Wolverines lose back-and-forth game to Akron-Westfield 28-17
South O’Brien rallied from 14 points down to take a three point lead but it was Akron-Westfield which scored the final two touchdowns to defeat the Wolverines 28-17 October 18 at Akron. With the loss, South O’Brien fell to 0-8 on the season and to 0-5 in District play. The playoff teams from Class A District 1 are Gehlen Catholic, MMCRU, Sibley-Ocheyedan and Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn.
The Wolverines also get to play a game this week. South O’Brien travels to Onawa on Thursday, October 24 to take on another 0-8 squad in the West Monona Spartans. Game time is 6:30 p.m. “We have another opportunity to get better and get on the winning side of the scoreboard,” said Wolverine head coach Mark Fuhrman.
As noted earlier, South O’Brien gave itself a chance to win against Akron-Westfield. “This week was another tough one,” remarked the Wolverine coach. “We had opportunities to get on the right side of the scoreboard and actually led in the second half but couldn’t get the job done.”
The visitors were twice stopped on fourth down in the first quarter. The Westerners then threw a touchdown pass to lead 6-0. The run for the two point conversion resulted in a fumble. South O’Brien was again turned back on fourth down and another catch and run gave Akron-Westfield a 14-0 lead.
The Wolverines avoided a fourth down play when Jaden Kreber threw deep on third down and Derek Paulsen made the catch to complete a 74 yard touchdown play, Paulsen added the extra point and the scoreboard read 14-7 late in the first quarter. There was no scoring in the second quarter until Paulsen banged through a 27 yard field goal with six seconds left to make the score 14-10 at halftime.
After intermission Kreber scored a rushing touchdown from six yards out. When Paulsen tacked on the extra point South O’Brien led 17-14 with 5:06 remaining in the third quarter.
A 40-yard kickoff return got the Westerners started on a drive that would allow them to retake the lead 21-17 late in the quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter South O’Brien was again unable to convert a fourth down in Westerner territory. Tatum Wilken capped a 76-yard drive with his fourth touchdown pass of the game and Akron-Westfield led 28-17 with 9:13 remaining. The last two possessions for the Wolverines ended in a turnover on downs and an interception.
South O’Brien rushed for 141 yards which included 55 from Caden Wittrock and 22 from Jordan Jenness. Kreber threw for 126 yards and rushed for 21. Paulsen caught four passes for 126 yards. The other two completions by Kreber resulted in a net of zero yards.
“We did a little better job of running the ball which was important because Akron really spent a lot of time trying to take Derek Paulsen out of the game offensively,” said Fuhrman. “He was still able to catch one for a score and gain over 100 yards. Caden Wittrock and Jordan Jenness did a nice job of picking up their games on the rushing side.”
On defense Jenness registered 15 total tackles and a sack. Gabe Moermond and Teagen Bahrenfuss each made six tackles. Jayven Miller forced a fumble while Reese Lundquist and Bahrenfus each recovered a fumble. “Defensively, we gave up some big plays again,” noted Fuhrman. “A couple more were in third-and-long and fourth-and-long situations. We really need to improve on that if we are going to be successful.”
S. O’Brien
7 3 7 0 – 17
Akron-W.
14 0 7 7 – 28