Tigers fall short on road versus Kuemper

 CARROLL — The Red Oak football team is now 1-2 for the district season following a 37-14 loss Friday night in Carroll versus 2A runner-up Kuemper Catholic.

The loss was the second in a row for the Tigers, who dropped to 2-3 for the season. Kuemper Catholic scored the first 16 points in the game to take the lead.

Gage Gunnerson had the first Kuemper Catholic points when he scored a touchdown on a 15-yard run with 5:29 to go in the first quarter. Adam Schleisman kicked the point after try and Kuemper Catholic led 7-0.

The scoring halted for a short time. But with 4:37 left in the half Kuemper Catholic forced a safety to make its lead 9-0.

The Knights quickly scored again less than a minute later thanks to a Cody Weitl 31-yard touchdown run. A PAT made it 16-0.

Red Oak put points on the board before the half, though, when Carlos Guerra connected with Conner Jansky on a 57-yard pass play. The Tigers missed the two-point conversion and trailed 16-6 at halftime.

Weitl had two more touchdowns in the third quarter, including a 36-yard run with 7:06 to go in the third quarter as Kuemper Catholic opened up a big lead. Weitl’s second touchdown was an eight-yard run with 2:27 to go in the quarter. Kuemper Catholic soon led 30-6 through three quarters.

Gunnerson helped with the final touchdown for the Knights when he completed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Derek Drees. The lead was then 37-6.

Red Oak scored once more late in the game when Brock Isaacson had a 37-yard touchdown run with 3:58 to go. Isaacson finished with 88 yards on 17 carries to lead the Tigers in rushing. Isaacson has rushed for 888 yards this season and could possibly pass the 1,000-yard mark during Homecoming this week.

Guerra completed a two-point conversion pass to Nick Carlson. Guerra was 5-for-20 in the game for 80 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. 

The Tigers won the turnover battle as they forced Kuemper Catholic to turn the ball over twice.

Defensively, Colin Bruce led the team with 15 tackles. Tanner Mertz had 13, while Dean Smith finished with 10. Tanner Gilliland and Hayden VanMeter each had eight tackles, while Eric Goodwin recorded seven.

The Tigers currently sit sixth in the 2A-8 standings. with West Central holding the tiebreaker edge for fifth.

The current top four teams in 2A-8 are Clarinda, Kuemper Catholic (both teams 2-0), Southeast Valley (2-1) and East Sac County (1-1).

With homecoming this week, the Tigers are focused on getting back on track with a win. Red Oak will play host to Treynor as the game starts at 7 p.m. at Russ Benda Field.

This will be the third straight year that Red Oak takes on Treynor. The Cardinals have won the first two meetings, including last year by a 23-20 score. Both games have been determined by single digit points.

It’s been a rough year for Treynor. They’re 0-5 on the season, losing their most recent game Friday night to Underwood 33-7.