Bulldogs bulldoze Bluejays to spoil Homecoming

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Perry's Taviar Lucas tears off a 48-yard run in the second quarter during Friday's Homecoming contest with Algona at Dewey Field. Lucas finished with 94 yards on 11 carries and caught four passes for 52 yards and a touchdown.

Algona’s offensive front wall dominated the line of scrimmage at Dewey Field Friday, helping the Bulldogs compile 411 rushing yards en route to a 52-14 Class 3A District 2 win that spoiled Perry’s Homecoming.

It took all of 17 seconds for the guests to score, as speedy and elusive tailback Noah Arrowood ran off left end and scampered 63 yards for a touchdown. After Perry went three-and-out, the 5-7, 150-pound senior took a handoff on Algona’s second offensive play, found the middle clogged, and bounced off left end for a 44-yard TD and a 14-0 lead 140 seconds into the contest.

Joe Olvera (72) and a Perry teammate (right) both get their hands on the ball but cannot jar it loose from Noah Arrowood as Brandon Juarez (15) makes one of his eight tackles.
Joe Olvera (72) and a Perry teammate (right) both get their hands on the ball but cannot jar it loose from Noah Arrowood as Brandon Juarez (15) makes one of his eight tackles.

“I think we showed tonight that we are starting to be able to do things offensively, we just need something good to happen to us early in games,” Perry head coach Jason Olejniczak said. “We can’t keep falling behind like we have and expect to win.”

Senior linemen Cole Banwart (6-5, 280), an Iowa recruit, and fellow senior Ben Mawdsley (6-4, 245) cleared the way for Arrowood to finish with 243 yards and three TDs on 18 carries, with Grant Carroll adding 86 yards and a score on 14 rushes and Derek Garmin 72 yards and a score on three hauls.

“Our strength defensively is probably our secondary, and not up front,” Olejniczak said. “We just don’t have the body types to match up with big, physical teams, and they just took it to us tonight.”

Eli Saemisch takes a handoff from Ryan Rathje and looks to run behind the blocks of Joe Olvera (72) and Kevin Lopez (75). Saemisch had his best game of the season, gaining 99 yards on seven carries.
Eli Saemisch takes a handoff from Ryan Rathje and looks to run behind the blocks of Joe Olvera (72) and Kevin Lopez (75). Saemisch had his best game of the season, gaining 99 yards on seven carries.

Luke Larson scored on a two-yard run to push the score to 21-0 after one quarter, but the Perry offense slowly began to produce what by far was their best effort of the season.

Taviar Lucas made a circus catch by leaping and pulling in a Ryan Rathje pass over a defender who had not turned to face the ball. Lucas came down in the front corner of the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown, with Ivan Garcia’s PAT kick putting the score at 21-7.

Algona answered two minutes later when Garmin took an inside reverse off left end for 56 yards and a TD, with the fourth of Soren Svendsen’s seven PAT kicks pushing the Bulldog lead to 28-7.

Lucas broke off a 48-yard run for the Bluejays to put the ball at the Algona 25-yard line, but a costly personal-foul penalty on the next snap helped ensure Perry would eventually turn the ball over on downs.

A 50-yard run from Arrowood led to a 5-yard TD dash from the swift senior, with a Svendsen 30-yard field goal with five seconds left in the half giving the visitors a 38-7 advantage at the intermission.

Quarterback Ryan Rathje hit tight end Marcus Meri for a 33-yard gain on Perry’s first possession of the third quarter, with Rathje hitting Adan Medina three plays later with a 20-yard scoring strike to change the score to 38-14.

Scoring runs of four yards from Carroll and of three yards from Brandon Weishaar sent the score to 52-14 with 2:50 left in the third quarter, thereby instituting a continual clock. Neither team scored in the remaining minutes as Algona moved to 5-1, 3-1 and Perry fell to 0-6, 0-3.

The Perry offense had their best outing of the year Friday, with 248 rushing yards and another 141 yards through the air.
The Perry offense had their best outing of the year Friday, with 248 rushing yards and another 141 yards through the air.

Algona threw one pass in the game, with Cody Elbert making a seven-yard reception to give the Bulldogs 418 yards of total offense.

Rathje was 9-17-1 for 141 yards and two TDs, with Lucas (4-52, 1 TD), Meri (2-61), Medina (2-24, 1 TD) and Eli Saemisch (1-4) making the receptions.

Saemisch used two long runs to help compile 99 yards on seven carries while Lucas had 94 yards on 11 touches, Gage Welch 54 yards on 11 rushes and Wyatt Halling 17 yards on three ports. The Jays lost 16 yards on three sacks, but their 248 total rush yards nearly matched the 285 yards they had gained in the first five contests combined.

Brandon Juarez and Solomon Pierce had eight tackles apiece to lead the defense, with Joe Olvera making 5.5 stops and Nic Fellom 4.5 with a sack.

Perry will visit Greene County next Friday for the Cowbell Game. The Rams were shut out, 14-0, by Humboldt Friday.
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Class 3A District 2
ALGONA 52, PERRY 14
at Dewey Field, Oct. 2

Team    1   2   3   4 — Final
ALG     21  17  14  0 — 52
PRY       0   7    7   0 — 14

Scoring by Quarters
First Quarter
ALG — Arrowood 63 run (Svendsen kick), 11:43.
ALG — Arrowood 44 run (Svendsen kick), 9:40.
ALG — Larson 2 run (Svendsen kick), 3:14.
Second Quarter
PRY — Lucas 24 pass from Rathje (Garcia kick), 11:51.
ALG — Garmin 56 run (Svendsen kick), 9:50.
ALG — Arrowood 5 run (Svendsen kick), 6:10.
ALG — FG Svendsen 30, :05.4.
Third Quarter
PRY — Medina 20 pass from Rathje (Garcia kick), 9:19.
ALG — Carroll 4 run (Svendsen kick), 7:22.
ALG — Weishaar 3 run (Svendsen kick), 2:50.
Fourth Quarter
No scoring.

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