Timberwolves football season ends in second round

Southwest Valley wanted to make a statement in the second half in their second-round playoff game Friday against AHSTW.

The statement was made during most of the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough as the Vikings separated themselves from Southwest Valley in a 35-14 win. The Timberwolves finish the season 7-3 overall.

AHSTW (10-0) advances to the third-round with a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday at (10-0) Lynnville-Sully. Lynnville-Sully advanced after defeating Mount Ayr.

Southwest Valley used the first 8:34 of the third quarter for a 69-yard drive to score and cut the deficit to 21-14. But they couldn’t get any closer.

“We knew it was one or two plays, here or there. It’s a dynamic program,” he said about the Vikings. “We gave ourselves a chance. I don’t think a team has played them as hard as we have,” said Southwest Valley coach Anthony Donahoo. The Vikings won 28-0 Sept. 9 playing Southwest Valley in Corning.

That third-quarter drive Friday ended the momentum the Vikings built seconds before halftime scoring and going up 21-7 at the break.

Southwest Valley converted three fourth-down plays on the drive. The first was a fourth-and-2 on their own 39 when Evan Timmerman ran to the 45. Timmerman converted again on fourth-and-1 on the Vikings 22 to get to the 20. A fourth-and-5 turned into a fourth-and-10 after a penalty. Devin Greenwalt kept his toes inbounds in the back of the endzone as he caught a pass from Timmerman. The extra-point made the score 21-14.

“Being able to drive that, go 70 yards to score. That’s a credit to the guys up front and credit to our mentality wanting to put together 15, 17-play drives,” he said.

Vikings coach G.G. Harris, a 2006 Creston graduate, said Southwest Valley played their game that drive.

“That forced you to be balanced on the defensive side,” he said about the time consuming possession. “They get an extra gap. They do an excellent job of getting their cuts. They got away a few times,” he said about Southwest Valley’s ability to gain extra yards to continue the drive. “They do what they do very well. They are consistent and that is hard to stop.”

But AHSTW wasted no time in responding. They took the ensuing possession and scored on a 1-yard run by running back Luke Sternberg to extend the lead to 28-14 seconds into the fourth quarter.

“Once the game slowed down mentally for us, the tempo returned to in our hands after their 18-play drive,” Harris said.

Southwest Valley couldn’t keep the pressure on as they were forced to punt on their next possession. The Timberwolves were able to get the ball later in the quarter and moved to the Vikings 33 with 7:52 left in the game. They faced a fourth-and-8 but did not complete the pass. The Vikings scored on a 30-yard touchdown pass late in the game.

The game started with AHSTW receiving the opening kick off as Cole Scheffler returned it 80 yards for a touchdown. After an exchange of punts, the Timberwolves picked up an Vikings fumble on AHSTW 26 with 6:25 left in the first quarter. Southwest Valley moved the ball to the Vikings 18. Southwest Valley missed a field goal attempt on fourth-and-12.

“Our goal was to get them in second and third and long type of plays. We did. We didn’t capitalize on all of them,” he said. “Making those plays on defense is huge.”

The Vikings quickly moved the ball downfield with the help of a 44-yard run by Kyle Sternberg to the Southwest Valley 13. He would eventually throw a 13-yard scoring pass to Scheffler to extend the lead to 14-0. Sternberg completed 13 of 15 passes for 164 yards and three scores. On the ground, he had 12 carries for 71 yards.

“You make it into the second round of the playoffs, you have to settle down,” Donahoo said about the tough start to the game for his team.

Southwest Valley scored its first points thanks to a partially blocked Vikings punt. Southwest Valley started the possession on the Vikings 45 with 4:05 left in the second quarter. Evan Timmerman took off running for a 21-yard score with 2:43 left in the first half.

“Seven wins back to back and the second round of playoffs,” Donahoo said about the quality of the program. “You lose four dynamic seniors and bring back a dynamic core of kids we are excited for what the future holds,” Donahoo said. The four seniors this year are Robbie Barnes, Colin Jacobs, Dustin Shutler and Marshall Knapp.