In Range! Reivers Head to National Title Game After Dominating Win

Senatobia, MS

Start fast, finish strong.  That was the mantra for Iowa Western Football into Sunday's NJCAA semi-final match-up with Northwest Mississippi.

The Reivers did just that.

Coach Strohmeier's offense scored on four of their first five offensive possessions to stake the team to a 19-3 halftime lead over Northwest and 'The Darkside' defense continued their season long domination of opposing offenses as the Reivers rolled to a 33-12 victory to advance to the 2022 NJCAA Championship Game.

"James (Graham) is just so confident running the playbook right now and we're able to pull out a few wrinkles that maybe we've kept hidden until now", said Head Coach Scott Strohmeier after the win. "When the offense is rolling, that makes the play of our defense even more intimidating."

After Northwest Mississippi (10-2) converted their first offensive play of the game into a first down, the 'Darkside' went to work.  Jackson Filer's career and season sack totals rose again when he sacked Northwest Quarterback Ren Hefley to force the Rangers behind the chains and Garrett Hormann caught Ranger RB Cayden Betts for another tackle for loss one play later, giving the ball back to the Reivers on a Ranger punt.

Leading 3-0, the Reivers appeared ready to return the favor after just three plays, sending punter Ty Nissen out.  The sophomore has put the ball inside the opponents 20-yard line on 60% of his kicks this season and pinned the Rangers at the 16-yard line.  However, NWMCC's special teams were caught offside, giving the ball back to the Reivers on the penalty.  The Reivers would find themselves behind the chains seven plays later and instead of kicking decided to go for it from the Rangers' 35-yard line.  James Graham, making just his second start of the season, found receiver LJ Fitzpatrick on a short pass, and the freshman deftly covered the 35-yards for his third touchdown of the season and second in the last two games.

A nearly identical situation faced Northwest Mississippi on their next possession as IWCC was offside on the Rangers' punt.  However instead of giving NWMCC a first down, it simply shortened the distance on 4th down.  Northwest elected to go for the first and instead of converting a new set of downs, Isaiah Green sacked Hefley for a loss of 20 yards, setting the Reivers up at the Northwest 45-yard line.

Seven plays later, it was Graham on the jump pass, finding tight end C.J. Horton wide open in the back of the endzone to extend the Reiver lead to 16-0 with nine minutes to go before halftime.

Both teams would add a field goal before the break and Coach Strohmeier liked the way the Reivers were headed, "The defense is giving us the opportunities to open the playbook up and the offense is making the right decisions." 

Northwest would finally find the end zone on their second drive of the second half.  Hefley led the Rangers inside the Reivers' five-yard line with a pair of passes and then punctuated the drive with a two-yard bootleg for the score.  The Rangers' attempt to close the deficit to just one score failed as the Reivers stuffed Jamarien Bracey's rush on the two-point attempt.

After a pair of Reiver punts, sandwiched around another solid defensive stand by the 'Darkside' that included another QB sack shared by Jaylen Pettus-McMullen and Isaiah Green leaving Northwest with just under 16 minutes to rally from 10 points down. 

Hefley's first attempt fell incomplete to Jaycob Horn and Will Lee jumped on the next for the only turnover of the day by either team.  Lee's 'pick-6' covered 40-yards and put the Reivers up three scores into the game's final quarter.

A field goal by Eli Hamlin would get Northwest again within two scores, but the Reivers would burn nearly eight minutes two drives later to finalize the score.  Graham's 9th rushing touchdown of the season and Sam Wilber's extra-point moved the lead to 21 and Northwest wouldn't threaten again as Iowa Western would ride out the rest of the game for the victory.

IWCC is now 2-0 all-time vs Northwest, with both meetings coming in postseason meet-ups.

With the win, Iowa Western (9-2) advances to the NJCAA National Title game for the second straight season where they'll meet #1 Hutchinson (11-0) at 8:00 pm CST on Wednesday, December 14th.  The Reivers are the first #3 seed to make the National Championship game after they defeated #4 Snow College as the #1 seed last season and #2 seeded New Mexico Military beat the third-seeded Rangers last season to make the title game.  The game will be played at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas.  ESPNU will televise the game and the Reiver Sports Network will also have complete coverage beginning at 7:00 pm CST on 89.7 The River.

Hutchinson and Iowa Western previously played November 12th with Hutchinson securing the go-ahead score with under three minutes to play after blocking a punt and returning it for a touchdown in the Blue Dragons 29-28 victory.  Iowa Western is not shy to playing same season rematches, having played Ellsworth, Grand Rapids and Snow College in the playoffs after meeting during the regular season in 2010, 2011 and 2022 respectively.  It will be the 12th time in school history that IWCC will play a team twice in the same season, sharing a home and home with conference opponents during the regular season in 2013 and in the spring and fall seasons of 2021.

The Reivers will appear for the fourth time in program history in an NJCAA Title game, winning the 2012 match-up with Butler, and falling to East Mississippi and NMMI to finish as runner-up in the 2014 and 2021 seasons.

Tickets to the game can be purchased on the NJCAA's official site while hotel stays can be booked at the team hotel, Four Points by Sheraton Little Rock Midtown.