It would be easy for the Prairie City-Monroe football team to overlook Davis County with long-time rival Collins-Maxwell/Baxter looming a week later.
But that’s not the message PCM coach Greg Bonnett is giving his Mustangs.
PCM has gained plenty of momentum in the last two weeks, and Bonnett doesn’t want that momentum to vanish because his team walked through Friday’s Class 2A District 7 road game against Davis County.
“We are just not good enough to overlook anybody,” Bonnett said. “We have to grind things out this year to get our wins. We have to work for everything. We can’t take a week off because of who we play the week after.”
The Raiders will be in town to face PCM on Sept. 25, but before that, there will be a battle of Mustangs in Bloomfield.
Davis County comes into the game 0-3 and has been outscored 139-36 in those three games. The home team is, according to Bonnett, primarily going to be run-oriented when they have the ball.
“They are a pretty physical team,” Bonnett said. “They have a confusing offense. They’ll use a spinner back and some wildcat. We just need to make sure we know what to expect and execute the gameplan.”
Zach Houf has completed only eight of his 27 in the first three games, but he has gained 190 rushing yards with two touchdowns. Four players have at least 12 carries for Davis County, and Houf’s eight completions have gone to five different receivers.
All-stater Ben Kincart leads the defense with 16 tackles and two sacks, and his unit will be expected to slow down PCM’s high-octane offense that has scored 90 points in its last two games.
That came after scoring 12 points in the season opener against Class 1A No. 8 Pella Christian.
“We changed a few things and added a fullback,” Bonnett said in regard to being more productive the last two weeks. “The fact that it hasn’t rained the last two weeks has helped with our spread, too.”
Logan Gilman is completing 74 percent of his passes and has thrown for 572 yards and eight touchdowns. His favorite targets are Noah Clark and Luke Greiner, who both have 14 catches and have combined for seven of Gilman’s eight scores.
Logan Litrell highlights the PCM running game with 223 yards and three touchdowns. Reid Jenkins leads the defense with 26 solo tackles and four tackles for loss.
The game will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. in Bloomfield.
Colfax-Mingo (2-1, 1-0)
at Belle Plaine Plaine (3-0, 1-0), 7 p.m.
The Tigerhawks passed their initial Class A District 7 test with flying colors when they defeated Lynnville-Sully 40-15 at home last Friday.
This week, Colfax-Mingo hits the road to face a team in Belle Plaine that finished one spot above them in the final district standings a year ago.
Both teams were 6-4 last year and both teams lost in the opening round of the postseason. A win in this game would be big for the 2015 district standings. Belle Plaine won 26-16 in Colfax last year.
Jared Myers leads Class A in passing yards with 839 and is tied for first in touchdown passes with eight. Jacob Lietz leads Class A with 26 catches.
And for the second straight week, Colfax-Mingo’s wide-open spread offense will be up against a power running team which features four players with at least 103 rushing yards, led by Zac Slaymaker’s 437 and seven scores.
Belle Plaine began district play with a 48-13 win at North Mahaska last week.
Class A No. 7 Montezuma (3-0, 1-0)
at Lynnville-Sully (1-2, 0-1), 7 p.m.
Last year’s District 7 champion Montezuma invades Sully on Friday with plenty of momentum after outscoring its last two opponents 114-8.
The seventh-ranked Braves are undefeated but after defeating Grundy Center, 8-7, in their opener, they dominated Van Buren 57-8 two weeks ago and then blasted GMG 57-0 to open district play last week.
Both teams will pound it on the ground. Montezuma has attempted just 24 passes all season and 14 different players have at least one carry, led by junior Carson Losure, who has gained 250 yards and scored five times on the ground.
Lynnville-Sully is 0-1 in district play after dropping its opener, 40-15, at Colfax-Mingo last week. The Hawks will have an entirely different defensive gameplan against the run-heavy Braves than it did against the spread of Colfax-Mingo.
Montezuma went 10-1 last year, and that included an undefeated run through the district. The Braves defeated Lynnville-Sully, 25-0, and rushed for 372 yards in last year’s game.
Class 2A No. 9 Collins-Maxwell/Baxter (3-0)
at Nevada (2-1), 7:30 p.m.
After starting 3-0 and scoring 148 points in those games, the Raiders cracked the Associated Press rankings this week.
The No. 9 Raiders will now hit the road for a non-district game against Class 3A Nevada.
CMB has scored at least 48 points in all three wins. Blake Coughenour and Brady Stover have led the way offensively.
Coughenour ranks seventh in 2A with 423 rushing yards and is tied with Albia’s Carter Isley with nine rushing touchdowns.
Stover has three rushing touchdowns, three receiving scores and passed for another touchdown this year.
Nevada was feeling great about its potential after rolling to easy wins in the first two games of the season.
The Cubs’ momentum took a big hit last week when they opened district play with a 48-7 loss to Bondurant-Farrar.
Andrew Strottman leads the Cubs’ offense with 369 rushing yards and Macade Matuska has thrown for 273 yards.
Contact Troy Hyde at
641-792-3121 ext. 6536 or thyde@newtondailynews.com