The Prairie City-Monroe football team came up a few points short of Class 1A No. 5 Pella Christian last week, but the Mustangs were more competitive against the Eagles than they were at any point during the current six-game losing streak.
Still, the Mustangs aren’t into moral victories.
“I wouldn’t say we felt good about it,” PCM coach Greg Bonnett said. “I think we learned something about ourselves. I think several kids looked at their performance on film and said ‘that’s not the best I can do.’ For the coaches, it’s a chance to correct some technique and communication as well because we can do better just the same as the players can.”
PCM (0-1) will try to flush the 24-22 loss to Pella Christian on Friday in its home opener against Class A Montezuma.
The Braves (1-0) defeated BGM in their season opener last week. The two teams met in Week 2 last year, and PCM won at Montezuma, 34-12.
The Mustangs struggled in the running game against the Eagles, but had a lot of success against the Braves last season. In the win, PCM piled up 304 rushing yards, led by Wes Cummings’ 148 yards and four touchdowns.
Cummings is back, and the Mustangs also have senior Noah Anderson in the backfield.
“I think we can run more two back sets and get both guys involved,” Bonnett said. “We have Noah Anderson sitting there waiting to be great, and we are not using him enough. That is where we can get smarter as coaches.”
Junior quarterback Reed Worth threw for 265 yards in his PCM starting debut, and the passing game was successful at times.
No matter how PCM chooses to attack Montezuma, the Mustangs will be facing a Braves defense who allowed only 239 yards against BGM and had two interceptions, one sack and a defensive TD.
For the past several seasons, Montezuma has predominantly been a power rushing team. That seems to have changed this season.
In the Braves’ season-opening win, Clay Krousie threw for 221 yards and attempted 33 passes. Jordon Bender did rush for 101 yards in his debut as the next Braves’ tailback.
Krousie’s top target is unknown after one week. He hooked up four different receivers three or four times each.
“I think their identity is going to be a power football team, but they are not going to be afraid to open it up this year based on what I see on film,” Bonnett said.
“Montezuma is well coached and has tradition so you know they are going to come in and be physical.”
The final non-district game of the season kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday in Monroe.
Baxter (1-0) at No. 7 Remsen-St. Mary’s (1-0), 7 p.m.
The Bolts can make a big statement with a win over seventh-ranked Remsen-St. Mary’s on Friday.
Baxter rolled past West Central last week in its 8-player debut, but this week’s challenge will be much tougher. The first obstacle is the 204 miles the Bolts will drive to get to Remsen to play the game.
Remsen-St. Mary’s, which finished 6-3 in 2016, defeated Ar-We-Va, 54-15, in its season opener. The Hawks rushed for 338 yards and threw for 128 more in the victory.
The Hawks are led by Canaan Cox and Carter Kuechel. Cox rushed for 157 yards and five touchdowns on 11 carries.
Kuechel did just about everything for Remsen-St. Mary’s. He rushed for 101 yards and a score and caught three passes for 56 yards on offense. Defensively, Kuechel had 11 tackles, two sacks and an interception.
Baxter’s debut was impressive, but it didn’t show up in the statistics. Much of the Bolts’ scoring drives were less than four plays. Baxter scored 46 of its 74 points in the first quarter and scored on seven of its 10 2-point conversions.
The Bolts rushed for 205 yards and averaged 7.9 yards per attempt.
Senior quarterback Braydon Aker accounted for six of the Bolts’ 10 touchdowns. Sophomore Cole Damman scored four times and senior tailback Devin Carson scored two rushing TDs.
Senior Marcus Mitchell had 9 1/2 tackles and three tackles for loss in his debut as a Baxter linebacker.
BGM (0-1) at Lynnville-Sully (1-0)
The Hawks go into Week 2 ranked 10th in Class A in the first Associated Press poll.
Lynnville-Sully’s home opener is against a South Iowa Cedar League rival in BGM, which lost 21-9 in its opener to Montezuma.
The Hawks’ defense will have to be ready for the run and the pass as BGM threw it 18 times and rushed it 30 times. The Bears gained 239 total yards.
BGM, which was hit hard by graduation in 2016, is now led by Keegan James, who rushed for 87 yards and gained 32 yards as a receiver.
The Bears’ defense allowed 346 yards to Montezuma. The Braves threw for 221 yards in that win. That could help L-S senior quarterback Elijah Collins get on track after a 47-yard effort in the Hawks’ season-opening win over Colfax-Mingo.
Lynnville-Sully poses a lot of problems for any defense as eight players carried the ball last week. The Hawks rushed for 252 yards and averaged nearly six yards per carry.
Colfax-Mingo (0-2) at North Mahaska (0-2), 7 p.m.
One of these South Iowa Cedar League teams will get their first win of the season.
Colfax-Mingo had plenty of chances to do that in Week 0 against Class 2A Saydel and was in last week’s game against Lynnville-Sully until late in the second quarter.
The Tigerhawks will likely be without junior wide receiver Zarek Hill, who left last week’s game with a concussion.
Colfax-Mingo rushed for 223 yards in the loss to Saydel but only gained 24 against the Hawks.
The Tigerhawks need to get back on track in the run game if they want to snatch that first victory. North Mahaska gave up 262 yards in a Week 0 loss to Highland and then allowed 230 in another loss to Belle Plaine.
Offensively, North Mahaska had mild success against Highland. Luke Groves rushed for 212 yards in the game, and he has 313 in the first two weeks. Groves is averaging 6.5 yards per carry.
Against Belle Plaine, the Warhawks gained only 158 total yards. Quarterback Ben Sherburne has thrown for only 100 yards and three picks in his first two games.
For Colfax-Mingo, senior Reegan Van Dyke has thrown for 225 yards and three scores, junior Damir Gumerov has 169 rushing yards and senior Alex Lewis has 100 receiving yards.
Defensively, the Tigerhawks have been led by seniors Jake Dunsbergen (14.5 tackles) and Colton Lourens (10.5 tackles, 1 sack).