Cobras steamroll Van Buren in Homecoming victory

The Cobras bounced back in a big way from their loss a week earlier by refocusing and coming together to beat Van Buren 46-8 on September 28 for Homecoming.

SK stuck to their run game throughout, racking up over 350 rushing yards on the night. They opened the night with a one-yard rushing score for JD Stout late in the first quarter. A successful two-point conversion on a rush by Sam Sieren had SK up 8-0 and they were just getting started. Sieren added on a score of his own midway through the second quarter with another two-point conversion doubling the lead.

Van Buren couldn’t get much going and the Cobra offense took control of the game, running down the clock and picking up first downs along the way. Stout had his second rushing score of the game late in the second quarter, adding on another two to take a 24-0 lead into the half.

“I would say we played better defensively in the first half,” Cobras coach Jared Jensen said. “Offensively, we seemed to be struggling with some mistakes and penalties but held strong on defense forcing punt after punt.”

The Cobras stuck to what was working best for them and got another name in on the mix as Brady Duwa capped off another scoring drive with an 11-yard burst. SK went four two and converted for the fourth time of the night, pushing their lead to 32 points. As good as the offense was, the defense smothered Van Buren all night long, keeping a shutout intact for much of the night.

Some more big plays put SK back in the red zone and Stout capitalized with his third rushing score of the night, this one coming from a 19-yard run. SK chose to give their kicker some experience and tacked on the extra point coming off the leg of Cade Streigle. Heading into the final quarter of play it was all but over as SK led 39-0.

With a running clock, the Cobras looked to take off as much time as possible in the closing minutes while maintaining possession of the ball. They got a highlight play out of Dylan Sereg, one of the backup tailbacks for the Cobras, as he found some open field and took off for a 46-yard score. Another extra point from Streigle pushed the score to 46.

“In the second half, the offense cleaned things up and started popping off some larger chunks of yards and the defense was able to hold VB scoreless, until we started subbing some younger guys in,” Jensen said. “We still have to improve on our execution in all aspects of the game. We’re still making mistakes on offense, defense and special teams that are things we have to change if we want to play at a high level and finish the regular season how we expect.”

Van Buren responded with one of their few good drives of the evening as the Cobra defense had hounded the QB for much of the game. JT Metcalf hooked up with Daniel Downey for a 16-yard passing score to end the shutout, but the rout remained intact. Neither team would go on to score again as SK ended up with the convincing 46-8 victory on Homecoming night.

Stout led the offense with three rushing scores on 18 carries for 104 yards and threw for 72 yards on five of nine passing. Sieren added on with 95 rushing yards and a score, Sereg had a scoring run and 62 yards and Duwa also rushed for a score and 45 yards. Ethan Shifflet also had 47 yards rushing on two carries and Tristan Sypherd had 12 yards on one carry.

“It was good to get back on the winning track and do it in such a way that we did. We did not play our best game by any means, but we could see that we were getting better and cleaning somethings up,” Jensen said. “The most impressive I saw with our team was how well the offensive line plays as a unit. Three of the five lineman were starters on the JV line earlier in the season. They stepped up and performed very well, which speaks volumes about their ability to the experience in practice, combined with their JV games, and perform their jobs at the Varsity level.”

Kyle Weber led the defense with seven tackles, six solo tackles and one tackle for a loss of yards while Trent Hendricks was right behind him with 5.5 tackles, four solo and one tackles for a loss of yards. Cecil Sypherd and Zeke Webb had 0.5 tackles for a loss of yards apiece and Gavin Bird also recorded a tackle for a loss of yards. Cade Molyneux and Duwa each recorded an interception, helping shut down Van Buren’s vertical attack.

SK will hope to build off the win and ride the momentum into a road game at Columbus Junction on October 5. The Cobras’ record is 4-2, 1-1 in District play, while Columbus Junction is 0-6 and 0-2 in District play.