Dyersville Beckman has 'a lot of fun' en route to District title

DYERSVILLE – When the game clock hit 0:00 and Dyersville Beckman finished off its 42-6 domination of Class 2A No. 9 Cascade last night, there was one big question the Blazers had to answer.

Which was more fun to watch as Beckman (7-2) claimed its second straight District title: the offense (which produced 237 rushing yards) or the defense, which sacked Cascade (7-2) quarterback Derek Lieurance 12 times for -71 yards?

'Oh that's a tough call,' said a grinning Beckman Coach Gregg Hammann. 'The defense was sure a lot of fun to watch tonight, weren't they? I thought they played against the run very well, broke up a bunch of pass plays. (We covered receivers) sometimes five or six seconds, and we weren't blitzing.'

Hammann, who calls the offensive plays, had to give the nod to the defense, if only because the stat sheet was so telling.

Aside from the dozen quarterback sacks, the Blazers gave up only nine rushing yards and 137 total yards to the Cougars. And considering 73 of those total yards came on one pass play at the beginning of the third quarter, the Beckman players felt they were pretty stingy against their rivals.

'I thought I had more fun on defense,' said receiver/cornerback Mitch Steger, who had an interception to go with three catches for 10 yards and a 41-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Grant Hammann on a trick play. 'It was fun watching the linemen get a sack every other play. (On the interception), I just kind of jumped and stepped in front of it. Man, it was fun.'

But for the senior quarterback, the answer to that big question was a secret third option: special teams.

Over the course of a five-minute span in the third quarter, Beckman extended its lead from 21-6 to 42-6. The second of those three essentially game-ending scores came on a blocked punt that senior defensive lineman and team captain Logan Kruse recovered at the five yard-line and returned for the touchdown.

Getting to see that play, Grant said, was about as cool as it gets.

'Special teams, when (Kruse) scored that touchdown, was the most fun I've had on a football field, watching him run that in,' Grant said. 'It was incredible.'

For Gregg, the blocked punt served as the proverbial cherry on top of a game that mean a whole lot to his team, especially after starting the season 1-2.

The team knew coming into the night that Cascade employed a non-traditional style of punting. Lieurance also handled punting duties last night, and completed his nightmarish outing having two punts blocked, including the one for the score.

'It was great to have our captain, Logan Kruse go in for a score. Just wonderful – last game, senior year before the playoffs and he makes a play like that,' Gregg said. 'They do that rugby style kicking, and that leaves you in a bit of a danger zone because they can throw off that and do a bunch of things. So we worked pretty hard all week on trying to converge on that, and I thought our guys did a pretty good job.'

When asked about the play, Kruse was a true team player in his response. The senior gave a small laugh and chalked it up to how the Blazers drew it up.

'We just came through, and I didn't think it was anything different than any other play,' Kruse said. 'I just made the block, luckily my teammate got out there and made a block (for me), and I scooped and scored. It's one of those things that only happens once, it was great.'

With the District 4 championship wrapped up, Beckman will host a first-round playoff game next Friday against an as-yet-to-be-determined opponent.

Dyers. Beck 42, Cascade 6

AT Beckman Catholic, Dyersville

TEAM STATISTICS

Cascade

Dyers. Beck

First downs

9

15

Rushes-yards

31 - 9

36 - 237

Passing yards

128

64

Comp-Att-Int

8 - 22 - 1

5 - 10 - 0

Total yards

137

301

Fumbles-lost

4 - 4

5 - 3

Punts-average

5 - 16.0

2 - 23.0

Penalties-yards

8 - 70

9 - 95

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing:  Cascade – Luke Recker 15-72 , Derek Lieurance 15--71 , Isaac Coohey 1-8  Dyers-Beck – Tyler Hirsch 15-106 , Grant Hammann 8-29 , Hunter Sabers 2-4 , Mitch Steger 3-40 , Kyle Grover 5-58 , Jake Grover 3-0

Passing:  Cascade – Derek Lieurance 8-22-1-128  Dyers-Beck – Grant Hammann 4-9-0-23 , Mitch Steger 1-1-0-41

Receiving:  Cascade – Reis Rausch 3-34 , Mitchell Recker 1-1 , Evan Simon 1-1 , Nate Bergfeld 3-90  Dyers-Beck – Mitch Steger 3-10 , Grant Hammann 1-41 , Tony Anstoetter 1-13

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Cascade

6

–

6

Dyers. Beck

6

15

21

–

42

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Quarter

DBC - 8:26, Tyler Hirsch 7-yard run. (Jared Lueken kick blocked) 6-0

2nd Quarter

DBC - 11:15, Mitch Steger 20-yard run. (Grant Hammann run) 14-0

DBC - 9:09, Steger 41-yard pass to Hammann. (Luken kick good) 21-0

3rd Quarter

CAS - 11:09, Derek Lieurance 73-yard pass to Nate Bergfeld. (Elmer Gonzalez kick blocked) 21-6

DBC - 8:40, Kyle Grover 41-yard run. (Luken kick good) 28-6

DBC - 7:10, Logan Kruse 5-yard punt block return. (Luken kick good) 35-6

DBC - 6:04, Grover 7-yard run. (Luken kick good) 42-6