Little Rock, AR

Call it 'Council Rock', call it 'Little Bluffs', just don't call it anything but home for Iowa Western Football.

#2 Iowa Western rolled to the 2023 NJCAA D1 Football National Championship on Wednesday night, topping #4 East Mississippi, 61-14, at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

The Reivers (12-1) fought back from an early one-point deficit to batter the Lions (10-3) over four quarters of football to become the first back-to-back title winner since EMCC did it five years ago.

As they've done all season long, the 'Darkside' defense set the tone of the game early, forcing heralded Lions' QB Ty Keyes into a pair of hurried throws in a three-and-out on the game's opening possession.

Head Coach Scott Strohmeier's offense tested the waters on their first possession, rushing for three short gains before kicking the ball away on a Max Bartachek punt.  

The Lion offense appeared to have their feet underneath them on their second drive, converting three first downs to get into Reiver territory before a holding penalty set them behind the chains. The Reivers took advantage coming up with their first QB sack of the game on 3rd and long as Jaylen Pettus took down Keyes for an eight-yard loss to force another EMCC punt.

After a trio of runs on drive number one, Hunter Watson delivered with his arm on drive two, finding LJ Fitzpatrick for a short gain from the 25-yard line and Latrell Bonner for 17-yards and a first down on the drive. A surprised offensive lineman even got involved as Caleb Jones caught a deflection for a two-yard gain, his first catch as a Reiver. A 15-yard facemask followed by a Jonathan Humpal 23-yard run gave the ball to the Reivers inside the redzone before Watson delivered a perfect strike to Bryant Williams in the endzone from 19-yards out for the game's first score. Bartachek's PAT banged off the right upright to leave the score at a 6-0 Reivers' advantage.

EMCC struck right back when Jaylon York returned the ensuing kickoff 91-yards for the score as the Lions' took a 7-6 lead on the extra point.

Special teams coach Eric Finney immediately dialed up a trick play on the return with Fitzpatrick handing off to Jack Wattier who flipped to Joshua Pierre-Louis to set the Reivers up just shy of midfield. 

Strong running by Humpal, a first down pass to Nate Sullivan and a long reverse run by Louis Brooks set the Reivers up inside the Lion's redzone again. Watson surged into the endzone from one yard out to give the Reivers back the lead for good at the end of the first quarter. Lane Feierfeil was successful on the point after, forced into duty due to an injury by Bartacheck on EMCC's kickoff return score.

After both teams exchanged punts, EMCC earned a first down on a long run by Keyes, but were forced into another punting situation just inside Reivers' territory. Jaylen Pettus, one of the few returners from last season's championship team, added to his numbers on the day, blowing by his blocker to stuff the kick of Trace Beard and then raced out to cover the loose ball himself.

Bryant Williams converted a first down on his first positive carry of the day and then found the endzone on his second catch of the day, catching and spinning in the air, before sprinting in for the score untouched. Max Bartachek, back in for place kicks, was true on the PAT to increase the lead to 13, at 20-7, with 9:29 to play in the half.

A tackle for loss by Nathan Hale started the next EMCC drive and Capri Wilson took care of the rest, tipping away Keyes pass on 2nd down and picking up his second sack of the season on third to force another punt by the Lions and the Reivers went back to work on offense.

Watson showed off his speed with a 29-yard gain into East Mississippi territory before rushing for another 1st down on the following play.  After an incompletion and a negative rush, Watson found LJ Fitzpatrick for a big first down to the EMCC 7-yard line. After a three-yard gain by Shawn Gary, Jr. it was Jonathan Humpal finding the endzone as the lead ballooned to 20 points before halftime.

"We've made them one-dimensional, we're playing really good," said Head Coach Scott Strohmeier at the break, "it's 30 minutes, we've got 30 more to do."

The Lions were fortunate the lead didn't increase even more after turning the ball over inside their own 30. Head Coach Buddy Stephens elected to go for it on 4th and 1, but running back Jaylen Jennings fell down at the line of scrimmage and IWCC took over at the visitor's 28-yard line. The Reivers were unable to capitalize on the gaff, with EMCC getting the ball back before missing a long field goal before the end of the first half.

The second half started with another pair of punts and the Reivers setting up at their own 25-yard line for their second offensive drive, the same place they took over from in the first half on their first scoring series. As the series proved, it would be their first scoring series of the half once more. After Watson led the Reivers to the EMCC 45-yard line, he did the rest on his own, nearly losing his pants on his second TD run of the day.  

Defensively, the Reivers continued to give the Lions fits. Ahmad Johnson turned in back-to-back tackles on East Mississippi's next possession before Keyes threw incomplete on third down and EMCC punted the ball away again.

After missing numerious games this season due to injury, LJ Fitzpatrick took over for the Reivers, grabbing three balls from Watson for 47 of his 89 yards on the day, including a 10-yard score to build the lead to 41-7.  The lone EMCC score of the game cut the lead to 41-14 with one quarter to play.

In the fourth, backup quarterback Chad Kearns tossed his first Reiver touchdown, a beautiful throw to Latrell Bonner for his fifth touchdown of the year, holding the ball with one hand while breaking his fall with the other as he got both feet in for the catch.

Jonathan Humpal cruised for his second score of the game, going 45-yards for the score with 9:52 still to go in the contest as the Reivers inched closer to the NJCAA Championship game record 66 points.

EMCC's lone offensive turnover of the day came with five minutes to go as Walt Gray turned in a strip sack of Ty Keyes.  Dominic Wiseman recovered the football to help IWCC finish the season at plus 20 in turnover ratio.

Trevor Burnett ran three times on the final scoring drive of the game for IWCC, picking up a pair of 20-yard gains before racing 26-yards for the final score of the night.

The Reivers outgained EMCC on the day 553-317, holding Lions' QB Ty Keyes to 270 total yards and allowing only 56 total rushing yards on the day.

The IWCC rushing attack gained 335 yards of the 553 total yards in the game and posted not one, but two rushers above the 100-yard mark.  QB Hunter Watson carried 14 times for 108 yards, equaling the rushing output of teammate Jonathan Humpal on the day.  Watson also turned in his first plus 200-yard passing game of the season tossing three scores and rushing for a pair of IWCC's five rushing touchdowns.

"He's been locked in all week, he's focused, he's competitive and he made some great throws today." said Strohmeier of his starting quarterback.

Defensively the Reivers picked up four more quarterback sacks to add to the season total, a program record 62 on the year.  The team also recorded 139 tackles for loss, including 11 in their dominating championship game performance.  Pettus had a pair of those QB sacks to go along with his blocked punt, while Ahmad Johnson chipped in a game high seven tackles.  Joshua Pierre-Louis, Clem McCullough and Clev Lubin finished with five tackles apiece.

The game capped several notable performances for IWCC.  Hunter Watson becomes the only QB to start 13 games in a season as the Reivers have never played more than 12 games in a single season before this year. The QB also moved inside the Top 10 in total passing yards in a career, with 1904 passing yards this season, his 22 TD passes rank sixth for a single season with the all-time mark of 39 held by Jake Waters set during the 2012 season.

Bryant Williams moved into second place on the all-time rushing list, his two-year total of 1,454 yards moved him past Mekhi Sargent, who posted his total of 1,449 in a spectacular 2017 season.

ALL-TIME CAREER RUSHING YARDS

Jonathan Humpal, from Lewis Central High School in Council Bluffs, surged in to the Top 10 on the single season rushing list, his 808 yards moved him past Williams and Kevis Streeter who rushed for 751 yards in the inaugural season of IWCC football.

ALL-TIME SINGLE SEASON RUSHING YARDS

Watson's 717 rushing yards this season puts him just outside the single season Top 10 in 12th place, it's the second most rushing yards by a Reiver QB in a single season and with his effort, he pushes James Graham, this season's QB Coach, outside of the Top 5 for QB single season rushing yards.

SINGLE SEASON RUSHING YARDS - QB

LJ Fitzpatrick also finds himself among the all-time leaders, even after an injury marred 2023 season, Fitzpatrick's numbers are good enough for a Top 10 finish in all-time career yards.

ALL-TIME CAREER RECEIVING YARDS

Williams matched his 2022 title game TD total with a pair of catches, those two scores moved him from a tie for 10th in career TD's into a tie for sixth for career, non-kicker, scoring.

ALL-TIME CAREER TOUCHDOWNS

The 61 total points finished just shy of the 66 that Northwest Mississippi posted in the 2015 NJCAA National Championship against D3's Rochester Community & Technical College, the only time in the last 30 years that voters put an NJCAA D3 team in the title game.  The Yellowjackets lost to the Rangers, 66-13, in the 2015 Mississippi Bowl.

Defensively, the Reivers, led by Defensive Coordinator Mike Blackbourn, continued to wreak havoc on even the most potent offenses.  The Reivers allowed just 239 yards per game and just over 70 yards rushing per contest. The 2023 'Darkside' averaged nearly 11 tackles for loss per game and set the program mark for sacks in a season with 62.  The previous high mark was 56 set just last season, a huge source of pride for defensive line coach Aaron Terry.

"Ultimately, it's the stability that we're able to have as a staff," said Coach Strohmeier, "Black (Mike Blackbourn), AT (Aaron Terry), Finney (defensive backs coach Eric Finney), Monthei (asst. defensive line coach Jeff Monthei) just go to work and take care of the 'D' and that allows me to just focus on the offensive side, this year we added a key piece in Tristan (offensive coordinator Tristan Speer), Brant's back (running back coach Brant Anderson) and we're able to add some former players to the staff in James (2022 QB James Graham) and Kendrick (former O-lineman Kendrick Davis).  Throw in the managers and filmers and of course all of the thankless work that Reese (dir. of football operations Reese Baumgartner) does off the field and it's an unbelievable staff.  I'm very fortunate with that and the fact that the administration is one hundred percent behind what we're doing."

The 2022 & 2023 Football teams joins Women's Soccer (2022 & 2023), Volleyball (2020/Spring '21 & 2021), and Indoor Track & Field (2021 & 2022) as teams to go back-to-back as champions in Iowa Western Athletics' history.

Overall, it's the third championship in five tries for Coach Strohmeier and his staff in 15 seasons of football. In addition to shutting out Hutchinson, 31-0, last year in Little Rock, the Reivers topped Butler in the 2012 Graphic Edge Bowl in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The defense of the Reivers' national titles will begin in the Reivers' 16th season of football and is tentatively scheduled to start with a home game against Hutchinson Community College in week one of the '24 slate.  The official schedule will be released in 2024.

The annual Blue-White Spring game is also tentatively scheduled for May 3rd, 2024 at Titan Stadium at Lewis Central High School.

Keep up with the Reivers in the offseason by following Reiver Football on Facebook & X (formerly Twitter).