What we learned from Class 3A No. 7 Nevada's decisive 42-7 win over Roland-Story
The Nevada football team is making an early statement in 2023.
A week after the Class 3A No. 7 Cubs blanked then-2A No. 6 West Marshall on the road, they took advantage of three turnovers and some explosive plays to hammer Roland-Story, 42-7, on Friday.
"The turnovers were the name of the game," said Nevada coach Andrew Kleeman. "They moved the ball well on us, but we were able to get a few turnovers, which kind of stopped some of that momentum. We played physical, but we made a lot of mental errors, stuff we really need to clean up if we want to be a good football team moving forward. But at the end of the day being 2-0 is a good thing."
Nevada jumped out to a 28-7 lead at the half and coasted to victory. The Cubs have outscored their two foes by a combined 73-7 margin heading into another home game next week against Prairie City-Monroe.
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Roland-Story fell to 1-1. The Norsemen will play old rival South Hamilton next week in Story City.
Here is what we learned from Nevada's decisive victory.
Big plays spark the Cubs
Three of the turnovers Nevada forced resulted in short fields that were converted into Cubs touchdowns. Nevada also had three touchdowns that went for more than 35 yards.
"We had lots of big plays tonight," said Nevada senior receiver and defensive back Kyle Kingsbury. "Offense was solid, but we have a lot things to clean up. Defense went really well tonight. We stopped their run and pass game very well."
Nevada took charge after defensive back Isaac Williams intercepted a pass on Roland-Story's first drive and set the Cubs up with a short field at the Norse 39.
Anthony Eaton capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.
The next two Nevada scores came on big plays. Jacob Khounsourath caught a screen from Connor King and raced 36 yards for a score. Then Cason Stevenson broke through a tack and went 57 yards to paydirt.
The final Cubs touchdown of the first half came after Jackson Burlage forced a fumble and Austin Waldera recovered at the Roland-Story 44. Stephenson found his way into the end zone from 11 yards out a few minutes later to give Nevada a comfortable three-touchdown lead that it would take into the locker room.
The Cubs' special teams came through right off the bat in the second half. Khounsourath returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to sew up the victory.
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Norsemen looking to regroup
Roland-Story showed some good things in the first half.
Sam Knoll made a couple of nice throws and Hesston Johnson scored on a 6-yard touchdown run that made the score 14-7 early. The Norsemen had a chance to score again late in the first half, but they turned the ball over on downs at the Cubs 36.
Roland-Story also drove deep into Nevada territory on its final drive of the game but came up short of scoring.
Johnson ran for 84 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries, Jake Berggren ran for 45, Clark threw for 65 and Boaz Clark had two catches for 36 yards. Charlie Watts had eight tackles, Cody Long seven stops and Roland Yates one sack for the Norsemen on defense.
Roland-Story will try and bounce back next Friday against a South Hamilton team that won its opener over South Hardin by a 20-14 score.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Nevada uses big plays to overpower Roland-Story in its home opener
