Five Takeaways: Week 1 – Urbandale vs Johnston

Here is a new series I’m starting this season. After every game I attend, I’m going to write down at least 5 things I can take away from each school’s performance that night. Starting off this series is a battle between Des Moines’s two largest northwestern suburbs, Urbandale and Johnston.   #1. Man, it feels good to be back. Just getting back to high school football in Iowa is a takeaway after all we’ve been/still going through. From the pandemic to the protests to even a derecho, schools in Iowa are still playing football on opening day. From what I could tell at Frerichs Field on Friday night, Urbandale seems to be on top of everything when it comes to minimizing the virus. Masks are mandatory of course, there are blue dots on the bleachers to indicate where families can sit, and what affected my role the most is no press seating in the press box. Now I understand that there will likely be a few teams that have to end their season early, whether someone on their team contracted the virus, or for a few cases, school districts going fully online. But for right now, many of these kids are using football as an escape from this pandemic world and are gonna get the most out of high school football that they can in 2020.   #2. Moore is a marked man... for both teams. So let’s get to talking about the actual game, starting with Johnston TE/WR [player_tooltip player_id="23819" first="Tyler" last="Moore"]. It should come to no surprise during the game, that the Dragons were gonna try and get the ball in the future Iowa State Cyclones’ hands as much as they can, while Urbandale was gonna try and stop him from making any big plays. In the first half, Moore was locked down for the most part, with only one pass completed to him that half, and a pass intended for him intercepted by Parker Stewart. Once the second half started Moore and the rest of the Dragons offense woke up. By the end of the game, he made a total of 7 catches for 108 yards and 1 touchdown, including a point in the third quarter where Moore got a first down on three consecutive plays, and nearly got a fourth straight too.   #3. J-Hawks two-way stars help out in a big way. Urbandale’s loading up their offense by getting their three best defensive players to start both ways in 2020. Firstly, [player_tooltip player_id="23811" first="Jaden" last="Harrell"], a future Iowa Hawkeye as a Linebacker, also acts as their fullback and as a backup RB. Then you got another future Hawkeye [player_tooltip player_id="23809" first="Max" last="Llewellyn"], an excellent strongside DE who also shows off how great he is as a tight end. In the fourth quarter off of a pass down the middle by Peyton Rottinghaus at around midfield, Llewellyn managed to weave around and past the Dragons defense for a touchdown. Then there’s OLB/RB [player_tooltip player_id="23823" first="Tucker" last="Langenberg"]. He would be the difference-maker offensively in the first half and ended his day by scoring 3 touchdowns from the ground. While having your top players play both sides of the field might improve your overall team, it also raises the probability of injuries as well. Langenberg needed help getting back up a few times, and so did their G/DE Adnan Ikeljic, which brings me to my next takeaway.   #4. Urbandale’s defense, built to last? In the first half, the J-Hawks defense lived up to their reputation as one of the best defenses Class 4A has to offer. Multiple three-and-outs, an interception, and two blocked punts that led to touchdowns (one pounced on in the endzone, one on a run the next play) while only giving up a touchdown on a fluke QB sneak on third and short by [player_tooltip player_id="23998" first="Jack" last="Rutz"] that went 67 yards. By the end of the game, they’ve let Johnston score 34 points and bring it to a 3-point game. So what happened? The Dragons just used their passing game to their advantage, they’re a pass-oriented team and they were down by 24 at halftime, so what else were they going to do. The J-Hawks shouldn’t make a second-half collapse like that a bad habit throughout the rest of the season, especially if it’s against tougher schools like Ankeny for instance or when it really matters like in a playoff game. But what about Johnston’s side of the second half?   #5. Johnston’s near comeback. Once halftime came and the Dragons walked back to their locker room, they were clearly frustrated for getting blown out 30-6 in the first game of the new season, but they were motivated to make that 24-point comeback. Then things started clicking for Johnston once the second half came. The first play of the half Karter Kriegel makes a nice catch faking out his cover man and going 70 yards to the house. Then later on in the fourth, Kriegel is wide open for a bomb from Rutz where he scores his second touchdown. QB Rutz, receivers Kriegel, Moore, and Vincent Cresta, and their defense holding the J-Hawks to just one second-half touchdown up to that point, ended up helping Johnston get within 3 points with 6:48 left in the game. Once Urbandale got the ball back, they managed the clock well, Harrell scored on a 31 long run, the defense stopped the Dragons from going anywhere, and scored one more TD to win it 50-34. While they didn’t pull off the comeback, coming back 24 points down at halftime to bring it to a 3-point game by the middle of the fourth is very impressive regardless.   What’s next? Johnston: vs Des Moines Lincoln Urbandale: @ Ames