Edmunds County Tribune -

Ipswich dropped a hard-fought defensive-minded Class 9AA high school football battle 14-0 to Canistota/Freeman last Thursday, Oct. 28 in the Tiger football complex in Ipswich.

It was one of those situations where the C-F Pride's own defense would bend and not break, as the old saying goes. They were particularly effective when the Tigers seemed to be making headway towards the Pride's red zone, even reaching it. One particular example of that would be when the Tigers had held on downs themselves early in the contest and were able to sustain a promising drive all the way to the Pride's 19. But a costly interception would end that opportunity.

Neither team was able to score at all in the entire opening quarter. But the C-F Pride were able to sustain a second-quarter drive with a successful fourth-and-short play on their own 39 and were able to cap that drive with a Tage Ortman five-yard TD run with 8:56 left in the half. But the PAT play would fail leaving that 6-0 lead.

The Pride would then force a Tiger punt later in the opening half and generate what would prove to be their final TD with a 55-yard pass from Tage Ortman to Will Ortman and this PAT play would succeed thanks to a Isiah Robertson conversion run. That C-F's two-possession lead would stand at intermission and as it turned out for the rest of the night. As the second-half score board began winding down, the remaining time would become more and more of a factor. Both teams were able to hold and take over on downs more than once, especially when they needed to and inopportune turnovers also hampered both teams which could have further influenced the final score.

The total yardages from the line of scrimmage weren't all that different. Ipswich was able to gain 115 rushing yards on 36 carries and was led by Carson Gohl with 62 yards on 14 carries and Matthew Jaenisch was next with 20 yards from one carry. The visitors ended up with 142 rushing yards, led by Robertson's 66, Noah Kleinsasser's 42 and Tage Ortman's 26. The Tigers were led in passing by Ian Beyers who would finish with a 76-yard passing night. His favorite receiver would be Tyler Hettich with 25 yards on five catches. Carter Geditz added two catches for 21 yards and Gohl, two for 14 yards. Ipswich indeed gained a total of 191 yards from scrimmage. But the Pride would finish with 332 total yards, bolstered by 190 passing yards.

Each team earned 12 first downs, moving the chains a dozen times.

Ipswich was led in tackles by Luke Peterson with 15, Ian Beyers with 12 and Carter Geditz and Zach Geditz with 10 tackles apiece. The visitors were paced by Ethan Balvin's 19 tackles.

The loss concluded Ipswich's season at 8-2. The seniors leading that effort included Ty Kadlec, Matthew Jaenisch, Carson Gohl, Trevor Beyers, Jordan Nierman, Luke Peterson and Zach Geditz. And the 2021 Tigers' head coach this year was Brian Hogie, assisted by Matt Pollock and Tyler Severson.