Lucky Number 13, Reivers Extend Win Streak at Ellsworth

Iowa Falls, IA 

Iowa Western didn't play perfectly but remained unblemished Saturday against Ellsworth in Iowa Falls.  The NJCAA's #2 ranked Reivers (6-0, 3-0) topped the home-standing Panthers (1-6, 0-3), 45-13, to extend their win streak to 13 games.

The Reivers started the scoring in the 1st quarter when quarterback Nate Glantz found running back Jaden Koger for a 14-yard catch and run.  The freshman out of Roosevelt High in Des Moines caught the first two receptions of his Reiver career on the day, finishing with 17 yards and the score.

The scoreboard would flash again as the 'Darkside' forced a quick three and out from the Panthers and Kaden Wetjen raced 57-yards for the touchdown on the ensuing punt return.  Wetjen punched his name into the record book on the score, passing Wes Smith with the fourth return of his career.

Ellsworth would strengthen defensively midway through the 2nd quarter, forcing the Reivers into a Noah Sauberan field goal and then stopping the Reivers with the help of a pair of penalties on a goal-to-go set of downs to force another field goal attempt from Sauberan that never materialized.  Ellsworth tackled holder Jake Calvert before the attempt could be made after Calvert struggled to get the hold down.  The Panthers struck for a score of their own two drives later, taking advantage of a rare mistake by Wetjen who fumbled an Ellsworth punt inside the Reivers 10-yard line.  Panther quarterback Josh Bauer found receiver Darrius Jackson two plays later in the back of the endzone to close the score to 17-7 at the half

"We made mistakes, we missed opportunities and I told the guys we're getting everybody's best shot", said Coach Scott Strohmeier, "beating us would make their season at this point and if we don't take care of the little things, the basics, then they are going to take advantage."

The Reivers scored on their second drive of the third quarter in just four plays.  Moses Bryant rushed three times to start the drive as IWCC grabbed a first down on a face masking penalty by Ellsworth and Glantz aired out a perfect strike to hit Ryan Flournoy in stride from 48 yards out for the receiver's fourth touchdown of the year, increasing the lead to 24-7. 

The Panthers drove for nearly half of their offensive yards on the drive and Marice Whitlock punched the ball into the endzone before a missed extra point left the score at 24-13 into the 4th.  Ellsworth managed just 160 yards of total offense on the day as IWCC's defense, in or near the top 10 in nearly every defensive category, flexed their muscle again.  Jacob Ferguson and Quientrail Travis led the attack as Ferguson was credited with 1 1/2 sacks, while Travis led a balanced attack with six tackles, including a sack and a pair of tackles for loss.  Ellsworth's lone sustained drive came in the third quarter after the Reivers' score.  

The Reivers owned the 4th, Milton Sargbah rushed for his 16th career touchdown on the ground (4th all-time) just 1:00 into the quarter and Glantz found Michael Love for another score just over two minutes later.  The pass gave Glantz, the reigning NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year, his 10th TD pass of the season and 33rd of his career with IWCC.

The 'Darkside' wrapped up the scoring at Cadet Field when Tyrik Henderson intercepted an overthrown pass from Bauer and returned it 41-yards for the team's second pick-six of the fall.  Sauberan's extra-point made the final score 45-13 and kept the Reivers undefeated on the season and in Iowa Falls, increasing their all-time record to 8-0 on the road against the Panthers.

IWCC earned at least a tie for the ICCAC title with the victory and can wrap up their 11th all-time regular-season conference championship with a win over Iowa Central on Saturday in Council Bluffs.  Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 pm on the Reiver Sports Network with the pregame carried on Iowa Western's 100,000 watt FM station, 89.7 the River.  Jake Ryan and Russ Nelsen will have the call for the game as IWCC and ICCC will battle for 'The Cup' for just the second time.  Prior to the spring season, the traveling trophy was referred to as 'The Kinney Cup' honoring both Presidents of each respective institution.  With the move for the younger Kinney to IWCC from ICCC, the two teams elected to change the name and presented the previous cup to President Emeritus Kinney at halftime of the game on April 24th.

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NOTES

Glantz cleared the 1,000-yard mark for passing yards and is now just 154 yards shy of 3,000 for his Reiver career.  Connor Bravard's career mark of 3,051 would be next to pass for the freshman out of Omaha, Nebraska.  Nate already stands alone in second place for career starts (13) and touchdown passes (33).  With 206 yards, Glantz would own second place for career passing yards, just 3,218 yards behind Jake Waters, the program's all-time leader.

Waters is also the name being chased by Milton Sargbah.  His 16 career rushing touchdowns place him just two behind the Reivers' championship QB.  If Milton can catch and pass Waters, he'll have Kai Locksley (20) and Aaron Wimberley's all-time mark of 23 in front of him on the rushing list.

ALL-TIME TOUCHDOWNS

Kaden Wetjen's 57-yard punt return was the shortest of his four career returns (all in 2021, two spring season, two fall season).  The freshman from Williamsburg, Iowa has a pair of 72-yarders to his name and a return of 58 yards.  The return moved him past former receiver Wes Smith.  Smith's three returns came during the 2010 and 2011 seasons, while the only other punt return in program history was Devin Thomas's 49-yarder in 2012.

Tyrik Henderson's 41-yard interception return was the Reivers' 32nd all-time return for a touchdown and the second this season.  Diontrel Wommack returned his 35-yards against ASA-Miami in this season's 4th game.

IWCC scored exactly 45 points for the fifth time in program history.  The team has never recorded that number as a final score at home, with all five occurrences coming away from home.  Ironically the team has also allowed 13 total points in a game five times.

The win improved the all-time series lead against Ellsworth to 17-1.  The Reivers are 47-6 in 13 seasons against conference opponents.