Pre-game article..from the SC Journal:
SIOUX CITY | If Bishop Heelan and Harlan haven't become
Iowa high school football's best new rivalry of the 21st century, the two
perennial gridiron powers aren't far from it.
And, they'll go at it again tonight at Memorial Field in
a 7 o'clock state quarterfinal playoff clash that marks their sixth postseason
meeting in seven years -- a tradition dating back to Heelan's second year as a
3A school.
"Heelan and Harlan, it's going to be fun -- it always
is,'' said Roger Jansen, whose top-ranked Heelan team improved to 11-0 with a
hard-earned 28-10 win over Spencer in a second-round battle Monday night at
Memorial.
Harlan, which has won a record 12 state championships,
kept its bid for a 13th alive with a 21-18 squeaker over Carroll in another
Monday contest. The win enabled the Cyclones, 10-1, to avenge their lone
setback, a 14-7 loss Sept. 20 in a game star running back Nate Gettys missed
with an ankle sprain.
The teams' first four playoff encounters were also all
quarterfinals, running in succession from 2007 through 2010 with Heelan winning
three out of four. However, a 2011 tussle was a first-round tussle at Olsen
Stadium, where Harlan rallied from an early 14-10 deficit to pull off a 35-30
upset win.
That come-from-behind verdict for a Harlan team that had
gone 6-3 -- remarkably, the worst regular season mark ever for longtime Coach
Curt Bladt -- allowed the Cyclones to maintain their spectacular streak of 32
wins in as many first-round state playoff games.
But the streak came to an end last year, when Carroll
sent Harlan to the sidelines with a 28-7 loss in the opening round. So, this is
Heelan's first opportunity to avenge the 2011 heartbreaker. And, the wound is
still surprisingly fresh.
"That was a game that I basically lost for that team and
I don't care what anybody says,'' said Jansen. "I just made some boneheaded
calls that didn't give those kids an opportunity to have a season.''
Jansen's primary regret is an unsuccessful fourth-down
gamble after Harlan sliced the early 14-0 deficit in half with Lucas Musich's
89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Four plays after the Cyclones kicked it
back to Heelan, Jansen spurned a punt on fourth-and-one from Heelan's 29 and
paid the price with a Harlan stop that set up a short field for a game-tying
touchdown.
The game was tied 21-21 at halftime and then Harlan
quarterback Zach Osborn, now starting for Wayne State, hurled his second and
third TD passes of the night to help his team open up a 35-23 third-quarter
lead that Heelan was unable to surmount.
"That's something that's eaten at me for a long time,''
said Jansen.
Heelan, which has reached the 3A state championship game
four times in the last six years, leads Class 3A football with an even 44
points a game. Meanwhile, the Crusaders' defense has kept up its end of the
bargain, limiting Spencer, the No. 1 running team in 3A, to just 27 yards on 30
rushing attempts Monday.
Just 10 nights earlier, Heelan had managed a 42-17 win
over the Tigers despite allowing them 346 yards on the ground.
Harlan will confront the Crusaders with a far more
balanced attack, netting 1,988 yards rushing and 1,626 passing. Gettys, a
6-foot, 165-pound speedster, has 229 carries for 1,404 yards and 16 touchdowns
while quarterback Adam Juhl has completed 124 of 237 passes for 1,601 yards and
18 scores.
That's a potent offense, totaling 3,614 yards, but Heelan
is over 1,000 yards beyond that at 4,621 with quarterback Trent Solsma on track
to erase city records he set last year, passing for 3,149 yards and 39
touchdowns. Solsma is 156 of 226 this fall for 2,549 yards and 33 scores while
junior running back Tony Tobin pushed his season rushing total to 1,114 with a
career-high 168 yards on Monday.
"They're a darned good football team,'' said Bladt, whose
36-year record of 375-43 makes him the second winningest coach ever in Iowa.
"Solsma puts the ball on the money and (Philip) Jacobson is almost unstoppable.
And, then they throw a little running attack in there and play great defense.
That's a good combination.''
Bladt's reference to Jacobson, who has 35 catches for 637
yards and seven touchdowns, seemed to disregard Connor Niles, the 3A leader
with 17 touchdown receptions, hauling in 53 passes for 957 yards. However, the
69-year-old Exira native, a 1967 graduate of Morningside, has plenty of
information on an opponent he's been able to anticipate on nearly an annual
basis.
A pairing steeped in history, the game brings together
two of the most successful programs Iowa high school football has ever known.
Besides Emmetsburg (38) and West Des Moines Dowling (36),
Harlan and Heelan rank third and fourth in state playoff appearances with 34
and 33, respectively, in 42 years since the playoffs were introduced.
Harlan, indeed, is the runaway leader in wins with 90
(and only 21 losses), well ahead of Emmetsburg, second at 72. Meanwhile, Heelan
kept pace with Class 4A West Des Moines Valley on Monday as each picked up
their 50th postseason triumph, tied for fifth all-time.
Tonight's winner plays a semifinal next Thursday at the
UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls against either Clear Lake (11-0) or Grinnell (8-3), who
meet tonight in Clear Lake. The other two 3A quarterfinals send Solon (10-1) to
Decorah (11-0) and Washington (10-1) to Pella (11-0).
This post was edited on 11/8 1:36 PM by Crusader Power
SIOUX CITY | If Bishop Heelan and Harlan haven't become
Iowa high school football's best new rivalry of the 21st century, the two
perennial gridiron powers aren't far from it.
And, they'll go at it again tonight at Memorial Field in
a 7 o'clock state quarterfinal playoff clash that marks their sixth postseason
meeting in seven years -- a tradition dating back to Heelan's second year as a
3A school.
"Heelan and Harlan, it's going to be fun -- it always
is,'' said Roger Jansen, whose top-ranked Heelan team improved to 11-0 with a
hard-earned 28-10 win over Spencer in a second-round battle Monday night at
Memorial.
Harlan, which has won a record 12 state championships,
kept its bid for a 13th alive with a 21-18 squeaker over Carroll in another
Monday contest. The win enabled the Cyclones, 10-1, to avenge their lone
setback, a 14-7 loss Sept. 20 in a game star running back Nate Gettys missed
with an ankle sprain.
The teams' first four playoff encounters were also all
quarterfinals, running in succession from 2007 through 2010 with Heelan winning
three out of four. However, a 2011 tussle was a first-round tussle at Olsen
Stadium, where Harlan rallied from an early 14-10 deficit to pull off a 35-30
upset win.
That come-from-behind verdict for a Harlan team that had
gone 6-3 -- remarkably, the worst regular season mark ever for longtime Coach
Curt Bladt -- allowed the Cyclones to maintain their spectacular streak of 32
wins in as many first-round state playoff games.
But the streak came to an end last year, when Carroll
sent Harlan to the sidelines with a 28-7 loss in the opening round. So, this is
Heelan's first opportunity to avenge the 2011 heartbreaker. And, the wound is
still surprisingly fresh.
"That was a game that I basically lost for that team and
I don't care what anybody says,'' said Jansen. "I just made some boneheaded
calls that didn't give those kids an opportunity to have a season.''
Jansen's primary regret is an unsuccessful fourth-down
gamble after Harlan sliced the early 14-0 deficit in half with Lucas Musich's
89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Four plays after the Cyclones kicked it
back to Heelan, Jansen spurned a punt on fourth-and-one from Heelan's 29 and
paid the price with a Harlan stop that set up a short field for a game-tying
touchdown.
The game was tied 21-21 at halftime and then Harlan
quarterback Zach Osborn, now starting for Wayne State, hurled his second and
third TD passes of the night to help his team open up a 35-23 third-quarter
lead that Heelan was unable to surmount.
"That's something that's eaten at me for a long time,''
said Jansen.
Heelan, which has reached the 3A state championship game
four times in the last six years, leads Class 3A football with an even 44
points a game. Meanwhile, the Crusaders' defense has kept up its end of the
bargain, limiting Spencer, the No. 1 running team in 3A, to just 27 yards on 30
rushing attempts Monday.
Just 10 nights earlier, Heelan had managed a 42-17 win
over the Tigers despite allowing them 346 yards on the ground.
Harlan will confront the Crusaders with a far more
balanced attack, netting 1,988 yards rushing and 1,626 passing. Gettys, a
6-foot, 165-pound speedster, has 229 carries for 1,404 yards and 16 touchdowns
while quarterback Adam Juhl has completed 124 of 237 passes for 1,601 yards and
18 scores.
That's a potent offense, totaling 3,614 yards, but Heelan
is over 1,000 yards beyond that at 4,621 with quarterback Trent Solsma on track
to erase city records he set last year, passing for 3,149 yards and 39
touchdowns. Solsma is 156 of 226 this fall for 2,549 yards and 33 scores while
junior running back Tony Tobin pushed his season rushing total to 1,114 with a
career-high 168 yards on Monday.
"They're a darned good football team,'' said Bladt, whose
36-year record of 375-43 makes him the second winningest coach ever in Iowa.
"Solsma puts the ball on the money and (Philip) Jacobson is almost unstoppable.
And, then they throw a little running attack in there and play great defense.
That's a good combination.''
Bladt's reference to Jacobson, who has 35 catches for 637
yards and seven touchdowns, seemed to disregard Connor Niles, the 3A leader
with 17 touchdown receptions, hauling in 53 passes for 957 yards. However, the
69-year-old Exira native, a 1967 graduate of Morningside, has plenty of
information on an opponent he's been able to anticipate on nearly an annual
basis.
A pairing steeped in history, the game brings together
two of the most successful programs Iowa high school football has ever known.
Besides Emmetsburg (38) and West Des Moines Dowling (36),
Harlan and Heelan rank third and fourth in state playoff appearances with 34
and 33, respectively, in 42 years since the playoffs were introduced.
Harlan, indeed, is the runaway leader in wins with 90
(and only 21 losses), well ahead of Emmetsburg, second at 72. Meanwhile, Heelan
kept pace with Class 4A West Des Moines Valley on Monday as each picked up
their 50th postseason triumph, tied for fifth all-time.
Tonight's winner plays a semifinal next Thursday at the
UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls against either Clear Lake (11-0) or Grinnell (8-3), who
meet tonight in Clear Lake. The other two 3A quarterfinals send Solon (10-1) to
Decorah (11-0) and Washington (10-1) to Pella (11-0).
This post was edited on 11/8 1:36 PM by Crusader Power
