Tigers roll to district title

LENOX — No. 1-ranked Lenox removed any drama early in Friday’s matchups of unbeaten teams for the 8-player District 8 championship.

The Tigers scored 21 points in each of the first two quarters while shutting out Southeast Warren until early in the fourth quarter of a dominating 55-8 home victory. Southeast Warren, averaging 60 points per game with a 6-0 record (4-0 district) coming in, was outgained 406-201 in total yards.

The Tigers scored on all eight drives by varsity players building a 55-0 lead before the end of the third quarter. The game went into the state’s mercy rule running clock in the second quarter when Jordan Martin-England scored on an 18-yard run to make it 35-0.

This is the third district title in four years earned by these Lenox seniors as the Tigers improved to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in district play. Lenox finishes the regular season at Lamoni before opening the playoffs at home as a district champion.

“The kids had a great week of practice and bought into the game plan,” said Lenox co-coach Cole Bonde, also the team’s defensive coordinator. “Ultimately it comes down to execution, and they did it phenomenally. They flew around and got eight hats to the ball all night. When your offense scores consistently, that always helps!”

Even without starting wide receiver Dawson Evans, who had five touchdowns on 11 catches for 250 yards in six games, the Tiger offense was clicking from the start. (Nardini said Evans is out for an undetermined time with a nagging back injury.)

“We had to put a few people in a couple different spots,” Nardini said. “We had Jack Reed step up at wide receiver, and Laramie Stoaks slides over to the other wide receiver spot. Gabe Robles came in on defense for us in the secondary and did a great job without many varsity reps before this week.”

While most Lenox opponents are more than aware of major weapons like dual-threat quarterback Gabe Funk, Martin at running back and Stoaks as a receiver, two new weapons burst onto the scene as the Tigers were building their lead Friday.

Kolben Robinson, a 5-9, 165-pound junior, broke several tackles in churning out 79 yards on 11 carries with three touchdowns. His inside running was a complement to the big-play threats of Funk (92 yards on eight carries, three TDs) and Martin-England (84 yards on eight carries, one TD) in the Tiger ground game.

“That’s the best he’s run all year,” Nardini said. “He just kept his legs churning. Kolben took a big step tonight in showing that we can add another weapon.”

Funk said Robinson’s hard running adds another dimension to an already potent attack.

“We usually try to feed the ball to JJ (Martin-England), but you could tell they were kind of focusing on him and me,” Funk said. “Kolben made them pay. He just kept pounding that rock. That’s another weapon that’s great to have.”

Once Lenox had established the ground game, opportunities opened up for Funk in the passing game. He found sophomore tight end Caden Kaufman alone downfield for a 42-yard touchdown that closed the first quarter with a 21-0 lead. Kaufman had two catches for 55 yards.

“They were selling out for the run and Caden burned them,” Funk said.

“We saw that they overloaded our twin side, so we ran a route with Caden Kaufman and he made a great catch to score for us,” Nardini said. “Gabe throws a nice ball, which you don’t always think about because he’s such a big threat with his feet.”

Martin-England also had a 49-yard catch, Patton Adams had a 36-yard reception and Stoaks picked up 14 yards on a pair of catches as Lenox totaled 151 yards passing and 255 yards rushing.

“We have great receivers and we try to be balanced,” Funk said. “Our line did a great job tonight. We have either Laramie Stoaks or Caden Kaufman at left tight end, Chase England at left guard, Brody Brokaw is our center, Owen Grundman at right guard and either Jack Reed or Kaufman at right tight end. They make my job pretty easy.”

“Our guys up front have started to gel together. They’re really starting to come along as a unit getting better each game,” Nardini said. “Our defense was flying around all night. It was a well-rounded game for us. Winning a district championship was one of our goals. Now we just have to keep working.”

Scoring summary

First quarter

L — Kolben Robinson 1 run (Gabe Funk kick), 8:23

L — Funk 3 run (Funk kick), 2:10

L — Caden Kaufman 42 pass from Funk (Funk kick), 0:20

Second quarter

L — Robinson 10 run (Funk kick), 9:08

L — Jordan Martin-England 8 run (Funk kick), 2:47

L — Funk 6 run (Funk kick), 0:03.

Third quarter

L — Funk 52 run (Funk kick), 10:05

L — Robinson 5 run (kick failed), 2:26

Fourth quarter

SEW — Brogan Ewing 12 pass from Jamison Ewing (Breckin Morrison pass from J. Ewing), 10:00

Individual statistics

Rushing — L: Gabe Funk 8-92, 3 TD; Jordan Martin-England 8-84, 1 TD; Kolben Robinson 11-79, 3 TD; Brogan Petersen 2-2, Wylie Brokaw 1-1. SEW: Jamison Ewing 11-35, Tucker Dierking 6-29, Levi Halterman 3-9, Brenden Wheeler 7-8, Brogan Ewing 1-2.

Passing — L: Funk 5-5-0 for 118 yards, 1 TD; Brogan Petersen 2-2-0 for 33 yards. SEW: Jamison Ewing 10-16-0 for 118 yards, 1 TD; Sawyer Allen 0-1-0.

Receiving — L: Caden Kaufman 2-55, 1 TD; Martin-England 1-49; Patton Adams 1-36; Laramie Stoaks 2-14. SEW: Robert Beardsley 2-45; Brenden Wheeler 3-34; Brogan Ewing 3-26, 1 TD; Breckin Morrison 2-13.

Tackles (solo) — L: Wylie Brokaw 6.0 (3), Martin-England 5.0 (2), Funk 5.0 (4); Chase England 5.0, Brody Brokaw 5.0, Owen Grundman 4.5 (1), Gabriel Robles 4.0 (3), Wyatt Leonard 3.5 (1), Cash Brammer 3.0 (1), Laramie Stoaks 2.5 (2). SEW: Jamison Ewing 7.0 (4), Cael Dop 7.0 (5), Bridger Cox 6.5 (5).

Tackles for loss — L: Grundman 2.5, Wylie Brokaw 1.5, Martin-England 1.5, Chase England 1.5, Brody Brokaw 1.0, Jack Reed 0.5, Cade Cordell 0.5, Cash Brammer 0.5. SEW: Cael Dop 2.5, Bridger Cox 1.0, Lucas Dirkx 0.5.