Earlham Echo

September 19, 2023

by Quinn Weber

Thirty-five points is a lot for a whole game, but the Cards did that in one quarter last Friday against Southwest Valley. The Cardinals came out firing on all cylinders in their homecoming game with 5 touchdowns in the opening frame—and only slowed down a little, eventually winning, 60-14.

 If you have followed Earlham Cardinal football over the years, you know Coach Caskey loves to establish the run early and wear teams down. That’s exactly what they did against the Timberwolves. The Cardinals ended the game with 45 rushing attempts for 488 yards, while passing for 52 yards on three attempts.

“There are things we worked on this week that we thought might work against them, and we kind of stuck to that script the whole time,” said Coach Caskey.

The Cardinals started this game with an onside kick recovery by Jeret Petersen that set up the Cardinals with the ball on the Timberwolves 46-yard line. After a few good runs and an encroachment penalty by the Timberwolves, caused by a crafty motion by the entire offense, the Cardinals had the ball on the 22-yard line. The drive was capped off with a 22-yard touchdown run by Ryan Stiles. With Klayton Wolken kicking the PAT, the Cardinals were up 7-0 just two minutes into the game.

With the Cardinals lining up to kick the ball off again, most people know what is about to come—except the Timberwolves. This time the Cardinals onside kick was recovered by Ryan Stiles on the Timberwolves 46-yard line. After a 4-yard pass from Reynolds to Petersen, and another encroachment penalty by Southwest Valley, Ryan Stiles took a direct snap 36 yards for another touchdown.

The Timberwolves’ offense then got their first chance with the ball, but the Cardinal defense came out strong just like the offense had. With an impressive tackle for loss by Stiles and Keegan Reed, the Cardinal defense forced the Timberwolves to punt. The Cardinals took over with their worst starting field position of the game, but it didn’t faze them at all. After a couple of solid runs by Caleb Smith, the Cardinals had the ball on their own 35. The Cardinals then dug deep into the playbook with a pass from Reynolds to Hale. Hale caught it, then immediately pitched the ball back to Ty Forcht, who took the ball 35 yards to the SWV’s 40-yard line. The Cards converted a 4^th and 2 by getting the Timberwolves to jump offside. After an impressive 21-yard run by Smith, Stiles capped off the drive with his 3^rd touchdown of the game. Wolken’s successful PAT made it 21-0 with 2:44 remaining in the 1st quarter.

The Timberwolves recovered the onside kick and took over at their own 48. After an incomplete pass, and tackle for loss by Keegan Long, Blake Reynolds read the quarterback perfectly, intercepted a pass, and returned the ball 20 yards.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, Smith got the edge and won a foot race with the Southwest Valley defense for a 40-yard touchdown run. Wolken’s 4^th successful PAT made it 28-0 with 1:38 left in the 1st.

Southwest Valley seemed more prepared for the next onside kick, but the Cardinals switched things up by crisscrossing kickers, having Konnar Stiles kick it to the opposite side of the field.  Walker Hale was all over it for the recovery and the Cardinals took over again on the Timberwolves 46-yard line. This drive ended the same way as the last one—with Smith beating everyone to the endzone for a 46-yard touchdown run. Another successful PAT from Wolken made the score 35-0 with 1:24 left in the 1st quarter.

At the start of the 2^nd quarter, the Timberwolves started to move the ball a little bit. After a good mix of runs and passes from the Timberwolves, the Cardinals forced a 4^th and 5. A good tackle from Smith kept the Timberwolves from the line of gain and the Cardinals forced a turnover on downs.

The Cardinals opened the drive with an impressive 42-yard pass from Reynolds to Forcht that flipped the field. After a penalty on the Timberwolves and 5-yard run from Stiles, Smith took the ball 24 yards on a counter play for his 3^rd touchdown of the night. Wolken stayed perfect on PATs, making the score 42-0.

After an interception and 24-yard return by Forcht, the Cardinals had the ball back on the Timberwolves’ 36. A 10-yard run by Stiles set up Smith to score his 4^th touchdown of the night, a 26-yard run. The Cards led at halftime, 48-0.

The start of the second half brought something new to the game—the Cardinals received a kickoff for the first time. Josh Winey did the honors and returned the ball 24 yards before being tackled at the Cardinal 34. After a few short runs by the Cardinals to start the drive, Forcht ran around the end for 39 yards. And after a short gain by Stiles, Smith ran 11 yards for his 5^th touchdown of the night. The Cards led, 54-0.

Southwest Valley finally got on the board on their next drive, scoring on a 44-yard run by quarterback Evan Timmerman, with 6:15 left in the 3rd quarter.

The Cards fumbled on their next drive, the Timberwolves recovered, and scored another touchdown after a long drive.

With 7:47 left in the game, the Cardinals took over on their own 8. They started the drive by doing what they do best, running the ball. A combination of Jackson Berkley, Winey, and Dallas Canoyer pushed the ball into SWV territory. A 5-yard run up the middle by Berkley, and a 29-yard run by Winey, set up Canoyer for a 29-yard run for the Cardinals’ final TD.

Keeping a team focused and engaged when they are on the business end of a blowout isn’t easy—but it’s a good problem to have. It was not an issue in this game.

“I think with the leadership we have with this group; I think it’s easier,” said Coach Caskey. “Some years it’s a little tougher.”

Smith finished with 199 yards on 16 carries and 5 TDs. Stiles had 106 yards and 3 TDs and Forcht carried the ball twice for 68 yards. Stiles led the Cards with 5 tackles. The Cardinals travel to Madrid (4-0) this Friday for a non-district game. The Tigers are #10 in Class A according to BCMoore and Earlham is #11.