Postseason positioning in full swing Friday

It seems hard to believe, but Week 6 of the prep football season is already here. With just three more regular season games left after Friday, the pressure is on. In Class 2A, Collins-Maxwell-Baxter lost last week and now sits one game behind Bondurant-Farrar and West Marshall. Both of those teams have knocked off two local teams. CMB has a big showdown with B-F this week. Colfax-Mingo is tied with CMB for third in the District 7 standings, which is important as four teams — up from two — make playoffs this year. PCM, meanwhile, is rapidly running out of time to make playoffs after missing out last year. In Class A, Lynnville-Sully draws the unenviable task of playing No. 6 and undefeated Earlham on the road.

CMB vs. Bondurant-Farrar At Baxter, 7:30 p.m. If the Collins-Maxwell-Baxter football team wants to win the Class 2A, District 7 title, coach Rob Luther said the Raiders must beat a talented Bondurant-Farrar team during their homecoming contest Friday in Baxter. “It’s a huge game if we have any hopes to win the district,” Luther said. “And I think this team wants to win the district.” So is it a must-win game against the 12th-ranked Bluejays, who enter the contest 4-1 overall and 3-0 in district play? “It’s a must-win only if we want to win the district,” Luther said. “If we don’t win then we’ll try to find a way to better our position in the standings.” To win CMB, which dropped from sixth to 13th in the Class 2A rankings this week after a road loss to West Marshall last week, must stop Bondurant-Farrar’s potent running attack that features Ryan Fuller and Cody Kunze. Fuller has amassed 483 yards and six touchdowns on the ground, while Kunze has run for 398 yards and eight touchdowns. “We’ll have to stop the run a lot better than we stopped the run last week,” Luther said. “They are a running team. That’s what they are going to try to do.” More important to Luther than stopping the run on defense is scoring more than 21 points on offense. Bondurant-Farrar is the highest scoring team in the district, scoring more than 40 points per game. “We are going to have to score more than three touchdowns this week to win,” Luther said. “They’ll get their points. We are going to have to find a way to score more than we did last week.” Luther said the Bluejays are deep, big and physical. Their only loss on the season came in Week 2 against Class A No. 1 Madrid. They recently destroyed two other area teams in PCM and Colfax-Mingo. The Raiders are led by Dan Samson’s 417 rushing yards and 553 passing yards. Ethan Schmidt has 289 rushing yards and 199 receiving yards. Playing the Bluejays at home should help, but Luther is somewhat worried about the hoopla of homecoming week. “I worry about it, but we start preaching it early that the game is the most important thing about homecoming week,” Luther said. “Homecoming is never fun with a loss. It’s never my favorite thing, but it is part of high school football.”

PCM vs. North Polk At Alleman, 7:30 p.m. The Mustangs are ready to put their record streak out to pasture. PCM has lost three straight games, which head coach Dar Dahms noted is a school record. PCM comes into Friday’s Class 2A District 7 game 2-3 overall, while North Polk is 2-3 (1-2). “I think we’re a little more focused on what we need to get done,” Dahms said. “Our senior leadership has been good this week. I think we’re a little hungrier.” PCM comes off losses to West Marshall, CMB and B-F. Playing such teams in a row could toughen up the Mustangs. “I think so,” Dahms said. “We had probably everybody’s top three favorites right away. We played some tough teams. I hope that helps us, but it also hurts us because we have so many injuries. “We have our backs against the wall,” Dahms added. “To make substate, we pretty much have to win out. We take it one game at a time. Every team left is good enough to beat us, especially as injured as we are.” Joe Gilson is out for the year and Gavin Burns is still playing with a cast. “We have some injuries,” Dahms said. “It’s just a revolving door. The younger kids are coming along well.” They will go against North Polk players putting up big numbers. Dustin Howard has rushed for 563 yards this year, while Brendon Brauer has thrown for 677. “They’re running a new offense this year,” Dahms said of the Comets. “Anytime you run spread offense, anything can happen at any time. Our defense has to make sure to not give up the big plays.” Dahms feels things get no easier on the other side of the ball. “The defense looks to be their best part of the game,” Dahms said. “They are a very good defense. It’s going to be big for our offense to be able to move the ball on their defense.”

Colfax-Mingo vs. East Marshall At Colfax, 7:30 p.m. This week is homecoming in Colfax, but the football team is postponing celebration for now. “There’s no question there’s more excitement,” coach Todd Jones said of his Tigerhawks (4-1, 2-1). “The focus this week has been very, very good. They are not distracted by all of the events going on. That’s a big plus for us. The kids know there’s more at stake than just homecoming fun.” What’s at stake with a win over East Marshall (2-3, 1-2)? “The first thing is this would ensure us a winning season,” Jones said. “Second, it ensures we’d be in the top five in district, and it would give us the possibility of coming up and snakebiting someone and moving up.” In order to move to 5-1, Jones said one part of the team needs to improve, especially in order for quarterback Derek Trask to be successful. Trask has thrown for 888 yards so far this year, and leads C-M in rushing with 374 yards. “We have to make a huge improvement in our offensive line play,” Jones said. “If we can’t get more production out of the offensive line, teams will be able to shut down Derek. We’ve spent a lot of time working on it. We just have to open up some holes.” Jones points to stats. “The last three weeks, other than Derek, I don’t think we’ve had anyone rush for more than 20 yards total,” the coach said. A key for C-M on Friday will be stopping East Marshall’s Sam Upah. Upah leads the Mustangs with 552 yards rushing and 125 yards receiving. “He’s a very good athlete,” Jones said of Upah. “He’s one of their big keys.” Overcoming size also will be important. “One thing I notice about (the Mustangs) is they’re big,” Jones said. “A couple of their kids are over 280 pounds. The line size is very big. That’s a concern, because we’re not that big. We’ll start hitting them with our smaller guys, and make them chase us.”

Lynnville-Sully vs. Earlham At Earlham, 7 p.m. L-S football coach John Kramer isn’t too worried about Friday’s date with the Class A No. 6 team. “They don’t concern me more than any other team,” Kramer said of the 5-0 (3-0) Cardinals. The reason is simple. “Anytime you face a team, you want to make sure you take care of the fundamentals,” Kramer said. “That will be very important this week especially. If we tackle well, we will be fine. I really like our chances of being able to move the ball.” A week ago the Hawks (2-3, 1-2) lost to Colo-Nesco due in part to missed tackles. This week the Hawks face a stiff test in Logan Slusher, who has rushed for 826 yards and seven TDs. “He’s a good back,” Kramer said. “But this is our fifth opponent this year with a great back. Our district is full of great backs. We have to get low and make the tackles.” On defense, Brad Puckett has nabbed five picks so far this year for Earlham. Countering that is L-S receiver Shane Jansen, who has caught 17 Josh Van Wyk passes for 350 yards. “Brad’s a good cornerback,” Kramer said. “You can’t avoid a kid because he’s a good player. We’re not going to avoid him, but we’re not going to attack him, either. You take what they give you. “If they want to focus their effort on stopping Shane, that’s fine,” Kramer added. “We have other split ends that can play.” Especially not with Van Wyk behind center. The senior has thrown for 442 yards, and leads L-S in rushing with 230 yards. “Josh is a good athlete and competitor,” Kramer said. “He’s a been a four-year contributor. Everyone is aware of Josh. Josh is a great leader, a great competitor who will help us anyway he can.”