(Ida Grove, IA) — In a battle of ranked opponents on Friday night, Class 2A #2 OABCIG defended their home turf and beat Class 1A #5 Tri Center 18-14.
The Trojans built a halftime lead but the Falcons defense shut down the explosive Tri Center offense in the 2nd half and OABCIG got some big plays of their own.
Neither team could score in the first quarter but Tri Center took advantage of a Falcon fumble early in the 2nd and moved inside the 10 yard line. Facing a 4th and 7, OABCIG jumped offsides on two straight plays and on 4th and 1 from the 3 yard line, Trojan QB AJ Harder hit Cael Witt for a diving TD catch just in the end zone and the Trojans led 7-0.
After Tri Center’s next drive fizzled out, OABCIG took over in their own territory but QB Raif Jensen found Jack Gilbert on a screen pass and he raced down the sidelines for a 35 yard gain. Jensen then threw one up in the air to Jaxx DeJean who jumped up and caught it for a 31 yard gainer down to the 2. Jensen took it the rest of the way into the end zone but the two point conversion failed and it was 7-6.
With 35.5 seconds left, Tri Center could have just taken a knee and gone into the locker room but instead Harder hit Cael Witt on back to back catches of 36 and 29 yards and then Harder found Jayden Johnson for a 4 yard TD pass with 3.3 seconds left in the half and the Trojans led 14-6.
Tri Center went 3 and out on their first possession of the 2nd half but Adan Goldapp unleased a 65 yard punt to pin OABCIG back to their own 18. However on 3rd and 9, Jensen hit Chase Schernbeck at midfield and he broke away for an 81 yard TD catch and run — the two point conversion failed again and the lead was cut to two — 14-12.
After neither team could move on their next possession, Tri Center took the ball from their own 4 and moved it to their own 43 yard line. Facing a 4th and 2, Harder snapped the ball but he fell down just short of the first down. That gave OABCIG the ball at TC 44 and Cade Spotts broke a 32 yard run to set up Jensen for a 2 yard TD at the start of the 4th quarter and the Falcons had their first lead 18-14.
The Trojans went 3 and out and eventually got the ball back with 5:52 left and started a drive at their own 9. They moved the ball to midfield but after a sack and a penalty and facing a 4th and 18, Harder threw one up for grabs and DeJean picked it off. The Trojans did get the ball back with 35 seconds left but failed to get anywhere near the end zone.
Unofficial stats
Tri Center
AJ Harder 24-39 passing, 278 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Cael Witt 10 catches, 159 yards, 1 TD
Zach Nelson 9 catches, 112 yards
Adan Goldapp 23 carries for 64 yards
OABCIG
Raif Jensen 5-12 passing, 147 yards, 1 TD; 14 carries, 29 yards, 2 TD
Kade Spotts 9 carries, 58 yards
Jaxx DeJean 3 catches, 30 yards
Jack Gilbert 2 catches, 49 yards
Tri Center (1-1) 0-14-0-0 — 14
OABCIG (2-0) 0-6-6-6 — 18
