We're Talkin' Playoffs! Reivers Ride Unbeaten Record Into First NJCAA Playoff

Council Bluffs, IA

It's been a waiting game for Iowa Western Football since their thrilling, late game, road victory over #15 Georgia Military to start November.  The Reivers earned the #1 spot in the NJCAA poll after their 4th Top 15 win of the season and third on the road and each week, the Reivers have watched the teams around them shuffle while their undefeated record seemingly protected them from shifting out of the top spot.

Add to that that a pair of home games to close the regular season were called off when the two scheduled opponents (Air Force Prep and McDougle Tech) backed out of agreements to come to Council Bluffs to face the Reivers.  A road tilt with Northwestern College's reserves was added to replace one of the games, but the Reivers haven't seen their home field since an October 30th win over 6th ranked Iowa Central.

Tuesday the NJCAA finally made official that the Reivers (9-0, 4-0) made the inaugural four-team playoff as the number one seed and would host again, this time in a rematch with 4th ranked Snow College (7-1).  Top-ranked IWCC will host the Badgers at 2:30 PM on Saturday, December 4th at Titan Stadium in Council Bluffs.  The winner of the match-up will face the winner of the #2 vs #3 match-up as New Mexico Military Institute (10-1) welcomes Northwest Mississippi Community College (9-2) to Roswell, New Mexico on Sunday, December 5th at 3:00 PM Central.  The two winners will meet in Little Rock, Arkansas at War Memorial Stadium on Friday, December 17th.

A free tailgate, sponsored by IWCC and Barley's Bar & Grill, will begin at 1:00 PM on gameday at the stadium.  General admission tickets for the game are available through the NJCAA or can be purchased at the gates of Titan Stadium on the campus of Lewis Central High School (3504 Harry Langdon Blvd, Council Bluffs, IA 51503).

Iowa Western and the Badgers have played a pair of thrillers so far in 2021, with Snow eking out a final minute victory in Council Bluffs in March and IWCC taking a three-point win in Ephraim, Utah to start October.  The Spring win, over #2 Iowa Western, propelled Snow to the NJCAA title game in May, while October's victory over the #1 Badgers gave the Reivers a victory that eventually earned them a spot at the top of the NJCAA rankings.

"We're excited for another game with them (Snow)," said Head Coach Scott Strohmeier, "Coach (Zac) Ereksen has done a great job continuing the tradition of well coached football and those games are always the most fun to preprare for and the most rewarding when you can get a win."

The Reivers' 'Darkside' defense and special teams forced five turnovers in October's 17-14 victory in what was an emotional Homecoming game for the Badgers.  Kaden Wetjen and Ryan Flournoy each caught touchdown passes from Nate Glantz while Flournoy's 2-point conversion catch proved crucial as the two teams played in cool, sometimes rainy conditions in Ephraim.  Noah Sauberan's field goal provided the eventual winning score and Latrez Shelton grabbed a late interception to thwart a furious comeback attempt by Snow.  

The game will be the third time the two squads have met in postseason competition as Snow and Iowa Western have met twice in bowl games with the two teams splitting victories as the host in their home states.  Snow topped IWCC, 48-36, in 2010 at the Top of the Mountains Bowl played in Salt Lake City, while the Reivers were victorious, 19-17, in the 2018's Graphic Edge Bowl in Cedar Falls.

The two teams have played three regular season match-ups since, with Iowa Western winning at home in the Fall of 2019 and the two teams each posting a victory this year on each other's home field.

The game will be video streamed on pay-per-view by the NJCAA with the Reiver Sports Network providing the radio call on Iowa Western's 100,000 watt FM radio station, 89.7 the River, with Jake Ryan and Russ Nelsen on the mics for IWCC.

Follow the game on social media with the official Twitter & Facebook accounts of Reiver Football.