Jarred Lackey Oct. 22, 2008

Central looks for back-to-back road wins

PELLA—Coach Jeff McMartin said the Central College football team turned in its best performance of the season Saturday. Now he wants them to improve on it. The Dutch (4-2 overall, 2-2 Iowa Conference) will try to accommodate him Saturday as they make another road trip, this time to Mount Vernon for a 1 p.m. Iowa Conference game at Cornell College (0-7 overall, 0-5 conference). Game time is 1 p.m. at Ash Park.  

Central delivered a resounding 27-10 league triumph at Coe College Saturday while Cornell fell at the Univ. of Dubuque 31-10.

On the air, on the Web—Mike Farley, filling in for Trevor Castle, will call the play-by-play on KRLS-FM (92.1) and the broadcast can also be accessed through Central’s Web site at www.central.edu/athletics or through www.kniakrls.com. A tape-delayed telecast will air in Pella on Mediacom cable channel 12 next Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Thursday at 7 p.m.

The series—Central leads the all-time series with Cornell 16-1, suffering its only defeat in 1978. The Dutch were 40-14 victors in Pella last year.

The Rams—Cornell battled Dubuque to a 10-10 draw through most of three quarters before the Spartans pulled away.

Sophomore quarterback Dallas Bush of Plano, Texas directs the Cornell offense. He ranks sixth in the league in passing yardage (137.4 avg.), completing 102 of 214 passes for 962 yards with two touchdowns and nine interceptions. He’s also rushed 83 times for 354 yards (50.6 avg.) and two scores.

Senior Travion Hardman is sixth in the league in rushing yards (55.4) and second in all-purpose yardage (149.0 avg.). Senior linebacker Leif Goleman and junior free safety Don Bladt are tied for 11th in the league in tackles with 58.

Cornell is averaging 269.1 yards per game while allowing 411.7.

McMartin said the Rams are making progress under coach Matt Dillon.

“They’re vastly improved,” McMartin said. “They’re getting better every week under coach Dillon and they’re playing a lot of teams tough. We need to be ready for a great battle.”

Best showing—Coe outgained Central Saturday 294-254 yards in total offense. But McMartin said he knows what he saw, which was his young squad’s most complete performance of 2008.

“That’s the best game we’ve played all year,” McMartin said. “We showed a lot of progress and we improved over the week before.

“We competed hard. We moved the ball well, we played great defense all day long and the special teams really made some great plays.”

The biggest play was a blocked punt by linebacker Ryan Thompson (senior, Montezuma) that set up Central’s first touchdown late in the first half. Thompson finished with a team-high 10 tackles while defensive stinger Shane Wong (sophomore, Pleasant Hill, Southeast Polk HS) had nine tackles, including two sacks, four tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.

Quarterback Jarred Lackey (sophomore, Somerton, Ariz., Cibola HS) had three touchdown passes at Coe Saturday in just his second start since moving over from defense. He completed nine of 17 passes for 135 yards with one interception and three touchdowns.

McMartin said Lackey is becoming more comfortable in his new role.

“Jarred gets excited,” McMartin said. “He’s a high-energy guy. But he’s settling in and playing good football.”

McMartin was especially happy with Lackey’s 40-yard touchdown strike to Matt VerMeer (senior, Montezuma) on a broken play. Lackey scrambled and found VerMeer in the end zone.

“It was a great catch,” McMartin said.

But there were still some causes for concern, such as some early turnovers and missed scoring opportunities.

“We have to keep improving, we have to continue to get better,” he said. “We can’t be satisfied. We can improve and we will improve.”                                                                                              

Notes—A win Saturday would assure the Dutch of at least a .500 season. The Dutch haven’t had a losing year since 1960…In NCAA Division III statistics last week, Kurtis Brondyke (sophomore, Clinton) ranked sixth in punting. He continues to lead the conference at 43.1 yards per kick.  Wong was tied for 48th in sacks but will likely move up this week after his two-sack effort Saturday lifted his average to 1.0. Kicker Jake Viggers (sophomore, Altoona, Southeast Polk HS) leads the league in field goals (1.0). He’s connected on 6-of-9. Viggers was tied for 36th in Division III and will likely move up this week as well after hitting two field goals Saturday.