March 19, 2024

Mustangs gallop into playoffs with another easy win

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MONROE — Prairie City-Monroe football coach Greg Bonnett has heard it before.

A weak schedule got brought up when he coached at Dowling Catholic and Northwest Missouri State and the same type of opinions have surfaced this year during a dominant run to a district championship.

“All those teams that ‘didn’t play anyone’ just kept winning, too,” Bonnett said. “It is what it is. There’s not much we can do about our district. You just have to believe in yourself and believe in what your doing. The guys are playing well right now.”

The winning streak continued for the Mustangs on Friday night, and once again, they were barely challenged in a 73-8 win over Clarke in Class 2A District 6 play on Senior Night.

Senior Luke Greiner caught two of senior Sheldon Speers’ four touchdown passes, senior Noah Clark returned from an injury to grab another TD and junior Noah Anderson and sophomore Wes Cummings both reached 100-plus yards rushing at halftime.

PCM led 60-0 at haltime, and the starters didn’t step foot on the field in the second half. The Mustangs surrendered only 22 points during district play this season. Offensively, PCM averaged 53 points its seven district wins.

The starters on both sides of the ball haven’t played much in the second half since their Week 2 win over Class A No. 10 Montezuma.

“It was nice to see us get out to a fast start,” Bonnett said. “I was a little worried about the focus with ‘The Blitz’ being here early this morning. But these guys continue to amaze me at how focused they are.”

The Channel 5’s Blitz Gameday was in town Friday morning, giving the Mustangs another distraction. Not even that could slow down a PCM offense that scored six touchdowns in its first 15 plays of the game. The defense did its part, too, forcing seven turnovers in the win.

A big kickoff return by Greiner set up the Mustangs at the Clarke 29-yard line to start the game. The home team needed just one play to get on the board as Cummings zig zagged his way to a 29-yard TD run.

Clarke fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting up PCM at the Indians’ 40-yard line. This time, the Mustangs needed two plays, but most of the yards came on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Speers to Greiner.

Another fumble by Clarke on the next kickoff helped the Mustangs go up 21-0 just 3 minutes into the game. A 23-yard pass from Speers to Greiner set up Speers’ second TD pass of the game, a 12-yard strike to Clark.

“I went over there to congratulate him because I was excited to have my brother back on the field with me,” Greiner said. “I’ve been playing with him since the seventh grade. I am glad he got to play on Senior Night.”

Clarke drove 46 yards on its first official possession of the game, but the Indians (3-6 overall, 3-4 in district play) turned the ball over on downs.

PCM then drove 68 yards in two plays. Anderson did all the work on the ground, gaining 26 and a first down on the first carry and then sprinting 45 yards for a TD on the second one.

A third fumble on a kickoff by Clarke gave PCM another short field a few minutes later. Starting at the Clarke 38-yard line, Speers was sacked on the first play, but a 33-yard pass to Cummings came before Speers’ 17-yard TD pass to Greiner.

“We’ve got a lot of playmakers on this team, and no one cares who scores the TDs,” Greiner said. “It’s about the team and winning games.”

After recovering an onside kick, the Mustangs made it 40-0 late in the first quarter when Speers connected with sophomore Jarron Trausch on a 42-yard TD pass. That drive took only two plays.

Cummings carried the ball twice on PCM’s next drive. That’s all the Mustangs needed to score as Cummings went 26 and then scored on a 47-yarder. The sophomore tailback had 103 yards and two touchdowns on four carries.

Anderson gained 104 yards and scored twice on four carries. His second TD capped a one-play drive that resulted in a 35-yard TD run.

Nick Dredge set up PCM”s next scoring drive with an interception of Clarke quarterback Andy Hurtado.

The Mustangs needed a fourth-down conversion on their next drive, but Clark’s 22-yard catch kept the drive alive. Big offensive lineman James Snodgrass capped the drive with a 9-yard TD run. Snodgrass scored on the “snody counter” for a third time this season.

“This was my favorite one,” Snodgrass. “I actually got to hit someone on this one. I was untouched on the other two. This has been a fun season. It’s been by far the best season of my high school career.”

The Mustangs’ second-team offense scored twice in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Reed Worth connected with senior James Maggard on a 19-yard touchdown pass that made it 66-0.

The lead grew to 73-0 when Cade McCombs picked up a Worth fumble at the 2-yard line and dove over the goal line for six points.

Speers completed eight of his 10 passes in the first half. Those eight completions went for 184 yards and four TDs. He now has 1,976 yards and 28 touchdowns on the season.

Worth was 5-for-5 for 61 yards in the second half. He also rushed four times for 31 yards.

Greiner gained 67 yards on three catches and Maggard hauled in three Worth passes for 58 yards.

Greiner leads 2A with 17 touchdown receptions. His 899 receiving yards ranks second.

The Mustangs outgained Clarke 500-153. PCM rushed for 250 yards and passed for 250 yards.

“We have a ton of guys who can make plays for this team,” Snodgrass said. “It all starts up front, but without the speed of the guys with the ball, we don’t win the district title. They have made a lot of plays for us this year.”

The Mustang defense got interceptions from Chase Sanders, Anderson and Dredge. Anderson also recovered two fumbles, while Lane Raske, McCombs, Clayton Welch and Cole Dustin also recovered fumbles.

Greiner and Ethan Thomas had four solo tackles each, while Welch had six assisted tackles and Snodgrass and Leevi Telfer collected five assisted tackles.

PCM finished the regular season at 8-1 and went 7-0 in district play. The Mustangs will host a 2A opening-round playoff game against Heart of Iowa Conference rival Roland-Story at 7 p.m. Friday in Monroe.