Fast start help Osage down GHV, 52-36

A quick start propelled the Osage Green Devils to a 52-36 victory over Garner-Hayfield-Ventura Friday night in Garner.  The loss dropped the Cards to 1-3 heading into Class 2A District 2 play this week.  As Coach Scott VanDusseldorp says, the team will need to bring its ‘A’ game when it travels to unbeaten Algona Friday.

“We started too slow.  We have to come into the game ready to play right away,” said the head Cardinal after his team gave up a 64-yard touchdown pass play on the third play from scrimmage against Osage.  The Green Devils added another score with 4:22 left in the first quarter and a two-point conversion made the score 14-0.

The Cardinals got their game going late in the first when Isaac Knutson broke free for a 62-yard touchdown run.  A two-point try by Jared Shaw was stuffed, making the score 14-6 heading into the second quarter.

Twenty-four more points by the Green Devils made the hole even bigger for the Cardinals in the second quarter.

Osage struck quickly in the second, scoring on a 37-yard pass play within the first minute of the period.  A pass on the two-point try lifted the visitor to 22-6.  The Green Devils added scores midway through the quarter, and again with :20 seconds remaining in the half.

GHV concentrated on the run game and drove the ball successfully on one of their five second quarter possessions.

Brock Gouge and Jace Pringnitz had back-to-back runs of 11 and 21-yards to get the Cardinals into the red zone.  From there, Shaw and Pringnitz pounded it in, with Pringnitz breaking into the end zone from three-yards out.  The two-point try failed.

The first half ended with Osage firmly in command, 38-12.

The Cardinals were able to successfully regroup at halftime and made the second half a much closer affair.  The GHV defense held the Green Devils scoreless, while the Cardinal offense chipped away with a third quarter score to pull within 38-18.  It was the run game that provided the points.  The Cards drove the ball from mid-field, with Jace Pringnitz pounding the rock on five straight carries before Rafe VanDusseldorp moved the ball from the 30 to the 18.  Landon Dalbeck raced in for an 18-yard score with 6:10 remaining in the third.

Osage curbed any thoughts of a fourth quarter GHV rally with another score just minutes into the final quarter.  After a GHV three-and-out the Green Devils moved the ball from their own 26 into the GHV end zone.  The Cardinals answered the score with a seven-play drive capped by a 25-yard run into the end zone by Dalbeck.  On their next possession Osage Zach Williams reached pay dirt on a 40-yard scamper for the final score, 52-26.

“In the second half we played much better, but we can’t afford to try to come back from being down so much,” said Coach VanDusseldorp.

Final statistics from the game showed the Green Devils (2-2) finished with 497-yards of total offense, compared to 413 for the Cardinals.  GHV’s offense was based on the run, with Jace Pringnitz picking up 174 of the teams’ 413-yards rushing on 28 carries.

Other leading ground gainers for the Cardinals included Knutson with 63-yards on three carries, Gouge with 53-yards on 10 totes, and Shaw with 20-yards on seven carries.  VanDusseldorp gained 17-yards on three runs.

Dalbeck completed eight of 21 passes for 59-yards and ran the ball himself eight times for 17-yards.  His favorite target was Shaw, who caught four passes for 27-yards.

Defensively, the Cardinals were led by Holden Larson with eight solo and two assisted tackles.  The senior also had two interceptions in the game.  Jace Pringnitz and Brock Gouge each made five solo tackles, with Pringnitz also credited with an assist.  How Pringnitz recorded two solo and four assisted tackles.  In addition to a tackle, Dalbeck also snagged a Green Devil interception.