Comets defeat Knights, 14-6, for season’s 1st win

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
CHARLES CITY — The Charles City Comets tied an American football record already set by many when traversing the length of the field on their first possession for a 99-yard scoring drive early into Friday’s home game against Union.

What made this drive somewhat unique from other 99ers was the meticulous method from which it was achieved. Though there were some plays that yielded chunks of yardage, there were no “jailbreak” bursts that often account for the bulk of real estate for such long treks.

So when junior Trever Heitz capped the journey with a 4-yard touchdown that helped put the Comets up 7-0, the first quarter had nearly elapsed though each team only had one possession.

Heitz, who gets most of his yardage between the tackles, helped move the sticks for several first downs late in the game allowing the Comets to run out the clock in a 14-6 final.

For Charles City, it was its first win of the season after last week’s 2-point loss to New Hampton and a season-opening loss to Crestwood that also was one scoring possession shy for the Comets.

Less than 500 yards from becoming Charles City’s all-time leading rusher, Heitz had 103 yards on 19 carries in the win over the Knights.

In his second start at quarterback, Comet junior Alec Staudt rushed for a career-high 82 yards on 16 carries.

Staudt helped Charles City extend its lead to 14-0 with 5:53 left in the first half when scoring on a 1-yard sneak. Unlike the previous Comet scoring drive, this one didn’t take up as much ground as it came after Charles City sophomore Tino Timayo’s fumble recovery at Union’s 7-yard line in the wake of a high snap.

Timayo also had a solo sack on the subsequent Knight possession, but it didn’t keep Union from eventually reaching paydirt before halftime as Knight quarterback Brandon Tompkins found Hunter Heitmann in the corner of the end zone on a fourth-and-goal snap from the 3-yard line with 33 seconds remaining.

The subsequent conversion kick was blocked as, with Comet placekicker Kaleb Byers going 2 of 2 on his PAT kicks, Charles City continues to have a substantial advantage over the opposition thus far this season in percentage of successful PAT attempts.

Needing a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to tie, Union threatened late in the game and advanced to the Charles City 13-yard line after a horse-collar-tackle penalty was tacked onto a first-down run.

But Staudt, from the safety position, was able to pounce on a stripped fumble to vanquish the drive with a little less than three minutes in regulation.

It was the second turnover of the game for the Knights. Late in the first half, Union attempted a pass deep along the sidelines with time running out only to be intercepted by Comet junior Jeremiah Chapman.

It was Chapman’s first pick of the season, though the week before he had one taken away from him due to a disputed pass-interference call.

Union fell to 0-3.

Charles City (1-2) will travel to Oelwein to take on the Huskies next Friday (Sept. 20) to open its Class 3A-District 3 schedule. With a 21-14 victory over Vinton-Shellsburg last Friday, Oelwein is 2-1 this season.

CHARLES CITY 14, UNION 6
Scoring By Quarters
UNION 0 6 0 0 — 6
CHARLES CITY 7 7 0 0 — 14
Scoring Summary
CC — Trever Heitz 4-yard run (Kaleb Byers kick) 7-0, :10 1st
CC — Alec Staudt 1-yard run (Byers kick) 14-0, 5:53 2nd
U — Hunter Heitmann 3-yard pass from Brandon Tompkins (Kick blocked) 14-6, :33 2nd