Falcons fall to Denver

DENVER – Aplington-Parkersburg faltered on the road against Denver in a 22-13 loss to the Cyclones on Friday.

The Falcons fell to 3-3 and 1-1 in district play and will travel to Lake Mills on Friday.

Starting quarterback Carter Cuvelier was helped off the field with an injury with three minutes left before halftime, with A-P able to get through the first half with a 7-6 lead after Jack Haren returned the opening kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown.

A-P head coach Alex Pollock said Cuvelier is a game-time decision for Friday's game against Lake Mills. Denver defenders rolled up on Cuvelier's leg after a sack.

"I thought our guys handled it well," Pollock said of playing without Cuvelier. "The linemen took it on themselves to make sure we could run the ball and we did and I'm impressed with how our guys handled that."

The Cyclones took the lead near the midway point of the third quarter on a 1-yard run from Colton Reiter followed by a successful 2-point conversion.

A-P's Ayden Morris scored to make the score 13-14 with 10:39 left in the game but the extra-point try was blocked.

Denver secured the win with a Cael Krueger touchdown run with 1:36 left in the game, pushing Denver's lead to nine points after another successful 2-point conversion.

Friday was Denver's first win of the season, ending a five-game winless streak.

"I think on both sides of the ball, there were some inconsistencies," Pollock said. "We did move the ball better but we had blunders here and there that set us backward. It's not anything with their effort but more mental errors and that was our downfall."

Jack Haren finished with four completions on seven attempts for 37 yards and also rushed seven times for 21 yards. Morris had the biggest workload with 21 totes for 83 yards, including the fourth-quarter touchdown. Alec Maske made 11 total stops for the Falcons to lead the tackle charts, while Haren and Jalen Meyer each contributed eight tackles each.

"I firmly believe that we're as close as we've ever been to being a successful offense and a dominant defense," Pollock said. "We're really close to putting it all together."