March 29, 2024

Special teams miscues doom Mustangs in loss to rival Pella Christian

MONROE — The Mustangs fared better against Pella Christian’s high-powered offense than it did a year ago, but PCM made too many mistakes on special teams during a season-opening 42-20 home loss to the Eagles on Friday night.

Pella Christian’s Levi Jungling returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, took back a punt on the final play of the second quarter and the Mustangs failed to recover three onside kicks and fumbled away an Eagle punt.

PCM (0-1) tied the Eagles at 7-all following a 10-yard touchdown run by sophomore Wes Cummings in the first quarter and then senior Luke Greiner gave the Mustangs their only lead of the game when he took a screen pass from senior Sheldon Speers 44 yards for a touchdown.

Greiner added another 23-yard touchdown catch from Speers in the fourth quarter, but 28 unanswered points by Pella Christian was too much to overcome.

The Eagles (1-0) recovered three straight onside kicks in the second quarter and scored twice. Both scores came on touchdown passes by David Kacmarynski. The first TD pass covered 33 yards to Hayden Vroom and the second was a 13-yarder to Caleb Roose.

Kacmarynski hooked up with Jungling twice for touchdowns in the fourth quarter, too.

Speers was 16-of-24 for 248 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions in his first varsity start. Greiner had seven catches for 131 yards and two scores, while senior Noah Clark hauled in four passes for 86 yards.

Cummings caught four passes for 26 yards. He carried it 15 times for 39 yards and one touchdown.

Sophomore Isaac Telfer had 6.5 tackles and an interception to lead the Mustang defense, while Greiner had six tackles and a fumble recovery. Sophomore Brycen Rogers had six tackles, and Speers also had an interception.

Kacmarynski threw for 355 yards in last year’s win over the Mustangs. PCM held the Eagle senior to 193 yards Friday. He threw four touchdowns and two interceptions.

Jungling had six catches for 88 yards and two scores. The Eagles rushed for 118 yards.

The Mustangs play at 7 p.m. Friday at Montezuma, which defeated BGM, 24-14, in its opener.