Comets defeat Huskies, 12-6, for 3rd straight win

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — On their first three possessions, the Charles City Comets fumbled the ball during Friday’s home game against Oelwein.

After the first two times, the Comets’ defense bailed them out. On the third time, the ball bounced right back into the hands of senior running back Dylan Koresh, who didn’t even break his stride while seizing an open lane down the sidelines for an 18-yard touchdown run.

At that point, you got the feeling it might not be the Huskies’ night. And that proved to be correct as the Comets prevailed, 12-6, for their third-straight victory after opening the season with a rain-riddled 1-point loss to Crestwood.

Charles City did put the ball on the ground several more times during the game, and though they recovered possession three times including Koresh’s TD, not all of them had little consequence.

On the verge of adding to their 6-0 lead in the second quarter, the Comets converted several third-down snaps while driving all the way to the Oelwein 1-foot line before a fumble recovered by the Huskies in the end zone turned Charles City away with nil.

That’s when you got the feeling it actually might not be the Comets’ night.

But other than the fumbles, Charles City’s offense moved the ball like a well-oiled machine. The Comets attacked mostly up the middle with counter plays as sophomore running back Trever Heitz churned up 88 tough yards on 22 carries.

Yet it was the outside option pitches from quarterback Marcus Cranshaw to Koresh and Elliott Sinnwell that really addled the Huskies.

Koresh had 94 yards on just nine carries, and Sinnwell had 92 yards on just eight carries.

Several of Sinnwell’s big runs were sprung by sealed blocks by outside receivers Colton Slinger and Kelly Ward.

Shortly after being stopped 1 foot short of the goal line, the Comets drove 69 yards in less than two minutes with Cranshaw capping the drive with an 11-yard keeper with 16 seconds left in the half.

Once again, Charles City’s defense dominated while limiting the Huskies to 2.5 yards per carry.

In the linebacker role, Koresh had eight solo tackles — two of them for losses; Ryan Zuspan had five solo tackles — two of them for losses; defensive lineman Alec Elsbernd had two sacks; Slinger had an interception after Charles City’s second turnover; defensive lineman Mikiahi Webber had several tackles including a sickening-sound stick on Husky running back Steven Nicolay that was a speed bump to Oelwein’s hurry-up offense late in the game as Nicolay needed to be attended to; Jeremiah Chapman had a fumble recovery and broke up several pass attempts; and Sinnwell had four open-field tackles on Oelwein’s star receiver and always potential game-breaker Dominque Robertson.

Though he was contained for most of the game, Robertson is too good of an athlete to keep bottled up forever. During Oelwein’s lone scoring drive of the game midway through the fourth quarter, Husky quarterback Dillon Arndt connected with Robertson on a crossing pattern before Robertson  broke several tackles for a 35-yard catch-and-run gain to get the Huskies inside Charles City’s 20. Shortly after, Arndt found Robertson — who had 89 yards receiving — on a fade pattern in the end zone from 8 yards out.

With still 4:36 left in regulation, the game was far from over. But after Elsbernd recovered Oelwein’s ensuing onside kick and Heitz was able to bull his way forward to convert a fourth-and-two snap with the Huskies out of timeouts, the Comets were able to take a knee three straight plays to run out the clock

After the Comets’ defense held Oelwein (2-2) to only a trace of positive yardage in the first half, the Huskies took the second-half kickoff and drove deep into Charles City territory. But a tackle for a loss by Zuspan, and an open-field tackle on Robertson by Sinnwell that left Oelwein short of the stick on fourth down was a bitter pill to swallow for the Huskies and their fans as it took six minutes off the clock in a game where they were still two scores down.

The victory against the Huskies concluded Charles City’s non-district schedule. The Comets will travel to take on Class 3A-District 3 opponent Waterloo East on Friday.

CHARLES CITY 12, OELWEIN 6

Scoring By Quarters

OELWEIN 0 0 0 6 — 6

CHARLES CITY 6 6 0 0 — 12

Scoring Summary

CC — Dylan Koresh 18-yard run (Run failed), 3:24 1st

CC — Marcus Cranshaw 11-yard run (Pass failed), :16 2nd

O — Dominique Robertson 8-yard pass from Dillon Arndt (Pass failed), 4:36 4th