Shenandoah wins Page County Super Bowl
The Shenandoah football team shows off the Page County Super Bowl trophy for the first time in eight years after a 20-13 overtime win Friday, Sept. 5, against Clarinda. Bryan Clark
SHENANDOAH – Zane McManis scored on a six-yard run to start overtime and then the Shenandoah defense held Clarinda one yard short of the end zone Friday, Sept. 5, in a 20-13 Mustang win.
For Shenandoah, it’s their first Page County Super Bowl win over their rivals in eight years and head coach Skip Eckhardt called it a big win for the program.
“We have been close but that doesn’t mean anything,” Eckhardt said. “It was a very physical game, and we stuck to our plan and ran the ball. We made some mistakes early, but we stayed in it, played good special teams and hung in there. Our kids have been working for two years since we got here to believe in the system.”
Senior linebacker Ethan Laughlin made some great defensive plays throughout the game and said this was a big win for his team.
Laughlin ORourke McManis Shenandoah
Shenandoah senior Ethan Laughlin (left) led the Mustang defense while junior quarterback Joey O'Rourke (center) and senior running back Zane McManis (right) led the offense with McManis scoring two rushing touchdowns, including the game-winner in overtime Friday, Sept. 5, over Clarinda. Bryan Clark
“Everyone on our team wanted it,” Laughlin said. “(Clarinda) likes to pride themselves on their physicality and we brought it to them. We have grown a lot together and I think we did a great job (Friday).”
People are also reading…
McManis’ touchdown in overtime was his second of the night and he described the play.
“Coach called it, and it sounded perfect,” McManis said. “It had worked perfectly before. I looked up after the snap and there was a wide-open gap. Our line did a great job.”
Shenandoah drove the ball 54 yards on the final drive of regulation, giving Teagan Brunk a chance to win the game at the buzzer with a 46-yard field goal, but it was wide right, sending the game to overtime.
McManis’ overtime touchdown came on a second down run after a four-yard run by Joey O’Rourke to start the extra session.
Noah Harris carried the ball from the 10-yard line to the five on Clarinda’s first play of overtime. Two more runs gained just one yard and then the Cardinals had too many men on the field, pushing the ball back to the nine on fourth down. Harris found Christian Gross at the one-yard line, but Gross had to make a sliding catch to bring the ball in, just short of the end zone.
“We just didn’t make enough plays,” Clarinda head coach Conner Hanafan said. “Our defense played alright but we didn’t make the plays and execute well enough on offense to win.”
Clarinda’s offense didn’t score in the first half although Shenandoah only scored once. The Mustangs took advantage of a short field after the Cardinals gave the ball up on downs at their own 22-yard line.
Gabe Buttry found the end zone from the one-yard line and the Mustangs led 7-0 less than two minutes into the second quarter. The score stayed 7-0 until halftime.
Clarinda couldn’t have started the second half any better. After the Cardinal defense forced a three-and-out, Harris and Kayden Hawley hooked up on a 71-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the drive and the game was tied.
Shenandoah answered, though, with McManis scoring from one yard out, capping an eight-play, 62-yard drive that included a 30-yard catch and run by Cole Graham and a pass interference penalty on Clarinda on fourth down. The extra point was no good, though, and Shenandoah’s lead was 13-7 at the 5:03 mark of the third quarter.
Clarinda scored two drives later, taking advantage of a poor punt, to score on a five-play, 21-yard drive with Harris finding the end zone from seven yards out. Clarinda’s extra point was also no good, though, and the score was tied at 13 with 10:30 to go.
Both teams had chances on their next drives. The Mustangs had a first down inside Clarinda’s 30, but they went backwards from there and punted to pin Clarinda deep.
The Cardinals drove from their own 13 to Shenandoah’s 40 and were lined up to go for it on a fourth down and three, but a delay of game penalty pushed them back and they punted the ball back to Shenandoah with just under three minutes left.
McManis led the rushing attack with 64 yards and the two scores on 13 carries. Joey O’Rourke carried the ball 21 times but for just 26 yards. He gave the linemen a lot of credit for the win.
“(Our line) is moving the big guys up front,” O’Rourke said, “and making holes for me and Zane and Gabe.”
Clarinda outgained Shenandoah by more than 100 yards for the game. Baylor Hash carried the ball 22 times for 85 yards while Harris finished with 63 rushing yards on 13 carries and 136 passing yards, along with the long touchdown pass. Hawley finished with three catches for 88 yards.
Hanafan said his offense simply wasn’t good enough on the night.
“We weren’t getting to the second level,” Hanafan said. “I thought we had numbers, but we didn’t establish blocks and stay on blocks.”
Sam Kline led the Clarinda defense with 8.5 tackles with Hash just behind with eight. Both had seven solo tackles. Connor Luzmoor added seven tackles and Devin Barlow finished with six.
The Cardinals drop to 1-1 on the season ahead of their first home game of the season next week against Underwood, who comes in at 2-0.
“We have to learn from this and move on,” Hanafan said. “Things don’t go your way sometimes and that’s part of the game. We’ll watch what we have to do on Sunday and move on.”
The Mustangs, who wore alternate black jerseys for the game, improved to 1-1 on the season. They are back home next Friday for their final non-district game against Class 2A’s top-ranked team in Kuemper, who comes in at 2-0.
0 Comments
Get in the game with our Prep Sports Newsletter
Sent weekly directly to your inbox!