Brett Wilkin Oct. 13, 2009

First-place Central hosts Luther

PELLA—An opponent that habitually causes frustration for the Central College football team is poised to do more of the same Saturday in Pella.      

Luther College last year handed the Dutch their worst regular-season defeat since 2004, a 26-7 setback at Decorah. The Norse visit for a 1 p.m. game at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium on the Central campus.

Luther is 3-2 overall and 2-1 in league play under second-year coach Mike Durnin, who also serves as the team’s offensive coordinator. The Norse are coming off a 19-10 victory at Cornell College Saturday.

Central, rated No. 8 in the D3football.com top 25, is 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the Iowa Conference after routing Simpson College at Indianola Saturday, 56-24. The Dutch were rated No. 8 in last week’s AFCA Division III poll. The next poll will be released Tuesday.

On the air, on the Web— A live video Webcast of the contest will be available through the Central athletics Web site at www.central.edu/athletics, with live stats also offered. 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 or through www.kniakrls.com.

The series--Prior to last year’s Luther win, the victory margin in each of the previous five Luther-Central meetings was eight points or less, with two of the five games going into overtime. Central leads the all-time series 47-22-1 and has won 26 of the last 28 games.

The Norse--The Luther attack is built around slippery sophomore quarterback Chris Reynolds. Last year Reynolds rushed for 101 yards against Central on 12 carries with one touchdown, and also completed 16 of 23 passes for 199 yards and a score. In 2009, Reynolds is fifth in the conference in rushing with 373 yards on 69 carries, an average of 5.4 yards a rush and 74.6 per game. He’s also eighth in passing, completing 65-of-129 for 780 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions.

“He’s a really tough player to defend,” coach Jeff McMartin said. “He’s able to throw well and run well. He ran it all over the place against us last year. We had trouble containing him. But he’s got some weapons, they’ve got a big offensive line and they know how to use him.”

Linebacker Kyle McGivney was huge in the win over Cornell with 17 tackles and two interceptions. He’s the league’s tackle leader with 64, an average of 12.8 per game, and has 28 solo stops.

“They’ve got a very good linebacking corps,” McMartin said. “Their defensive line is very big and allows their linebackers to make plays. Their entire front seven is very, very good. Their defensive backs are good as well. I’m really impressed with their cornerback (Josh Patterson).”

Mike FurlongNo let up—Some coaches claim a letdown is unavoidable at some point in the season. McMartin isn’t one of them.

“I’d like to think that we won’t have a lull,” he said. “I think our players understand what we’re competing for each game. We want the players to just focus on what they have to do that week. We spend a lot of time talking about that. We don’t want to get caught up in our record or our ranking but instead really locking into each game, each week, each practice. We work on process goals rather than the product.”

Return game—Central’s kickoff return team continues to shine. The Dutch returned three kickoffs for 130 yards Saturday, including a 60-yarder by receiver Mike Furlong (sophomore, Davenport, Assumption HS). Receiver Brett Wilkin (sophomore, Pleasant Hill, Southeast Polk HS) ranks first in the conference, averaging 27.6 yards per return. Furlong, with seven returns, hasn’t had enough chances to be ranked, but is averaging 33.6 yards and the Dutch are averaging a league-best 30.1 yards overall.

“We’ve got some good athletes blocking and running with the ball,” McMartin said. “The guys are really blocking hard, staying on their blocks and giving extra effort. We get a lot of reps on returns in practice because we think it’s important.”

Running wild—Running back David Zachary (senior, Des Moines, Dowling HS), who gained 746 yards combined over the past three seasons, already has a league-leading 723 through six games in 2009. He’s averaging 120.5 yards a game and 6.8 yards a carry with 11 touchdowns. Zachary needs just two more rushing touchdowns to join Central’s all-time season top 10. With another 254 rushing yards in the next four games, he would become the ninth Dutch back to gain 1,000 in a season.

Other leaders—Central tops the conference in several other categories. Despite giving up a season-high 232 rushing yards at Simpson, the Dutch are still first in the league in rushing defense, allowing 85.2 yards per game. Central is also first in total defense (318.5 yards), total offense (428.7 yards), rushing offense (270.0 yards), scoring offense (39.7 points), scoring defense (15.8 points), sacks (21), sacks allowed (4), third-down conversions (28-82, 34.1 percent) and red zone scoring (27-30, with 22 touchdowns).

Individually, quarterback Nate Snead (sophomore, Altoona, Southeast Polk HS) is fourth in rushing (76.3 yards) behind Zachary. Quarterback Zack Bandow (junior, Manilla, IKM HS) is first in pass efficiency (17.5), completing 34 of 52 passes (65.4 percent) for 406 yards with one interception and four touchdowns. Zachary is first in scoring (66 points) while kicker Jake Viggers (junior, Altoona, Southeast Polk HS) is first in kick scoring (43 points) and field goals (6-8).

Defensive lineman Shane Wong (junior, Pleasant Hill, Southeast Polk HS), who had another quarterback sack at Simpson Saturday, is still the league leader with nine. He’s also first in tackles for loss with 11.5.

Turnover-free--Central didn’t commit a turnover at Simpson, the fourth time in six games the Dutch have been turnover-free. Quarterback Nate Snead (sophomore, Altoona, Southeast Polk HS), who was completed 5 of 5 passes,  has thrown 58 consecutive passes without an interception, including 37 completions.

“Taking care of the ball is very important to us,” McMartin said. “That’s something we really strive to do every week.”

Irrelevant stat--Despite the 32-point victory margin Saturday, Central was outgained at Simpson 466 yards to 409. In the last 25 games in which the Dutch have been outgained, Central has won 21 times, including twice this season.

Relevant stat—At 4-0 in league play, the Dutch are alone in first place for the first time this season. But it remains a wide-open race. Five of the league’s nine teams are within a game of the lead. Central still has to face three of the other four top teams in the standings.

Rookie report—Back-to-back lopsided victories have given the Dutch an opportunity to look at younger players. Among the freshmen seeing the most extensive time are defensive back Keith Rush (Griswold) and running back Ross Doehrmann (Williamsburg). At Simpson Saturday Rush made six tackles while Doehrmann gained 41 yards and two touchdowns on six carries.

McMartin noted that he’s encouraged by what he’s seeing from several other first-year players as well.

“We feel really good about our freshman class,” he said. “Some get an opportunity to play more right away because of the position they play or the situation. But in a couple of years a lot of these guys are going to be impact players.”

Central’s junior varsity squad took a 5-1 record into a 6 p.m. game with Grand View at Pella Monday.