Prep Football Previews: It's Homecoming week for three area schools

It's Homecoming week for three area schools as Newton hosts Clear Creek-Amana in Class 3A District 6, 2A No. 3 PCM welcomes Centerville for a District 8 tilt and Baxter plays 8-Man No. 9 Gladbrook-Reinbeck in a District 5 matchup.

Colfax-Mingo also is at home for a 1A District 7 game against 1A No. 8 Pleasantville.

Lynnville-Sully will not play this week after the school moved to 100 percent virtual learning on Tuesday.

Clear Creek-Amana (2-2, 1-1) at Newton (0-4, 0-2), 7:30 p.m.

The Cardinals showed improvement last week in a loss to 3A No. 1 Cedar Rapids Xavier.

This week, they get a Clear Creek-Amana team featuring one of the top players in the state of Iowa in T.J. Bollers.

Bollers, a Wisconsin commit, has thrown a touchdown pass, caught a TD pass and has 17.5 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss on defense.

"He does a really good job defensively of using his hands and shedding blocks. We need to make sure that we understand where he is lined up, as they do a good job of of mixing up his alignments," Newton football coach Andy Swedenhjelm said. "Offensively, they have moved him in the past few games to offensive tackle to help provide more size up front. He has done a good job there of engaging and blocking his opponents."

The Clippers lost 30-7 to Xavier and were defeated 28-27 by Mount Pleasant. Their wins came against Benton (49-3) and Muscatine (41-21).

The CCA defense stands out on paper. That unit has eight interceptions, five sacks and 19 tackles for loss in four games.

"They do a good job of moving around and generating pressure," Swedenhjelm said. "They try to win the individual battles up front, so we need to be ready to go in the trenches."

Ryan Navara is the CCA quarterback. He has thrown for 521 yards, rushed for 104 and scored seven total touchdowns.

His favorite target is Harrison Rosenberg, who has 13 catches for 273 yards and four TDs.

Alex Figueroa leads the rushing attack with 438 yards and five scores.

After Bollers, the defense is led by Gage Freeman, Nate Beckmann and Anthony Hennes.

Freeman has 25 tackles, one sack and three tackles for loss, Beckmann leads the team with 29 tackles and Hennes has 21.5 tackles and three tackles for loss.

Ben Swalis, who is the backup quarterback and has thrown for 135 yards and three scores, has four picks on defense.

CCA will be without three-star defensive end prospect Mark Gorbatenko, a transfer from Barrington, Illinois. Gorbatenko has been ruled ineligible by the Iowa High School Athletic Association, according to the Des Moines Register's Matthew Bain.

Gorbatenko, a 6-foot-5, 245-pound DE, has scholarship offers from Northern Iowa, Illinois State and Northern Illinois. He played in the Clippers' first four games and had seven tackles.

The Cardinals scored first and last against Xavier last week. Newton has been outscored 188-59 this year but the second quarter has been the most troublesome. The Cardinals are getting outscored 79-0 in the second frame.

Newton is winning the fourth quarter 35-14 this season.

The defense has only forced four turnovers in four games and is allowing 7.1 yards per carry by opposing team's ball carriers.

Junior Reese Hammons leads the defense with 29.5 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and one interception.

Quarterback Zay Arguello leads the offense with 244 rushing yards and 244 passing yards.

"Our kids have been too results focused instead of process focused, and when they start to understand that we have to be able to focus on the processes that help our program improve and get better, then the results start occurring," Swedenhjelm said. "I feel like our team has started to turn the corner in regards to what the required attitude and effort are in order to win.

"Practices have been great so far this week, with our kids being very focused and building their energy every day."

Homecoming can present football programs with extra distractions throughout the week. Swedenhjelm said the coaching staff has emphasized that Homecoming revolves around the football game.

"We have stressed the importance of making sure that our focus is on winning the football game on Friday, and we can leave all of the other events to the people who are not playing in this game," Swedenhjelm said.

Centerville (2-2, 2-0) at PCM (4-0, 2-0), 7:30 p.m.

The Mustangs have not been challenged much in 2020. Next up for third-ranked PCM is a Centerville squad which has won two straight games after starting 0-2.

PCM began the season No. 1 in 2A but has since dropped to No. 3 despite outscoring its last two opponents 128-0. Since the Week 1 win over Newton, the Mustangs are outscoring opponents 170-7.

Junior Aidan Anderson ranks third in 2A with 692 rushing yards and third in rushing touchdowns with eight.

Anderson is 100 yards from leading 2A but has carried the ball 37 times less than the class leader. He is averaging 11 yards per carry.

Centerville is coming off a 29-8 win over Saydel and a 45-7 victory over Albia.

The Big Reds are led by Sawyer Wardlow, who has 781 passing yards, 281 rushing yards and 15 total TDs. He's also thrown eight interceptions.

Nic Jewett leads the defense with 20 tackles, three sacks and three tackles for loss. Lucas Henderson has a team-high 26 tackles.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck (4-0, 4-0) at Baxter (1-3, 0-3), 7 p.m.

Since its Week 1 loss to BGM, the Bolts have held leads in four straight games.

Unfortunately, they only have one win to show for it.

Baxter is close to breaking through and a win over a ranked and undefeated Gladbrook-Reinbeck squad would be a big step for the program as the Bolts play a lot of underclassmen.

The Rebels downed Collins-Maxwell 8-6 last week in an unusually low scoring 8-man game. Baxter had a lead over Collins-Maxwell in the fourth quarter but couldn't hold on.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck has only passed for 46 yards on the season. The No. 1 priority for the Bolts' defense is Keagan Giesking, who leads 8-man with 842 rushing yards. He also has 10 rushing TDs, two passing TDs and 20 tackles and six tackles for loss on defense.

Drake Blakesley leads the Rebel defense with 36.5 tackles and a pick six.

Baxter is led by junior Rory Heer, who has 518 rushing yards, 273 receiving yards and nine total touchdowns. He also has 35.5 tackles on defense.

Pleasantville (4-0, 2-0) at Colfax-Mingo (0-4, 0-2), 7 p.m.

Colfax-Mingo could be down seven starters when it faces ranked Pleasantville on Friday night.

Without some key players in the lineup, the Tigerhawks have been outscored 107-8 the past two weeks and could be playing the best team in the district this week.

Pleasantville defeated Mount Ayr 13-6 and downed Lynnville-Sully 56-29.

Isaac Mann leads the Trojan run-oriented offense with 593 rushing yards and four TDs. Caylor Clark has 304 passing yards, 212 rushing yards and seven total TDs.

Matthew Kaufmann leads the defense with 17.5 tackles, one sack and 5.5 tackles for loss.

The Trojan defense has scored three touchdowns this season. Caylor has two picks on defense and Mann has 22 tackles and three fumble recoveries.

Sophomore Nate Jones lead the Tigerhawk defense with 18.5 tackles, three sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss. Senior Jayden Horrach leads the offense with 321 rushing yards.