Reivers Rally Comes Up Short Against Visiting Hutchinson

Council Bluffs, Iowa

The 2024 edition of the Iowa Western Reivers' Football team is not for the faint of heart, at least not yet.

Another week, another double-digit deficit overcome by Scott Strohmeier's Reivers.

"We've got to stop getting down by two scores early, that's not a trend I'm enjoying right now," said the only Head Coach the IWCC program has known.

Quarterback Hunter Dekkers led Iowa Western from behind for the second time in two games. Saturday's 38-37 result wasn't what a packed house at Titan Stadium was hoping for, as #2 Hutchinson (2-0) upset the top-ranked Reivers (1-1) and earned their third consecutive regular-season victory against their new-found rivals.

After electing to go on offense after winning the coin toss, the Reivers turned the football over to the visitors on the opening play.  Sophomore Jonathan Humpal's first touch resulted in the game's only turnover, as the running back coughed up the ball on the Reivers' 40-yard line. 

Hutchinson seized the opportunity, scoring six plays later when Blue Dragon QB Samari Collier raced in for a 28-yard score and an early, 7-0 lead.

Dekkers led the Reivers' next drive, completing seven of 10 passes, finishing with an 11-yard strike to sophomore receiver Lucci Fidone for the score.

The visitors coasted down the field again on their next drive, Collier completing three passes on the drive before Waymond Jordan picked up a first down on a pair of runs.  

On goal to go, Collier blasted in his second score of the game from three yards out.

IWCC failed to find the equalizer on their next drive as Hutchinson escorted the Reivers to the Blue Dragons' 26-yard line on a pair of 15-yard penalties, but held strong to force a turnover on downs.

HCC took over and marched quickly, officially covering 74 yards in three plays with Collier's 31-yard pass to Tate Hoover putting Hutch up two scores.  A pair of Waymond Jordan runs and an IWCC pass-interference penalty setting up the scoring play.

The subsequent drive covered 75 yards for IWCC, but took the game into the second quarter.  

Dekkers then found Humpal wide open in the right flat and #7 found his way into the endzone to slice the deficit to 21-14.

A pair of empty possessions were traded before Hutchinson built the lead back to two scores on a 25-yard field goal by Nestus Burger to increase the lead to 24-14 and reduce the clock to less than 5:00 minutes to play in the opening half.

Dekkers and crew would not need long to light up the scoreboard again.  After a short loss on a run by Humpal, QB1 found Keyon Brown on a perfect strike, resulting in a 78-yard score to cut the lead to 24-21 w/ just under 4:00 remaining in the opening half.

With Hutchinson receiving the opening kick of the second half, the Reivers' 'Darkside' defense needed to keep the Blue Dragons off the scoreboard to finish the half, but running back Waymond Jordan, who scored a pair of touchdowns against the Reivers last season, found the end zone for the first time on the day.

Jordan's 26-yard scamper to the endzone sent Hutchinson into the break up 10 points and in position to go up three scores to start the second half.

Coach Strohmeier's message at the half was simple … catch the ball and make tackles.

Hutchinson ripped off an impressive return to start the second stanza with Kordell Gouldsby racing to the 50-yard line before being brought to a halt.

The Blue Dragons offense finally showed signs of vulnerability after driving to the Reivers' 13-yard line. Samari Collier was sacked by Marcus Williams for a 12-yard loss and Burger's subsequent 42-yard field goal sailed wide left to give IWCC the football, still down two scores.

As the defense began to find its foothold, the IWCC offense started to struggle.  Jonah Dupont was called upon to punt the ball away twice in the quarter after drives petered out.  

IWCC's defense forced a pair of punts to go along with the missed field goal and the game headed into the fourth quarter with the home team's offense on the field.

Max Bartachek's first field goal of the season cut the Hutchinson lead to 31-24 with 12:19 remaining in regulation.

A three-and-out for HCC followed and the home team capitalized.

Dekkers found Fresh Walters for nine yards before Humpal moved the chains on a short run to the IWCC 22-yard line.

Titus Myers, who played well in week one, but failed to find the endzone was finally rewarded. A dart from Dekkers to Myers was complete and the receiver spun out of a potential tackle and raced to the endzone for a game-tying score. The second 78-yard score of the game knotted the game at 31 apiece with over half the quarter still to play.

Collier, banged up by the Reivers' 'D', gave way to backup Christian Johnson who promptly led HCC for the go-ahead score.  His two-yard run and Nestor Burger's point after gave Hutchinson a 38-31 lead with 4:22 remaining.

Through the first three plays of the game's final drive, it appeared that Hutchinson had little to worry about. Naivyan Cargill had a short gain negated by a false start and then Humpal coughed up the football again with the Reivers recovering.  That play was negated however, when the Blue Dragons were flagged for illegal contact to the helmet give the Reivers a crucial fresh set of downs.

Dekkers followed with a completion to Myers for 20 yards and Humpal rushed for a first down on a pair of carries to the Hutch 27-yard line.  

Fresh Walters grabbed another seven yards with Humpal picking up another first down to the Hutchinson 15 yard-line.

Trevor Burnett's tough run on 4th and 1 made it first and goal with just :09 seconds remaining.

Instead of calling a time-out, the Reivers lined up quickly with Myers rising up to catch Dekkers' pass in the far left corner of the endzone, making it 38-37 Hutchinson with just :03 seconds on the clock. 

Bartachek came in to attempt the game tying PAT before IWCC called their final time-out, electing to go for the two-point conversion and the win out of the stoppage.

Hutchinson gave the Reivers' coaching staff another chance to reconsider when they burned a time-out, but Coach Strohmeier and his staff stayed with the two-point try and the win.

Dekkers took the snap and fired the football over the left side of the offensive line, the area that Titus Myers occupied, unfortunately for the Reivers and their fans it sailed over everyone incomplete.

An onside kick attempt followed with Hutchinson recovering and securing their third-consecutive regular season victory of IWCC.

"I've thought about it all week," said Strohmeier, "if we were in that position, I wanted to go for it, to give our guys a chance to win. We were ready, it just didn't go our way. Put this one behind us and get ready for the next one, no one is feeling sorry for us and guys maybe now will realize that it's the small things that take care of wins and losses. We need our defense to play four quarters and the offense can't have letdowns on drives after the defense has done their job."

The victory allowed Hutchinson to even the all-time series with the Reivers at five wins each and will push the Reivers into the loss column for the first time since last season's regular season finale, a 42-28 loss at Gowen's Stadium.

Hunter Dekkers etched his name on the all-time passing list, his 419 yards passing rank as the third most in a single game and the first time since April 3rd, 2021 that a Reiver QB had surpassed the mark. Nate Glantz tossed for 401 in a victory over Iowa Central in the delayed Spring 2021 season.

Lucci Fidone and Titus Myers both scored their first career touchdowns, while Jonathan Humpal had his first career receiving touchdown. It was far from the first scores for Fidone and Humpal on the field at Titan Stadium as they both played for Lewis Central High School before joining the Reivers.

The Reivers have a chance at home to get back in the win column when Dodge City comes to town.  IWCC and 'DC3' kickoff at 1:00pm at Titan Stadium for the Reivers' Cancer Awareness Game.

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 PM from Titan Stadium at Lewis Central High School in Council Bluffs.

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