Council Bluffs, Iowa
For the third time in three years, Iowa Western Football will get a chance to bring the NJCAA Championship Trophy back to Council Bluffs.
The defending National Champ Reivers (11-1) made short work of 3rd ranked Kilgore College (9-2) at Titan Stadium Sunday, combining all three phases of the game to score 28 1st Quarter points.
From there it was simply a matter of time as Iowa Western cruised to a 47-7 victory over the SWJCFC Champs.
The Reivers received the opening kick and marched 67 yards in seven plays, capped off when Latrell Bonner caught his fourth touchdown of the season off the arm of Hunter Watson.
Special teams got the ball right back for IWCC when Nijah Brown forced a fumble and Clem McCullough covered it in bounds at the Kilgore 35-yard line.
The Rangers defense stood strong though, getting the ball back on downs as the Reivers had a near TD pass to LJ Fitzpatrick negated on a penalty.
Kilgore looked to be getting some momentum going, converting a fourth down to move into Iowa Western territory, but a tackle for loss and back-to-back incompletions from Ranger QB Tyler Webb led to a Chris Baldazo punt. The kick rolled the visitors' way, pinning IW at their own five-yard line.
A safe handoff to running back Jonathan Humpal started the offensive possession for the Reivers, it also ended it. Humpal took the ball off of the right tackle and rumbled, relatively untouched, for the score. The 95-yard scamper was the longest run in program history and tied for the third longest play overall. The yardage matching a Mondo Williams kickoff return in 2013 and a Vincent Perry kickoff return in 2017.
With a 14-0 lead, the 'Darkside' turned the ball back over to the offense with another three and out that included a pair of tackles for loss.
Watson and the offense had their first fortunate bounce of the day when the QB fumbled on first down on a run to the left side. The loose ball regained by the man that lost it as Watson recovered the ball to keep the drive moving. Three plays later Watson let go of the ball again, this time on a perfectly thrown pass to Jordan Johnson for a 40-yard score and a 21-0 Reivers' lead.
Kilgore's return game continued their first quarter struggles, managing just a one-yard return to start the Rangers out at their own 12-yard line on third offensive drive of the game. Trae Epps ripped off a couple of positive yardage runs, but on third down the turnover bug bit again. Webb was hit from the blindside by Zyon Clark on a corner blitz and Clev Lubin scooped and scored for his first touchdown as a Reiver.
The shellshocked Rangers could do nothing more than look at the scoreboard and wonder just what type of truck had hit them as the two teams exchanged turnovers in the second quarter but nothing more as Iowa Western took a 28-0 lead into halftime.
"We've still got 30-minutes of football ahead of us," said Head Coach Scott Strohmeier at the break, "They certainly didn't drive all the way up here to quit after 30 minutes, we'll need to be ready to go again."
IW heard the message loud and clear.
The 'Darkside' came up with three straight stops to force a Kilgore punt and while the offense didn't strike for six, the leg of Max Bartachek ended a one-quarter drought. Bartachek's eighth field goal of the season, this one from 29-yards out, put the Reivers up 31-0.
A misplay by the Rangers' Zeek Freeman on the ensuing kickoff pinned KC at their own one-yard line. Zyon Clark made short work of the drive, tackling running back Kaden Meredith for near the back of the endzone to increase the lead by two, to 33-0.
After Kilgore stopped IWCC on a fourth down attempt to get the ball back, Josh Pierre-Louis got it right back. JPL's seventh pick of the season set up a quick scoring drive for the Reivers at the Rangers' 27-yard line.
Bryant Williams, back in action after an injury sidelined him for the last two regular season games, churned out a 27-yard run, bulldozing to the endzone for his fifth running score of the year. The Bartachek PAT made it 40-0 with just over six minutes remaining in the third quarter.
After another Ranger turnover, the Reivers attempted and missed a Bartachek field goal, but got the ball back on a roughing the kicker penalty. Watson then tossed his third scoring pass of the day as LJ Fitzpatrick worked the ball into his possession for the Reivers' final score of the game.
A late TD by Kilgore prevented the shutout, but the game was all Reivers as they advanced to their third straight NJCAA National Title game.
The Reivers will rematch with East Mississippi, their first chance to face the Lions since EMCC topped IW in the 2014 title game. The game is scheduled for Wednesday, December 13th at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas.
"It's going to be a good match-up, they've got guys all over the field," said Strohmeier, "We'll have our hands full, but we've got time to game plan and I expect our guys to go out and play the way they just showed they're capable of playing."
ESPN will broadcast the game on ESPNU, while the Reiver Sports Network will carry the audio of the Reivers' call of the game on 89.7 The River in the Council Bluffs / Omaha Metro & on the station's listen live on the 89.7 the River app. Jake Ryan & Russ Nelsen will be calling their 170th game as the voices of Reiver Football. Josh Odson and Tony Boone will join the broadcast booth as well.
