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Creston’s football team opens their fall slate by hosting familiar Hawkeye 10 Conference foe Clarinda at 7 p.m. on Friday.
The Panthers opened the 2021 slate against the Cardinals and won 18-6.
Then sophomore running back Brennan Hayes was the leading ground gainer on the day with 135 yards on 19 carries. The philosophy of ground-and-pound is and will continue to be Creston’s bread and butter.
“It doesn’t matter who we play, we want to establish the run game,” head coach Brian Morrison said. “If we can’t do that, we’re not going to be very successful. He’s (Brennan) our guy at the feature running back position, he had a really good last year as a sophomore for us.”
Hayes finished 2021 with 97 carries for 687 yards. He hit paydirt three times.
“I’m looking forward to how he progresses,” Morrison said. “He’s had a great offseason and a great camp. The last two weeks has been very steady as far as progression in our system.”
Creston recovered four turnovers in last year’s game at Clarinda, Dylan Calvin had two interceptions and Avery Fuller and Cade Wurster each scooped up a fumble.
The Panthers coughed up the ball only once to have a turnover margin of +3 at the end of the night.
“Especially week one, you can lose games by turnovers, you’ve got to take care of the football,” Morrison said. “I think the second biggest thing is playing behind the sticks on offense with penalties. Things like illegal formations, illegal shifts and jumping offsides, we have to make sure we don’t make mental mistakes. That’s what we’ve been preaching to the kids: line up right and react to your keys, they’ll make mistakes but they can’t be mental mistakes.”
Despite losing 12 seniors to graduation, Creston returns a good amount of production.
“We have a lot of kids back as far as the skill positions,” Morrison said. “The secondary we return everybody in Calvin, Gannon Greenwalt, Cael Turner and McCoy Haines. At linebacker, we return two out of four in Ty Morrison and Austin Evans. There’s a very competitive situation at outside linebacker with Cade Wurster and Will Bolinger. Up front, the rotation will be Quinten Fuller, Jagger Luther and Max Chapman. Defensively, I feel good where we’re at.”
Overall, coach Morrison has become very familiar with Clarinda athletics with the various coaching hats he wears, in addition to watching the Cardinals’ various programs.
“Being involved with junior high track the last couple years and then high school track this past year as well as watching the wrestling program and the baseball team, they’ve got some good classes coming through right now,” he said. “Their senior class all the way down to their sophomore class is really good kids. When you gel them together, they’re going to be competitive in a lot of sports.”
Specifically for Clarinda football, the Cardinals also return a ton of production.
“Their quarterback (Wyatt Schmitt) is a tremendous athlete,” Morrison said. “Their running back (Tadyn Brown) is perhaps one of the better running backs we’ll see all season. We’ll see the Harlan running back and the ADM running back, both have DI offers, and this kid is pretty special too. We have to contain him.”
Last season, Brown had 15 carries for 107 yards and Clarinda’s lone score.
“I like what I see on film, but, it also makes me nervous,” Morrison said. “They’ve got good skill kids at receiver. They’re very deep as far as their skill kids and what they can do. It’ll be an interesting matchup.”
Creston - Clarinda series history
1911; Creston 27, Clarinda 5; 1914 Creston 26, Clarinda 0; 1915 Clarinda 20, Creston 6; 1923; Clarinda 12, Creston 0; 1931; Clarinda 26, Creston, 6; 1933; Clarinda 19, Creston 0; 1937; Creston 6, Clarinda 0; 1939; Clarinda 7, Creston 0; 1940; Clarinda 28, Creston 7; 1944; Creston 47, Clarinda 0; 1948; Creston 29, Clarinda 0; 1950; Creston 6, Clarinda 0; 1951; Creston 7, Clarinda 6; 1953; Clarinda 28, Creston 14; 1954; Clarinda 12, Creston 0; 1955; Clarinda 14, Creston 6; 1958; Creston 45, Clarinda 0; 1959; Creston 13, Clarinda 0; 1960; Creston 21, Clarinda 7; 1961; Clarinda 20, Creston 6; 1964; Creston 20, Clarinda 0; 1966; Clarinda 10, Creston 6; 1971; Creston 39, Clarinda 8; 1972; Clarinda 26, Creston 8; 1977; Clarinda 49, Creston 0; 1978; Clarinda 27, Creston 14; 1979; Creston 17, Clarinda 14; 1980; Creston 34, Clarinda 15; 1981; Clarinda 20, Creston 7; 1982; Creston 26, Clarinda 14; 1983; Clarinda 26, Creston 12; 1985; Creston 19, Clarinda 8; 1986; Creston 10, Clarinda 3; 1987; Creston 23, Clarinda 21; 1988 Creston 28, Clarinda 6; 1989 Creston 28, Clarinda 14; 1990; Creston 14, Clarinda 13; 1991; Creston 21, Clarinda 3; 1992; Creston 42, Clarinda 14; 1993; Clarinda 14, Creston 13; 1994; Creston 43, Clarinda 13; 1995; Creston 31, Clarinda 6; 1996; Creston 38, Clarinda 14; 1997; Creston 36, Clarinda 28; 1998; Creston 42, Clarinda 6; 1999; Creston 39, Clarinda 14; 2006; Creston 14, Clarinda 0; 2007; Creston 14, Clarinda 7; 2012; Creston 49, Clarinda 7; 2013; Creston 42, Clarinda 10; 2014; Clarinda 36, Creston 27; 2015; Creston 48, Clarinda 27; 2016; Creston 48, Clarinda 0; 2021; Creston 18, Clarinda 6.