Quarterback move pays off for Warhawks

HAMPTON — West Fork seemed set up with a returning quarterback from 2019 in Kellen Cameron, but the move to Kayden Ames proved to pay off for coach James Perez and his Warhawks.

The senior who moved from a wing back to the signal caller went off for an unofficial 155 yards rushing on 23 attempts, despite being sacked three times, and a one-yard touchdown run that sealed the 18-7 win over the Bulldogs.

He also unofficially threw 6-of-13 passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns, one a 31-yard TD pass to Ren Heimer for the first score of the game.

It aided the Class A school past the Class 2A team in the two school’s first football meeting ever.

“It was a decision we made coming out of camp,” said Perez, a 2012 Hampton-Dumont grad who rushed for more than 700 yards and 12 TDs in his career with the Bulldogs. “Both were vying for the position and Kellen does a good job at wide receiver and I would say we weren’t losing much there. He was contributing and it seemed to work out well tonight.”

West Fork forced the Bulldogs into two three-and-outs on their first two offensive series and answered with scores to take a 12-0 lead.

Bulldog head coach Andy Bruemmer said that his team lacked the intensity it needed for this game.

“(We lacked) emotion,” Bruemmer said. “Flat-out emotion: we didn’t have it, didn’t have any. I didn’t…it was my job to get the emotion out of them and I didn’t do my job.”

Bruemmer added that it came as no surprise to him that Ames was under center.

“We saw their film from their scrimmage and it was…yeah, they didn’t do anything different than we expected them to do, offensively or defensively,” Bruemmer said. “It’s just that we have to come ready to play every single night and we weren’t ready to play.”

The second Warhawks’ score was a sustained 12-play drive that culminated on a 16-yard touchdown pass to Cameron from Ames.

“Kellen’s a gamer and he does whatever we ask him to do and that’s what great about him, the overall team player and can’t say anything bad about him,” Perez said. “We knew he would do great things and he actually has more receptions and touchdown catches than anyone on our roster coming into the game. It made sense. He was game for it and we made the move.”

What turned out to be the only score of the game for the Bulldogs ensued with a big 64-yard pass play from Cal Heeren to Mario De La Cruz that set up a four-yard touchdown run by Marco Guerrero.

Guerrero and the Bulldogs thought they had another touchdown that could have completely changed the complexion of this game when he fielded a blocked punt after waving his arms in front of him, not above his head, then grabbing the football and taking off downfield.

However, the Bulldogs were penalized on a new rule that had just come out from the IHSAA that very same day.

“The state came out with something on that, literally today, if a player on a punt waves his hands from side to side, like a safe call, then fields the punt and runs with it, it is an illegal fair catch signal,” Bruemmer said. “I’m going to have an email out to the state first thing (Saturday) on that, because that is not an illegal fair catch signal.

“A fair catch signal is up over the head and that is what we teach our kids because that is what the rulebook says it is, and so side to side, they know it is not an illegal fair catch signal. I usually get a response when I do, but they will be hearing from me on that.”

Instead, the Bulldogs started on the 35-yard line and ran only a few plays before halftime.

The rule came as news to Bruemmer.

“I didn’t even know about it until the officials told me,” Bruemmer said. “I hadn’t seen the memo come out from the state this afternoon. I’ve got other things going on with game prep and things like that. When it comes out on the day of games, that’s pretty ridiculous from the state.

“Absolutely (that play changes momentum), we put a score on the board, you get high (emotionally) again, it definitely would have changed the momentum of the game and that’s why I was so upset about the call. It’s a lousy call and a stupid rule.”

West Fork came out in the second half and had a prolonged 10-play drive that ended on going for it on fourth down on an incomplete pass by Ames. However, two plays later, Nate Hubka intercepted Heeren in good field position.

Six plays later, Ames dove in for the only rushing TD for the Warhawks from a yard out.

“Overall, we have a great group of seniors leading us with this new offense.” Perez said. “We have some kinks to work out, but we’re going in the right direction.”

Perez can put a feather in his cap over his alma mater.

“It’s a great feeling,” Perez said. “I’m happy for the kids we were able to upset a 2A school. First game for us, rather than for them, we were able to work through the mistakes, worked through them and made it happen.”

West Fork (1-0) plays Mason City Newman (2-0) at home this Friday. The Bulldogs (1-1) travel to one of the 2A District 3 favorites, West Marshall (1-1).

 “We knew what they were going to do, we have to step up and play every single week,” Bruemmer said. “We don’t have any weeks where we can sit back and think we can just play, we have to come ready.”

West Fork 18

Bulldogs 7

W. Fork      6       6       6       0        -     18

Bulldogs    0       7       0       0        -       7

First quarter scoring

WF — Ren Heimer 31 pass from Kayden Ames (kick fail) 7:06

Second quarter scoring

WF — Kellen Cameron 16 pass from Ames (kick blocked) 11:15

H-D — Marco Guerrero 4 run (Elias Cortez kick) 9:00.

Third quarter scoring

WF — Ames 1 run (run fail) 3:23

Rushing (Att-Yds-TD) — WF (Kayden Ames 23-155-1, Jesse Chibambo 7–28-0, Trevor Guritz 3-5-0, Kellen Cameron 1-4-0, Ki Janssen 7-(1)-0, Ren Heimer 1-(5)-0. H-D (Logan Pfeffer 8-32-0, Marco Guerrero 1-4-1, Mario De La Cruz 1-2-0, Bryan Flores 8-(24)-0.

Passing (Att-Comp-Yds-TD-INT) — WF (Ames 6-13-98-2-0); H-D (Cal Heeren 8-13-120-0-1; Flores 4-8-22-0-0).

Receiving (Catch-Yds-TD) — WF (Heimer 1-31-1, Reid Stonebraker 1-12-0, Joe Ingham 1-16-0, Chibambo 1-5-0); H-D (De La Cruz 3-91-0, Zayden Erdman 3-14-0, Max O’Dell 2-10-0, Pfeffer 1-9-0, Tate Schmitt 1-8-0, Jordan Severs 1-7-0, Guerrero 1-3-0).

Tackles (Solo-Total-TFL) — WF, NA; H-D (8-10-4, De La Cruz 3-9-1, Pfeffer 2-6-1, Kale Folkerts 2-6-1, Elias Cortez 3-5.5-2, Cole Freerks 1-4.5-1, O’Dell 2-3-0, Alex Koch 0-3-1).

Sacks — WF, NA. H-D (Schmitt 2, Pfeffer, Cortez).

Fumble recoveries — WF, None; H-D (O’Dell).

Interceptions — WF, Nate Hubka. H-D, None.

Kick returns — WF, NA; H-D (Guerrero 3-89-0).

Kickoffs — WF, Heimer, No official stats; H-D (Cortez 2-99).

Punting — WF, Heimer, No official stats; H-D (Zach DeVries 2-76, Severs 3-122).