faust said. “When you’re slipping around you’re going to be prone to those sorts of things. A couple of the holding penalties were okay because it means kids are trying to block and that varies week-to-week how the officials are going to call it. Obviously we need to clean some things up.”

Schutte led the Ram offense with 100 yards rushing on 19 carries.

Glenwood heads out on the road to face state ranked Council Bluffs Lewis Central Friday in Council Bluffs. Kick off is set for 7 p.m.

Scoring Summary

G - 00 07  07  00  14

A - 00 00  00  06 

Game Summary
    G – Colton Schutte, 1 run (kick good).
    G – Zander Carda, 4 punt return (kick good).
    A – Justice Paulson, 27 run (kick no good).