Mustangs one win away from possible substate berth
MONROE — When PCM lost 10-6 at home to North Polk nearly three weeks ago, very few people thought PCM had a chance at the playoffs.
Even PCM football coach Dar Dahms knew that it was a tough road ahead after starting 0-4 in district play.
“I would have thought the door was shut on us, especially when we got beat by North Polk,” Dahms said. “I told the kids we had one slim hope that there is a three-way tie and we can get in on points, but that’s a small window.”
But that window has opened more and more as the weeks have moved along. With the final week in the regular season here as PCM hosts Albia, the Mustangs know a win is the most important thing.
“We’re behind North Polk right now,” Dahms said. “We’re just going to do the best we can against Albia and if we lose, we’re out anyways. We just have to take care of business at our end.”
North Polk and Albia are currently in a tie for the fourth and final playoff spot at 3-3, with PCM sitting one game behind at 2-4. A North Polk loss to CMB and a PCM win against Albia would create a three-way tie, meaning the final spot would be decided based on the point system.
The magic number for PCM is 12, meaning a North Polk loss and a PCM win must be by a total of at least 12 points. A total of 11 points would create a tie.
To beat Albia, the Mustangs are going to have to deal with a strong running back in junior Kile Overmyer. Overmyer has run for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns this season.
“Their running game has improved quite a bit,” Dahms said. “They actually played us a pretty good game (last year). I know the score didn’t show it. I’m going to expect that again. We’ll be challenged.”
The Blue Demons are coached by second-year coach Jerry Staton. Staton was a long-time coach at Oskaloosa, where he won a state title in 1996, and more recently at Pella Christian.
To win the game Friday, forcing the Blue Demons to pass will be key.
“They’re not a very good passing team, but they’re a good rushing team,” Dahms said. “We’ll have to take care of that next week.”
If the Mustangs qualify for the substate round, the team will be travel to Carroll Kuemper. The Knights have clinched at least a share of the district crown.
CMB at North Polk
The Collins-Maxwell-Baxter football wrapped up a spot in the Class 2A postseason last week, but that doesn’t mean the Raiders’ final game of the regular season Friday doesn’t mean anything.
It actually has a pretty big significance to both CMB and its opponent, North Polk. If CMB wins, it can claim a share of the district crown. And a win by North Polk could propel the Comets into the postseason.
“If we win, we’ll get a piece of the title,” CMB coach Rob Luther said. “And if we win by six points or more, we’ll get to host a playoff game.”
The Raiders are in a log jam at the top of the district standings. CMB, West Marshall and Bondurant-Farrar all each have just one loss in the league and each have beaten each other. That means the district champion could be decided by points, but the Bluejays are in the driver’s seat.
With Bondurant-Farrar’s win over CMB earlier this year, all the Bluejays have to do is defeat East Marshall on Friday and they are district champions. West Marshall will finish with Colfax-Mingo, which gives the Raiders the toughest matchup in the final week.
“North Polk has a great defense,” Luther said. “And it has been a long time since we have won up there. It has been at least six years.”
North Polk is 4-4 on the season and 3-3 in district play. To reach the postseason, the Comets need to first beat CMB and then hope PCM takes down Albia in Monroe. A win by Albia would give the Blue Demons the final postseason berth.
The Comets have hung their hat on their defense this year, but the offense does some nice things from the spread formation, according to Luther.
“The offense is quarterback centered,” Luther said. “The quarterback is tall and has a strong arm.”
Lucas Hadaway is the quarterback, and he has thrown for 782 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions this year. Noah Pickard leads the rushing attack with 296 yards, while Tony Davis has 231 yards on the ground.
The North Polk defense is led by Colton Hill’s 55 tackles, while Ryan Olson has 38 tackles and an interception return for a touchdown.
Like North Polk, CMB has been solid all season on defense, and the Raiders showed their mettle last week in a 33-0 win over Albia. The Comets lost two weeks ago to Albia, 21-20.
CMB’s defense is led by David Kolpin’s 73 tackles. CMB has 13 interceptions on the season with Dylan Hansen collecting four with two touchdowns and Ethan Schmidt grabbing three.
Hansen and Schmidt — along with Parker Murphy — lead an impressive spread offense, as well.
Van Meter at
Lynnville-Sully
As the Lynnville-Sully football team ends the season looking for their first district win, the Hawks face a stern test at home when second-place Van Meter comes to town Friday night.
The Bulldogs are led by senior Ben Fisher, senior Michael Plasencia, sophomore Tyler Reicks and senior Kaden Bruton. Fisher has ran for 725 yards and thrown for 1,001 yards.
Plasencia has ran for 501 yards and caught 22 passes for 488 yards, Reicks has six total touchdowns and Bruton has two more as well on the ground.
“Between Ben Fisher, Michael Plasencia and Tyler Reicks, those three guys are very good players,” Lynnville-Sully coach John Kramer said. “Throw in their running back Kaden Bruton, and they have a great attack. I don’t think they’re a team you can stop. We’re going to see if we can limit what they do.”
Van Meter started the season on a four-game winning streak before losing 56-10 to Madrid. Since then, the Bulldogs have won three more games to improve to 7-1 for the season.
Since a season-opening win at English Valleys, Lynnville-Sully has lost seven consecutive games and scored just eight points. Throw in the fact that two quarterbacks are banged up, and it’s been tough offensively for the Hawks.
Last week in a loss at Madrid, Kyle Soderblom started for the first time at quarterback. He’d started previous games in the backfield at running back.
“Kyle is our best option, and our other two quarterbacks are both injured,” Kramer said. “Kyle did a great job. The offense really rallied around him.”
That made Corey Harthoorn and David Samson permanent starters in the backfield. Both had ran the ball quite a bit this season.
With no substate playoff appearance to compete for, Kramer just looks for his team to compete.
“We hope to finish strong,” Kramer said. “We’ve played hard in all our games. We’re hoping to send the seniors out well.”
Colfax-Mingo at
West Marshall
To end the season, Colfax-Mingo’s football team travels to West Marshall and faces on simple goal — stop senior Drake Ferch.
If it was only that simple.
Ferch leads the team with 1,273 yards rushing and 15 total touchdowns. He also leads the team in tackles on defense with 86.
Younger brother Dalton Ferch has caught 25 passes for 534 yards and five touchdowns and is tops on the top with eight interceptions. Sophomore quarterback Braydn Beals has thrown for 559 yards and four touchdowns.
For Colfax-Mingo, the Tigerhawks are just trying to throw anything together that they can offensively.
“We use just about anything we can to muster some offense,” Colfax-Mingo coach Mike Horstman said. “We’re out of players that really started the season with us in skill positions, and that really hurts us. Like Preston Wilson — he was our main runner.”
Junior Dylan Berkey has proved to be a versatile athlete for the Tigerhawks this season — throwing for 791 yards and also gaining 318 yards at wide receiver. Junior Brandon Kolo leads the team with 77 tackles and 19 tackles for a loss.
With injuries and illness, Hortstman has had to throw in a lot of new guys to the varsity level. Against PCM last week, the Tigerhawks had quite a few younger players step up.
“We had a lot of our JV guys really step up,” Horstman said. “Dylan Day — a sophomore linebacker — he’d never played back there. He did a real good job.”
West Marshall (5-3) is currently in a three-way tie for the district lead entering the game Friday night in State Center. Colfax-Mingo (2-6) is looking for its first district win.
