Turnovers, mistakes doom Tigers in 31-14 loss to Kuemper Catholic

GREGORY OREAR

Publisher/Editor

Despite taking an early lead, the Red Oak Tigers lost their homecoming game 31-14 to Kuemper Catholic Friday night at Russ Benda field. 

Competing against the private school and 2013 state champion loaded with bigger players, Red Oak battled throughout the game, but ultimately turnovers and mistakes doomed the Tigers chances at an upset. Red Oak turned the ball over twice, which didn’t include two bad snaps on fourth down, giving the Knights the ball back in Red Oak territory. 

“I said early in the week we were going to have to have a clean game,” Red Oak coach Barry Bower said. “Those short fields caused the defense a lot of distress. The defense played well when they had to go the length of the field to score, but those short fields made it really tough. Without them, this is an even closer game.”

It was a Kuemper turnover early in the game that set up Red Oak’s first touchdown. 

After Hayden VanMeter recovered a fumble with 8:26 to play in the first quarter, Brock Isaacson recovered a second one with 5:23 left, giving the Tigers the ball on the Knight 30. 

Two plays later, Carlos Guerra threw a perfect 29-yard pass to Connor Jansky, giving the Tigers a first down on the Kuemper one yard line. Two plays later, Guerra scored on a quarterback keeper as Red Oak took a 7-0 lead on the extra point with 4:47 to play in the opening quarter. 

On the next drive, Kuemper Catholic found an offensive rhythm with a 14-play, 61-yard touchdown drive that took more than six minutes off the clock. During the drive, Red Oak’s defense produced a pair of sacks, but Kuemper managed to convert two third downs and one fourth down.

After Von Kraus scored on a three-yard run, Kuemper failed to convert a two-point conversion pass as Red Oak maintained a 7-6 lead with 10:20 left in the half. 

On the ensuing drive, Red Oak picked up a first down, but was then forced to punt from its own 29. The fourth down snap, though, sailed over punter Conner Jansky’s head, giving the Knights a first down at Red Oak’s 11.

After a third down conversion gave Kuemper a first and goal, Knight Quarterback Gage Gunnerson scored on a one-yard run. Another failed two-point conversion gave the Knights a 12-7 lead with 6:46 left in the half.

Red Oak picked up another first down on the next drive, which ended with a Kuemper interception at the Knights’ 32-yard line. 

Kuemper drove the length of the field, including a 35-yard pass from Gunnerson to Jacob Schaefer, giving the Knights another first and goal at Red Oak’s one-yard line. But the Tigers’ defense came up with another big play as Oscar Vega recovered a fumble on the next play, giving Red Oak the ball 99 yards away from the end zone. 

Two plays later, though, Red Oak made its third big mistake of the half, fumbling the ball away which the Knights’ Seth Gehling recovered in the end zone for a touchdown as Kuemper took an 18-7 halftime lead. 

Kuemper scored first in the second half when Kraus tacked on his second touchdown of the game with a 61-yard run. 

Trailing 25-7, Red Oak battled back, relying solely on the pass. 

In a six-play, 73-yard drive, Guerra threw the ball all six times, including a 37-yard completion to Jansky, which moved the ball into Knight territory. Four plays later, Carlos Guerra connected on a 15-yard touchdown pass to Eli Guerra as Red Oak cut the lead to 25-14. 

Carlos Guerra threw the ball a lot in the game, completing 14 out of 34 passes for 186 yards. 

Bower said Kuemper’s defense forced the pass-oriented approach. Isaacson led Red Oak’s running game with a season-low 24 yards on 13 carries. As a team, the Tigers finished with just 30 yards on 27 attempts. 

“(We) found ourselves a little over matched up front with their interior linemen,” Bower said. “That made us one dimensional and so we found some things that we could exploit with our pass game. We would like to stay balanced but when they take the run game away, you have to revert to the pass game.”

One thing Guerra and the Tigers exploited was the matchup against Jansky. After coming in with 11 receptions in his first three games, Jansky led the team with eight against Kuemper for 133 yards. 

After Red Oak cut the lead to 25-14, Kuemper came right back as Kraus capped a seven-play, 65-yard drive with a two-yard score, his third of the game. Gunnerson set up the touchdown with a 45-yard run. 

Kraus finished with a game-high 137 rushing yards on 27 carries. 

Gunnerson was a dual threat for Kuemper, completing 16 of 28 passes for 194 yards while running for 68 more. 

Red Oak played a man-to-man defense the entire game in an attempt to neutralize the Knight passing attack. Bower said the moved paid off as the Tigers made a lot of big plays in the secondary, but that Gunnerson and the Knights simply made the plays they needed.

“Our kids did a nice job as far as the secondary covering them up, but they just made some plays. You have to give them some credit for that,” he said. “I thought our kids did a nice job, but it’s a matter of when you have a height advantage and strength advantage you are going to win out sometimes.” 

Will West led the Tiger defense with 12 tackles, followed by Colin Bruce with 9.5. 

Red Oak is back on the road this week as they travel to Treynor, Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.