Audubon holds off Iowa Valley for 26-19 victory to advance to 8-Player state football semifinal

MARENGO – Iowa Valley battled from start to finish.

The Tigers scratched and clawed, demonstrating effort and fight from their game-opening touchdown to the last-second attempt to tie or win the game. Unfortunately, Iowa Valley’s bid came up a little short.

Fifth-ranked Audubon thwarted No. 4 Iowa Valley’s final play at the 10-yard line as time expired to secure a 26-19 victory in an 8-Player state quarterfinal football game Thursday night at Tiger Field.

“We put it all out there,” Tigers junior quarterback Nolan Kriegel said. “We gave it all but sometimes it doesn't go our way. That’s all right. We know we gave it our all so that's all I can be happy about.”

  Buy Photo

The Tigers (10-1) showed their resilience, falling down by three scores less than two minutes into the second half. They rallied instead of folded. Iowa Valley drove deep into Audubon territory with one last chance with two seconds left. The Wheelers pulled Layne Peska down for a short gain and ended the comeback.

“I mean everybody had fight,” Iowa Valley Coach Casey Krull said. “We had nobody give up, and that's what we told him it was going to be about four quarters. Those guys kept coming and kept coming.”

Iowa Valley had an explosive start. On the first offensive snap of the game, Kriegel rolled right and stepped back, delivering a strike to a wide-open Peska for a 65-yard touchdown pass and 6-0 lead.

“Going in, I knew they were going to have to be aggressive to try and stop the run play,” Krull said. “So, I took advantage of that.

“It was awesome to have that. It was just something that I kind of saw there. And after that, we struggled. That's what happens when we play a good team. It's just tough.”

Audubon answered with the next four scores. Wheelers QB Aiden Kjergaard had his hands on each. He hit Austin Christensen for a 33-yard TD pass on fourth-and-25, taking an 8-6 lead on Kjergaard’s conversion run.

“They had that big play that first drive,” said Kjergaard, who rushed for 166 yards and passed for 115. “We had to keep pushing through and say so what. Move on to the next play, the next drive. Put our foot down and put on the gas. Scored some points and did it.”

The Wheelers built a 26-6 lead in the third. Wheeler added scoring runs of 30 and 61 yards for a 20-6 halftime advantage. He connected with a wide-open Christensen on a play-action pass on the third play after the break.

“He’s a fast guy,” Kjergaard said of Christensen. “He always gets open. He’s a good guy to trust. Throw it up to him and he’ll make the play.”

The Tigers began cutting the Audubon lead, producing consecutive scoring drives and containing the Wheelers offense. Iowa Valley outgained Audubon, 191-92, in the second half.

“Offensively, trying to get some more double teams going,” Krull said. “They just beat us up front every now and then, which that's going to happen in a good football game like this. Then defensively, we didn't have to make a ton of adjustments. We just overran a couple of plays, give them a couple big plays.”

Kriegel broke out of a slow first half, rushing for 175 of his 224 yards in the second half. He capped a 54-yard, 11-play drive with a 20-yard TD run.

On the Tigers next drive, he rushed three times, including a 36-yard TD run down the near sideline after getting by defenders. Kriegel

“We just put our head down,” Kriegel said. “We knew we needed to kind of push and keep moving the ball, so we just started running and pushing a little bit harder. It worked a little bit, but it wasn't enough.”

Audubon won the battle on fourth down. They converted twice on offense and stifled the Tigers, forcing five turnovers on downs.

“When you get to this (point of the season) it's the margins, right?” Krull said. “And we just didn't quite get the margins that we needed to, and obviously, really disappointed.”

The Tigers return some key players, including their top three passers, top six rushers, top two receivers and six of their top seven tacklers. This game will be a source of future motivation.

“It’s going to fuel the fire. We got a lot of kids back and we're going to be ready to go,” Kriegel said. “We want to make to the (UNI-)Dome, so we're going to have a chip on our shoulder next year. We'll be ready.”

Audubon (11-0) earned its fourth semifinal appearance and first since 2021. The Wheelers will face No. 1 Algona Garrigan (11-0) Wednesday at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, beginning at 10 a.m.

AUDUBON 26

IOWA VALLEY 19

AT MARENGO

AUD IV

First Downs 8 15

Rushes-yards 32-151 57-274

Passing yards 115 74

Comp-att-int 4-8-0 3-11-1

Total yards 266 348

Fumbles-lost 2-0 2-0

Punts-avg. 5-28.4 1-24.0

Penalties-yards 6-52 5-35

Audubon 14 6 6 0 -- 26

Iowa Valley 6 0 13 0 -- 19

IV – Layne Peska 65 pass from Nolan Kriegel (kick failed)

AUD – Austin Christensen 33 pass from Aiden Kjergaard (Kjergaard rush)

AUD – Kjergaard 30 run (pass failed)

AUD – Kjergaard 61 run (rush failed)

AUD – Christensen 65 pass from Kjergaard (pass failed)

IV – Kriegel 20 run (rush failed)

IV – Kriegel 36 run (Mason Hoyt kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Audubon: Kjergaard 24-166, Carson Wessel 1-3, Mason Kasperbauer 6-2, Team 1-(minus 20). Iowa Valley: Kriegel 45-224, Chance Hoyt 5-39, Peska 4-7, M. Hoyt 1-3, Team 1-3, Dane Smith 1-(minus 2).

PASSING – Audubon: Kjergaard 4-8-0-115. Iowa Valley: Kriegel 3-9-1-74, Peska 0-1-0-0, Team 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING – Audubon: Christensen 3-100, Brody Weber 1-15. Iowa Valley: Peska 1-65, Smith 1-6, C. Hoyt 1-3.

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com