Comets lose heartbreaking finale to Go-Hawks 31-27

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
CHARLES CITY — Even with most of the fans already cleared out of Comet Field, the season-finale final tally between Waverly-Shell Rock and hosting Charles City was still displayed on the scoreboard.

If Comet head coach Darren Bohlen had it his way, the score would be shown throughout the winter, spring, summer … all the way up to the first practice of the 2020 season.

“I think I’m going to take a picture of it,” Bohlen said before doing just that with his cellphone, “and post it in the weight room.”

Go-Hawks 31, Comets 27

If Bohlen would have snapped the photo with 3:36 left in regulation, it would have shown the Comets ahead 27-24 and on the verge of breaking a 10-year losing streak against the Go-Hawks.

Charles City had just taken the lead with one of its gutsiest scoring drives of the season. Twice, the Comets were faced with fourth-and-long situations before converting both with clutch plays.

The first was a 36-yard pass play from Alec Staudt to Marcus Cranshaw. The second was a 22-yard scramble by Staudt after he escaped from what looked to be a sure sack to put the Comets in business inside the Go-Hawks’ 10-yard line.

Three plays later, junior Trever Heitz, with help from a good push from his teammates, scored from 3 yards out for his third touchdown of the night.

After placekicker Kaleb Byers kicked the point after to add to the Comets’ second lead of the game, Charles City was hit with an unsportsmanlike penalty and was forced to kickoff from the 25. Go-Hawk Donovan Wessell fielded the kickoff at the 28-yard line, broke a couple of tackles and then outraced the field to the end zone for his second KO return TD of the game.

Wessell opened the game with a 90-yard KO TD.

After Wessell’s first TD, the Go-Hawks went up 14-0 when Jonathan Wessell scored from 3 yards out.

The Comets eventually got on the board with a 2-yard TD by Heitz with 9:41 left in the second quarter. The scoring drive was set up by a 79-yard kickoff return from Jeremiah Chapman.

Later in the quarter, Staudt hit Ian Collins in stride on a slant pattern and Collins did the rest for a 69-yard touchdown catch-and-run. Collins’s fifth TD reception of the season drew the Charles City within 1 (14-13) as the subsequent PAT kick attempt was wide-left.

Down 17-13 at halftime, Charles City methodically marched down the field to start the second half and reached paydirt with a 3-yard run by Heitz to go up 20-17.

Waverly-Shell Rock regained the lead early in the fourth quarter with a 38-yard run by McCrea Hagarty.
For the most part, Charles City controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage while churning out 342 total yards of offense.

“We just gave up too many big plays,” said Bohlen, whose team ended the season with a 2-7 record.

With his three touchdown runs, Heitz had a season-high 175 yards rushing on 33 carries. The Comet junior finished the season with 827 rushing yards after becoming the first Charles City sophomore to rush for 1,000 yards last season.

Providing if he can stay healthy going into his senior season, Heitz will likely become Charles City’s all-time rushing leader as his career-total of 1,827 yards only trails Taylor Fiser, who rushed for 1,863 yards in 2006 and 2007.

With both teams coming into the game with 2-6 records, there were no playoff berths on the line. But as the proverbial saying goes whenever two archrivals like the Comets and Go-Hawks face each other, “you can throw the records out the window.”

With this being the final game of the season for both teams, there was even more pride at stake. That was especially evident in the wake of the game with the Comets’ small group of departing seniors gathering at midfield to commiserate tearfully at the end of a formative stage of their lives.

Mikiahi Webber was among them.
“It’s bittersweet … knowing now it’s all over,” said co-captain Webber, who was sidelined early this season due to a back injury before working himself back into the lineup. Twice in Friday’s game, Webber pressured Go-Hawk quarterback Ethan Flege into throwing incompletions to thwart would-be scoring drives.

“I knew this was my last game, so I wanted to give it my all,” Webber said. “I didn’t start playing football until I was a freshman. I remember scoring my first touchdown and then recording my first sack. I thought then, ‘Maybe I can be good at this’.

“My goal was to become a team captain by my senior year. I remember the team captains before me and I always looked up to them.”

Though the Comets will be losing Webber, Cranshaw, Byers, Mitz Concepcion and Colby Gavitt, they’ll return plenty of letter-winners, including starting quarterback Staudt; pending school all-time rushing leader Heitz; game-breakers Collins and Chapman; leading tackler Caden Collins; sack and tackles for loss leader Tino Tamayo; starting center Cole White; experienced offensive linemen Chase Crooks, DJ DeBoest and Cael Ruzicka; and Mario Hoefer, who with Staudt, led the Comets with three interceptions.

They’ll also likely get stronger and more physically mature versions of sophomores Cael Bohlen and Colton Crooks, who were among the Comets’ leading tacklers.

“There’s a big difference in high school from sophomore to junior,” Bohlen said. “We had to play a lot of sophomores this season. It would have been nice if we had more kids come out, but I was happy with the kids who did go out.

“Football is a tough sport. We’ve just got to get tougher.”

WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 31, CHARLES CITY 27
Scoring By Quarters
WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 7 10 0 14 — 31
CHARLES CITY 0 13 7 7 — 27
Scoring Summary
WSR — Donovan Wessell 90-yard kickoff return (Noah Jeppesen kick) 7-0, 11:46 1st
WSR — Jonathan Wessell 3-yard run (Jeppeson kick) 14-0, 11:55 2nd
CC — Trever Heitz 2-yard run (Kaleb Byers kick) 14-7, 9:41 2nd
CC — Ian Collins 69-yard pass from Alec Staudt (Kick failed) 14-13, 4:32 2nd
WSR — Jepperson 24-yard field goal 17-13, :14 2nd
CC — Heitz 3-yard run (Byers kick) 20-17, 6:50 3rd
WSR — McCrea Hagarty 38-yard run (Jepperson kick) 24-20, 11:51 4th
CC — Heitz 3-yard run (Byers kick) 27-24, 3:36 4th
WSR — Donovan Wessell 72-yard kickoff return (Jeppesen kick) 31-27, 3:21 4th