gain during a run in the Oct. 17 game against Cardinal. O’Rourke had 42 yards rushing in the 49-
0 win. Photo by Mark Schafer
(2) comes in to try to make the tackle during an Oct. 17 game. Photo by Mark Schafer
ELDON – A bit of confidence never hurt.
Friday night the Sigourney-Keota football team gained more than a little confidence as they start
to focus on the post season. The confidence for the Cobras came via a dominating 49-0 shutout
over Cardinal to conclude the regular season.
“It says a lot of our defense,” said Sigourney-Keota head football coach, Jared Jensen about the
ability to gain the Cobras third shutout of the season. “We were challenged in this game too, its
not like we weren’t challenged, Cardinal put us in tough situations tonight. It takes a total team
effort to preserve that zero on the scoreboard. There are still things we need to work on, but
overall it is nice to get that shutout. I don’t know if we’ve ever had three shutouts in one season
before. It was good for this group. Hopefully that propels them into the playoff game next week.”
The Cobras have shutout opponents twice in recent history. The first time was in 2023 when the
Cobras recorded shutouts over Mediapolis, Cardinal and Colfax-Mingo, all three of those games
were at home. During the 2020 season Sigourney-Keota recorded shutouts over Louisa-
Muscatine, Cardinal and Pekin with two of those games being on the road. This year the Cobras
recorded shutouts against EBF, Louisa-Muscatine and Cardinal with the latter of those two
coming on the road.
Cardinal threatened twice in Friday night’s game. The first time came just before halftime.
Despite getting to the Cobra four yard line, the Cobras were able to fight off the challenge and
eventually force a turnover on downs.
Later, in the third period the Comets seemed destined for the endzone, only for the SK defense
to sack the Cardinal quarterback on back-to-back plays, forcing another turnover on downs.
“It was good to come in and do what we needed to do,” Jensen said. “Sometimes you never really
know what you’re going to do in these games where you’re going to over match your opponent.
You’re never sure where the kids mindset is.“
The offensive power for the Cobras was quick to display itself on Friday night. It took
Sigourney-Keota just five plays to score on their opening drive when Ike Molyneux was able to
run it in from one yard out.
The Cobras would score later in the first quarter when Ayden Galindo marched across the goal
line from two yards out. The first quarter scoring when Brayden Wood rushed it agross the goal
line from five yards out.
A 21-0 lead after the first quarter was just the start.
Blake Baker scored off a 44-yard touchdown run to start the second quarter. That was followed
by Galindo rushing in from 63-yards out to give the Cobras a 35-0 lead at halftime.
Jacob Libe scored off a 14-yard run and Chase Clarahan threw a five-yard pass to Hunter Sellers
late in the third quarter to cap off the scoring.
“What we do this week builds into how we approach next week,” Jensen said. “So we were very
busy on not just preparing for Cardinal, but also preparing for the next week. Like I told the
guys, the time is now, we have to stay locked in the whole game even when we knew that we
were the better team.“
defender during a play in the first half of the Oct. 17 game played in Eldon. Photo by Mark Schafer
With the win, the Cobras move to 4-4 on the season and they officially locked themselves into
the playoffs and a second place finish in their district.
That gives the Cobras a home playoff game later this week.
Saturday morning, the Cobras were able to learn who their playoff opponent will be. They drew
Interstate 35 (5-3) for the first round of the playoffs.
“We need to focus on doing our jobs and staying consistent in what we do,” Jensen said. “We
started to get a lot more consistent throughout the season. There are still plays here and there that
we didn’t execute here and there. Next week, we just have to focus on being more consistent in
what we do and how we do it.“
Both teams are primarily running teams. The Cobras enter the game with 1,847 rushing yards on
the season, averaging 6.2 yards per carry. Interstate 35 has gained 1,773 yards rushing this year
with a 5.7 average yard per carry.
The Roadrunners have thrown for 482 yards this season. Sigourney-Keota has thrown for 440
yards this year.
For the Cobras, they enter the playoffs trying to move on from last year, when the Cobras were
upset in the first round of the playoffs.
“Last year isn’t going to hurt us any. They were all there and saw when a four seeded team came
in and took us out,” Jensen said about last year when the Cobras were upset by West Branch.
“We are in a situation where we can’t let that happen to us again. That’s just the reality of the
situation. We have to go out and go win, because we are expected to.“
17 game played in Eldon. Conrad rushed for 53 yards. Photo by Mark Schafer
The playoffs will begin on Friday night at 7 p.m. when the game kicks off. This is the first time
in recent football history that I35 and Sigourney-Keota have played each other.
Brayden Wood led the passing attack for the Cobras completing one of two passes for 32 yards.
Clarahan completed his only pass of the night for a 6-yard touchdown. Jacob Libe completed two
of his three passes for 46 yards.
Ayden Galindo led the rushing attack with three rushes for 68 yards and two scores. Molyneux
rushed three times for 63 yards and a touchdown. Landon Conrad had six rushes for 53 yards.
Baker rushed three times for 59 yards. Wood picked up 41 yards on four rushes. Carson O’Rourke had two rushes for 42 yards.
Hunter Sellers had two catches for 24 yards. O’Rourke and John Berg both had one catch each.
Chase Clarahan led the Cobras with six tackles including 2.5 sacks. Berg had 5.5 tackles on the
night. Libe finished with 4.5 tackles and Owen Menke delivered four tackles in the win.
Berg had two interceptions.
The Comets were limited to just 125 yards of total offense.
