Panthers play for district title Friday

Creston’s topsy-turvy season could reach new heights Friday.

After rebounding from an 0-4 start, the Panthers have set themselves up to claim a second straight district championship with a road win at Nevada.

That, however, is no small task as the Cubs entered the 2024 season as the district favorite with quarterback Conner King and a large contingent of starters returning from last year’s playoff team that finished 7-3. The Cubs were eliminated in the playoffs by Webster City, 27-7, before the Lynx fell to Creston in the quarterfinals.

Going into last week’s games, Nevada and Creston were the only District 6 teams without a blemish in district play. But, while the Panthers were rolling 70-0 over a shorthanded Knoxville team, Nevada couldn’t overcome a poor start in falling to Harlan, 24-21.

“Harlan got up 14-0 in the first quarter on a long run on the first series and another score on a short field,” Creston coach Brian Morrison said. “Then Nevada started getting back in the game and tied it 21-21. Harlan won it on a field goal.”

That result kept Harlan in the race for one of the district’s two automatic playoff spots, and put Creston in a precarious position if Nevada wins this week. A loss to Nevada would put Creston at 3-1 in district play and 3-5 overall, with Perry (0-3, 2-5) the final regular season opponent.

Meanwhile, Atlantic (2-1, 6-2) hosts Harlan (2-1, 4-3) this week, which puts one of them out of contention for the district title. In the final week, Harlan will be favored over Knoxville, while Nevada (2-1, 5-2) is home against Atlantic. That game, in effect, would eliminate one team from the district title race.

Playoff scenarios

The best route to postseason play for the Panthers is to defeat Nevada and wrap up the district title. The next easiest route would be for Atlantic to beat Harlan this week and lose to Nevada in week nine. That would place Creston alone in second place with one district loss, pending a week nine win over Perry (0-3, 2-5).

If Creston loses to Nevada and Harlan wins out, and Nevada tops Atlantic in the finale, it gets more perilous for the Panthers. That would leave Creston in a three-way tie with Harlan and Nevada and no clear head-to-head winner, so the 17-point tiebreaker comes into effect.

In that system, 17 is the maximum number of positive or negative points that a team can receive from the outcome of one game. (A 30-point win provides 17 positive points, for example, and the losing team gets 17 negative points.)

The cumulative points from district play, divided by number of games, determines the tiebreaker. The team with the highest per-game point average will be the qualifier. If a tie still exists, the alphabetical system is used.

Creston has improved its 17-point tiebreaker score since the 43-42 win over Harlan to begin district play, currently sitting at a positive 6.67. Atlantic is at 10.67, Nevada at 10.33 and Harlan at 6.33.

If Creston doesn’t win Friday, the hope is for a narrow defeat, and a win of 17-plus points in the final game against Perry. Harlan would also be favored to reach the 17-point margin against Knoxville in the final week, while Nevada vs. Atlantic is expected to be closer.

But, what transpires on the field can be much different than expectations on paper. If Nevada had beaten Harlan last week, Creston would be sitting in a strong position no matter what happens this week, because Harlan would be eliminated and Atlantic has to play Harlan and Nevada, which is a challenging finish.

There won’t be an at-large bid for Creston, currently 21st in the state’s RPI rankings among 36 Class 3A teams, so a finish in first or second place in the district is vital.

Morrison said his team has one priority — take care of business Friday at Nevada. Then all of the number crunching is a moot point.

“Our kids understand the importance of every district game, and obviously this one,” Morrison said. “We’re in a good spot. Our kids have been improving every week and we’ve had great practices. This week is big for us. We want to win, obviously, but we can’t lose big if we lose. That would kill us.”

The Panther coach said getting off to a good start is important.

“Doing the job on special teams, and getting their offense off the field will be key to putting our offense in a good position to score,” Morrison said. “Nevada is good up front and they want to win first down. We have to win up front.”

Similar offenses

Both teams like to set the tone with strong rushing attacks, but also have capable passing games.

Three-year starting running back Cason Stevenson graduated from Nevada’s backfield, but his successor, senior Anthony Eaton, ranks fifth in Class 3A rushing with 1,044 yards on 159 carries with 17 touchdowns, which ranks second in 3A.

Creston counters with Class 3A’s leading rusher in senior Weston Trapp, who has logged 1,409 yards on 157 carries (9.0 yards per carry) with 16 touchdowns.

Coming off a season of 1,521 passing yards with 20 touchdowns, King was considered the district’s premier quarterback going into the 2024 season. He has been solid, completing 68 of 118 passes (57.6%) for 920 yards, ranking 13th in 3A yardage despite losing three of his top four receivers from a year ago. He has eight touchdown passes and six interceptions.

Creston sophomore Tanner Ray isn’t far behind, going 68 of 114 (59.6%) for 811 yards (17th in 3A) and six TDs with eight interceptions. He has his best game last week, throwing for 193 yards and two touchdowns against Knoxville.

Three receivers have similar statistics. Casen Dryden has 16 catches for 225 yard and three touchdowns, Xander Drake has 221 yards on 16 receptions and three TDs, and Trapp has picked up 212 yards and one TD on 19 catches. Tight end Josh Schaefer has contributed 11 catches for 103 yards.

“Tanner is getting better every week, making good decisions in both the run and pass,” Morrison said. “He’s close to the 60 percent mark in completions and that’s good for a high school quarterback.”

The Panther offense will be up against an unconventional look by Nevada’s defense, which has intercepted nine passes this season.

“Defensively they are going to load the box,” Morrison said.”They are a 4-4, cover three team and you don’t see that defense much anymore. LC runs it at times. They want to get eight guys in the tackle box. We’ll have to mix things up for sure. Their front four is as good as we’ve seen this year.”

Nevada’s other loss is to Class 2A second-ranked PCM, 30-7. The Cubs own victories of 33-7 over West Marshall, 20-14 over Roland-Story, 41-21 over Hampton-Dumont-CAL, 55-0 over Perry and 49-0 over Knoxville.

The freshman game is scheduled to kick off at 4:45 p.m. at Cub Stadium in Nevada, with varsity to follow at 7 p.m.

Creston (3-4, 3-0)

OFFENSE

T Brayden Schoon 6-3 235 Sr.

G Garrick Clausen 5-11 225 Jr.

C Chasse Downing 6-3 270 Jr.

G Gunner Martwick 6-1 230 Jr.

T Eli Schaffer 6-3 320 Sr.

WR Casen Dryden 5-7 140 Sr.

WR Xander Drake 5-8 155 Sr.

TE Josh Schaefer 6-1 180 Sr.

QB Tanner Ray 5-10 145 So.

RB Weston Trapp 5-11 185 Sr.

TE Ethan Holliday 6-2 200 Jr.

K Joaquin Flores 5-10 140 So.

DEFENSE

DT Tom Mikkelsen 6-0 220 So.

DE Jayden Myers 5-11 195 Sr.

DE Mattias Schultes 5-11 200 Sr.

OLB Jackson Pettegrew 5-10 170 Jr.

ILB Aiden Snodgrass 6-0 175 Sr.

ILB Lucas Travis 5-11 195 Sr.

OLB Tyson Looney 5-10 165 Sr.

CB Jake Hoyt 6-2 165 Sr.

CB Tyler Riley 5-5 140 Sr.

S Lane Travis 5-8 150 Jr.

S Davin Wallace 5-10 145 So.

P Weston Trapp 5-11 185 Sr.