(Cedar Falls) CAM advances to the 8-Player state championship game with a 66-29 win over Audubon. The Cougars scored the game’s final five touchdowns to break away.
Audubon drove down the field on their opening possession, but fumbled it away on the five yard line. Two plays after an Ethan Follmann fumble recovery it was Lane Spieker dashing 72 yards for the game’s opening score. That marked the start of another big day for Spieker which included six rushing touchdowns and 279 yards. He also completed 6/12 passes for 132 yards and a TD. Afterwards Spieker met with the media, “I don’t even know how to explain it, especially playing under coach (Barry) Bower, and this being the first time ever for our school to make it to the dome. Words just can’t describe how happy we are right now. We’ve been working our tails off for I don’t even know how long. We could never do it and now we are finally here and we aren’t stopping.” The Cougars march into the state finals against #3 Easton Valley. The RiverHawks stayed unblemished with their 42-36 decision over #4 St. Mary’s, Remsen.
Audubon rallied to take a 14-8 lead. Gavin Smith hit Matthew Beisswenger on a 65 yard deep ball and Beisswenger’s PAT made it 8-7 CAM with 7:09 to go in the 1st. Audubon’s defense forced a punt which paved the way for a Gavin Smith two yard scoring run. Beisswenger’s point after put Audubon in front 14-8 with 2:26 left in the opening quarter.
CAM responded with a 29 yard Lane Spieker run. Spieker spun free inside the 20 yard line and went in for his 65th rushing TD of the year to make CAM’s lead 16-14.
The second quarter went back and forth with each team notching one score. Cade Ticknor found his way in on a ten yard carry to make it 22-14 Cougars, but Audubon answered. The Wheelers put together a 16 play, 67 yard drive spanning 6:39 to tie the game with :04 left in the half. Smith capped it off with a two yard run on 4th and goal.
CAM scored first in the 2nd half on a Spieker 13 yard pass to Cade Ticknor, but missed the two-point try and led 28-22. Audubon grabbed the lead on Smith’s third rushing score of the day. It came from 11 yards out and Beisswenger’s kick made it 29-28 Wheelers.
CAM forced three turnovers in the second half including fumble recoveries from Cade Ticknor and Gabe Rouse along with a Lane Spieker interception. An 18 yard Spieker run gave CAM the lead for good at 36-29 with 4:02 left in the third. Spieker added scoring scoring runs of five yards and 41 yards, Rouse recovered a fumble in the end zone, and Spieker put the icing on the cake with a five yard TD run.
Spieker comments on the strong finish to the contest, “I think the line just picked it up. People were making tackles. In the first half we missed a few easy tackles and then everyone started doing their jobs and making those hard tackles. We were making big plays on the offensive side and they were making holes for me. It was just a lot of fun.”
CAM moves to 12-0 on the season. After the game head coach Barry Bower said, “Shoot when I was a little boy and I was watching things on Iowa Public Television this was always a dream of mine. It’s a dream of anybody that grows up in the state of Iowa to come and play in the dome. More or less a state semifinal, but now you get a chance to compete for a state title. That’s something special and it will be something that these guys will never ever, ever forget.”
With about six minutes to go Bower was able to turn to the crowd and show his appreciation for their impressive turnout, “That’s probably the proudest moment I’ve had in a long time. Just to see the sea of blue that just came. They brought their ‘A’ game today too.” He says, “That meant an awful lot to me.”
Audubon bows out at 10-2. Spieker tips his cap to Wednesday’s opposition, “I’ve had a tremendous amount of fun playing them over the years. They are a heck of a team and a good coached team.” He says, “I feel like whoever won this game has a pretty good shot at winning the state championship. It’s pretty crazy, it shows how good they are that two teams in District 10 are playing in the dome.” The Wheeler offense was led by Gavin Smith with 43 carries for 234 yards and three TD’s. He also passed for 94 yards and one TD. Audubon coach Sean Birks, “That’s what CAM does to people. They made enough plays, they made big moments, they had turnovers, they had fourth down conversions, they did enough to win today and we didn’t, but that doesn’t take away from how good our season was and how special this team was.” Smith finished his brilliant career with 3,907 rushing yards, 3,199 passing yards, and 133 offensive touchdowns.
The state finals will be played at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 18th. We’ll have the game between Easton Valley and CAM on KSOM.
Box Score: CAM vs Audubon
