Nov. 18—CEDAR FALLS — The PCM football team struggled to slow down Spirit Lake’s high powered passing offense on Saturday.
But it might have been even harder to overcome a pair of first-quarter turnovers as the Class 2A No. 2 Mustangs trailed 21-0 early and never recovered during a 56-28 loss to the third-ranked Indians in the state semifinals inside the UNI-Dome.
Spirit Lake’s Caden Lundt threw for 374 yards and four touchdowns and the Indians outgained PCM 534 to 324 to advance to the championship game.
“We tried to scheme things up like we normally do,” PCM head football coach Greg Bonnett said. “With our some of our looks, we ended up leaving a corner with not much help. They got a couple Division I guys out there, and we didn’t do a very good job. Once we figured out we could run Cover 3 we got a little better.”
Greg Bonnett
Things did improve for PCM. After the first quarter, Spirit Lake outscored the Mustangs by only seven. The two teams traded touchdowns in the second and third, but the Indians put the game away for good with the lone fourth-quarter touchdown.
Spirit Lake will play for the state championship against 2A No. 1 West Lyon at 10 a.m. on Friday in Cedar Falls. The Wildcats dethroned defending champion Van Meter, 49-24, in their semifinal matchup.
PCM’s offense had a strong day on the ground. The Mustangs ran for 294 yards on 52 carries. Senior Adrien Robbins produced a career-high 290 yards and ran it a career-most 44 times in the loss.
And he did it all with a sprained MC joint, which is basically a collar bone injury.
“It’s been hurting all week. It didn’t mean anything to me,” Robbins said. “I was going to leave it all on the field. I don’t think that played a big role in us losing.”
The Mustangs (11-1) didn’t use injury as an excuse. But senior quarterback Gavin Van Gorp was in and out of the game with an injured ankle and senior Tate Birkenholtz suffered a first-half injury and was on crutches the entire second half.
That’s not even counting apparent injuries to juniors Shay Burns and Keegan Fenton and junior Evan Jones missed the game entirely with an injured ankle.
“We all got hurt. You have to play football through some of that pain,” Bonnett said. “Everyone gets hurt. You have to overcome it, and we didn’t.”
Spirit Lake drove 80 yards in seven plays on its opening drive of the game. The possession included a 21-yard run by Bode Higgins and an 11-yard run from Lundt on back-to-back snaps.
And then on fourth and seven, Lundt went up to top and found Dylan Stecker for a 38-yard touchdown.
Riley Graber
The Mustangs’ first possession started with three straight penalties, including two offsides by Spirit Lake. Robbins then sprinted 45 yards for a first down.
But on second and eight, Sam Henrickson jumped a bubble screen and returned the interception 50 yards the other way.
Lundt scored one play later on a 23-yard touchdown run. He added 93 rushing yards and one score on seven carries to his career day.
“I told him in the tunnel on the way up here that that was the best game I saw him play, and he’s played a lot of great games,” Spirit Lake head football coach Josh Bolluyt said.
Things didn’t get better for PCM later in the quarter. Three plays into its third possession, Van Gorp was hit as he threw the ball on third and nine and William Dittsworth snagged the loose ball and returned it 31 yards for the pick 6.
That defensive touchdown came after PCM’s defense forced the Indians to punt for the first time.
“(The turnovers) put us down early and it changed the way we played,” PCM senior lineman Kaden Clark said. “We never really got control of the game after that.”
The Mustangs bounced back on their next possession. They drove 67 yards in nine plays. Robbins gained 40 yards on the drive and Van Gorp capped the possession with a 23-yard touchdown on a screen pass to junior Alex Wendt.
Wendt caught the ball a few yards downfield and rumbled through a few defenders to reach paydirt.
Spirit Lake was flagged for two penalties early in the drive. The Indians’ only blemish on the day was 13 penalties for 103 penalty yards.
Adrien Robbins
But the Mustangs’ momentum was short-lived. Spirit Lake went back up three scores after going 80 yards in two plays. Lundt connected with Higgins for 18 yards on the first play and then found Ethan Stecker for a 62-yard TD.
“We just couldn’t get it done at the end of the day,” PCM senior linebacker Finn Wilson said. “They just got open and the deep balls were well thrown.”
After trading punts, the Mustangs took advantage of a short field and scored in four plays to get back within 14.
All four plays went to Robbins and he capped the 37-yard scoring drive with a 17-yard TD run.
But again, Spirit Lake had an answer for every Mustang score. The Indians marched 80 yards in three plays and Dylan Stecker finished it off with a 69-yard TD catch from Lundt.
“Defensively we had a lot of communication errors. It’s pretty loud in the Dome. It was hard to hear one another,” Robbins said. “But not only that, I think there was some confusion between the defensive backs and the linebackers and a lot of our own errors played a big part in them scoring those long touchdowns.”
The back-and-forth nature of the second continued on PCM’s next drive. Robbins opened the possession with a 60-yard run and senior Harlan Shannon capped it with a 6-yard TD catch on fourth and goal.
PCM scored with 2:17 left in the first half, but the Indians (11-1) had enough time to score again. Spirit Lake started from its own 24-yard line but went 76 yards in 10 plays to keep its advantage at 21 points.
Lundt connected with Dylan Stecker for completions of 10 and 14 yards before finding Ethan Stecker for 18 more. The final play of the possession was a 5-yard TD pass from Lundt to Dylan Stecker right at the pylon with 15 seconds on the clock.
“It felt like we were chasing those points the rest of the game,” Bonnett said about the two early turnovers. “We battled back but could never get over the hump. Those plays were huge and there’s no room for error. You can’t blame anybody. Spirit Lake is a super good team. That’s what it all comes down.
“Sometimes it doesn’t matter how good your Xs and Os are when the Jimmies and the Joes are as talented as (Lundt), (Dylan Stecker) and (Ethan Stecker) are. They have some guys out there who played good football today.”
Gavin Steenhoek
The Mustangs opened the second half with a 10-play, 50-yard touchdown drive. All 10 plays went to Robbins and he capped the possession with a 4-yard TD run. He was tackled near the goal line but reached the ball into the end zone for the points.
“He did a great job. He was playing through a lot of pain,” Bonnett said about Robbins. “He’s a true weapon of the football, and he’s definitely someone I’m going to miss.”
Robbins ended Spirit Lake’s next possession with his third pick of the season. The Indians were inside the Mustangs’ 30-yard line after a 33-yard completion to Dylan Stecker and a 15-yard personal foul penalty on PCM.
Van Gorp was forced to punt with an injured ankle on PCM’s next possession.
The Mustangs lined up to go for it but eventually shifted to a more traditional punting formation. They may have attempted a fake punt had they not been called for back-to-back false start penalties.
“We just had a few mental errors and had too many missed assignments,” Clark said. “It’s on the team. It’s on all of us. And the little details that we ignored today cost us the game.”
Spirit Lake took advantage of its short field with an eight-play, 48-yard drive. A block in the back penalty put the Indians behind the chains, but Lundt connected with Tyson DeWall for a 22-yard completion on third and 19.
Wilson’s three-yard tackle for loss on the next play was countered with a 14-yard run from Lundt. Dittsworth capped the drive with a 13-yard TD run.
“The tackles for loss feel great, but if they score at the end of the drive they basically don’t matter,” said Wilson, who finished with a team-best 9.5 tackles and two tackles for loss. “That’s how they win games.”
Van Gorp had to be helped off the field on PCM’s next possession. The Mustangs picked up two first downs on the drive, but Robbins lost a fumble to give it back to Spirit Lake.
Alex Wendt
Robbins gained 27 yards on the drive. He lost the ball after giving a second effort on the final play of the possession.
Spirit Lake’s final possession featured 14 plays. The Indians marched 74 yards to cap their victory.
PCM’s defense got tackles for loss from Tad Wilson, Fenton and Wendt on the possession, but Lundt got loose for a 20-yard run and Ethan Stecker gained 14 yards later in the drive.
The Indians also picked up a fourth and one before Higgins eventually scored on a 4-yard TD run.
“We’ve heard a lot all year about how 2A was a two-pony race, and we weren’t one of the two,” Bolluyt said. “I’ll say it. I’m proud of our kids. PCM has dudes. I know why a lot of people said they had dudes, but I appreciate the way our kids played. They didn’t back down from one of the most physical teams I’ve seen.”
Spirit Lake finished with 24 first downs and it was 4-of-9 on third down. Lundt completed 24-of-28 through the air and Dylan Stecker finished with seven catches for 178 yards and three TDs.
Ethan Stecker, an Iowa State commit, added four catches for 96 yards and one score. Higgins and Dittsworth each had rushing touchdowns, Higgins led the defense with 11.5 tackles and Isaiah McQuown tallied 6.5 tackles, two sacks and two tackles for loss. Dittsworth added five tackles, one sack, one fumble recovery and one pick 6.
Van Gorp completed 3-of-7 through the air for 30 yards, two touchdowns and two picks. Wendt’s lone catch was a 23-yard TD and Shannon’s only grab was the 6-yard touchdown.
The Mustangs’ three turnovers were too much to overcome though. And the two early Spirit Lake interceptions were the difference in the game.
“Those are big time plays you can’t allow to happen if you want to be a championship team,” Robbins said. “It happens, and that’s ultimately why we lost today.”
Carson Hansen added 6.5 tackles for the Mustangs, who were 3-of-3 on fourth down and 3-of-3 in the red zone but finished 2-of-9 on third down.
Adrien Robbins
Notes: Bolluyt was very complimentary of PCM’s offensive line after the game. He knew the Mustangs were going to run the ball. But the Indians’ offense was pretty explosive, too. “That’s the best offensive line I have seen in my career,” Bolluyt said. “Their physicality and their tempo just wears you down and that running back is phenomenal. We knew they would be able to run the ball, but those turnovers were huge and our offense made plays. To put up 535 yards of offense, I can’t say enough about the gameplan the coaches put together. I’m so proud of the guys, too. That was a heck of a performance against a great football team.” … West Lyon stayed undefeated with it’s come-from-behind win over Van Meter, which ended its season at 10-2. The Bulldogs led 10-7 after the first quarter.
