The Denver football team won in a win-or-go-home matchup against Vinton-Shellsburg by a score of 28-0 on Friday, October 17. With a trip to the postseason on the line, the Cyclones played one of their best games of the season.

Entering the matchup, the Cyclones held a 1-3 record in district play, and sat in fifth place in the district standings. With the top four finishers of the district qualifying for the postseason, the Cyclones had one final game to move up one spot and extend their season.

That game would be played against Vinton-Shellsburg, who entered the matchup with a 2-2 record. A win for the Cyclones would tie both teams at a 2-3 district record, with the tiebreaking head-to-head matchup going to the Cyclones.

A win is exactly what the Cyclones got in their regular season finale, and in comfortable fashion as well. With the season on the line, Denver Head Coach Rhett Barrett was “not surprised” to see his team play their most complete game of the season.

“We’ve made a lot of really dumb mistakes all year. I told our guys, ‘if we can just put it all together, play for each other, and play like you’re supposed to, great things will happen with this team.’ We played lights out [against Vinton-Shellsburg], we did what we were supposed to do, and we took care of our jobs.

“I’m not surprised [by the great showing from the Cyclones]. We’re a very talented group that just has not put everything together, and against Vinton-Shellsburg, we put a good game together,” described Barrett.

That performance included the Cyclones outgaining their opponents 365 to 152 in total yards, and outscoring them 28-0 on the scoreboard. The Cyclone defense played a huge role in the win, as they accumulated five sacks, 10 tackles for a loss and an interception while holding the Vikings to just 33 rushing yards.

Barrett talked about his team’s defensive performance during the game.

“They’re quarterback likes to run, and we really worked all week with our defensive line on playing their lanes. We couldn’t just get upfield and chase the quarterback, we had to protect our lanes because he likes to sneak underneath [the pass rush] and then run. I think he had one run on the night that went for over 20 yards, otherwise he didn’t have much. We played really well along the defensive line, and our defensive backs did a nice job in coverage, and our linebackers did a nice job in getting back [in pass coverage] and also supporting our defensive line when the quarterback did want to run,” described Barrett.

It was a great team effort for the Cyclones, as players on both sides of the ball played incredible games including Jackson Joerger’s 168 total yards and three passing touchdowns and Kamden Teisinger’s five total tackles, two tackles for a loss, and 1.5 sacks.

Nobody, however, had as impressive of a game on both sides of the ball as Carter Lanus. On offense, Lanus ran the ball for 176 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries and added a 20 yard touchdown reception as well. On defense, Lanus finished with four total tackles, including 3.5 tackles for a loss and two sacks. In total, Lanus led the team in both offensive yards, tackles for a loss, and sacks.

Barrett talked about Lanus’ game, and how he has improved over the past few weeks.

“[Lanus] was really focused [during the game]. He’s just kind of getting hot now. In week seven he got better, in week eight he’s learning how to run the ball. We just kept feeding him the rock, and he’s learned how to break tackles and hit the holes hard offensively, and I think that’s also helped him defensively to get that little burst [when defending the run]. On both offense and defense, he’s accelerating through tackles and through defenders, so he’s really coming on at the right time,” Barrett added.

In a game that had all the drama in the build up, the Cyclones made the game pretty straight forward to give themselves some solid momentum heading into their first round matchup. That first round matchup will be on the road against No. 10 West Branch on Friday, October 24 and begins at 7 p.m.