Kevin White,
kevin.white@nonpareilonline.com
Just three weeks ago, Iowa Western receiver Vincent Perry struggled through perhaps the worst game of his athletic career.
The University of Tennessee transfer dropped multiple passes and lost a fumble in the Reivers' 21-19 loss at Butler. The last time he remembers playing so poorly was his freshman year of high school.
Perry made that seem like a distant memory on Saturday, turning all three of his catches into touchdowns in No. 3 Iowa Western's 55-13 thrashing of Dodge City at Lewis Central's Titan Stadium. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound slot receiver out of Nashville, Tennessee, finished with 118 receiving yards after touchdown grabs of 19, 72 and 27 yards.
"We knew coming into this thing that we were going to have to have those slots win some one-on-one matchups, and he certainly did that,'' he said.
With a 484-yard offensive performance, Iowa Western improved to 5-1 entering next week's game at defending national champion Garden City. Dodge City dropped to 3-4.
Sophomore quarterback Kai Locksley turned in another spectacular performance, helping the Reivers to a 27-7 halftime lead. The 6-foot-4, 200-pounder out of Fort Washington, Maryland, accounted for six touchdowns in all. The University of Texas transfer completed nine of 12 passes for 147 yards and the three scores to Perry, and he also carried 11 times for 117 yards, including touchdown runs of seven, 38 and nine yards.
Locksley's poise, decision-making and running ability were far too much for the Conquistadors to handle.
"He's confident. He doesn't let too much affect him,'' Strohmeier said. "Hat's off to him. He's making plays. He'd probably like a couple plays back, but for what he can do and what he brings to the table, it's pretty impressive.''
Locksley's longest scoring run put the Reivers ahead 21-0 with 57 seconds left in the first quarter. However, Dodge City's Caden Walters hit Austin Watkins with a 39-yard scoring strike to pull the visitors within 21-7 at the 8:05 mark of the second.
Two plays later, Perry got behind the defense and hauled in the 72-yard touchdown from Locksley.
It was an impressive performance after an off week for the Reivers.
"I feel like the bye week helped a lot,'' said Perry, a former three-star recruit who scored 27 touchdowns in his senior year at Hillsboro High School in Nashville. "We were just clicking on all cylinders.''
Locksley hit Perry in stride on a 26-yard seam route to push the Reivers' lead to 34-7 with 11:28 left in the third, and the hosts coasted the rest of the way.
Tailback Mekhi Sargent matched Locksley with 117 rushing yards, on 16 attempts.
The Iowa Western defense held Dodge City to 116 rushing yards on 36 attempts, or 3.1 yards per carry. Walters threw for 248 yards and two scores, which Strohmeier said was too much, although he credited his team with a couple of key stops inside its own 30.
Defensive end Chester Graves led the charge with six solo tackles and one assist, including two solo tackles for losses.
"I saw him make the quarterback pitch on the option and make the tackle on the guy he pitched it to,'' Strohmeier said. "The biggest thing with not just him, but other guys, is the effort. If you play with great effort, you can do a lot of things. Now you put talent with effort? Now it's something special.''
Perry said the Reivers received an energy boost last week when they jumped from ninth to third in the national rankings.
"That kind of motivated us coming into this game, to dominate them and try and get to No. 1,'' he said.
Dodge City (3-4) 0 7 0 6–13
Iowa Western (5-1) 21 6 7 21–55
IW: Kai Locksley 7 run (Eddie Ogamba kick)
IW: Vincent Perry 19 pass from Locksley (Ogama kick)
IW: Locksley 38 run (Ogamba kick)
DC: Austin Watkins 39 pass from Caden Walters (Devonta Guillory kick)
IW: Perry 72 pass from Locksley (kick failed)
IW: Perry 26 pass from Locksley (Ogamba kick)
IW: Locksley 9 run (Ogamba kick)
DC: Watkins 24 pass from Walters (kick blocked)
IW: Bennett Spry 14 pass from Kurt Walding (Ogamba kick)
IW: Jacob Zachary 3 run (Ogamba kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: DC, Rodney Murphy 10-50, Tyler Minor 13-39, A.J. Walker 9-15, Caden Walters 2-6, Brandon Penerton 1-5, Tyrice Richie 1-1. IW, Mekhi Sargent 16-117, Kai Locksley 11-117, Hunter Pinegar 1-26, Markeis Hallback 3-24, T-Boy White 6-11, Jacob Zachary 3-5.
PASSING: DC, Caden Walters 25-43-1, 248 yards, 2 TDs. IW, Kai Locksley 9-12-1, 147 yards, 3 TDs; Kurt Walding 4-10-0, 38 yards, 1 TD.
RECEIVING: Austin Watkins 4-86, Caleb Mills 8-80, Braxton Haley 4-28, Jerry Hanks 2-28, Tyler Minor 4-15, A.J. Walker 2-6, Eugene Minter 1-5. IW, Vincent Perry 3-118, Bennett Spry 2-24, T-Boy White 3-16, Mekhi Sargent 3-16, Tyler Horstman 1-8, Joe Jordan 1-3.
TACKLES (solos-assists), DC, Trevon Gauno 6-0, Lakia Henry 5-1, Myles Meyer 5-0, Nazier Wright 5-0. IW, Chester Graves 6-1, Jabari Meyers 6-1, Ky'el Hemby 6-0, Colton Dinsdale 5-0, Ke'Shan Pennamon 5-0.
