Rams lose to Carroll 14-0

The Ram defense held the eighth ranked Carroll well below their season average of 38 points per game, but the quick Tiger defense held the Rams scoreless, and Greene Greene County lost their last regular season game 14-0 on Oct. 24. The win gave Carroll the 3A District-2 title with a perfect 6-0 record. The Tiger’s overall record is 8-1 with their only loss to number one ranked Sioux City Heelan in a non district contest. The Rams fell to 4-5 overall and placed third in the district with a 4-2 record.
Tiger quarterback Addison Ross came into the contest with over 1500 passing yards and 14 touchdowns, but was held to 62 yards through the air by the Ram defense. The Tigers countered with 236 rushing yards including two touchdowns on eight and three yard runs by Matt Pauk. Peyton Raymond kicked the two extra points to round out Carroll's scoring.
Offensively, the Rams had several opportunities to score, but those attempts were either thwarted by good Tiger defensive plays or by one of Greene County’s four turnovers. Jordan Challen was the Ram’s leading rusher with 38 yards, but most of the squad’s 153 yards of offense was gained through the air. Daric Whipple was 7 of 19 for 101 yards, and leading receivers were Max Neese with 53 yards and Tyler Beger with 43 yards.
Defensively, the home team was led by Joe Doran who had six solo tackles and 10 assists. Sico Boateng, Mathew Gordon, Keyden Pollock, Mitchell Gorsuch, Jake Carey and Challen were in on five or more tackles. The Ram defense forced two Tiger turnovers as Carey intercepted a Carroll pass and Riah Nelsen recovered a fumble.
The Rams now look ahead to a rematch with Creston/Orient-Macksberg in the playoff game on Oct. 29. Creston finished second to Dallas Center-Grimes in 3A District 8 and defeated Greene County 23-7 during week four. The Panthers used a few big plays to score and went into a no huddle offense some of the time to throw off the defense. They also occasionally used the wildcat formation where the center snaps the ball directly to a running back instead of the quarterback.
The Panthers averaged scoring 36 points per game, but also averaged giving up 25 points per game. At the conclusion of district play, C/OM had amassed 1897 yards passing, 1776 yards rushing, and had scored 42 touchdowns. Creston quarterback Alex Nielsen completed 64 percent of his passes during the regular season, and was intercepted nine times, but Nielsen is also a running threat and is the team’s second leading rusher with 559 yards. Sophomore Chase Schiltz leads the team in rushing with 706 yards and has scored 13 touchdowns.
The Rams passed for 771 yards, rushed for 1655 yards, and scored 23 touchdowns during their nine game regular season. The squad averaged giving up 17 points per game.  “We gave up some excellent scoring opportunities in the first game with Creston, and our defense allowed some big plays,” said Coach Dean Lansman. “Our offense has improved significantly in the past six weeks. We will have to score more points if we want to have a chance to win.”
The game will be played in Creston on Oct. 29 starting at 7 p.m.