Comets prove to be too much for the Cardinals

It was a hard-fought loss for the Garner-Hayfield/Ventura Cardinals (1-4, 0-2), who fell to the Charles City Comets (5-1, 2-1) Friday night. The Cardinals’ usually tough run game had the breaks thrown on it by a stout Comet defense, forcing the team to resort to the air.

In a break-through performance the Cardinals’ passing game, which hasn’t been used much this season, found its stride.  The team found ways to move the ball despite not being able to rely on its core strength. The Cardinal defense hung tough all night. Broken plays were kept to a minimum.

Despite their best efforts, however, GHV was still overpowered by the Comets.

Neither team scored in the first quarter. Charles City found the endzone twice in the second quarter, once on a 21-yard pass completion from Levi Blaine to Brian Foster and the next on a 44-yard returned interception by Foster.  Both attempts at a PAT failed for a halftime score of 12-0.  

The Comets scored one more time in the third quarter on a 12-yard run by Foster.  The PAT once again failed, for the final, 18-0. 

“Defensively we played a fairly good game,” said GHV Head Coach Scott VanDusseldorp. “We do, however, need to do a better job tackling.”  

The Cardinal offense was led by Lucas Prohaska,  who passed for a season-high 109-yards with 10 completions on 18 attempts. His primary receivers were Conner Shaw, who had five receptions for 44-yards and Harley Forry with three receptions for 45-yards. 

“Offensively, we were able to throw the ball a little better,” said VanDusseldorp.

The Cardinals were led on the ground by Shaw with 40-yards on 13 carries.

The Comet offense had a monster night on the ground as its leader, Foster, racked up 132-yards on 26 attempts with three touchdowns. Also contributing was  Blaine with 65-yards on 10 attempts and Dylan Isakson with 49-yards on eight attempts.

Blaine also passed for 29-yards, completing three of seven passes and throwing for a touchdown. His receivers for the night were Foster, with two catches for 16 yards and a touchdown, and Isakson, whose one catch went for 13-yards. 

Defensively, the Cardinals were led by Shaw with eight tackles. Forry collected seven, Grady Umbarger had six, Connor Smith added five, Zac Scholl had four and one-half and Chase Theobald, Colby Reid and Logan Ryerson all added three and one-half.

The Comet defense was paced by Isakson with eight and one-half tackles. Conner Stallsmith, Bryce Foxen and Nick Jacobs each had six. Jacobs also contributed a sack.

The Cardinals resume conference play this Friday against the Osage Green Devils (1-4, 1-2) for Homecoming. 

“We need to fix our mistakes before Friday night if we want to be successful,” said VanDusseldorp.