Photos Courtesy of Clint Dye (Tag Team Photography Social Media)
The No. 8 in Class 1A Sigourney-Keota Cobra football team sits alone atop the standings in District 6 after an important 42-21 road win at Pella Christian Friday. SK jumped on top with an 11-yard Isaac Bruns touchdown run to lead 7-0 after one quarter. Three scores went on the board for the Cobras in the second frame, the first through the air when Braydon Wood dialed up Bruns for a 35-yard connection to make it 14-0. Bruns scored for the third time on a one yard dive to make it 21-0 SK in the second. After an Eagle touchdown throw from Brecken Ritzert to Landon Fransman got PC back within 21-7, the Cobras took the momentum right back when Jacob Libe got loose and scored from six yards out to extend the lead to 28-7. The Ritzert to Fransman connection got the Eagles in the end zone again before half, leaving the score 28-14 SK going to the break.
After a scoreless third, it was the Snakes who broke through to start the final frame with Brun’s fourth touchdown of the night, a 16-yard run to make it 35-14. The two teams would each put one more score on the board, SK’s a Brady Clark 37 yard sprint and the Eagles, Ritzert’s third throwing touchdown of the night, this one to Camden Parker, finished the scoring. Saturday, SK head coach Jared Jensen joined the KCII Radio Coaches Corner to talk about his team’s performance Friday and the importance of the win.
Jensen said, “We’ve started feeling that cohesion across the offensive line. Finding that physicality. Win the line of scrimmage and you’re probably going to have a lot of success. The big guys up front are doing a tremendous job. Brady (Clark) had a great night. Eyeballs are on 21, (Isaac Bruns), and it’s important to be able to get those other guys involved. When they are involved, typically it’s something big. It’s good to take a little pressure off of (Bruns), and understand that we have confidence in all of our backs. That’s why you build depth. Next man up and let’s keep rolling! Defensively, we did a really good job against their run game. First quarter we set the tone and got them out of what they wanted to do. I thought the defense battled. They had to earn everything that they got.”
The Cobras won the total yards battle 461-321, including 402 yards on the ground, averaging better than seven yards per carry. The Snakes won the turnover battle 1-0. Bruns had his second straight contest with four scores, this time on 31 carries with 232 yards. Clark and Libe each had a rushing score and combined for 100 yards on the ground. Wood hit on two of four passes for 59 yards and his scoring toss to Bruns. The SK defense had five tackles for loss. John Berg and Ashton Schwab each had six stops. Zach Guffey jumped on a fumble. The Cobras have won five straight and stand at 5-1 overall, 3-0 on top of the district, Pella Christian is 1-5, 1-2 in district. SK will next travel to Colfax-Mingo. Pella Christian visits Cardinal.