Courtesy - Kevin White

COUNCIL BLUFFS — For the past eight weeks, Nick Singleton languished on the fringe of the Iowa Western football program.

The freshman receiver from Gray, Georgia, dislocated his collarbone in the Reivers' second game against Hutchinson. He assumed he'd be taking a medical redshirt.

"I felt like I wasn't on the team," he said. "I felt like they didn't need me. I just felt down."

 With Singleton's rehab progressing nicely and the Reivers in dire need of receivers, they turned to Singleton again this week. He responded with seven catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns as No. 1 Iowa Western stayed on course for a trip to the national championship game with a 62-14 trouncing of Iowa Central at Titan Stadium.

"It felt really good to be back on the field with my brothers," said the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Singleton, who was the ninth player in Georgia prep history to surpass 3,000 career receiving yards. "I feel like I'm a step slower, but it's going to get better."

In the 100th game in Reiver program history, Iowa Western improved to 8-1 this season, with only trips to Ellsworth and College of DuPage remaining on the regular-season schedule. The Reivers are 81-19 in nearly nine seasons, all under coach Scott Strohmeier.

"I remember it like it wasn't that long ago," said a smiling Strohmeier, who said he "would have taken 81 on the spot" out of the first 100 when the program was born.

"You have a vision of building something and being dominant," he added. "Someday we'll look back on the first 100 and be like, 'That's pretty impressive.' A lot of great players. A lot of great coaches."

In the milestone game, the Reivers stumbled for a stretch of the first half against the Tritons, who dropped to 0-9 with their 24th straight loss dating to 2015. When B.J. Phillips connected on a second deep touchdown pass to Mikal Baker, this one from 57 yards out, the Tritons took an unlikely 14-13 lead with 7:52 left in the first half.

Their lead lasted 14 seconds. Vincent Perry returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards to paydirt, triggering a scoring flurry. Kai Locksley hit a wide-open Singleton along the right sideline, and he did the rest to complete a 26-yard score with 3:12 left before the break.

"It was a wheel route," Singleton said. "I slowed down and hit him with a move and scored."

Joe Jordan caught his second touchdown pass from Locksley, an 8-yard reception, with 28 seconds left to send the Reivers to the intermission with a 34-14 lead.

Locksley lofted a 34-yard rainbow to Singleton in the end zone to make it 41-14 at the 9:49 mark of the third quarter. That ended Locksley's day. He finished 22 of 29 for 262 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.

With Mekhi Sargent sidelined by a knee injury, T-Boy White shouldered the majority of the rushing load and turned in his best performance, carrying 22 times for 143 yards and a score and showing stronger between-the-tackles production than Iowa Western has seen from him.

"I give our kids credit, because as soon as they got life with a 14-13 lead, we come back with a kickoff (return), and that's deflating," Strohmeier said. "We have high demands. I was like, 'Guys, we're OK. It's 14-13.' If we weren't doing anything and they were smashing it at us, it's a whole different deal. But we had control of the game."

Iowa Western rolled up 571 total yards to claim the Kinney Cup that is presented to the winner for the eighth straight year. It entered the game second nationally at 534.5 per contest. The Reivers allowed only 203 total yards, with Ky'el Hemby and Willie O'Hara (eight apiece) along with Malcolm Lee (seven) leading the tackle chart.

But the Reiver most appreciative of being on the field had to be Singleton.

"We probably wouldn't have (brought him back) if it wasn't for Tuesday or Wednesday, when we had no wide receivers," Strohmeier said. "When that came and we brought it up to Nick, he was like, 'I'm in. I'm playing.' You can see the type of playmaking ability that he has."

Iowa Central (0-9)...............7 7 0 0—14

At Iowa Western (8-1)........10 24 14 14—62

IW: Kai Locksley 5 run (Eddie Ogamba kick)

IW: FG Ogamba 33

IC: Mikal Baker 52 pass from B.J. Phillips (Jose Fuentes kick)

IW: FG Ogamba 23

IC: Baker 57 pass from Phillips (Fuentes kick)

IW: Vincent Perry 95 kickoff return (Ogamba kick)

IW: Nick Singleton 26 pass from Locksley (Ogamba kick)

IW: Joe Jordan 8 pass from Locksley (Ogamba kick)

IW: Singleton 34 pass from Locksley (Ogamba kick)

IW: Jordan 15 pass from Locksley (Ogamba kick)

IW: Jacob Zachary 8 run (Ogamba kick)

IW: T-Boy White 11 run (Ogama kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing: IC, B.J. Phillips 12-20, E'Quan Dorris 11-18, Roman Edwards 6-16, Tyreke Williams 1-0, Justin Daubaris 2-(-1), Carlton Todd 1-(-2), Taylor Holston 2-(-8). IW, T-Boy White 22-143, Kai Locksley 10-46, Jacob Zachary 9-40, Kurt Walding 3-17, team 1-0.

Passing: IC, B.J. Phillips 8-18-0, 103 yards, 2 TDs. IW, Kai Locksley 22-29-0, 262 yards, 3 TDs; Kurt Walding 6-10-0, 63 yards, 1 TD.

Receiving: IC, Mikal Baker 2-109, Calton Todd 3-17, Jose Fuentes 1-14, Chris McLeod 1-10, Kurt Trumm 1-5, Devon Clark 1-5, Jaden Foster 1-0. IW, Nick Singleton 7-127, Vincent Perry 10-94, Joe Jordan 3-32, Tahj Telfair 2-23, Kolten Wilwerding 2-17, Jacob Zachary 1-16, True Thompson 2-15, Deshaun Quinn 1-1.

Tackles (solos-assists): IC, Logan Stewart 9-0, Brandon Hickerson-Rooks 8-1. IW, Ky'el Hemby 6-2, Willie O'Hara 5-3, Malcolm Lee 4-3.