Wayne running game too much for Tigerhawks

COLFAX — For the second straight week, Colfax-Mingo’s football team had the ball late in the fourth quarter of a one-possession game and a chance to take a lead.

The Tigerhawks were unsuccessful both times and the end result on Friday night was a 42-29 loss to Wayne in a non-district contest in their home opener.

“To have the ball in our hands late, we need to find a way to finish,” Lietz said. “We’ll get there. We’ll go back to work. The season is not over. It’s not how we start, it’s how we finish.”

Colfax-Mingo trailed 34-29 after Brady Berkey threw his third touchdown pass of the night with 7:57 to play in the game.

The Tigerhawk defense came through, forcing Wayne to turn the ball over on downs. The offense got the ball back with 4:16 to play but three incomplete passes and a false start stalled the drive.

Chase Kiefer put the exclamation point on the win three plays later with a 22-yard TD run. Kiefer, last season’s rushing leader in the state of Iowa, rushed for 250 yards and four scores on 32 carries in the game.

“He’s a horse. The kid is dang good,” C-M coach Jeff Lietz about Keifer. “We did a decent job at times but didn’t tackle well overall. We gave him too many openings. He keeps coming at you.”

Brady Berkey threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns but completed only 18-of-44 passes through the air and tossed an interception in the end zone just before halftime to keep momentum on Wayne’s side.

Colfax-Mingo (1-2) answered Wayne’s first-quarter touchdown with a Jayden Horrach 4-yard rushing TD in the first quarter. Those were the Tigerhawks’ only points in the first half and they trailed 22-8 at the break.

Horrach finished with 109 yards on 20 carries in the game.

The Tigerhawks forced a Wayne turnover to begin the second half and then Berkey hit Trystin Ross for a 17-yard TD early in the third to trim the Falcons’ lead to 22-15.

Ross finished with 140 yards and two TDs on nine catches.

“He’s a great leader and works his tail off,” Lietz said about Ross. “Every coach loves to have a Trystin Ross. He goes hard every play no matter what. I am glad to see him having the year that he is having.”

Dayton Jacobsen followed C-M’s score with a 35-yard TD run and Kiefer added a 32-yard TD run following a Colfax-Mingo fumble on the kickoff. Both teams committed three turnovers in the contest.

Colfax-Mingo’s other two touchdowns came on a 27-yard TD pass from Berkey to Zach Steenhoek in the third quarter and a 40-yard TD pass from Berkey to Ross in the fourth quarter.

On the pass to Ross, the ball initially bounced off the hand of Andrew Meinhart as he jumped into the air for an attempted catch. The ball fell into Ross’ hands and he took it the rest of the way to trim the Falcons’ lead to five.

That’s as close as the Tigerhawks would get as Kiefer finished off the home team with his late TD run.

Jacobsen added 94 rushing yards and a TD and also returned a punt 35 yards for a score that put the Falcons (2-2) ahead for good in the second quarter.

“Our defense was in the right spots. That didn’t happen last week,” Lietz said. “Now we just need to finish. We forced some turnovers and got the ball back for us late with a chance to win.”

Steenhoek hauled in six catches for 126 yards and a TD. Berkey also rushed for 43 yards.

Justin Myers finished with a team-high and career-high 10.5 tackles for the C-M defense. Andres Villegas added 6.5 tackles, Ross tallied six tackles, Meinhart collected 5.5 tackles and Colton Lind and Jesse Allen each had five tackles.

Wayne passed the ball just twice in the game. The only completion was a 29-yard pass from Bret Whitehall to Keifer. The Falcons committed seven penalties, but the defense had four sacks and forced three turnovers.

Colfax-Mingo will try to get back on the winning track against Lynnville-Sully at 7 p.m. on Friday in Colfax. It’s the Tigerhawks’ homecoming game.