Hard-Knock Life: Cedar Rapids Prairie beats 5A No. 3 Cedar Falls in Kyle Knock’s debut as head football coach

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Kyle Knock era at Cedar Rapids Prairie opened with a little razzle dazzle.

With a flair for big plays and boldness for some gutsy play calls, the Hawks started his tenure with an upset.

Quarterback Will Phillips connected with Apollo Payne for two touchdowns, including a 26-yard strike with a little more than five minutes left, and Prairie knocked off Class 5A No. 3 Cedar Falls, 20-17, in a prep football contest Friday night at John Wall Field.

“It was a big win,” said Knock, who was named Hawks head coach May 30 to replace Mark Bliss. “We had to fight to the end. We needed everybody.

“I’m proud of these kids. They’ve done something no one in the state has had to do and that was to learn an offense and defense and how things operate in two months. Ever since June 8 they’ve given me everything they’ve got and brought attitude and energy.”

The Hawks held a four-point lead on third-and-5. Phillips carried out a play-action pass and hit a wide-open Payne in the back of the end zone after the defender bit on the fake handoff.

“The corner was playing me outside and noticed the safety was shaded in,” Payne said. “I went inside of the corner and Will placed it perfectly.”

Knock said he expected the tight end to be the target but Payne got free and Phillips found him.

“These are the first two touchdowns of many this year,” Knock said. “They have a great connection. It’s fun to watch in practice.”

Cedar Falls had one last chance, taking over with 1:32 to go. The Tigers moved into Hawks territory but Denzil Green hauled in an interception on a Hail Mary attempt in the final seconds to seal the win.

“This team has got a lot of heart,” Prairie running back Casey Kelley said. “We had some adversity with the safety and them scoring right away after it.

“When you’re up, 13-0, and everything is rolling then all of a sudden it’s a close game and it stops like that you get down on yourselves. We did for a couple seconds and we got back into it. The defense held and the offense scored when we needed.”

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Photos: Cedar Falls at Cedar Rapids Prairie

Prairie took control in the first half, building a 13-0 lead at the break. One of those was a 30-yard TD from Phillips to Payne.

Prairie capped a 79-yard, 11-play drive with the first scoring strike from Phillips to Payne in the front right corner of the end zone with 4:53 left in the second quarter.

Phillips lofted a pass near the pylon, allowing Payne to out-jump the defensive back to grab it and get his feet in bounds.

“I noticed how the DB was playing,” Payne said. “I told them to give me a shot. Will trusted me. Coach trusted me. I was grateful for that and I was able to make a play.”

In a more wide-open offense under Knock, Phillips completed 15 of 26 passes for 217 yards. Five receivers reeled in passes. Payne finished with 99 receiving yards on five catches.

“It was a lot of stuff that we work on together in practice,” Payne said. “It was nice to see us execute and a change for Prairie football.”

On the opening drive Casey Kelley rattled off a couple of big runs, including a 39-yard touchdown. Kelley bounced to the outside, made a tackler miss with a spin move and then received a downfield block from Payne that broke Kelley free for a 7-0 lead.

He regrouped from the disappointment when a possible big run was negated by an official’s premature whistle on the first play. from scrimmage.

“We saw on film (the defender) was going to come up field, so I ran inside” Kelley said. “I made a move on the linebacker and I was gone.”

Kelley was a dynamo for the Hawks offense. He spun, cut and changed directions to the pace of 102 rushing yards on a workmanlike 25 carries.

“If coach wants to run the ball every play, I am all for it,” Kelley said. “I’m not going to run up the middle and lay a defensive lineman out, but if I can bounce to the outside I can make a couple people miss and get as many yards as I can.

“I try to get away from as many people as possible and run as far as I can.”

The Hawks defense was impressive, holding the Tigers to just 66 offensive yards before halftime and forcing an interception late in the second quarter.

Knock said the Hawks defense played incredible despite being “out-sized” by a physical Tigers offense. He noted linemen, linebackers and hybrid defenders played the run as well as possible, holding Cedar Falls to 120 yards on the ground.

“I told them that speed sometimes beats size,” Knock said. “Play fast and see what happens. We had two, three or four guys at the ball most of the night.”

Collin Velky had some key tackles for loss as Prairie’s defense forced two turnovers and turned them away on downs twice.

“The defense was phenomenal,” Knock said. “They were great tonight.”

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Play was mired with errors. The Hawks overcame 13 penalties for 95 yards and the Tigers had nine for 70.

Prairie rolled the dice at different times, demonstrating a wide-open style of play. They threw from inside their own 1. Kelley ran a fake punt on 4rh-and-4 from the Hawks’ 29 with a 13-9 lead early in the fourth. Don’t forget the 26 pass attempts.

“I learned from a lot of people you have to find the players to make plays and let them go make plays,” Knock said. “Our big-time players plaued big time tonight.”

Cedar Falls did make it interesting, pulling within 13-9 with 1:15 left in the third. A Tigers punt pinned Prairie inside its own 1 that led to a safety on a holding call in the end zone.

The ensuing Cedar Falls possession lasted 47 yards on seven plays, scoring on a 3-yard pass from Tate Hermansen to Logan Wroe. Hermansen also added a 6-yard TD run. He passed for 140 yards total Will Remmert led the Tigers with 58 rushing yards.

C.R. PRAIRIE 20

CEDAR FALLS 17

AT JOHN WALL FIELD

CF CRP

First Downs 13 15

Rushes-yards 32-120 34-110

Passing yards 140 217

Comp-att-int 12-29-2 15-26-0

Total yards 260 327

Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-1

Punts-avg. 4-31.3 3-30.0

Penalties-yards 9-70 13-95

Cedar Falls 0 0 9 8 -- 17

C.R. Prairie 7 6 0 7 -- 20

CRP – Casey Kelley 39 run (Brady Stiffler kick)

CRP – Apollo Payne 30 pass from Will Phillips (kick blocked)

CF – Team safety

CF – Logan Wroe 3 pass from Tate Hermansen (Cael Harms kick)

CRP – Payne 26 pass from Phillips (Stiffler kick)

CF – Hermansen 6 run (Hermansen pass to Wroe)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Cedar Falls: William Remmert 16-58, Ben Backes 3-32, Drew Gerdes 5-20, Team 1-4, Hermansen 6-3, Corin Fuchtman 1-3. C.R. Prairie: Kelley 25-102, Bryce Kavitz 2-7, Malik Skala 2-5, Will Phillips 5-(-4).

PASSING – Cedar Falls: Hermansen 12-27-2-140, Team 0-2-0-0. C.R. Prairie: Phillips 15-26-0-217.

RECEIVING – Cedar Falls: Wroe 5-49, Backes 2-25, Fuchtman 2-19, Tate Bakula 1-24, Cade Courbat 1-20, Remmert 1-3. C.R. Prairie: Payne 5-99, Malaki Gelo 4-37, Denzil Green 3-40, T.Y. Pour 2-31, Kelley 1-10.

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com