COFFEYVILLE, KANSAS
Defense and Special Teams, two key ingredients in Iowa Western's undefeated start to the season. Saturday in Southern Kansas, it was Coffeyville that rode those factors to victory.
NJCAA #8 Coffeyville (7-2) forced four Reivers' turnovers and blocked and returned Iowa Western's only field goal attempt of the game for a touchdown to top #2 Iowa Western (8-1), 23-7, at Veteran's Memorial Stadium.
Iowa Western scored on their third offensive drive of the game on a seven-yard touchdown run by James Graham, but were thwarted by Coffeyville's opportune defense and special teams' units for the last three quarters.
Looking to go up 10-0 in the 2nd quarter, Sam Wilber's kick was blocked and returned 62-yards for a touchdown by Jabin Ford. The point after was missed by the Red Ravens and the Reivers hung on to a brief one-point lead.
That lead would be erased seven plays later as Iowa Western drove into Coffeyville territory. Ravens' DB Bishop Fitzgerald jumped an Aiden Niedens pass and returned the interception 68-yards for the go-ahead score. It was as close as the Reivers would get for the remainder of the contest.
On the ensuing drive, the turnover bug bit again on Niedens second interception of the game. This time it was Jabari Tiller that set his offense up for a score as the Red Ravens rammed home a 41-yard field goal to balloon the lead to two scores at 16-7.
A potential momentum changer was nullified by a penalty late in the half when LJ Fitzpatrick's 68-yard touchdown catch off the arm of Niedens was called back because of a hold, snuffing out a late Reiver drive.
"We gave them all of their points," said Head Coach Scott Strohmeier at the half, "The blocked field goal, three turnovers, I don't know many teams that are ahead on the scoreboard when those are the facts on the stat sheet. We need to protect the football in the second half and we need someone to step up and make some plays."
The Reivers' 'Darkside' defense kept Iowa Western in the game with Jackson Filer leading the way with six total tackles, but the offense was shut down again and again by Coffeyville's defensive unit. Niedens was sacked a season high six times by the Red Raven defense and the home team came up with two big fourth down stops in the final quarter as the Reivers looked to cut into the lead.
Filer collected another pair of tackles for loss, while Rashion Hodge and Anterio Thompson added to the Reivers' season sack totals. Dylan Reyes grabbed his team-leading fourth interception late in the game, but after seeing a defensive or special teams touchdown for three consecutive games, Graham's first quarter TD-run was all the Reivers could put on the scoreboard.
Overall, the defense gave up just 158 total yards to Coffeyville with the Red Ravens coming up with a third-quarter scoring drive to cement the victory.
The four turnovers and blocked field goal doomed Iowa Western as the visitors actually outgained the home team by nearly double the yardage, racking up 325 offensive yards and recording 16 more first downs than the home team. Micah Davis was the team's leading rusher and receiver on the day, catching three passes for 67 yards and rushing once for another 41.
"Hats off to them, they had answers for what we attacked with and they made the plays they needed to make." Coach Strohmeier said after the contest, "There's one game left, we've got to win it if these guys want to have a chance to still compete for a National Title. We're going to have to shake this one off get ready to perform and execute against another very good team on Saturday. We'll get a chance real quick to see what we're made of."
For Iowa Western, they return home for a showdown that many have eyed for the duration of the season, a match-up with the Blue Dragons of Hutchinson. IWCC and HCC had been ranked in the Top 3 of the NJCAA poll since its release this season. The two teams were tied for second after the Reivers had started the season by themselves at number 2, won by 46 and then had a Week 2 bye. Hutchinson passed Iowa Western in Week 3 after the Reivers beat preseason top 20 Garden City by 30-points and Hutchinson topped hapless Ellsworth 70-7. The teams had been one and two since the previous #1, New Mexico Military, lost to unranked Tyler on October 8th. The Reivers loss to Coffeyville dropped them #4 in this week's poll and Iowa Western needs to win to make the NJCAA playoffs, while Hutchinson's only question is where they'll play the semifinal match-up on the first weekend in December.
Iowa Western leads the all-time series, 4-2, but dropped the last match-up in 2019 at Titan Stadium. The 7th-ranked Reivers got down early to the Blue Dragons and never could close the gap in #1 Hutchinson's 34-27 victory.
All the action Saturday 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. The RSN Countdown to Kickoff begins at 12:30 on the radio side with the video stream starting just before kickoff.
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NOTES
The Reivers still hold the all-time lead in the series versus the Red Ravens, with an even, 2-2, record at Veteran's Memorial Stadium.
