Big effort falls short, Cards fall to C-G-D, 29-13

The Garner-Hayfield/Ventura Cardinals (2-6, 1-4) took a tough loss Friday night at the hands of the Clarion-Goldfield/Dows Cowboys (6-2, 3-2), by a score of 13-29. In a game managed mostly by the Cardinals, the Cowboys’ momentum proved a force that was too much.

The Cardinals finished with 329 yards of offense, 222 rushing, 107 passing.  The Cowboys had 304 yards of total offense, 148 rushing and 156 passing. Leading the first down battle by a margin of 17-12, and third down efficiency 9/16 versus 1/8, the big plays and bigger stops were on the side of the home team, barring the visiting Cardinals from the win.

The Cowboys were first on the scoreboard with a Trenton Sann passing touchdown to Kenton Waters at the end of the first quarter. The two-point conversion failed.

After a quick Cardinals possession to open the second, the Cowboys marched the ball down the field once again to punch it in for an eight-yard Joel Haberman touchdown and two-point conversion.

Despite a strong ability to move the ball, the Cardinals struggled early in the game to find the end zone.  But as halftime drew near they put together a couple nice drives and Lucas Prohaska connected with Harley Burke on a 12-yard pass for six. Connor Burke’s PAT was good, making the score 14-7 in the Cowboys’ favor.

With less than a minute left in the half, the Cardinals struck again on a long drive for the end zone where Colby Reid broke through. The PAT failed.

In a hurry-up offense that caught the Cardinals on their heels, the Cowboys found the end zone one last time in the first half. With less than :10 seconds on the board, a Zache Pogge run and Haberman PAT attempt gave the Cowboys eight more for a halftime score of 22-7.

Both teams came out after halftime with a toughened defensive mindset. Both moved the ball and made big stops when push came to shove. The final points of the game came on a short Pogge run and Haberman PAT for the final score of 29-13, Cowboys.

“I am very proud of how our guys battled the whole game and never quit,” said GHV Head Coach Scott VanDusseldorp.

Leading the Cardinal offense was Conner Shaw with 109 yards rushing on 23 carries. Other contributors were Lucas Prohaska with 34 yards on nine carries, Colby Reid with 32 on 11 carries, good for a touchdown, Harley Forry with 24 yards on nine carries and Logan Miller with 23 yards on seven carries.

Prohaska also passed for 107 yards on four completions of eight attempts, which produced a touchdown. His receivers were Forry, with three catches for 79 yards and a touchdown, and Shaw with one catch for 28 yards.

Leading the Cowboy defense was Sann with 156 yards on six completions in 11 attempts. His receivers were Joel Haberman with three catches for 82 yards and Kenton Waters with three catches of 74 yards and a touchdown.  

Taking the helm of the Cowboy stat sheets was Elliot Ahrens with nine tackles, Joel Haberman with eight and half, Ryan Anderson with eight, Oscar Salgado with six and a half with one and a half sacks, Brandon Flurer with six and a half, Logan Nelson and Trenton Sann each with five.

The Cardinals will finish their season at home against the number one ranked Clear Lake Lions (8-0, 5-0). 

“They have a lot of weapons and we will have to play very disciplined football if we want to compete with Clear Lake,” said VanDusseldorp.