—Tyler Anderson/The Graphic-Advocate South Central Calhoun's Keagen Meyer evades Mount Ayr's Kolden Klommhaus before turning downfield for significant yardage during the fourth quarter of Friday's Class 1A first round playoff game between the Titans and Raiders in Lake City.

LAKE CITY — The South Central Calhoun football team did not like where they were sitting here in the early stages of Friday night’s Class 1A first round contest with Mount Ayr.

So, as they have done all year, the Titans zoned in on playing defense and letting their many offensive weapons take control.

South Central Calhoun advanced to the quarterfinals with a commanding 56-22 victory over the Raiders, setting up a date next Friday with No. 1 Van Meter. The Bulldogs topped Pella Christian last night, 38-12.

Down for just the second time this year, the Titans (10-0 overall) answered with 21 consecutive points to end the first half, turning a 14-9 deficit into a 30-14 halftime lead.

“Mount Ayr has a nice football team and they gave us a scare in the first half,” SCC head coach Bryan Case said. “But I thought our kids responded to the adversity very well and were able to finish the game on a high note.”

The run would continue after the break, with Cole Corey, Landon Schleisman, Blake McAlister and Keagen Meyer each scoring touchdowns.

“The offensive line really took control of the line of scrimmage and dominated up front,” SCC senior Chase Scheidegger said. “We had really good field position and were able to take advantage of the turnovers the defense created.”

Meyer, a senior, ran for 150 yards on 24 carries with two scores and Schleisman, also a senior, added 127 yards and two touchdowns on 24 attempts. The Titans ran the ball 70 times for 366 yards with seven rushing touchdowns.

Schleisman had the first touchdown of the night, powering in from a yard out. That scoring drive was sett up by an interception from Chase Scheidegger, a common theme on the night.

Mount Ayr (7-3) answered with a long touchdown pass, but a perfectly-placed Zane Neubaum punt to the 1-yard line resulted in a safety from Brennan Holder.

The Raiders took their only lead with another score, going up 14-9.

From that point on, though, it was all Titans. Corey made it 16-12 with a 1-yard run, Scheidegger scooped a fumble up and scored himself to push the advantage to 30-14 before the half, and Corey hit paydirt from 14 yards out to make it 36-14 early in the third.

“The turnovers were really important,” Scheidegger said. “They came at really critical times and were very important for us to get.

“It was just really nice to come out and score some points.”

Mount Ayr blocked a punt and scored for its only points of the second half, cutting the deficit to 36-22.

Another Scheidegger interception deep in SCC territory started a 90-yard drive with Schleisman scoring, and after a turnover on downs, McAlister hit the end zone from three yards out.

Meyer got in on the scoring frenzy with a 5-yard jaunt late in the fourth. McAlister had 75 yards on 14 carries

Van Meter, the top team in the final RPI, made the state semifinals last year. No one has scored over 12 points on them this year, with four shutouts.

“We’ll have to clean up some of our mistakes this week and work towards playing near flawless football moving forward,” Case said. “Van Meter will be really good and we’ll have to be on our A game if we want to have a chance against the top-rated team in 1A.

“It will be a huge challenge, but our kids will be prepared.”