(Cedar Falls) #2 Harlan shook off a less than stellar start with an incredible finish Thursday evening in Cedar Falls. The Cyclones erased a 7-0 deficit with 44 unanswered points and move into a state championship meeting with 9th ranked North Scott next week.
After a three and out on their first possession, Harlan allowed Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley to embark on a 14-play, 72 yard scoring drive which chewed up over nearly half the first quarter clock. It turned out to be the only score the Cyclones would give up. In fact, Harlan allowed only 71 more yards the rest of the night. Coach Todd Bladt comments on the difference defensively, “We just had a few run fits that weren’t quite hitting. We got some guys lined up in a little better position. We were playing a little soft and we needed to fly around and make plays. That’s what we do well on ‘D’ we rally and gang tackle. Once we got that installed to fly around and make plays we were doing a lot better.” Lucas Stanley led the tackle chart with 6.5 stops. Will McLaughlin had five tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack, and one pass breakup.
Meanwhile the Cyclone offense had an immediate response to Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley’s initial score. On the first play of the Cyclone’s second possession Teagon Kasperbauer loaded up for a deep pass play to Aidan Hall. The two sophomores connected on a 65 yard TD to tie it up at 7-7. “We came back there and had that big play to Aidan right after that and I think that kind of took a little wind out of the sails. Anytime you can have a big play like that right after a methodical drive and all of a sudden you one play them that can take some momentum and shift it real quick.” Hall would finish with five catches for 107 yards. Kasperbauer hit on 11/18 throws for 175 yards and two TD’s.
Harlan kept the momentum in their favor late in the opening frame when Brenden Bartley returned an interception 25 yards for a score to put Harlan in front 14-7. The Cyclones added a late field goal from Ashton Lyon in the first half. Lyon’s 20 yard hit put Harlan in front 17-7 at the break.
Any second half comeback chances that Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley may have had in mind were quickly doused at the start of the third quarter. Aidan Hall ran an interception back 27 yards for a pick six and Harlan extended the lead to 24-7. Joey Moser would sprint up the sideline after catching a bubble screen on the team’s next possession to push the advantage to 31-7. TD runs of 7 yards from William Kenkel and 29 yards by Mason Griffith were the icing on the cake in a 44-7 semifinal win. Harlan showed a balanced attack on the ground with Kenkel running 8 times for 31 yards, Griffith 13 times for 77 yards, and Brenden Bartley 9 times for 48 yards.
Afterwards coach Bladt admitted their biggest goal all season has been to get to this point. “That was the main goal of the year. Every team says that, but we really committed to it. I’m really proud of the guys for everything they’ve done and all the commitment.” It ends (by Harlan standards) an eleven year state finals drought. The Cyclones have won it all 12 times and have 8 runner-up trophies. They’ve prevailed in each of their last four title game appearances. They’ll play #9 North Scott in the finals next week after the Lancers topped #1 CR Xavier 17-10 in OT.
