Glenwood punches ticket to state

Glenwood could not have picked a better time to turn in its most inspired performance of the season Friday night at Ram Memorial Field.

Dominating the game on both sides of the line of scrimmage – from start to finish –Glenwood punched its third consecutive ticket to the state playoffs with a decisive 28-0 victory over Winterset. The two teams entered the game tied for second place with identical 4-1 records in the Class 3A, District 7 standings, but the Rams left no doubt about who the better team is. The win assured Glenwood of the district’s second playoff spot along with frontrunner Harlan, which defeated the Rams earlier this season.

Glenwood coach Cory Faust didn’t hesitate for a split second when asked if his team had just played its best game of the season.

“I think so. That was a really good Winterset team,” Faust said. “To shut them out and move the ball like we did, I’m really proud of these guys.”

Glenwood made a statement on its first possession of the game, methodically marching 61 yards on a seven-play drive capped by an 8-yard bootleg by quarterback Andrew Blum.

Defensive lineman Parker Sell set up Glenwood’s next touchdown when he blocked a Huskie punt near the midfield stripe late in the first quarter. The Rams proceeded to drive 46 yards for their next score, converting twice on third down and once on fourth down. Running back Noah Carter scored his first of three touchdowns on the night from 11 yards out, but the key play in the drive was a 12-yard pass completion from Blum to Cody Buresh on fourth-and-6.

Glenwood increased its lead to 21-0 in the final minute of the first half on a 5-yard TD run by Carter. Winterset tried to respond with a score of its own in the final seconds of the half, but an interception by Jake Murtfeld ended the Huskies’ threat.

The Rams started the third quarter by picking up where they left off before halftime as Murtfeld picked off another Winterset pass and returned it to the Huskie 36 yard line. The Rams appeared to be on their way to another score, but lost a fumble at the Winterset 12 yard line to end the threat.

Utilizing a relentless running attack, the Rams punched in their final touchdown of the night late in the third quarter on a 9-yard blast by Carter, who finished the game with 219 yards rushing on 32 carries.

Glenwood ran the ball  62 times in the game for 355 yards. Blum threw just eight passes, completing four for 48 yards. Buresh was on the receiving end of all four completions.

Faust praised the play of his offensive line.

“The guys up front did a good job. I feel we can run the ball when we need to,” Faust said. “It’s a lot of unselfishness, too, because some of these skill guys aren’t getting the touches that a lot of guys would like and a lot of credit goes to them for still buying in and doing their job.”

Defensively, the Rams held Winterset to 139 total yards on offense and just seven first downs. Caleb Sanders tallied a team-high 6.5 tackles. Brett Mower recorded four tackles and a fumble recovery, while Eli Bales and Murtfeld were both in on three stops.

“Our guys did a great job on coverage and a big part of that is the play up front,” Faust noted.

Glenwood, now 5-1 in district play and 7-1 overall, wraps up the regular season at home Friday night against  Adel-DeSoto-Minburn (A-D-M).  The Iowa High School Athletic Association will announce playoff pairings late Friday night or Saturday morning.

Scoring Summary
W 00 00 00 00 - 00
G  14 07 07 00 - 28

Game Summary
G – Andrew Blum, 8 run (Alex Nusser kick).
G – Noah Carter, 11 run (Nusser kick).
G – Carter, 5 run (Nusser kick).
G – Carter, 9 run (Nusser kick).