Sept. 1, 2009

Dutch to Wisconsin for opener

PELLA—Coach Jeff McMartin said his Central College football squad is far from a finished product but he’s seeing signs of promise as the Dutch prepare for Saturday’s season opener at Lakeland College (Wis.).

Game time is 1 p.m. at Taylor Field in Lakeland.

On the air, on the Web—Trevor Castle will again 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.

The series— Central holds a 3-0 advantage in the all-time series with Lakeland, posting a 41-0 shutout in Pella last year. Prior to that, the teams’ last meeting was in 1973, when Central posted a 32-3 victory in its only previous trip to Sheboygan.

The Muskies—Lakeland rebounded from a 0-3 start to tie for second place in the Northern Athletics Conference with a 5-2 league mark. The Muskies were 5-5 overall and return a veteran club with 15 starters back, including eight on offense.

Junior offensive lineman Aaron Kraemer and junior defensive back Keith Woodson are both returning first-team all-conference picks. Woodson made 55 tackles with six interceptions and nine pass breakups. Defensive back Isiah Calhoun had five interceptions with seven breakups. Senior wide receiver Jacob Heinemeyer had 28 catches for 555 yards and five touchdowns.

Junior quarterback Jake Dworak completed 115 of 236 passes last year for 1,872 yards (234.0 per game) with 22 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.

“They’ve got a lot of people back,” McMartin said. “They’ll be an experienced team. They played us tough at the beginning of the game last year then maybe wore down a little bit. But we’ll be at their place now and they’ll be ready and excited to get the season started. We’ll have to play well to win.”

Returning leaders--The Dutch return 11 starters from last year’s 6-4 squad. The lone returning all-Iowa Conference pick is two-time first-team punter Kurtis Brondyke (junior, Clinton), who averaged 40.6 yards per kick last season, the third highest average in school history. Of Brondyke’s 57 punts, 17 landed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Defensive lineman Shane Wong (junior, Pleasant Hill, Southeast Polk HS) garnered honorable mention after leading the league with 10 sacks. He was Central’s third leading tackler with 64, including 41 solo stops.

Linebacker Greg Best (junior, Clive, Valley HS) is the top returning tackler with 66.

Running back David Zachary (senior, Des Moines, Dowling HS) was Central’s top rusher last season, although he wasn’t a starter. He gained 393 yards on 99 carries with one touchdown.

Summer rerun—A year ago, Zack Bandow (junior, Manilla, IKM HS) and Nate Snead (sophomore, Altoona, Southeast Polk HS) were part of a three-way preseason battle for the starting quarterback job. They’ve waged a similar tussle in the past two weeks.

Bandow and Jarred Lackey (junior, Somerton, Ariz., Cibola HS) eventually shared the job last year as Snead suffered a season-ending injury in the opener with Lakeland. Bandow completed 86 of 190 passes for 1,141 yards with six interceptions and eight touchdowns.

Now Snead has returned, allowing Lackey to move to running back. Bandow and Snead both saw extensive action in Saturday evening’s scrimmage against a squad of alumni players.

Early in the week, McMartin named Snead the starter.

“But (Bandow) is going to play some, too,” he said. “They both did some things well Saturday.”

He’s everywhere—A talented and versatile player, Lackey (6-foot-1, 210) has made more moves than Mayflower. He began last year at quarterback, moved to defensive stinger, then returned to quarterback following Snead’s injury and was a part-time starter. After being considered as an S-back this summer, Lackey spent part of the preseason at linebacker before being shifted to running back.

McMartin said the move was partially necessitated by preseason injuries at running back but also because he thinks it’s Lackey’s best fit.

“At linebacker we’ve got some other guys performing well, as Jarred was,” he said. “But we had a lack of depth at running back and Jarred’s got a lot of ability.”

While sharing time at quarterback last year Lackey proved to be a hard-nosed ballcarrier. He was Central’s third leading rusher with 255 yards on 82 carries and five touchdowns.

McMartin praised Lackey for his willingness to make the move.

“He’s a true team player,” he said.

Alumni challenge—McMartin said the return of some 60 alumni players Saturday made for a fun evening but also a productive one.

“It was great to have the alumni back, number one,” McMartin said. “They’re what family is all about and what we’re all about. But I thought they also gave us some great looks. They played hard and there were a lot of talented guys back on the field. They gave us a good test.

“It was good just to play somebody different than we had played against for 16 days.”

As is typically the case in scrimmages, results were mixed.

“We did some good things,” he said. “But we’ve got a lot of work to do in a lot of areas. It’s all correctable stuff, though.”

The Dutch defense has progressed more rapidly in the preseason, although the offense is improving. McMartin said the defensive backfield, which was ravaged by injuries last year, is much healthier and had an especially good camp.

“Defensively I’ve been happy with how we have played,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do but they’re really showing signs of doing some good things.”

Starting spots aren’t firmly nailed down yet at several positions, most notably wide receiver, McMartin said. Some uncertainty also remains in the offensive and defensive lines and at one of the linebacker positions.

Among nation’s winningest—McMartin enters his sixth season with a 43-12 record and ranks seventh among active NCAA Division III coaches in career winning percentage (.781).

Opening day—Central has won four straight season openers. McMartin’s only opening-day setback was in his head coaching debut, a 38-7 defeat against Augustana (Ill.) on Sept. 4, 2004. Since 1960, Central is 34-14-1 in season openers.

Record watch—Brondyke has pinned opponents inside the 20-yard line with his punts 42 times in two seasons. He’s just three shy of the school career record established by Brant VerMeer (2003-06). Kicker Jake Viggers (junior, Altoona, Southeast Polk HS) has connected on 21 of 26 field goals in two years. The career mark of 24 was established by Matt Schulte (1983-84).

Say cheese—Central’s last trip to Wisconsin was for a first-round NCAA Division III playoff contest at Wis.-Whitewater Nov. 19, 2005, a 34-14 defeat. The Dutch haven’t had a regular-season game in Wisconsin since playing at Ripon (Wis.) Sept. 15, 1984 and posting a 44-0 season-opening shutout win.

Rankings—Central was listed No. 13 in Lindy’s preseason Division III top 25, but the Dutch were absent from the rankings in other preseason magazines. Central is listed among those receiving votes for the D3football.com top 25.

Take highway 163—Seven players on Central’s 126-man roster are Southeast Polk High School graduates. In addition to Viggers, Snead and Wong are freshman defensive lineman Drew Bower (Des Moines), freshman linebacker Brian Johnson (Altoona) and sophomore wide receivers Jeremy Snead (Altoona) and Brett Wilkin (Pleasant Hill). The five upperclassmen are each listed in the starting lineup.

Probable starters
Sept. 5, 2009
OFFENSE
QB       6         Nate Snead (so., 6-2, 225)      

RB       23        David Zachary (sr., 5-9, 195)

SB        41        Preston West (so., 5-8, 230)                

TE        18        Jordan Leuschen (jr., 6-5, 230)           

WR      3         Jeremy Snead (so., 6-2, 215)              

WR      82        Alex Dittmer (sr., 6-2, 220)                

LT        75        Lee Schroeder (jr., 6-6, 300)               

LG       52        A.J. Santon (jr., 6-1, 285)                  

C          64        Kyle Wnenk (sr., 6-1, 325)                 

RG       51        Andrew Kneib (sr., 5-11, 275)

RT       74        Joey Shoemaker (jr., 6-4, 280)           

DEFENSE
DE       57        Aaron Steenhoek (jr., 6-1, 215)          

NG       94        Brady Hill (so., 6-3, 235)                    

DT       78        Jon McWilliams (sr., 6-2, 230)           

DE       53        Shane Wong (jr., 6-0, 230)

LB       8         Greg Best (jr., 6-2, 235)                      

LB       43        Zach Van Arkel (sr., 6-0, 215)

LB       42        Ryan Steinkamp (so., 5-11, 215)        

CB       12        Cody Baethke (sr., 5-10, 180)

CB       20        Kevin Good (sr., 5-9, 175)     

SS        4         Jake Petersen (so., 5-10, 195) 

FS        28        Ryan Schmidt (so., 5-10, 175)

Kickoff: 2 Jake Viggers (jr., 5-10, 150)
PAT/FG: 2 Jake Viggers (jr., 5-10, 150)
Holder: 5 Brett Wilkin (so., 5-9, 170)
Punter: 87 Kurtis Brondyke (jr., 6-4, 195)
Punt return: 5 Brett Wilkin (so., 5-9, 170)/11 Mike Furlong (so., 6-0, 180)
Kickoff return: 5 Brett Wilkin (so., 5-9, 170)/11 Mike Furlong (so., 6-0, 180)
Long snapper: 82 Alex Dittmer (sr., 6-2, 220)