For the second time in three weeks, the Gehlen football team has found a way to win in dramatic fashion as the Jays upset Alta 14-12, ranked second in the state by last week's Radio Iowa poll, on the road this past Friday.

After relying on a balanced attack for the past two weeks, the Jays relied heavily on the pass to beat the Cyclones. However, it was the running game that solidified the victory as Gehlen ran for three crucial first downs to stop an Alta comeback.

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Down 14-6 late in the fourth quarter, the Cyclones scored on a nine-yard run by Michael Huseman to make it 14-12. Needing two points to tie the game, Alta went for the two-point conversion but fumbled a pitch out as the Jays maintained the lead.

Rather than attempt the onside kick, the Cyclones left it up to their defense to stop the Gehlen rushing attack. Three first downs later, the Jays took a knee to cap the upset victory to improve to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the district.

"There are lots of things we can hang our hat on from that game," said Gehlen's Tony Gunter. "We probably made a few mistakes but we didn't have our turnovers and our penalties were very limited. We were getting really tired at the end of the game - we only played 13 players last night and they were subbing a lot. The three first downs at the end of the game is a big credit to our conditioning."

The Jays started the scoring early in the first quarter as sophomore quarterback Taylor Wurth hooked up with Cody Campbell for an eight-yard touchdown pass. Jordan Sitzmann added the point after attempt to make it a 7-0 game as the Jays held onto that margin heading into the half.

Unfortunately, the lead wasn't safe for long as the Cyclones took back the opening kickoff of the second half 86 yards for a score to pull within one.

The Jays built on their lead with 5:28 remaining in the game as Wurth notched his second touchdown toss of the game, hooking up with Sitzmann for a nine-yard score. Sitzmann provided a two point margin with his point after attempt.

The offense rolled up 266 total yards including 192 yards through the air. Wurth and Sitzmann carried most of the load while helping Gehlen to 74 yards passing.

Wurth was 14-23 for 192 yards including two touchdown tosses. The sophomore also carried the ball 17 times for 30 yards.

"(Taylor) grew up again Friday. He comes out and he's all fired up and ready to go and sometimes he's a little wild in the first quarter," said Gunter. "But he really settled down and did a really nice job for us. He has a natural knack for the position and takes on a leadership role out there."

Sitzmann had 11 rushing attempts for 25 yards. Campbell and Bouma each had four carries for eight and 11 yards, respectively.

Chris Gabriel led the team receiving with 95 yards on six catches. Eric Loutsch had three grabs for 38 while Campbell had four catches for 50 yards on a score.

Sitzmann added a nine-yard touchdown catch for his only reception of the game.

Defensively, Wurth recovered a fumble while Gabriel and Drew Kellen each added interceptions to record the Jays' three takeaways. The Jays held the Cyclones to just 148 total yards including 139 on the ground.

Sitzmann and Campbell also came up big on defense as they both recorded seven total tackles. Chris Eral added six stops including two for loss. Eral also had one of the team's two sacks.

Cole Heissel recorded five total tackles - one for loss - while forcing a fumble. Micah Neary had Gehlen's other tackle for loss.

The Jays will return home to the friendly confines of Jim Lorenzen Field on Friday as they will host the Kingsley-Pierson Panthers who are coming off a 33-6 loss to River Valley to open district play.

"We're not crowning ourselves district champs after (Friday). I feel like we left some opportunities out on the field," said Gunter. "I just look forward to practice this week to get things ironed out. K-P has played three pretty good football teams so I'm not putting a lot of stock into their start."

"We're going to take care of our side of the football. If our defense can play like it did (Friday), then we feel good. You never know with K-P. You think they're gonna come out and run it and they'll come out throwing - you just never know."