Jordan beats Worthington 41-13 in prep football opener
Sep. 2—JORDAN — In their first football game of the 2022 high school season Thursday night, the Worthington Trojans played a spotty first half and struggled in the second en route to a 41-13 loss to the Jordan Hubmen.
The game featured a WHS team coming off a 1-8 2021 campaign but with several key players returning, especially in the skill positions. The Hubmen, meanwhile, entered Thursday missing many important players who graduated after spotting them to a 5-4 record last fall. Jordan, in fact, returned just one starter from its 2021 offense.
Worthington made the first score Thursday night, taking advantage of a bad snap out of punt formation that gave the visitors possession on Jordan's 15-yard line. On a second-and-22 play, WHS quarterback Tucker Brandner completed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Abagotte Opiew in the right front corner of the end zone with 7:12 remaining in the first quarter. The extra point was no good.
Jordan scored the next 19 points, tying the score on a fourth-and-8 12-yard TD pass from quarterback Gavin Lloyd. The second score came on a 21-yard TD pass over the middle of the WHS defense from Lloyd to Nate Kes with 2:18 remaining in the quarter. Then midway in the second quarter, Mack Schmidt scored on a 3-yard run.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Trojans stopped Jordan's momentum cold when Evan Neuberger returned the Hubmen kick 88 yards for a touchdown without very much resistance by the JHS special teams crew. Neuberger ran through them like a knife through soft butter.
Leo Siekmann scored for the home team on a 29-yard run with 52 seconds remaining in the half, and the extra point made the score 26-13.
With hardly any time remaining before halftime to answer Jordan's TD, Worthington nevertheless gained big chunks of yardage after Neuberger returned the kickoff nearly to midfield. Brandner completed a big pass to Mak Lia, then rambled out of the pocket for another big gain to Jordan's 3-yard line with just eight seconds left. On second down, Brandner had a pass broken up in the end zone, but an interference call against Jordan gave the Trojans one more chance at the 1-yard line. There, a Brandner pass was thrown long and the half was over.
In the third quarter Jordan tacked on another touchdown and extra point to lead 33-13. The Trojans responded with a nice drive highlighted by a sizable pass to Lia over the middle, then a 15-yard pass to Marenono Opiew that put them inside the Jordan 20. But they went backward after that.
Jordan finished the scoring with a 2-yard TD run by Siekmann.
Worthington's offense looked good at times in the first half, and Brandner threw good passes that were generally in the area of the receivers. But the offense couldn't sustain many drives, and in the second half both sides of the football seemed to wear down.
"We had a lot of guys playing both ways, and we did kind of wear down a bit, especially in the front lines," said WHS head coach Geno Lais.
But it was the first game of the season. The team will fix things up yet, Lais said.
"I'm pretty encouraged about the way the kids competed. Putting things together, we have to find a little more consistency," said the coach.
Brandner completed nine of 24 passes in the game for 125 yards while rushing seven times for 44. Neuberger carried four times for 11 yards and Jacari Swinea six times for 10. Nasim Zeidi led the Worthington defense with 10 solo tackles and six assists.
Jordan gained 23 first downs to Worthington's 10 and had 71 offensive plays to Worthington's 43. The Hubmen gained a total of 294 yards rushing.
WHS will host Big South Conference opponent Pipestone Area next Friday.
Worthington 6 7 0 0 — 13
Jordan 12 14 7 8 — 41
