Panthers rough up Cougars 66-16 on homecoming

ACKLEY – A night that began with celebration ended with a different tone for the Cougars on Sept. 2 for their Homecoming game.

Tripoli (5-1) was in town for a pivotal battle in the Class 8-Player District 2 race. The Panthers left with a two-game lead over the Cougars (3-3) with a 66-16 win. 

“In summary, Homecoming won,” Cougars coach James Koop said. “They were what we expected, and they came here to win a football game.”

Tripoli set the tone for the night early by running back the opening kick within the five-yard line.

The Panthers tacked on another score midway through the quarter but failed on both conversions to lead 12-0. AGWSR had a critical answer on their next drive to claw back within a score. On fourth down and four near midfield, Cougars’ QB Bo Gerbracht rolled out, kept the play alive long enough to find an open Jaden Penning, who turned the corner and was off to the end zone. Following a two-point conversion, the Cougars pulled within four.

The Panthers struck again to pull back to a 12-point after one quarter of play. The following Cougars’ possession, Gerbracht took two more chances through the air, the first sailing a few yards past his receiver. The second attempt hit his open receiver, who skirted by the cornerback and into the end zone. After quick deliberation, the score was taken off the board after officials announced offensive pass interference on the play. 

Midway through the Panthers’ drive, the Cougars defense stood tall, forcing a key fumble recovered by Penning. The drive stalled out and Tripoli tacked on another score late in the half. The Cougars got a shot in the arm when Penning made another big play, this time on special teams. After a bobbled catch, Penning made up quickly by finding a hole and hit the jets to out-race the Panthers’ special teams for a touchdown. The successful conversion cut the deficit to 20 points on the scoreboard, 36-16.

“We were slow tonight and we looked tired,” Koop said. “We weren’t focused on what was important.”

Tripoli added on one more score as the horn sounded for half, missing the conversion but leading 42-16.

Early in the third quarter, the Panthers coughed the ball back up to AGWSR, but the offense was unable to take advantage. Tripoli added three more scores as time ticked by to increase their lead. 

The second string nearly punched in a score for the Cougars but came up half a yard short on fourth down. Noah Cilkeman had a big return to set up AGWSR around midfield to start the drive. He followed that by picking up chunks of yards on the ground to get the Cougars inside the red zone. On fourth and medium distance, the Cougars were just short of keeping the drive going. Tripoli would kneel out the clock to end the game.

“The kids we put in the fourth quarter played hard. I told them that I didn’t care what happens, I just wanted to see them line up right and play hard,” Koop said. “I thought Zach Johnson played his heart out, like he does every game. He did what he could do, but that wasn’t enough to stop the caliber of team that Tripoli is.”

A night that started with celebration on the Cougars sideline, ended with celebration by the visitors. AGWSR will end the regular season at Riceville on Sept. 9.  

“The one thing we’re going to get out of Riceville is hard-nosed kids. If we can’t match that, it won’t be pleasant,” Koop said. “They have grit. On our games that we’ve won, we played with grit. Hopefully this puts a chip on these guys’ shoulders.”

Tripoli      20     22       8     16        -     66

AGWSR     8       8       0       0        -     16

TEAM STATISTICS

                                           Trip     AGWSR

First downs                           NA             NA

Rushes-yards                 53-514       37-120

Passing                                 44              43

Comp-att-int                    6-16-0          2-9-0

Punts-avg.                            0-0        7-30.9

Fumbles-lost                         3-2             1-0

Penalties-yards                     NA             NA

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING (Att-Yds-TD) – Trip, Blake Brocka 20-217-2, Conner Piehl 17-169-5, Austin Bremner 16-131-2. AGWSR, Jaden Penning 20-57-0, Cale Culver 9-36-0, Noah Cilkeman 4-16-0, Jayden Bowles 2-9-0, Gabe Nederhoff 1-2-0, Bradly Roder 1-0-0. PASSING (Att-Comp-Yds-TD-INT) – Trip, Piehl 6-6-44-0-0. AGWSR, Bo Gerbracht 1-8-35-1-0, Nederhoff 1-1-8-0-0. RECEIVING (Catch-Yds-TD) – Trip, Jase Hereid 2-16-0, Bremner 2-12-0, Cade Mueller 1-8-0, James Davis 1-8-0. AGWSR, Jaden Penning 1-35-1, Ryley Bohner 1-8-0. TACKLES (Solo-Tot-TFL) – Trip, Ethan Schellhorn 7-11.5-5, Davis 2-6-1, Bremner 3-5-3.5, Piehl 4-5-0, Jayden Miller 1-4.5-0, Daniel Comer 3-3-0. AGWSR, Zach Johnson 9-11-0, Penning 6-8.5-0, Culver 5-6.5-0, Roder 4-5.5-0, Bowles 2-5.5-0, Darren Veld 4-4.5-0, Chase Harms 2-4-0. SACKS – Trip, Bremner 3.5, Schellhorn 0.5. AGWSR, None. FUMBLE RECOVERIES – Trip, None. AGWSR, Penning 1-9, Ben Reinke. INTERCEPTIONS – Trip, None. AGWSR, None.