1 loss fuels season of triumph

SIGOURNEY - It was all right in front of them. Sigourney-Keota had won eight straight football games by impressive scores. One more win meant a district championship and a playoff run, but a loss to Mediapolis in the regular-season finale slammed the door shut. An 8-1 season without a postseason berth was hard to accept.

'All offseason we were thinking about ways to avenge that loss,” SK senior all-state defensive back Brady Duwa said. 'We meshed really good as a team and that has helped us play some good football.”

The disappointment served as a driving force in the offseason, propelling the third-ranked Cobras to a berth in the Class 1A semifinals against top-ranked OABCIG at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

'We've all bought into we can all do something great, if we stick to it,” junior kicker, linebacker and occasional quarterback Colton Clarahan said.

The Mepo loss dropped SK out of the top 16 in RPI, behind other teams with worse records.

”It was sad because we thought we would go far in the playoffs,” junior linebacker and spin back Cade Molyneux said. 'To be devastated like that just really sucked.”

'It lit a big fire under us so we kept it as motivation,” senior running back Sam Sieren said.

Motivation included keeping grades up, getting together to work out and continuing to be a team in all things. The sting lasted well beyond the final game and into the spring and summer as players trained on their own since the pandemic impacted normal offseason workouts. Finally, in July they gathered together and none had forgotten the pain of the playoff snub, reminding teammates in the weight room to work harder to eliminate any chance of a repeat situation.

'I think for the guys that played last year their heart was broken, just as the coaching staff was, for not getting in,” SK head coach Jared Jensen said. 'I think that helped understanding that it's not about ‘me' but about ‘us.'”

The Cobras achieved redemption with a 31-14 victory over Mediapolis in Week 5. Jensen said you could see the fire in his players' eyes. They wanted it and it was a good feeling to reverse the result.

'We were feeling happy about it,” Duwa said. 'We knew, come Sunday and Monday, we were having to go right back to work.”'Once we beat them, we checked off a goal and we have to keep going,” Clarahan said. 'We knew we could do something very special (but) we're still underdogs to this point.”

The playoff snub has brought a specialness to a special group. Jensen is in his 10th season with the program and sees how the culture is 'booming. It's something we haven't seen since the championship years before my time here. The type of buy-in and culture the last few years have brought has us running where we're at.”

The Cobras graduated a deep class, but strong skill players returned, including Duwa and Sieren, who was the second-leading rusher with 1,122 yards and 13 touchdowns, and backup quarterback Cade Molyneux. The question was who would create the holes for them, bringing back just two offensive line starters. Bryce Greiner and Aiden Schuster were the only veteran players back up front. Greiner was moved to tackle. Senior Carson Sprouse, who hadn't played since freshman year, decided to return and won the center position. Brayden Moffitt transitioned from tight end to tackle and Zach Smithhart filled out the line. They proved themselves in the preseason and have made strides after a rough start in a Week 1 win over Mid-Prairie.

'We saw these guys were fully committed,” Jensen said. 'The pieces we thought we'd have were fully invested. There was a lot of things on the line there, as far as, here are the pieces but are they going to work how we want them to work. So far, they have.”

SK averages 43 points per game. The skill players have put up some strong numbers. Sieren has surpassed 1,000 yards for a second consecutive season, rushing for 1,475 and 24 touchdowns. Molyneux has 1,107 total yards, including 629 rushing and 478 passing. Duwa has 777 yards combined rushing and receiving, scored 15 TDs, returned two kickoffs and two punts for scores and has a team-high five interceptions.

'It's been good for the skill guys,” Jensen said. 'They have a good core group there.”

The defense has played stout and might be the difference from other successful SK teams. The Cobras allow 11 points per game and have shut out two teams this season. Clarahan leads the defense in tackles with 53, followed by fellow linebackers Molyneax and Jack Clarahan, who both have 50.

'It's something we haven't had in the 10 years I've been here,” Jensen said. 'We've always just had to outscore opponents. We've played good enough defense to not give up a ton of points, but the last couple years we've seen the importance of defense.”

SK has to be at its best facing a tough test with the passing of OABCIG in its semifinal. Destiny is in the Cobras reach, but destiny was defeat last season.

'I think this team can go as far as we want,” Duwa said. 'We're still taking it one day at a time. That's been our goal all year. Just go out and go 1-0, whether it's on that play, the game, week or whatever. Just do your best every single day, every single rep, and we know we can go pretty far and hopefully come out on top.”

The Union's Doug Brenneman contributed to this story.