Titans shut out Bombers in playoffs

It was a rough start for the Tri-City United Titans in their first round of playoffs on Tuesday, Oct. 20 in Montgomery, but they shut out the Cannon Falls Bombers 14-0. The win advances the Titans in the Section 1AAA finals. They play Plaineview-Elgin-Millville on Saturday in Rochester.

The Titans (#1 seed) had a bye for its first game last Wednesday, and came to the contest after a week and a half off the gridiron. 

The first quarter found both teams’ offenses trying to get a foothold on moving the chains. In TCU’s first possession, a fake punt had quarterback Trevor Smisek running to add yards for a first down, but ultimately falling short. 

The Bombers’ offense didn’t far any better, feeling the pressure from TCU’s defensive line. 

“The defense just hung in there. They gave up some yards but kept on battling,” said TCU Coach Ken Helland. “We made some plays. The defensive backs made some deflections, a couple interceptions. We didn’t sack the quarterback, but we had him running around.”

The Titans’ second possession featured a nice 16-yard pass to Carter Rynda, but then the home team fumbled on the snap, which the Bombers seized. A couple of plays later found Titans running back Jordan Simonette making one of the night’s four interceptions.

On TCU’s third possession in the quarter, a failed 40-yard pass to Keegan Oak in the end zone, kept the fans holding their breath, but Sam Ehlers made up for it with a 32-yard run that put the Titans within striking distance of a touchdown.

In their first play of the second quarter, the Titans didn’t waste any time and put themselves on the board when Smisek carried the ball five yards for a touchdown. His extra point was also good.

The third quarter found both teams jockeying for yards and a possible score, but it wasn’t until the fourth quarter when the Titans added the insurance they needed to win the game.

With five minutes remaining, the Titan defense forced a turnover on downs, and set up their offense on the Titans' 33-yard line. A few plays later, the Titans put themselves on the third-and-four on the Bombers’ 48-yard line. 

The team was without the talents of running back Michael McCrady, so Helland used Smisek instead. Smisek made this next play the biggest of the night. He took the ball on a quarterback keeper, and broke into his own backfield. Running around the left side, the 5 foot-11-inch senior outran two Bomber defenders down the sidelines for a 48-yard touchdown to improve TCU’s lead 14-0.

“We saw some things on film that we thought we could take advantage of. We kind of spread the things out and got him on the run there. We haven’t done that a lot. He hasn’t run the ball a whole lot this year, and this was a game we thought he could,” Helland said. 

Smisek finished with 65 yards rushing on 14 carries. Aaron Chimal added another 110 yard rushing on 22 carries, and Sam Ehlers had 40 yards on four carries.

TCU had four interceptions by Rynda, Oak, Feddema and Simonette, while Bombers' quarterback Mason Beissel completed 15 of 40 passes for 151 yards. David Monroe recovered a fumble for the Titans, while Jordan Bartholomew had two sacks. Ehlers led TCU with five unassisted tackles, and Simonette had 10 total.

“It was a heck of a game,” Helland said.

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