COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA
On a wet, chilly, 'football weather' type day, Iowa Western (2-0) rode the big 'MO' to a homecoming victory over visiting Garden City (0-3)
Intermittent rain ruined many pre-game festivities IWCC had planned for Homecoming 2022. Still, in-game plans went nearly to perfection as the Reivers scored 43 unanswered points to send the visiting Broncbusters home winless, 43-13.
Garden City took the opening kickoff 75-yards in nine plays to take a 7-0 lead.
"Here they are, 0-2 on the year and I just fed them", said Head Coach Scott Strohmeier after the game on the decision to defer to the second half.
The Reivers punted on their first drive before the 'Darkside' forced the Broncbusters to punt on their second drive.
The ensuing snap sailed over GCCC punter Angel Islas' head, setting quarterback Andre Goodman and the offense up with a first and goal from the five-yard line and Derek Coombs blasted in from the 1-yard line three plays later to tie the game at seven.
A pair of second-quarter field goals from Sophomore Sam Wilber had the Reivers poised to head into halftime with the lead, but officials determined that a Reivers' pass breakup in the endzone occurred with a second still on the clock, giving Garden City a chance at a field goal before heading into the halftime break.
After the first attempt, a 44-yard attempt over the crossbar by less than a yard was called back due to a false start, Garden City lined up for a 49-yard attempt from Islas.
IWCC sent defensive back Wyatt Rhomer back for a return and the kick was short by the length of the previous penalty. Rhomer took the ball out of the south end zone toward the home sideline, tip-toeing by the bench as he avoided Garden City's attempts to bring him down all the way for the score. The 100-yard return goes down as the first time Iowa Western has produced a score off a missed field goal return and the longest play in program history and pushed the lead to 20-7 at halftime.
It was the Reivers' turn to score on the opening drive as Goodman finished off a nine-play, 78-yard drive with a 19-yard rush, his first touchdown in a Reiver uniform, for a 27-7 lead.
A Micah Davis punt return set the 'O' up again inside the Red Zone at the Garden City 11 with Coombs finishing the drive with another one-yard TD run.
Defenses took control for much of the remainder of the 3rd Quarter as IWCC dialed back the offensive play calling and the Broncbusters still looking for answers against a swarming Reiver 'D'.
Another special teams miscue by GCCC put the Reivers inside the red zone again and Coombs punctuated his day with his third one-yard touchdown run to put the Reivers up 41-7.
"They've got a lot of talent", Strohmeier said after the game, "We had to play four quarters because if you give them any glimmer, they'll take advantage of it".
A quarterback sack by Jaylen Pettus-McMullen in the endzone closed out the scoring for IWCC, while backup tailback James Jones punched in the final score of the game for the Broncbusters.
With the win, IWCC takes a 4-3 lead in the all-time series versus Garden City and evens their home record against the Broncbusters to 2-2.
Iowa Western heads to Highland, Kansas on Saturday for the Reivers' first road contest of 2022. Highland is the closest school to Iowa Western with a football team in the country, making it the shortest road trip posssible for the Reivers. The Scotties are 0-3 after a loss at Dodge City over the weekend.
All the action can be heard, free of charge, on the Reiver Sports Network. The game, with Jake Ryan, Russ Nelsen, and Josh Odson on the call, can also be found on Iowa Western's 100,000-watt fm radio station, 89.7 The River.
**Any other links posted are spam/phishing and will attempt to get you to enter credit card information. DO NOT CLICK THOSE LINKS.
