CEDAR BLUFFS - Brett Davis got exactly what he expected Friday night after making the 120-mile trip from Johnson-Brock to Cedar Bluffs – a heavy dose of the Wildcats’ two-headed running game.
Andy Egger and Brendon Jorgensen combined to carry the football 42 times for 242 yards and four touchdowns in a 28-22 Cedar Bluffs win in Eight Man-1 district action.
"We knew they were a smash-mouth team," Davis said. "There’s not going to be any secrets. They don’t want to go down. They’re going to fight for every last inch."
Cedar Bluffs improved to 3-3 without completing any of its three pass attempts. The Wildcats did convert a pair of two-point conversions with pass completions.
Egger and Jorgensen, who each carried 21 times, rushed for 134 and 108 yards, respectively.
"Yards after contact. We grade them and that’s one thing we look at, yards after contact and broken tackles," said Cedar Bluffs coach Mitch Egger. "That was probably the difference in the game."
Andy Egger’s first TD came on Cedar Bluffs’ second possession when he took a counter handoff 29 yards to score. His second touchdown run went 22 yards as he broke a pair of tackles and maintained his balance along the south sideline. It came on the Wildcats’ first possession of the second half, after they held Johnson-Brock to a three-and-out, and gave Cedar Bluffs a 14-8 lead.
"They needed to be focused there," said coach Egger, about his team’s start to the second half. "They were just ready to go."
A tackle by Jorgensen at the Johnson-Brock 3 after Ty Allen’s 35-yard punt put the Eagles in a hole. After Preston Ranslem recovered a J-B fumble two plays later, Egger scored his third TD on second down from the 5.
The Eagles, who slipped to 4-2 after outscoring their past two opponents 133-18, mounted a 14-play, 65-yard drive that Clint Damme capped with a 1-yard touchdown run. It cut the Cedar Bluffs lead to 20-16, but the Wildcats quickly answered.
A four-play drive, aided by a 15-yard facemask penalty, led to Jorgensen’s 13-yard touchdown run and a 28-16 Cedar Bluffs lead with 3:07 to play. Johnson-Broke quarterback Grahm Butler returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown to put the margin to 28-22.
Allen recovered the onsides kickoff and Cedar Bluffs ran off 1:32 before attempting to punt on fourth down. Allen couldn’t handle a high center snap and lost six yards, giving J-B possession at the Wildcat 34 with 1:23 to play.
A dropped pass and two incompletions ended the threat and Cedar Bluffs ran out the clock.
"We just couldn’t convert at the end. A lot of ifs," Davis said. "The last couple of weeks we haven’t played very physical teams. We had some unforced errors that obviously didn’t help us."
Egger praised his team for its physical play. That physicality countered the athleticism of Johnson-Brock’s skilled-position players.
The Wildcats’ offense relied on the play of linemen Dylan Hajek, Damon Dibbern, Zach Roumph, Ranslem and Allen to use its smash-mouth running attack.
"We wanted to be the more physical team," Egger said. "Our front kids played really well, really on both sides of the ball."
Johnson-Brock (4-2) 8 0 0 14 – 22
At Cedar Bluffs (3-3) 8 0 6 14 – 28
CB - Andy Egger 29 run (Brendon Jorgensen pass from Brandon Bogus).
JB - Clint Damme 4 run (Mason Pelchat pass from Grahm Butler).
CB - Egger 22 run (run failed).
CB - Egger 5 run (run failed).
JB - Damme 1 run (Hans Christensen pass from Butler).
CB - Jorgensen 13 run (Ty Allen pass from Trent Kirchmann).
JB - Butler 75 kickoff return (pass failed).
Team Statistics
JB CB
First Downs 13 12
Rushes-Yards 47-142 51-237
Passing Yards 45 0
Total Yards 187 237
Passing 4-13-0 0-3-1
Punts-Avg. 5-27.4 3-29.7
Fumbles-Lost 4-1 4-1
Penalties-Yards 4-40 6-39
Individual Statistics
Rushing - JB, Kyle Little 20-83, Damme 13-45, Butler 14-14; CB, Egger 21-134, Jorgensen 21-108, Albert Lainez 2-5, Bogus 6-(-4), Team 1-(-6).
Passing - JB, Butler 3-11-0-40, Damme 1-2-0-5; CB, Bogus 0-3-1-0.
Receiving - JB, Pelchat 2-21, Damme 1-19, Butler 1-7; CB, none.
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