Cyclone FB Routs Atlantic, Tied For District Lead

Cyclone FB Routs Atlantic, Tied For District Lead -

(10-17-24) – It was the type of game the Cyclones needed.

Harlan Community put up 407 yds of offense in a 41-16 win over Atlantic. The win puts the Cyclones in a 3-way tie for the district lead with Nevada and Creston.

“I think we executed what we wanted to do,” said Harlan Community Coach Todd Bladt. “We had we had some goals in mind before the game and we laid it out to the kids and they knew what the expectation was and they went over or went out and executed.”

Another impressive game for Harlan Community’s Lukas Francis who had 164 rushing yards and 3 TDs in the contest. Bladt feels he’s almost back to full strength.

“He’s just getting back to 90-95 percent, you know, hopefully we can keep getting him more and more healthy here. And you know, I think tonight he averaged about 16.4 yards to carry. So he had a fantastic night.”

For the 2nd week in a row, Gabe Arkfeld had long run for a touchdown. His 71-yd run in the 2nd half gave Cyclones a two-score lead. Adding rushing to his game makes Arkfeld more dangerous

“The more diversified you are as an offense, the more things you can take advantage of and see and he's got some good legs on him and he's a hard runner. Boy, and he hits like a freight train. So you know, we want to keep developing him and getting his confidence up when he's carrying and towing the rock. You know, anytime you can do things that just make you more multiple. It's just it gets harder and harder on defense.”

Atlantic’s Gavin McLaren and Ethan McNeal had 171 and 152 rushing yards respectively.

Although Harlan Community’s defense allowed 367 yards on the ground, they only allowed one TD in the first half due to a huge goal line stand and just 10 pts the rest of the way. Cyclone defenders Brody Bendorf, Bryce VanBaale, Jozef Reisz, and Dallas McDowell played huge against the Trojans for Bladt.

“We had, I thought, an interesting stat. We had four guys that had 54 tackles combined. That's a… I don't know if I've ever seen quite a satellite like that, but Bryce, Joseph, Brody and then Dallas McDowell. He had 10 tackles on top of that with a big sack in there, too. But those guys accounted for 54 tackles tonight. Monumental efforts from the defense all around.”

Harlan Community will finish their regular season at Merrill Field against Knoxville on Friday. (KNOD 2)

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