Central Lee gives up 82 on road at Mepo

Posted Friday, September 6, 2019 11:17 pm

BY JOHN BOHNENKAMP
Pen City Current Sports

MEDIAPOLIS — Central Lee’s two fourth-quarter touchdowns changed the zero on the Hawks’ side of the scoreboard. But coach Nick Ehret pointed out the reality after Friday’s 82-14 loss to Mediapolis.

Asked what the Hawks learned from the loss, Ehret shook his head.“Not a whole lot,” he said. “They’re a good team. We didn’t play well.

“We’ve got a lot to work on.”

It was the 13th consecutive defeat over three seasons for the Hawks (0-2), and the Bulldogs (2-0) got away from them early.

Mediapolis, which won 46-7 against West Burlington-Notre Dame last week, scored 27 points in the first seven minutes against the Hawks.

“They just smacked us in the mouth, and we didn’t respond,” Ehret said. “That’s been the problem in the last year — we get smacked in the mouth, and we don’t respond. They’re a physical team, a fast team, and they took advantage of our mistakes. And we couldn’t do anything about it.”

The Bulldogs had six interceptions, with Drew Zurmuehlen taking one back for a touchdown late in the second quarter. Mediapolis’ Klay Foster also blocked a punt for a safety.

Foster rushed for 124 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Briar Johnson rushed for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Joshua Darbyshire had two touchdown runs.

The Bulldogs, who led 62-0 at halftime, had 455 yards of offense.

Mediapolis added two touchdown runs by Kadyn Salek to take a 75-0 lead before Central Lee scored.

The Hawks didn’t score until the fourth quarter, when senior Adam Boeck scored on touchdown runs of 25 and 17 yards.

“We’ve got to learn from this,” Ehret said.

“We should be embarrassed as hell by this. They’re a good team, not 82 points good.

“We have to find some pride, that’s the bottom line. We haven’t won a game in a long time. We have to find some pride, to come out and compete, because we’ve got a real tough opponent next week (at home against Mount Pleasant.)”

Boeck had 73 rushing yards on four carries. Dalton Westercamp led the Hawks with 88 rushing yards.

“He ran hard,” Ehret said of Westercamp. “We know what he’s capable of. A lot of time he’s making his own holes, because we’re not blocking very well.