Stingy Carroll defense next test for HCHS football team

 CARROLL (Sept. 7) -- The Harlan Community football team will look to bounce back quickly Friday night following last week’s frustrating 34-32 home loss to Sergeant Bluff-Luton.
 HCHS led 20-0 in the first half but was unable to establish a running game or slow down the Warriors’ speed-oriented attack late while allowing 426 yards all told (324 through the air). SB-L scored the game-winning touchdown with 17 seconds remaining.
 The Cyclones, no longer ranked in the top 10 of Class 3A, will hit the road for the first time tonight and face Carroll Public on its newly-renovated turf field at 7:30 p.m. Both teams enter the non-district contest with a record of 1-1.
 Head coach Curt Bladt says the state of the Cyclones is “still to be determined” as they prepare for Week 3 and try to strengthen their early-season RPI.
 “We just didn’t play very well last Friday night and we made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “We made enough mistakes to allow (SB-L) to take the game from us, and we can’t be doing that. We’ve got to turn up the intensity and get off the ball and do our job better than what we did last week.”
 The Cyclones will face a Carroll team that has yet to gain more than 181 total yards while splitting a pair of low-scoring games. The Tigers lost their home opener to Glenwood, 17-14, on a last-second field goal before scoring a late touchdown last week to win at Ballard 9-7. It should be noted that Ballard beat Boone 34-15 in Week 1.
 The Cyclones have made a few lineup changes this week, inserting junior Thomas Frederick at fullback and moving some guys around in the secondary following last week’s struggles against the passing attack of SB-L.
 The new starting cornerbacks will be Boldan and junior Johnathan Monson, who previously manned the safety position. Thomas Fah moves from a corner to free safety.