Tigers tame Rams in district battle

In a battle of top Class 4A football teams, it was less big game than nightmare for Glenwood.

Adel-DeSota-Minburn, ranked No. 12 in the latest Class 4A RPI standings, came into Glenwood Friday and handed the No. 10 ranked Rams their worst loss in over a decade in a lopsided 45-3 victory before a capacity crowd at Ram Memorial Field Friday.

The Rams (5-2 overall, 2-1 in the district) never got on track offensively and never found an answer for Tiger quarterback Hudson Shull in the game. Shull accounted for 318 yards of total offense and three touchdowns.

“I need to coach better,” said a frustrated Glenwood coach Cory Faust after the game. “I think that’s where it starts. I need to do better job getting our guys ready. Hats off the ADM, they have really good players. We thought we matched up with them better than it showed tonight. I think we still do and we have a really good team and I don’t think that score is indicative of the type of team we are.”

The Tigers led 3-0 after a quiet first quarter but Shull would heat up in the second frame. His 44-yard scramble would make it 10-0 on the opening play of the frame. After forcing a Ram punt on the ensuing possession, Shull connected with Reece Strittmatter on a 15-yard TD toss. The point-after made the score 17-0 with just under seven minutes to go in the half.

Glenwood would take advantage of a Tiger turnover just before halftime to finally get on the board. Aaron Christian’s 30-yard field goal made the score 17-3 with 1:27 to go.

The Tigers, however, would have an answer of their own before halftime.

Shull engineered an eight-play, 65-yard drive he capped himself on a nifty 15-yard scramble to push the Tigers’ lead to 24-3 at the break.

The Tigers out-yarded the Rams 279 to 86 in the first half. Glenwood had as many punt as first downs in the first two quartsers – four each.

ADM would pick right up where it left off after halftime.

Following a shanked punt, the Tigers took over on the Rams 49 to open the second half and needed just four plays to make the score 31-3 on Leyton Gerleman’s 38-yard TD run.

Glenwood would respond with a sustained drive on their ensuing possession but it would stall out on an incomplete pass on fourth-and-nine at the Tiger 22.

Time and again, the shifty Shull wiggled out of the Rams’ rush and had the Tigers in business. He finished his night completing 8-of-12 for 110 yards and a TD while running for 208 yards and two TDs on 14 carries.

Faust was well aware of the 6-foot-1, 190 pounds Shull and the senior signal-caller was as good advertised.

“We’ve faced some good quarterbacks this year but he’s obviously different,” Faust said. “We saw that on film. We thought we had a good plan and good personnel for it. We didn’t execute it quite like we thought we would. And then just credit them. They were a little bit better than we thought too. They were just able to execute and kind of took whatever they wanted.

For the game, ADM gained a season-high 475 yards on the Rams’ defense. Glenwood finished with 231 total yards.

Scott Reed led Glenwood on the ground with 76 yards on 14 carries. Quarterback Ben Carlo completed 16-of-28 passes for 113 yards.

The 42-point margin was the most by a Glenwood squad since a 49-6 loss to Carroll to close out the 2011 season, the last for before Faust took over as head coach.

“We have to play better,” Faust said of the Rams’ first district loss. “They dominated us in every phase. They were able to take what they wanted on offense. It seems like they complete every pass they wanted to complete and when we did have them cover their quarterback scrambled and we didn’t contain like I thought we would be able to.”

With the win, ADM wrestles control of District 6 with its 3-0 record. The Rams, 2-1 in the district, have two district games remaining at Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson (3-4) Friday and the home regular season finale against Boone (2-5). Win out and the Rams, by virtue of holding the tie-breaker of 2-1 Council Bluffs Lewis Central, will lock up a playoff spot.

How to keep this disappointing setback from beating the Rams a second time, with so much to play for, Faust said his team will rely on its routines.

“There’s a process that you go through every week,” he said. “You play a nine-game season. So, we have to learn from the film, we have to get healthy, we have to study our next opponent, and we have to have a good week of practice. We can’t blame, complain or make excuses.

“We have to hang together. So, I’ve been proud of our team with their buy-in, the way they’ve done some of those things. But this will be a big test. That’s some adversity. No, this was not fun at all. We’ll see how we respond to it.”

The Yellowjackets host the Rams Friday at Gale Wickersham Athletic Complex in Council Bluffs for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

Scoring Summary
ADM    04  21  14  07   45
G    00  03  00  00     3

Game Summary
    ADM – Colby Simmons, 35 field goal.
    ADM – Hudson Shull, 44 run (kick good).
    ADM – Shull to Reece Strittmatter, 15 (kick good).
    G – Aaron Christian, 30 field goal.
    ADM – Shull, 15 run (kick good).
    ADM – Leyton Gerleman, 38 run (kick good).
    ADM – Reed Obstarczyk, 67 run (kick good).
    ADM – Obstarczyk, 4 run (kick good).