Oct. 19, 2009

Central faces road challenge at Loras

PELLA—In its quest for an Iowa Conference title and an unbeaten regular season, the No. 7-rated Central College football team must take to the road for two of its final three games, starting Saturday at Loras College in Dubuque.

The Dutch are 7-0 overall and 5-0 in league play after overpowering Luther College Saturday in Pella, 35-17. The Dutch were ranked No. 8 in last week’s AFCA Division III coaches’ poll and are No. 7 in the latest D3football.com rankings. Loras had the weekend off and is 2-4 overall with a 2-2 league record.

Game time is 1 p.m. in the Rock Bowl on the Loras campus.

On the air, on the Web—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.

The series—Central holds a 25-5 lead in the all-time series with Loras, which began in 1932. The Duhawks outscored Central in Pella last season 31-28, ending a four-game Dutch win streak in the series.

The Duhawks—Loras caught McMartin’s eye with a 43-14 thrashing of the Univ. of Dubuque in its most recent outing Oct. 10. Sophomore linebacker Eric Meyer was named the conference male athlete of the week after that one with 12 tackles, including nine solos, while also blocking a punt, forcing two fumbles, recovering a fumble and breaking up a pass. He’s made a team-high 34 tackles for the year.

Sophomore quarterback Vaughn Gesing has completed 90 of 156 passes for 1,093 yards with six touchdowns and nine intereptions. He sat out a 27-13 loss to Buena Vista Oct. 3 because of injury, but came back to complete 21 of 31 passes for 299 yards and three touchdowns against Dubuque.

“He’s the real deal,” McMartin said.

Junior John Ingersoll is fourth in the league in receptions with 33 for 461 yards and four TDs. It’s a pass-oriented Loras attack, gaining 205.2 yards per game through the air and 68.8 yards rushing.

Mike FurlongSenior defensive tackle Kale McCormick is second in the conference in tackles for loss with eight for 28 yards. Senior defensive tackle Kenny Kikilas has three sacks. The Duhawks have been outgained 335.8 yards-274.0 and outscored 28.5-22.8.

“Loras is a very good football team,” McMartin said. “I don’t evaluate a team by its record, I evaluate what I see on film and Loras looks great.

“They’ve got two good running backs with very different styles. They’re big and strong up front--their offensive line is really good. Their wide receivers seem to be getting better every week.

“Defensively they’re big and physical. The defensive line can really make plays. They bring it every down. The linebackers are active and the defensive backs are very physical.

“This will probably the most physical game we’ve played.”

League leaders—Central is dominating the conference team statistics, leading in numerous categories, including:

Scoring offense—39.0 points per game
Total offense—425.6 yards
Rushing offense—272.9 yards
Rushing defense—76.1 yards
Kickoff returns—26.8 yards
Kickoff coverage (average net kickoff yards)—40.8 yards
Sacks—3.29 (23)
Sacks allowed—0.57 (4)
1st downs—22.6
3rd-down conversions—51.7 percent (45-87)
Opponent 3rd-down conversions—34.0 percent (33-97)
4th-down conversions—75.0 percent (3-4)
Red zone conversions—88.6 percent (31-35, 26 TDs)

The Dutch have some individual leaders as well. Running back David Zachary (senior, Des Moines, Dowling Catholic HS) is tops in rushing with 128.1 yards per game and is second in scoring at 9.4 points. Jake Viggers (junior, Altoona, Southeast Polk HS) is first in kick scoring with 6.9 points and in field goals with 0.86 per game (6-8). Defensive lineman Shane Wong (sophomore, Pleasant Hill, Southeast Polk HS) is first in sacks with 1.29 per game (9 for 60 yards) and first in tackles for loss with 1.64 (11.5 for 66 yards).

tackle“We’re showing improvement every week,” McMartin said. “Still, as we watch the film, we can see that there are a lot of things we can do to improve and we need to do that.”

Schueler back—Defensive back Corben Schueler (senior, Granger, Woodward-Granger HS), Central’s fourth-leading tackler last year with 63 and the team interceptions co-leader with three, missed the first five games of the season with injury. He returned in a limited role in a 56-24 win at Simpson College Oct. 10 and made four solo tackles Saturday.

“We’re glad he’s back,” McMartin said. “We need his leadership as well as his playing ability. He’s been getting more reps each week. I’m very happy for him and the team’s happy to have him back.”

The news isn’t as good for the defensive line. Holden Blythe (sophomore, Williamsburg), who stepped in as a starter following an injury to Aaron Steenhoek (junior, Pella), was injured Saturday. He was replaced by promising freshman Drew Bower (Des Moines, Southeast Polk HS). Bower made two tackles Saturday and was credited with a half sack. Return dates for Steenhoek and Blythe are not certain.

Good half—After leading Luther 14-7 at the half Saturday, Central broke open the contest, stretching its lead to 35-10 midway through the fourth quarter. The Dutch defense gave up 252 passing yards but limited Luther to just 22 rushing yards and had a pair of second-half quarterback sacks. McMartin said the defense fared better as the day progressed.

“Give Luther a lot of credit,” McMartin said. “They had a good game plan coming in and we had to make a few adjustments. But our guys did a very good job of taking away we felt were their strengths.

“I thought the guys played hard all day. They kept battling, which is what you have to do on defense. The way offenses are today, people are going to move the ball. Defensively, you have to take the approach that every team is going to make some plays but you just have to keep battling.”                                   

Another high for Zachary—For the third time this season, running back David Zachary (senior, Des Moines, Dowling Catholic HS) established a new career best for rushing yards and had a high for carries as well, gaining 174 yards on 28 attempts. He’s gained 897 yards on 135 carries, an average of 6.6 yards per rush. He needs 103 yards to become the ninth Central player to gain 1,000 yards in a season. It’s happened 12 times overall--Mark Kacmarynski did it three times (1993, 1994, 1996) while Don Taylor (1976, 1977) and Vance Schuring (2005, 2006) did it twice.

"David has been really good in two aspects,” McMartin said. “He's been able to find the hard yards when we need to--he's been strong enough and capable of getting those yards--and he's also doing a great job of seeing things. He can pop some big runs. He's being patient and his vision is very good right now. He's seeing some holes and opportunities to make some big plays."

Central, which averaged just 111.4 yards rushing last year, is rushing for 272.9 yards in 2009. The Dutch gained 280.4 yards total offense in 2008 and are up to 425.6.

7-0 starts--This is the 14th time in the past 26 years that Central has started the season at 7-0. In 11 of the previous 13 occasions, the Dutch have gone on to complete an undefeated regular season.

Central has scored 35 or more points in five of seven games. The Dutch are outscoring opponents 39.0-16.0.