Council Bluffs, IA

A quick start by the visitors on Saturday had fans of Iowa Western Football feeling a touch of Deja Vu on Saturday in The Bluffs, visiting Coffeyville was the team responsible for ending last year's perfect run.

This year would be different as Iowa Western (10-0) outlasted the visitors, 20-17, to keep their perfect season intact on a perfect day for football.

Coffeyville (3-6) got off to a fast start, churning out a nine-play, 72-yard drive for the game's opening score, a 25-yard field goal from Red Raven kicker Conner Gellender.

The Reivers marched down the field on their second offensive drive but stalled out inside the CCC red zone.  Max Bartachek's tying attempt was blocked by Kameron Pearson, his third block of the season.

Coffeyville quarterback Enzo Tedesco then led his team on a six-play, 80-yard drive, capped off by a 33-yard catch by tight end Jaiden Dozier for his first score of the season.

Down 10-0, Hunter Watson led the Reivers inside the Red Raven five, but a QB keeper on 4th down was determined to be short of the line to gain and Coffeyville took over at their own 2-yard line.

Defensive back Joshua Pierre-Louis instantly got Iowa Western back into it, intercepting Tedesco on his first pass at the CCC 30-yard line.

Four plays later, the Reivers found the endzone when Watson delivered to Louis Brooks for a 14-yard score.

On Coffeyville's next drive, the 'Darkside' came up with another critical turnover as Clev Lubin pounced on a mishandled snap to put the Reivers inside the red zone at the CCC 15-yard line. 

An 11-yard strike to Latrell Bonner on the far left side of the endzone went to review but was confirmed as a touchdown to put the Reivers ahead 14-10 into halftime.

"We came out a bit flat, we're depleted a bit defensively and we had to make those adjustments", said Head Coach Scott Strohemeier at the break, "we recovered, but this game is far from over, they're a good football team and will be fighting in the second half, they know they're not out of it."

Coffeyville retook the lead on the very first series of the second half, Tedesco marched the Ravens 74 yards on nine plays with Joseph Young scoring on a 13-yard pass as IWCC found themselves trailing 17-14.

Offensively, the Reivers came up empty on a pair of lengthy drives, missing the tying score on field goal tries of 40 and 35 yards.

The good news?  The 'Darkside' kept delivering.  Samuel Robertson had an interception and the IWCC forced another pair of three-and-outs to keep the Red Ravens from increasing the lead.

The home squad finally broke through on their fourth drive of the half, a 10-play, 64-yard push, highlighted by runs of 29 yards by Trevor Burnett and a 10-yard score on the ground by Shawn Gary, Jr. Max Bartachek's point after was blocked and Coffeyville trailed by just three with 7:24 to play in the game.

After an unsportsmanlike penalty pushed the kickoff back to the 20 for Bartachek, his kick went out of bounds, setting Coffeyville up at the 50-yard line with just under half the quarter remaining.

After the Red Ravens' second timeout of the half before a 3rd and 14, Tedesco found Crishon Crenshaw over the middle for a 28-yard gain just outside the Reivers' red zone.

Joseph Young went for eight on the very next play followed by a first down rush by Zavion Parks to place CCC at the Reiver 15. Three plays later Coffeyville sent the field goal unit out but were called back when the Reivers called a timeout on 4th and 5 from at the IWCC 10-yard line.

Out of the timeout, Coffeyville had elected to go for the lead but the throw to the corner of the endzone drifted out of bounds and incomplete, setting Iowa Western up to run out the remaining 2:28 of regulation.

On the game, Humpal rushed for 133 yards to pace the Reivers while Watson finished 20-31 with 164 yards through the air.  The lone turnover for IWCC was a throwaway as the 2nd quarter horn sounded.

Two interceptions and a fumble turned the fortunes in the game as the Reivers converted two of the three into points on the scoreboard.  The Reivers collected a pair of sacks and a hard-earned seven tackles for loss.  Ahmad Johnson led the team with eight tackles and a tackle for loss, while the defensive secondary had 22 tackles for IWCC led by six each from Matt Kordas and Joshua Pierre-Louis.

Next up for Iowa Western is a matchup that fans and pundits have had on their calendars since the end of the 2022 season.  A battle with the only other unbeaten in NJCAA Football, Hutchinson out of Kansas. The Reivers and the Blue Dragons split a pair of meetings last season with Iowa Western winning the second game 31-0 in the NJCAA National Championship game. Hutchinson won the shortened 2021 Spring Season Championship with a victory over Snow College. That was the final season played without a postseason playoff, while the Reivers have reached the title game in each of the last two seasons in the NJCAA Playoff era.

All the action can be heard, free of charge, on the Reiver Sports Network. The game, with Jake Ryan, Russ Nelsen, Josh Odson, and Tony Boone on the call, can also be found on Iowa Western's 100,000-watt FM radio station, 89.7 The River. The RSN Countdown to Kickoff begins at 12:30 p.m., with a pregame interview with Coach Strohmeier, a highlight reel of the win over Coffeyville, scores from college and area high school action, and of course a preview of the game.  The video stream starts just before kickoff at 1:00 p.m.

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