Tigerhawks hope to leave week one loss behind
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| Colfax-Mingo senior Joe Borts makes a catch during practice. Colfax-Mingo has been hit by the injury bug, and Borts is questionable for Friday’s game as the Tigerhawks host Saydel. (Ben Frotscher/Daily News) |
COLFAX — Colfax-Mingo football coach Mike Rupert just wants to put his team’s one loss to Nevada in the rearview mirror.
The Tigerhawks lost just 19-18, but it was how they lost that made it difficult to take.
“It was frustrating because we had five turnovers and an 8-yard punt, so it’s the equivalent to six turnovers,” Rupert said. “The other aspect — at the end of the game it was go for the win or tie and we had our extra point blocked.”
Senior quarterback Dylan Berkey was 13-of-24 passing for 163 yards, ran 14 times for 71 yards and also had one catch for 50 yards. He added an interception on defense in the loss to Nevada.
“I thought the hitting was really good,” Rupert said. “I thought four of our five linemen did a good job on pass protection and gave Berkey time to throw the ball. I thought our secondary also did a good job.”
And even though it’s just week two, the Tigerhawks are struggling with injuries. Seniors Cameron Hainer (knee), Steven Weber (leg), Joe Borts (high ankle sprain) and Brandon Kolo (concussion) were all sitting on the bench at the end of the opener, and all are up in the air for the game against Saydel.
The Eagles suffered a 46-0 loss to South Tama County in week one, collecting just 172 yards of total offense. Quarterback Dan Breitbarth was 8-of-28 passing for 62 yards and had 10 carries for 46 yards.
“Saydel runs basically a similar offense to what we do,” Rupert said. “They like to spread it out. They have quite a few guys back from last year. They are bigger than us, and their quarterback moves pretty well.”
For the Tigerhawks to gain their first win of the season, Rupert knows it will be the simple things that will make the difference.
“We have to try to establish the run, not turn the ball over and not commit as many penalties,” Rupert said. “If we don’t turn the ball over and limit the penalties, we’ll win the game.”
Madrid (1-0)
at PCM (0-1)
PCM football coach Dar Dahms knew the team that made the least mistakes in their week one game against Knoxville would win the game.
His Mustangs committed four turnovers and ended up losing 13-10.
“We had some mistakes that really hurt us,” Dahms said. “We had a bout three times the amount of first downs Knoxville had. We have them a touchdown and stopped ourselves. We easily could have been up 17-3.”
But PCM has to put its season-opening loss behind themselves as the Mustangs prepare for Class A powerhouse Madrid on Friday night in Monroe. Madrid, No. 1 in Class A, collected 451 yards of rushing in a 37-33 win over Class 2A No. 6 West Marshall, despite four touchdowns from Dalton Ferch.
When it comes to Madrid, there are no secrets.
“Most everybody knows they are going to run the ball at you,” Dahms said. “Once you start ganging up on one thing, they’ll throw a 40- or 50-yard touchdown pass. They are coached well, they have some big kids and they were a Dome team last year with everyone back.”
Dahms knows a key to the game is containing the running attack of the Tigers.
“I don’t remember a drive that went all the way down the field where they just banged it, banged it — it was more big plays,” Dahms said. “That’s what we need to do — we can bend, but we can’t break.”
Running back Jeremy Johnson had 175 yards rushing and two touchdowns in the win for Madrid, while fullback Timon Bell added 147 yards on the ground.
Dahms knows this will be a good test as the team moves into district play the following week.
“I think we’d like to have the wins to build confidence, but if we can battle Madrid really well, that bodes well for us this season,” Dahms said. “Madrid is an awfully good program, and they have great tradition. We’re not going to see many other teams that are as good as them.”
Ogden (1-1)
at CMB (1-0)
CMB’s youthful football team looks to move to 2-0 on the season Friday night when the Raiders host Ogden, but the team is a game behind the rival Bulldogs.
Ogden has played two games this season already, a week zero win over Colo-Nesco (24-21) and a week one loss to Van Meter (34-26).
“They have that extra game under their belts,” CMB coach Rob Luther said. “They are improved from where they’ve been the last year or two. They are sound, well-coached and physical. They are going to do what they like to do — run the ball.”
Against Colo-Nesco, Asher Van Sickle had 140 rushing yards and two touchdowns as the team compiled 252 yards on the ground. Against Van Meter, Van Sickle had three rushing touchdowns and teammate Jared Hefler added 158 yards on the ground.
Defensively, Ogden tries to stop the run first.
“They load the box a lot,” Luther said. “They are going to force us to throw the ball a lot, which is fine by me. They are in a 5-2, and that’s probably what they want to stay in.”
CMB collected 342 yards of offense in their week one 47-16 win over Lynnville-Sully, with the team getting 177 yards in the air. Consistency is what Luther is looking at now.
“They saw they can play really well at times and really bad at times,” Luther said. “Instead of running 20 good plays last week, we want to run 30 good plays.”
The only injury of concern heading into Friday’s game is senior Chris Kauer. He is questionable after a quad injury. Luther is looking to keep his team healthy as the team heads into district play next week.
“If we can get to 2-0, it will be a great start,” Luther said. “We knew these were two teams we could compete with early in the year. We want to make sure we’re heading in the right direction.”
Lynnville-Sully (0-1)
at Colo-Nesco (0-2)
Lynnville-Sully will hit the road for the first time Friday night when the Hawks play Colo-Nesco, a team who has two games under their belt already.
The Royals opened up in week zero with a 24-21 loss to Ogden before losing 43-6 this past Friday night to AGWSR (Ackley). Lynnville-Sully football coach John Kramer said there are positives and negatives to playing two games this early.
“They could be hit by the injury bug or they could be hungry for that win,” Kramer said. “They are a solid ballclub. “They’ll be able to move the ball well and they are going to fly around on defense.”
In the loss to AGWSR, the Royals trailed 34-6 at halftime and got their lone score on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Neimeyer to Blake Jobe. Austin Larsen led Colo-Nesco with 90 yards rushing.
“We’re familiar with them, and they’ve gone through a coaching change, which will mildly change how they move the ball,” Kramer said. “They have a young quarterback. Speed-wise and scheme-wise, we are two sides of the same coin. It’ll be interesting.”
For Kramer’s team to gain its first win, the team needs to rebound from a 47-16 defeat. Kramer knows there isn’t just one area for improvement.
“This week we’ve been working in practice for more intensity,” Kramer said. “Our goals are to fix the things we can fix — intensity and blocking assignments. We got behind, overwhelmed and we weren’t focused against CMB. They’ve been focused this week and mentally sharp.”
