Teams looking for another perfect week

Shane Jansen scores a touchdown for Lynnville-Sully last Friday in Sully. All local teams won their openers last week, and try to make it 2-0 Friday night. Craig Murphy/Daily News file photo

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The 2008 prep football season opened last week. Heading into Week 2 games Friday night, all Jasper County teams sport a 1-0 record. The area’s three 2A teams (Collins-Maxwell-Baxter, Colfax-Mingo and PCM) play at home for the first time this season, while Class A Lynnville-Sully visits an old rival.

Colfax-Mingo vs. Saydel At Colfax, 7:30 p.m. The Tigerhawks can sympathize with Saydel. The Eagles (0-1) come to Colfax off a 63-0 thrashing at the hands of Bondurant-Farrar last Friday. C-M, meanwhile, posted a 37-21 season-opening win over Nevada to gain a victory for the first time since 2006. “We’ve been where they are,” C-M coach Todd Jones said of Saydel. “We know that feeling. We don’t want that feeling again.” The Tigerhawks dominated Nevada last week, holding a 37-0 lead in the fourth before letting younger players take the field. “It’s good to start out with a win, obviously,” Jones said. “We know we have a win under our belt, so that will help build our confidence.” Jones said the focus this week has been inward. “We’ll worry about us and work on getting better,” he said. “We’re more concerned about Colfax-Mingo than Saydel.” The focus for C-M has been the offense. “We’re working on our offensive line,” Jones said. “If we can get them to take one more step and provide better pass protection, we’ll take that next step as a team.” Also getting attention are pass routes. Last week, receivers on different routes ended up in the same location a few times. Jones expects to see a 4-4 defense from Saydel and an offset I formation. “They’re going to be running primarily, straight ahead dives,” he predicted. “They had some success against Bondurant late in the game with the option. Their tailback is maybe their best athlete.” Jones said the emphasis this week is on hard work. “We have to guard against having a letdown after the big win,” he said. “We have to guard against being complacent.”

Lynnville-Sully vs. Montezuma At Montezuma, 7 p.m. The Hawks (1-0) come in off a high, following a strong showing in a 27-13 win at home over English Valleys last week. “Nothing helps like a win,” L-S coach John Kramer said. Montezuma (0-1) lost 28-13 to Iowa Valley. “It’s a double edged sword, really,” Kramer said of visiting a team hungry to atone for a season-opening loss. “They played a good Iowa Valley team. There’s a history between Montezuma and Lynnville-Sully. We have to come in and play hard. We have to exceed their intensity if we want to win. Whichever team plays harder is the one that will come out with the win.” Kramer noted the long-standing rivalry between the Hawks and the Braves plays into the game. “Montezuma is disappointed they dropped a game, so they are motivated to play even harder against a rival,” Kramer said. “You bring your A-game for a rivalry.” Kramer hasn’t looked at the Montezuma roster or statistics much but believes there are two keys for his team. “We have to be able to maintain blocks and play assignment defense,” Kramer said. “We know (the Braves) can move the ball well. Their quarterback has a good arm, and they can run well.”

CMB vs. Lisbon At Maxwell, 7:30 p.m. Both CMB and Lisbon advanced to the quarterfinal round of the playoffs last season. And both teams started off 2008 with a victory last Friday. Something’s got to give this week as the two teams face off in Maxwell for the Raiders’ home opener. “Lisbon is well coached, and they don’t beat themselves,” CMB coach Rob Luther said. “It’ll be a tough test for us.” CMB senior quarterback Dan Samson got his final campaign off on the right foot Friday, totaling more than 250 passing yards and 100 rushing yards as his four total touchdowns led to the Raiders’ 44-13 win. Lisbon, which plays in Class 1A, beat Alburnett last week, 25-20. The team is led by Nathan Vislisel at running back and also features running back Jesse Jameson and junior quarterback Cody Rickard. “We’re excited to have the black shirts back on,” Luther said. “We have a lot of new faces, and we’ll keep working them hard.” Two of the new faces on offense are Ethan Schmidt and Dylan Hansen. Both juniors performed well in their debuts. Schmidt gained 73 yards on the ground and hauled in four passes for 149 yards, including a big 92-yard touchdown catch. Hansen had five catches for 52 yards and returned an interception 29 yards for the score. “They played well for us,” Luther said. “But we better play better than we did in Week 1.” The Week 1 victory was highlighted by more than 500 yards of offense, but Luther said the 16 penalties have to be cleaned up. CMB had just one turnover but gave up way too many big plays on offense, according to Luther.

PCM vs. Pella Christian At Monroe, 7:30 p.m. Cooler weather should help a concern PCM head coach Dar Dahms had in last week’s 23-12 season-opening win over Knoxville. Several Mustangs had issues with cramping. “It’s usually a first game thing,” Dahms said. “The weather should be relatively cool Friday night, so it shouldn’t be an issue. The kids will not be as hot.” Dahms would like his team to get on a hot streak. To get a win this week, Dahms has been focused on improving various aspects. “The one thing I want to improve this week is being more consistent with our blocking,” the coach said. “We have improved on that. Defensively I want us to improve our tackling. It has been good so far, but we still need to improve that. And we need to work on special teams still. I think the special teams have looked much better this week.” Seth Streeter set a school record with a 42-yard field goal, but Knoxville was able to score a touchdown on a kickoff return. Dahms points to the Pella Christian offense as an area of concern. “They have a real nice fullback and a good quarterback,” Dahms said. “And they have a tall receiver. They go to their receiver a lot. He’s so tall, they can kind of just throw it up for grabs. Offensively they look like a nice team.” Ultimately, Dahms said it’s about what his Mustangs do. “We just have to play well,” he said. “It’s not so much what Pella Christian puts against us, we have to do our part well.”