Cyclones Blow Away Indians Dream
The Indians hoist their trophy into the air on Friday night after the conclusion of the game against Harlan.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – It wasn’t the night the Indians were looking for, as the Indians offense struggled to find their groove.
The Oskaloosa Indians,who came into the evening 8-1, felt confident in taking on the 7-2 Harlan Cyclones. History has shown that Oskaloosa had struggled against the visitors in the past, when they met over 20 years ago, ending Oskaloosa’s then-undefeated season.
“This is a tough one, because the last couple of years we’ve lost to teams that won state championships. This team is not going to win a state championship,” said a very upset Oskaloosa Head Coach to the gathered media after the loss to Harlan on Friday night.
“It doesn’t mean that they are a bad team, they are a good team,” said Jenkins. “We played our worst games week one and week ten.”
“For me as a coach, that’s frustrating because you’re always looking to improve, and if we improve we have a really good chance to beat them,” added Jenkins.
The Indians lost their top defensive player on a controversial call by the officiating staff when they said he threw a closed fist punch.
“I don’t like complaining about refs and stuff like that. He made the wrong call,” said Jenkins of the official’s call on the personal foul that sidelined Aaron Blom.
Jenkins said he saw the film, and the ref was “flat out wrong.”
Even despite the adversity, “We had our chances”, says Jenkins. “We just did not execute when we really did have our chances.”
The first quarter of the contest was all Harlan, as they came out to a 14-0 lead over the Indians.
Oskaloosa’s first score came in the second quarter when Senior Casey Hill carried the ball in from 4 yards out with 1:24 remaining in the half. The PAT kick by Carson Genskow was good, and the Cyclones lead the Indians 14-7 at that point.
With 28 seconds remaining in the half, the Cyclones strike on the Preston Mulligan pass to Brett Sears from 3 yards out. The PAT kick by Kyle Knudson was good, and the Cyclones were on top 21-7 going into the half.
The third quarter also belonged to the Cyclones, when Preston Mulligan ran 54 yards into the end zone for the Cyclone touchdown with 9:48 remaining in the 3rd quarter. PAT run by Jonathan Cheek was good, and Harlan lead 29-7.
The Indians answered back in the fourth quarter when Casey Hill passed to Iszac Schultz from 36 yards out with 9:20 seconds remaining in the contest. Genskow’s PAT kick was good, and the score was 29-14.
The Cyclones weren’t finished with the Indians yet when Alex Schechinger ran 84 yards for the touchdown with 5:44 remaining. The PAT kick by Knudson was good, and the Cyclones went on to win 36-14 over the Indians.
The Cyclones had the lead in time of possession 29:20 to 20:50 over the Indians.
Harlan beat Oskaloosa in the rushing game, gaining 257 yards on the ground compared to just 62 yards for the Indians. Each team passed for 143 yards.
The number of offensive plays were nearly the same, with Harlan having 66 plays, to Oskaloosa’s 68.
Harlan had 400 total yards to Oskaloosa’s 205 yards.
Oskaloosa’s Casey Hill had a total of 43 net yards on the evening, with 1 touchdown. Colton Butler had 10 yards of rushing on the evening.
For Harlan, Alex Schechinger had 123 net yards, while Preston Mulligan added 68 additional.
In the air, Cole Henry threw for 107 yards with 3 interceptions, while Casey Hill had 36 yards and a touchdown.
Preston Mulligan lead the Cyclones with 143 yards in the air and a touchdown.
Iszac Schultz had 64 receiving yards and a touchdown while Nikolas Dykstra had 25 yards of receiving.
Brett Sears lead the Cyclones with 48 yards of receiving with a touchdown.
Defensively, Casey Hill and Walker Newman lead the Indians with 9 total tackles each. Nikolas Dykstra added 7 more total tackles, and Zaiyan Mamun had 6 total tackles.
Kenny Settimi had a sack resulting in a 9-yard loss.
Jake McLaughlin lead Harlan with 7 total tackles.
