Balanced, bruising rushing attack sends West Delaware past Independence, 42-27

MANCHESTER — You can call it methodical.

“Selfless football,” Jack Cantwell said, correctly

Winning football.

There wasn’t a lot snazzy or sexy in West Delaware’s scheme, just a here-we-come, try-to-stop-us attack. Macoy Roling rushed for 133 yards, Cantwell added 104 and the sixth-ranked Hawks tilted the Highway 20 rivalry back in their favor, 42-27 over Independence in a Class 3A District 3 football game Friday night at Brown Field.

“I don’t know about years past, but our grade has never lost to them,” Roling said.

This team hasn’t lost to anybody.

After narrowly missing the playoffs at 5-4 last season, this West Delaware squad is 6-0 overall, 2-0 in district action.

The Hawks ran 67 plays from scrimmage, compared to 47 for the Mustangs (4-2, 0-2). Five of their six touchdown drives took eight plays or more.

This was the 111th game in the series, led by West Delaware (and its predecessor, Manchester) by a 57-51-3 margin. Neither team has won back-to-back games in the rivalry since 2019.

West Delaware never trailed in this one, but the Hawks couldn’t breathe easy until late. That’s because Indee has a gem in quarterback Christopher Meyer, who ran for 150 yards and passed for 152.

“He’s tough. He runs it hard,” Roling said.

Then again, so do the Hawks. And they do it collectively:

* Roling: 133 yards on 20 carries and two second-half touchdowns.

* Cantwell didn’t find the end zone, but ran for 104 yards on 18 carries.

* Quarterback Austin Schnieders: 71 yards on 18 carries.

* Wyatt Johnson carried it once, for a 10-yard touchdown on the opening drive.

That all adds up to 318 rushing yards on 57 carries.

“It starts up front,” Roling said. “The (line) allows us to get past the line of scrimmage, and once we get past the line of scrimmage, we’re going to be deadly.”

Independence got even at 14-14 on Meyer’s 68-yard touchdown pass to Blayne Mergen with 1:24 left in the half, but the Hawks weren’t content to go into intermission tied.

The Hawks ran 12 plays in that final 84 seconds, capped by Schnieders’ 1-yard TD run on fourth-and-goal as time expired.

Indee got within 21-20 and 28-27 in the second half, but the Hawks pulled away late.

Roling’s 50-yard run ignited a quick four-play TD drive to make it 35-27 late in the third quarter.

Then, after Independence came up a yard short on fourth-and-3 from the Hawks 23, West Delaware marched 78 yards, melting more than 4 1/2 minutes from the clock. Schnieders’ 23-yard touchdown run accounted for the final points of the game with 4:12 remaining.

West Delaware hosts Charles City next week. Independence welcomes Benton Community.

West Delaware 42, Independence 27

At Manchester

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: IND 15, WD 22

Rushes-yards: IND 23-159, WD 57-318

Passing yards: IND 174, WD 93

Passing: IND 15-24-0, WD 7-10-0

Total yards: IND 333, WD 411

Fumbles-lost: IND 0-0, WD 1-0

Punts-average: IND 1-38.0, WD 1-41.0

Penalties-yards: IND 8-75, WD 9-99

SCORING SUMMARY

Independence 6 8 13 0 — 27

West Delaware 7 14 14 7 — 42

WD — Wyatt Johnson 10 run (Johnson kick)

IND — Dawson Fuelling 9 run (kick failed)

WD — Austin Schnieders 1 run (Johnson kick)

IND — Blayne Mergen 68 pass from Christopher Meyer (Fuelling pass from Meyer)

WD — Schnieders 1 run (Johnson kick)

IND — Meyer 66 run (run failed)

WD — Macoy Roling 1 run (Johnson kick)

IND — Meyer 3 run (Tyler Brown kick)

WD — Roling 1 run (Johnson kick)

WD — Schnieders 23 run (Johnson kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Independence — Christopher Meyer 21-150, Dawson Fuelling 1-9, Nicholas Mostek 1-0. West Delaware — Macoy Roling 20-133, Jack Cantwell 18-104, Austin Schnieders 18-71, Wyatt Johnson 1-10.

Passing

Independence — Meyer 14-23-0-152, Blayne Mergen 1-1-0-22. West Delaware — Schnieders 7-9-0-93, Team 0-1-0-0.

Receiving

Independence — Bryce Christian 7-58, Fuelling 5-40, Mergen 1-68, Jacob Bonefas 1-10, Cael Troutman 1-1. West Delaware — Cantwell 3-49, Paul Beswick 2-19, Blake Mather 1-15, Roling 1-10.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com