Few Iowa high school football programs would look at three straight trips to the state quarterfinals as a disappointment.

Harlan coach Curt Bladt doesn’t. But the fact is that the Cyclones hadn’t gone three straight seasons without at least one trip to the semifinals since the late 1970s — until it happened in the past three seasons.

Such is life in the state’s most storied program.

No. 1 Harlan (11-0) has a chance to get reacquainted with the UNI-Dome when it hosts No. 6 Sioux City Heelan (10-1) tonight in a 7 o’clock Class 3-A quarterfinal at Merrill Field. The winner will play in a semifinal in Cedar Falls on Monday, Nov. 16.

Harlan hasn’t been seriously tested since beating Heelan 24-6 on Sept. 4. It shut out five of its seven district opponents, and then blanked one of the two others, ADM, 48-0 in the first round of the playoffs.

Bladt isn’t going to get too worked up about his team not being pressed recently.

“We just have to go out and play with intensity,” he said. “Every game starts at 0-0, and that’s how we approached it. Did we get pushed for 48 minutes? That’s a different story.”

The Harlan legend is more concerned with his team starting quicker than it did in the regular-season meeting. The Cyclones were a minus-10 yards on their first series and a minus-2 on their second series in September.

“We were like the Keystone Kops,” he said.

Bladt also is concerned with Heelan’s speed. The Crusaders boast running back Michael Malloy (881 rushing yards, 15 TDs), WR Preston Ives (662 receiving yards, eight TDs) and WR Nate Berger (395 receiving yards), all members of last year’s state-record setting Class 3-A 1,600-meter relay. quarterback Zach McCabe (2,071 passing yards, 19 TDs), an Iowa basketball recruit, is at the controls.

Harlan counters with RB Dylan Barrett (1,514 yards, 27 TDs) and QB Michael Kaufmann (1,691 passing yards, 15 TDs). Iowa recruit Matt Hoch (117 tackles, 24 for losses) anchors the defense.

Contact the writer:

444-1055, kevin.white@owh.com