Zack Bandow scramble Sept. 20, 2008

Late field goal spoils Central comeback

PELLA—Spencer Herzber’s 41-yard field goal with 41 seconds left allowed Wartburg College to spoil a spirited Central College football comeback in a 19-17 Iowa Conference season opener. That snapped Central’s 28-game regular-season win streak, the second-longest in school history. It was the first Dutch defeat since a 17-14 loss to Coe College Sept. 17, 2005 and Wartburg’s first win over Central since a 14-10 decision at Pella Oct. 30, 2004.  It also allows Wartburg (2-1 overall, 1-0 conference) to get an early advantage in the league race.    

But the young Dutch (1-1 overall, 0-1 conference) didn’t go down easily.  Trailing 16-3 midway through the third quarter, Central’s offense began to stir. A 40-yard Zack Bandow (sophomore, Manilla, IKM HS) strike to Matt VerMeer (senior, Montezuma) opened a 9-play, 67-yard TD drive. Defensive stinger Jarred Lackey (sophomore, Somerton, Ariz., Cibola HS) took some snaps at quarterback as well and muscled his way into the end zone from 3 yards out.

Following a Central defensive stop, the Dutch moved 80 yards in 14 plays with Bandow hitting Cam Waugh (senior, Fort Collins, Colo., Loveland HS) on a 9-yard touchdown pass for a sudden 17-16 lead with 11:35 left in the game.

A Lackey interception ended Wartburg’s next drive at the Central 21, but the Dutch failed to get a first down and Matt VerMeer receptionthe Knights gained another chance, setting up Herzber’s winning kick.

Still Central was able to mount one last threat. Central moved to the Wartburg 45-yard line with 15 seconds left when Bandow was hit as he threw. Wartburg’s Blake Suckow fielded the errant pass to ice the game.

Wartburg was the preseason conference favorite and had fallen to Central in a title-deciding contest at Waverly last year. But coach Jeff McMartin liked how his young club responded in front of an overflow homecoming throng at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium.

“I thought we handled the pressure of this weekend just fine,” he said. “The errors that we made were errors of execution and not because of the pressure. We just made too many mistakes. We had our chances.”

Wartburg had a 367-313 yard advantage in total offense, ending another remarkable Dutch streak. In the previous 15 regular-season games in which Central was outgained, the Dutch were winners.

Wartburg was limited to 93 yards on the ground but quarterback Nick Yordi completed 12 of 21 passes for 274 yards, including a 77-yard scoring bomb to Jason Roskam. Central sacked Yordi three times and intercepted him twice.

Running back Dustin Veldhuizen (senior, Oskaloosa) rushed for 47 yards on 11 carries as Central gained 114 yards on the ground. Bandow completed 16 of 39 passes for 199 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was sacked just once. VerMeer had six psas receptions for 104 yards and punter Kurtis Brondyke (sophomore, Clinton) averaged 47.0 yards on six punts.

Dustin VeldhuizenDefensive lineman J.J. Owens (senior, Traer, North Tama HS) topped the tackle charts with nine, including six solos and one sack. Linebacker Ryan Thompson (senior, Montezuma) had seven stops while freshman defensive back Ryan Schmidt (Keswick, Tri-County HS), defensive back Brett Wilkin (sophomore, Pleasant Hill, Southeast Polk HS) and linebacker Greg Best (sophomore, Clive, Valley HS) each had six tackles.

Central plays its final non-conference game of the 2008 slate next Saturday, journeying to Albion College (Mich.) for a first-ever meeting with the Britons, who are 1-2 following a 30-13 loss at Millikin University (Ill.) Saturday. Game time is 1 p.m. (Eastern Time).

McMartin said his club will immediately turn its focus ahead.

“From this point on we need to take it one game at a time,” he said. “We’re going to put everything into Albion next week and continue to give everything for each game. There’s a lot of football left to be played.”