Harlan rolls past Panthers with 56-7 halftime lead

Creston/O-M's Kevin Irr scores on a 74-yard touchdown run.

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So many times over the years for Creston/O-M football against Harlan, a little trickle of momentum for the Cyclones has turned into a full-blown landslide. Such was the case Friday night at Panther Field, when Harlan turned a 14-7 lead in the first quarter into the Panthers’ largest-ever halftime deficit (56-7). To the Panthers’ credit, as well as the generosity of Harlan coach Curt Bladt in using reserves the entire second half with a continuous clock under the state’s 35-point rule, the final margin ended up short of record-setting pace at 56-21. The largest margin all-time in the series is 54-0. Harlan, rated No. 2 in the state in Class 3A by the Des Moines Register and No. 6 on the weekly Associated Press poll, posted a 35-0 second quarter to turn the game into a full-scale blowout. 88 players “All 88 guys we brought got into the game,” said Bladt, whose team improved to 7-1 overall and 6-0 in District 8, matching Lewis Central’s district mark. Lewis Central moved to 8-0 overall with a 45-17 win over Winterset, setting up a Titan matchup with the Cyclones this week to decide the district championship. “They’re going to be a toughie,” Bladt said. “It should be a knock-down, drag-out.” In Harlan’s only other game against a rated opponent this season, No. 1 Sioux City Heelan won, 28-13. Lewis Central is rated 10th by the Register and No. 9 by the AP. In contrast to Harlan’s massive 88-member squad, Creston/O-M had 26 players available for action Friday, and a key one was lost in the continuing saga of injuries marring the 2008 Panther season, which now stands at 1-7 overall and 0-6 in the district. Eblen injured Sophomore quarterback Luke Eblen, who stepped into the No. 1 role after the fourth week when senior Grant Wood was lost with a shoulder injury, is now shelved with his own mishap. Moments after gaining 12 yards on a run with 10 minutes left in the first half and the Panthers trailing 35-7, Eblen scanned the field quickly and then tucked it in to try for another gain. It would be his last play in 2008, as he laid on the turf in pain with a knee injury after a pickup of 4 yards. “It was supposed to be a rollout to the right,” said Eblen in the dressing room after the game, on crutches with an immobilizer on his right leg. “They had our receivers covered pretty well, so I just decided to keep it and try to get what I could. I got hit (from behind) and my legs went out from underneath me, and two or three more guys came and hit me. It (knee) just ended up popping out. There was a lot of pain.” An MRI is scheduled for Wednesday on the knee, but Bergstrom said physical therapists’ initial diagnosis indicated a possible sprain or strain of the medical collateral ligament, similar to the injury that knocked middle linebacker Jared Bevins out of Friday’s game after suffering it against Winterset. If total knee construction is required, it could mean a recovery period of six to nine months. “We really don’t know anything yet, but we know he won’t be available Friday for Clarke,” Creston/O-M coach Dick Bergstrom said. “He not only has a promising future with us, but he has a promising future here this winter on the basketball team. We hope it’s nothing real serious.” Breakaway TDs Receiver Kevin Irr spelled Eblen for the rest of the game. Although he did not attempt any passes, he did finish with a 74-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. “That number six (Irr) was a little too quick for our fourth-team D-backs,” Bladt said with a smile. Creston/O-M’s other touchdown in the 14-0 second half was a 51-yard burst by Brody Jay. Those two plays, a penalty on a roughing the kicker penalty against Harlan, and 15-yard run by Seth Pals in the third quarter were the only first downs by Creston/O-M all night. Pals also accounted for his team’s other touchdown during an unusual occurrence in the first quarter. Pals ran a kickoff back 88 yards to close Harlan’s lead to 14-7. Hawkeye 10 sprint champion Reid Murtaugh, a returning all-state tailback for Harlan, answered with an 85-yard touchdown return on the ensuing kick. “I’ve never seen that before,” Bladt said. “Heck, we haven’t had a kick return score in probably 20 years. Those two guys did it back-to-back.” Pals’ burst made the game momentarily competitive, igniting excitement on the Panther sideline. “We had a return left called because we noticed on film it would work better,” Pals said. “I just saw a gap and hit it. The guys blocked it really well.” Irr, likewise, credited guard Brandon Frey with a key block that created an opening for his bootleg TD jaunt late in the game. He and Pals now have a full week to prepare for the role of quarterback, rather than a quick briefing on the sideline as was the case Friday night. Emergency plan “We have emergency situations that we work on, and this was an emergency,” Bergstrom said. “We had about a dozen plays he could run. There are some plays he can throw out of, but we had some success running the ball. It was against their second and third unit, but Clarke is not Harlan, so maybe we can still move the ball. Atlantic was just leading Clarke 14-0 at half, though.” Atlantic finished with a 28-0 victory over the Indian squad that visits Panther Field Friday with an 0-8 mark. In scoring 56 points in the game’s first 18 minutes, Harlan lived up to its rating on Friday. All three all-state offensive players were on their game, as quarterback Jeff Hastert went 4-of-6 passing for 112 yards in less than two quarters with a pair of TD passes to all-stater James Cairney and Adam Cave. Murtaugh gained 61 yards on 11 carries with TD runs of 9 yards and 6 yards to go with his kick return. Cairney also had a 33-yard interception return touchdown just before Eblen was injured, and backup running back Dylan Barrett ran for two touchdowns. Two of Harlan’s five second-quarter touchdowns came after turnovers deep in Panther territory. The 14-0 second half salvaged some momentum to finish the season on the same note that it started, a 20-9 victory at Chariton, which knocked off Grinnell Friday, 31-8. “At halftime, our goal was to win the second half,” Bergstrom said. “We kept battling after their first team overpowered us a little bit. It was a positive ending to a rough night. Now we’re hoping to finish strong for our seniors, and get some momentum going into next season.” Looking ahead Everyone who scored for Creston/O-M Friday is a junior, and the starting lineups Friday included nine underclassmen on offense and seven on the defensive side. “The example we gave our guys is Lewis Central,” Bergstrom said. “We sustained a lot of injuries this year and didn’t compete like we wanted to. But Lewis Central was 2-7 last year, and now they’re 8-0 going into the game against Harlan. One thing we are doing is getting a lot of kids some experience.” Freshman quarterback Alan Smith, who rushed for more than 300 yards in last week’s freshman-sophomore game against Winterset and 293 yards in Friday’s freshman game, will play in the freshman game Friday. “You are allowed to play in only four quarters on a given night,” Bergstrom said. “The freshmen need Alan Smith to compete. If he plays four quarters for them, that’s all he can play. We don’t think it would be in our best interest to take him off the freshman team at this point.” Harlan 56, Creston/O-M 21 Points by quarter Harlan 21 35 0 0 — 56 C/O-M 7 0 7 7 — 21 SCORING SUMMARY First Quarter H — Reid Murtaugh 9 run (Trent Wendt kick), 8:27 H — James Cairney 45 pass from Jeff Hastert (Wendt kick), 4:19 Cr — Seth Pals 88 kick return (Kevin Irr kick), 4:06 H — Murtaugh 85 kick return (Wendt kick), 3:54 Second Quarter H — Murtaugh 6 run (Wendt kick), 11:26 H — Cairney 33 interception return (Wendt kick), 10:59 H — Adam Cave 23 pass from Hastert (Wendt kick), 7:23 H — Dylan Barrett 11 run (Wendt kick), 6:46 H — Barrett 27 run (Wendt kick), 5:48 Third Quarter Cr — Brody Jay 51 run (Irr kick), 2:37 Fourth Quarter Cr — Irr 74 run (Irr kick), 5:44 ————— TEAM STATISTICS H Cr First downs 18 4 Rushes-yards 42-176 24-165 Passing yards 25 141 Total yards 190 317 Punts-avg. 3-36.7 6-27.1 Return yards 185 149 Fumbles-lost 1-0 3-2 Penalties-yards 5-43 6-57 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING — Cr: Kevin Irr 2-74, 1 TD; Brody Jay 10-57, 1 TD; Seth Pals 5-30; Luke Eblen 3-13; Tony Cruz 3-3. H: Reid Murtaugh 11-61, 2 TD; Michael Klein 15-45; Dylan Barrett 4-40, 2 TD; Justin Mills 4-28; Brian Kloewer 1-13. PASSING — Cr: Eblen 5-14-1 for 25 yards. H: Jeff Hastert 4-6-0 for 112 yards, 2 TD; Michael Kaufman 2-3-0 for 29 yards; Derek Schwartz 0-2-0. RECEIVING — Cr: Jay 3-18; Will Reasoner 1-4; Pals 1-3. H: James Cairney 3-89, 2 TD; Adam Cave 1-23, 1 TD; Justin Mills 1-22; Eric Croghan 1-7. PUNTS-AVG. — Irr 6-27.1. H: Willie Baughman 3-36.7. TACKLE LEADERS (solo-assists) — Cr: Nick Neitzel 4-12, Brandon Frey 1-12, Clay Daggett 1-7, Travis Kipp 4-1, Pete Myers 1-3, pals 2-1, Jordan Hayes 1-2, Jay 2-1, Cody Nordstrom 1-2, Kolton Thatcher 0-2, Cruz 1-1, Spencer Bakerink 1-1. INTERCEPTIONS — H: Cairney. TACKLES FOR LOSS (YARDS) — Cr: Daggett 2-(-4); Kipp 2-(-20), Bakerink 1-(-1). SACKS — Kipp 1. —————— Larry Peterson can be reached at 782-2141, ext. 232 or lpeterson@crestonnews.com