Comets burned by Green Devils, 19-13

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

OSAGE — It looked as if the Osage Green Devils were headed for another beatdown when Charles City burned them for a big scoring pass play early into the game.

But Osage responded by scoring 13 unanswered points in the third quarter and went ahead for good early in the fourth to win 19-13 in non-conference football action Friday night.

Osage junior quarterback Drew Olson threw two TD passes to Lucas Schwamman and scored one himself to lead the Green Devils (1-1) after a humbling 62-0 loss to Saint Ansgar the week before.

The Comets (0-2) struck early when Mike Cranshaw connected with Jaden Foster in stride on a go route good for a 50-yard TD a little more than two-and-a-half minutes into the game. The possession started after Dalton Cleveland intercepted an Olson pass.

Charles City later intercepted Olson again as Cranshaw’s pick and run put the Comets deep into Green Devil territory, but Charles City failed to capitalize.

Osage threatened to score before the half after senior defensive back returned an interception to the Charles City 28. Olson later scrambled to the 15, but the drive was spoiled when Josh Halligan sacked Olson all the back at the 32.

In the second half Osage took advantage of short fields on consecutive possessions to surge ahead.

It started with a 1-yard dive by Olson that, with a Berg PAT kick, tied the game with 6:16 left in the third.

Less than two minutes later, Olson hit Schwamman on a 5-yard slant — the pass pattern proved to be effective for Osage throughout the second half — to make the score 13-7.

The Comets tied the game when senior Drew Mitchell hit Cranshaw cutting across the middle underneath the Green Devils’ coverage. Cranshaw managed to break a tackle before finding a lane down the sidelines for a 24-yard catch-and-run TD.

Osage came right back with a 65-yard drive capped when Olson hit Schwammam on a fade route for a 10-yard TD on a fourth-and-5 snap.

During their final drive of the game, the Comets also came through with a clutch fourth-down conversion. Needing 15 yards for a first-down with 2:20 left in regulation, Tre Walker made a diving catch of a Mitchell pass to keep the Comets alive.

But soon after Mitchell, while rolling to his right, tried to find Foster in the corner of the end zone only to be intercepted by Berg for his second pick of the game.

For the second-straight game, the Comets were able to put up nearly 250 yards through the air with Mitchell compiling 199 of that total with 17-of-35 passing with a TD and two interceptions.

Foster had another 100-yard receiving day (five catches for 113), and Dylan Koresh led all rushers with 56 yards on 16 carries for the Comets.

AJ Maloy and Tyreque Baker each had six solo tackles, and Luke Hillegas had the second for two sacks for the Comets, who will host South Tama on Friday.

The Trojans (1-1) were edged by Williamsburg, 14-13.

For the Green Devils, Olson was 15-of-28 for 168 yards. Dylan Aschenbrenner had 63 of those yards on five catches.

Scoring By Quarters

Charles City 7 0 0 6 — 13

Osage 0 0 13 6 — 19

Scoring Summary

CC — Mike Cranshaw 50 pass to Jaden Foster (Derek Milligan kick) 7-0, 9:21 1st

O — Drew Olson 1 run (Kyle Berge kick) 7-7, 6:16 3rd

O — Olson 4 pass to Schwamman (Kick blocked) 13-7, 4:12 3rd

CC — Mitchell 24 pass to Mike Cranshaw (Kick blocked) 13-13, 11:50 4th

O — Olson 10 pass to Schwamman (Kick blocked) 19-13, 9:35 4th

PASSING — CC — Drew Mitchell 17-35-2 199 TD, Mike Cranshaw 1-1-0 50 TD; O — Drew Olson 15-28-2 166 2 TDs.

RECEIVING — CC — Jaden Foster 5-113 TD, Mike Cranshaw 4-55 TD, Tre Walker 4-44, Malik Knighten 4-31, Theo Arndt 1-6; O — Dylan Aschenbrenner 4-63, Kyle Berg 4-50, Lucas Schwamman 5-54, Brett Bobinet 1-2.

RUSHING — CC — Dylan Korest 16-58, Tyreque Baker 4-17, Jaden Foster 1-9, Drew Mitchell 5-2; O — Drew Olson 9-28 TD, Nathan Bushbaum 10-26, Kyle Berge 2-3, Brock Jennings 8-15.