Panthers seek faster start

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Sep. 3—It's pretty clear what the focus is this week for the Creston football team in preparing for a third straight road game at Winterset.

"When we met as a staff on Sunday we really looked at getting out of the gates better," Panther coach Brian Morrison said. "We've had two games in a row now that we started slow on both sides of the ball and got ourselves in a hole. We've looked at everything, including when we leave and our pregame routine."

In week zero, the Panthers rallied from a 22-0 deficit to defeat Centerville 52-42. Last week at Clarinda, Creston trailed 17-0 in the opening minutes. The Panthers battled back to forge a 45-45 tie in the third quarter. The Cardinals won 59-45 on the strength of a 14-0 fourth quarter, relying heavily on a ball control offense led by Baylor Hash's 206 yards on 31 carries.

"We can't keep doing this," Morrison said. "We were down 14-0 and the defense had only been on the field for three plays. In reality, we gave up 28 points on two big passing plays where our defensive backs lost their footing, a big kick return gave them a short field, and they got a pick six. Later on we kind of settled in on defense and our offense played great in the second and third quarters to get us back in it. But Clarinda is a really good team and we can't get ourselves in trouble early like that."

After the Panthers tied it 45-45, the Cardinals put together two drives and came up with a key stop defensively.

"After the tie, they had a possession and drove it on us and got up a touchdown," Morrison said. "We went down and they got us in a second and 18. Then it was fourth and 18 and we stalled. They got the ball back and scored again. If we could have gone up a touchdown, I think we would have won the game. Give Clarinda credit. That's a very good football team."

Winterset rebuilds

Winterset is in a rebuilding mode, losing a large senior class and most of its playmakers from a 7-4 team that opened the 2025 playoffs with a 28-6 win over Independence before falling to Solon, 21-6. Only quarterback Carson Cook returns from the backfield. Several linemen were also lost, as well as standout safety Jace Bellamy and four of the top five leading tacklers on defense. Leading tackler Cru Hockett (47.5 tackles) does return as a senior.

"They had a really good senior class of 22 or 23 guys with a lot of talent," Morrison said. "But it's always a tough, physical game with Winterset and we know they're going to try to run the ball and get the ball out wide on screens and bubbles. We have to tackle in space. We have to improve in a lot of ways on defense."

Last week, Cook completed 10 of 14 passes for 74 yards and one touchdown in the season-opening 40-6 loss to ADM, a strong Class 4A team considered a playoff contender. The running game managed only 42 yards on 29 attempts.

"ADM is good and kind of smothered them," Morrison said. "But, they do have some good skill kids and the quarterback throws a good ball."

Creston's offense has been productive, with the capability of striking quickly in scoring 97 points in two games. Last week, senior quarterback Tanner Ray completed 11 of 18 passes for 303 yards and four touchdowns. He has a Class 3A leading 533 passing yards in two games. All-district receiver Jace Purdum is likewise off to a strong start with 13 catches for 329 yards and three TDs. Safety Davin Wallace has 23 total tackles and an interception returned for a touchdown.

Sophomore running back Gabe Kaufman rushed for 118 yards last week to push his season total to 215 yards. Morrison said the offensive line has executed well in the early going.

"The offense is doing great things," Morrison said. "But, we got off to a slow start for the second week in a row. Very few high school teams can recover from falling behind early like we have been doing. It's very easy in a situation like that for things to snowball and suddenly you're in a running clock. To our kids' credit, they have kept battling and gotten us back in it."

A first-quarter lead Friday would do wonders for turning around that trend.

Creston (1-1, 0-0)

OFFENSE

LT: Caden Owens 6-1 185 Jr.

LG: Michael Wofford 6-1 210 Sr.

C: Drake Wilson 6-1 290 Sr.

RG: Frank Martin 6-1 250 Jr.

RT: Layne Sand 6-5 260 Sr.

TE: Rhett Driskell 6-4 200 Sr.

TE: Ryder Sharp 6-5 180 Sr.

WR: Jace Purdum 6-1 170 Sr.

WR: Riggins Hanson 6-0 190 So.

QB: Tanner Ray 6-0 150 Sr.

RB: Gabe Kaufman 6-0 170 So.

K: Joaquin Flores 6-2 170 Sr.

DEFENSE

DE: Blake Hayes 6-2 205 Sr.

DT: Tom Mikkelsen 6-1 205 Sr.

DE: Jose Avila 5-8 190 Jr. or Randy Shady 5-11 160 Sr.

OLB: Coltyr Frey 5-9 165 Sr.

ILB: Logan Stehr 5-7 160 Jr.

ILB: Colby Brammer 5-7 160 Sr.

OLB: Will Schaefer 5-10 160 Jr.

CB: Cason Scarberry 5-10 155 Sr.

CB: Durrell Haynes 5-6 150 Sr.

S: Davin Wallace 5-10 165 Sr.

S: Zadek Engdahl 5-10 155 Jr.

P: Joaquin Flores 6-2 170 Sr.

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