STELLAR START

Case earns 150th victory, as Titans punish East Sac County
Going into this 19th season at the helm, South Central Calhoun head football coach Bryan Case knew that he had a special group on his hands. In his near two decades of pacing the sidelines, the ball coach knows a thing or two about great teams.
After all, Case had guided Southern Cal – SCC’s spiritual predecessor – to back-to-back state championship seasons in 2008 and 2009. On Friday night, the Titans helped him reach another career milestone.
As the Titans cruised to a convincing 44-0 victory over East Sac County in their regular season opener on Friday night at Raider Field in Wall Lake, the Titans drenched Case in the proverbial “Gatorade Shower.”
Not without a little friendly resistance, of course.
According to Case, he wouldn’t have been able to reach that threshold without a multitude of talented players and dedicated coaches.
“From game number one to game number 150, it’s been a blur, to be honest with you,” Case said, following SCC’s triumph over the Raiders. “In starting my 19th year, every single one of these wins have been special and very single one of these teams are very special. When you have really good players and really great coaches around you, it makes things really easy.”
After a slow start to the game, the Titans stomped on the gas pedal and never let off, due to a 14-point burst at the tail end of the first quarter from a two-yard touchdown dive from senior running back Keagen Meyer, a fumble recovery by junior lineman Keaton Daniel and senior wideout Chase Scheidegger’s circus catch in the endzone.
Along with those series of events, the Titans took full advantage of short-field situations and relied on the arm of junior quarterback Cole Corey.
Corey, who subbed in to complement senior starting quarterback Josh Henkenius, slung the football all over the yard by tossing 178 yards and two trips to paydirt on just nine completions.
“It feels great,” Corey said of his performance against ESC. “Josh and I were going to get some reps in this game, but I helped extend some plays and threw it up to my receivers. They did what they had to do from there.”
From the victory, the Titans began their campaign in the win column with a 1-0 overall record while the Raiders dropped to 0-1 to start their season.
Nonetheless, Case knew that the first week of the season was a good time to take care of mental miscues. Against the Raiders, the Titans coughed up two fumbles and yielded 45 yards on six penalties.
“We knew that we were going to make mistakes, it’s week one,” Case said. “In the first half, we made some mistakes, but our players overcame that adversity and found a way to get themselves into the endzone.”
Another one of the spots that Case is set to address is to establish a running game.
“We really struggled in the run game,” said Case. “So, we went to the air and spread things out a little bit. Even in that situation, we had to make some plays. Nothing was easy for us, and you have to credit East Sac County for making it tough for us, as well.”
Next up for SCC will be their home opener, where the Titans will host Kuemper Catholic at 7 p.m. next Friday at The Sacred Acre in Lake City. The Knights (1-0) defeated Council Bluffs St. Albert by a final score of 27-3 at Carroll Athletic Stadium in Carroll.
Even though SCC began the game on a sluggish note, which included ESC to push deep into Titan territory, the white-clad warriors held their ground and struck daylight with less than two minutes left in the initial period.
This was when senior running back Keagen Meyer plunged into the endzone from two yards out, giving the Titans an initial lead with 1:42 to go in the first quarter. No more than 25 seconds later, junior lineman Keaton Daniel came up with a loose ball in Raider territory.
Daniel’s fumble recovery led to Corey finding Scheidegger in the front corner of the endzone at the 1:19 mark to push SCC’s lead to 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
SCC kept up its momentum, beginning with a 34-yard field goal from the boot of senior Zane Neubuam with 6:18 left until halftime. With 34 seconds left in the first half, Corey showed that he was dangerous with his feet as well as his arm, rolling out of the pocket and scoring from 10-yards out to give the Titans a pronounced 24-0 advantage going into the break.
The third quarter saw the Titans’ fortunes continue, from a fourth-and-long situation. Corey, under pressure from the Raiders, heaved up a ball over to Scheidegger beyond the first down marker.
However, the ball bounced off of Scheidegger’s hands, only to land in the lap of senior running back/linebacker Landon Schleisman. After the catch, Schleisman took the ball down to the ESC five-yard line.
“I just noticed that it was a little far,” Schleisman said of the play. “I didn’t think Chase would be able to get quite that high where he was. So I thought I’d come back and I thought it would be on the ground, but Chase had his hands on it. It was really nice, but it was a lucky play.”
Corey gave his own perspective to the highlight reel worthy sequence.
“I rolled clear out toward the sideline and threw it up to Chase,” Corey said. “It was either that or a turnover, so it was worth a shot. We made it happen, which led to Landon running it in.”
And indeed Schleisman was rewarded for his heads-up play, running in from five yards out to push SCC’s lead to 31 points. Schleisman led the team in receiving, grabbing three receptions for 71 yards.
“Landon is one of those kids who has a running motor in him at all times,” Case said, praising Schleisman. “Even after we pulled the starters out toward the end of the game, but yet he tried to sneak himself back out onto the field for kickoff coverage. He’s just that kind of kid. He had an excellent ballgame in every single phase of the game.”
Before the period was over, the Titans went to the air again on fourth down, as Corey connected with sophomore Blake McAlister for a 34-yard touchdown pass with 45 seconds left. Going into the final period, the Titans held a comfortable 38-0 lead.
The final score of the game came from a running back in the wings with 6:40 remaining, as junior Evan Jacobs burst through defenders en route to a 36-yard touchdown run.
Although the Titans had to battle through miscues, the defensive unit was exceptional, allowing just 116 total yards. Out of that yardage, SCC gave away only 25 yards through the air.
The defensive leaders for SCC were senior Brian King (fumble recovery), junior Brennan Holder (eight tackles), Scheidegger (five tackles) and McAlister (four tackles).
The special teams even had a good showing, forcing the Raiders to average 26.5 yards per punt and nearly blocking those kicks on multiple occasions.
Within Class 1A-District 2, only the Titans and Pocahontas Area clenched victories, as the Indians gained a 20-2 victory over Sioux Central in Sioux Rapids.
Ogden fell to Manson-Northwest Webster by a score of 8-6, as South Hardin edged South Hamilton 19-14. Madrid, a traditional powerhouse, continued its struggles by falling in a 50-0 decision against Woodward-Granger.
To round out the district, Eagle Grove lost to Belmond-Klemme, 40-20.
 

South Central Calhoun 44, East Sac County 0
SCC      14      10      14      6      –     44
ESC      0          0          0        0        –       0
 
First Quarter
SCC – Keagen Meyer 2 run (Zane Neubaum kick), 1:42
SCC – Chase Scheidegger 24 pass from Cole Corey (Neubaum kick), 1:19
Second Quarter
SCC – Neubaum 34 FG, 4:11
SCC – Corey 10 run (Neubaum kick), 0:45
Third Quarter
SCC – Landon Schleisman 5 run (Neubaum kick), 6:18
SCC – Blake McAlister 34 pass from Corey (Neubaum kick), 0:34
Fourth Quarter
SCC – Evan Jacobs 36 run (rush failed), 6:40
SCC      ESC     
First Downs                  8          8
Rushing                        100      91
Passing                        174      25
Total Yards                  274      116
C-A-I                           9-21-0    7-11-0
Punts-Yards                 2-54     8-26.5
Penalties-Yards           6-45     5-42
Fumbles-Lost               2-2       2-2
 
SCC INDIVIDUAL STATS:
RUSHING – Jacobs 2-40, Meyer 4-23, Schleisman 5-15, Josh Henkenius 3-10, Jaydon Maschke 2-5, Jordan Khommanyvong 3-3, Corey 6-2, Ayden Toms 1-2.
PASSING – Corey 9-16-0-174, Henkenius 0-5-0-0.
RECEIVING – Schleisman 3-71, Scheidegger 3-47, McAlister 1-34, Khommanyvong 1-20, Meyer 1-2.
DEFENSIVE LEADERS – Keaton Daniel, fumble recovery; Brian King, fumble recovery; Brennan Holder, 8.5 tackles; Scheidegger 5 tackles; McAlister 4 tackles.