The Daily Nonpareil
FORT DODGE — Penalties, mental mistakes and turnovers Saturday resulted in the Iowa Western football team's first loss of the season at Iowa Central, a 28-26 setback.
The Reivers racked up 114 penalty yards after being flagged 11 times in the game. They also suffered two interceptions and were unable to force any Iowa Central turnovers.
Despite the miscues, the NJCAA No. 2 Reivers had their chances. Down 28-20 with under three minutes to play, IWCC pulled within 28-26 after quarterback Cam Thomas found Corey Reed Jr. on a nine-yard touchdown pass.
But the two-point conversion failed after Thomas was stopped short of the goal line on a run-pass option play.
The Reivers had yet another opportunity to escape Fort Dodge with a win moments later. Following a failed onside kick attempt, the defense forced a three-and-out. As Iowa Central was lining up to punt with a little more than a minute remaining on the clock, Iowa Western was flagged for leaping over the punt shield, resulting in a 15-yard penalty which allowed Iowa Central to run out the clock.
Iowa Western's 10-year streak of winning the Kinney Cup ended with the loss.
"At the end of the day, we didn't make the plays, and they did," Iowa Western coach Scott Strohmeier said. "We shot ourselves in the foot a lot, but you've got to give credit to them. I knew they were going to be ready to go. Everybody's game is their national championship game against us. Everybody wants to knock us off.
"It wasn't that we weren't ready to play. We had some crucial penalties on special teams. We had some crucial mistakes offensively and some busted plays defensively. It wasn't our day."
The Reivers outgained the Tritons 462-298. They also had a successful day running the ball, netting 327 rushing yards. Sophomore running back ZaQuandre White finished with 274 yards on 20 carries, good for 13.7 yards per carry. Redshirt freshman Brian Snead added 50 yards on the ground and a pair of touchdowns.
While the loss hurts, many opportunities remain, especially given the early-season results of some of the highest-ranked teams in the NJCAA preseason poll. Top-ranked East Mississippi, No. 3 Garden City (Kansas) and No. 4 Jones (Mississippi) have each suffered a loss before the calendar turns to September.
"We've got nine more to play, and Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 all lost," Strohmeier said. "So it's a wide open deal. Not one game is going to define the season.
"We're going to find out this week what we're made of."
Iowa Western (1-1) 10 7 0 9 — 26
Iowa Central (1-1) 12 6 3 7 — 28
IW: Chase Contreraz FG 44
IC: Colin Swygman FG 35
IC: Team safety
IC: Demarcus Irons 7 run (Swygman kick)
IW: Brian Snead 9 run (Contreraz kick)
IW: Snead 3 run (Contreraz kick)
IC: Irons 10 run (2-pt attempt failed)
IC: Swygman FG 37
IW: Contreraz FG 36
IC: Terrell Carey 22 pass from Irons (Swygman kick)
IW: Corey Reed 9 pass from Cam Thomas (2-pt attempt failed)
