Saint Ansgar beats CB St. Albert in Class 1A

CEDAR FALLS (AP) - Kyle Hanson returned the second-half kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown, Saint Ansgar forced three turnovers and the Saints beat four-time champion Council Bluffs St. Albert 25-15 Saturday to win the Class 1A state championship.

Fullback John Sievert rambled for 125 yards and two TDs out of Saint Ansgar's wishbone offense to help the 10th-ranked Saints (12-2) win the title in their first appearance in the finals.

Hanson's return, the first for a touchdown in a 1A championship game, gave his team an 18-0 lead, and the Saints intercepted two passes in their own end zone to hold off No. 2 St. Albert's comeback attempt.

St. Albert (13-1) drew to 18-15 on Zane Cozad's 2-yard touchdown run with 3:02 left in the third quarter. But Saint Ansgar answered with an 84-yard drive that Sievert finished with a 22-yard TD run.

Saint Ansgar took a 12-0 lead in the first quarter on 1-yard scoring runs by Cale Halfman and the 6-foot-3, 218-pound Sievert, who carried 27 times and went over 1,000 yards for the season. Sievert also made seven tackles on defense and recovered a fumble.

Sievert's running was critical because St. Albert contained the Saints' breakaway threat, Tony Heimer. Heimer, who came in with 1,701 yards and 21 touchdowns, finished with only 46 yards in nine carries.

After its offense stalled repeatedly in the first half, St. Albert responded to Hanson's kickoff return with a 12-play, 83-yard drive that Kellen O'Neill capped with a 1-yard plunge. When Cozad scored on the Falcons' next possession, it appeared they had the momentum.

But Halfman broke loose on a 54-yard run on the next snap and Sievert scored his game-clinching touchdown three plays later.

St. Albert, trying to become the first school to win five titles in a span of eight years, threatened twice after that. But Halfman intercepted Tucker Culjat's pass in the end zone three plays after Sievert fumbled the ball away at his own 15, and Dylan Johnson picked off J.D. Culjat's pass to the end zone to stop a 12-play drive.

The Saint Ansgar players wore decals on their helmets in memory of team statistician Allison Smith, a junior at the school who was killed in a traffic accident on Nov. 1.