Area HS Football Report Week 1

Teams around North Central have wrapped up kickoff week for the 2021 season. In the area, there was expected result with a somewhat unexpected journey to it, there was a instant classic that went to OT, a traditional power rolled to a win, an upstart coach led a program to a win in ranked clash, a program extended a regular season win streak that started in 2019, and two area teams met in a long running rivalry game.

Fort Dodge extended its winning streak to 17 in the rivalry series with Mason City. The Dodgers got a 28-13 win in which they were more physical than Mason City at the line of scrimmage. Fort Dodge had 4 turnovers in the 1st half and trailed 13-7 at the break. The coaching staff made halftime adjustments and went with a run heavy attack in the 2nd half.

A 38 yard TD run for Jon Presswood put Fort Dodge up 14-13. He finished with 171 rushing yards and 2 TD’s on 24 carries. Jake Erickson had a big play to put the Dodgers up 21-13 , when he took a handoff 63 yards to the house. LB Tucker Pederson had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. QB Connor Carver had a short TD run, the lone Dodger score of the 1st half. D-I WR prospect Javion Jondle had 8 catches for 81 yards. Dodger Coach Nik Moser said it was a game of two halves.

South Central Calhoun picked up where they left off last season, they rolled East Sac County 48-7. Standout RB Blake Mcalister had 94 yards on the ground and scored twice. Another story line was the emergence of Jayden Soard at FB, he had two TD runs as well. The Titan Defense was stifling which is a trademark of a Brian Case coached team. The titans  travel to take on Pocahontas Area on Friday.

St. Edmond won an OT thriller in their inaugural game at the 8 player level. Gaels got a 62-56 win in an instant classic at Ar-We-Va. St. Edmond was good down the stretch, they denied the Rockets on a 2 pt conversion late in the 4th and forced a turnover on downs in OT. Gaels would win it on a 16 yard TD pass from Caleb Schaeffer to Quinton Mccarville on 4th and goal in OT. Schaffer in his 1st start at QB had 340 total yards, 240 through the air, he also accounted for 7 TD’s. Tyler Rossmanith had 150 rushing yards and a TD, Issac Landwehr had a pick 6 on defense. Gaels have their hme opener Friday, hosting West Bend-Mallard.

Elsewhere around the area- SE Valley was impressive in their opener. They downed I-35 28-0 in Gowrie. The Jag defense held down I-35’s vaunted run game. Jags got 150 rushing yards from QB Kolson Kruse. RB Lathe Muench had 2 TD runs. SE Valley has not lost in the regular season since 2019. Jags Coach Mike Swieter was pleased with his squad’s week 1 performance.

Humboldt got a win in one of the marquee match ups around North Central Iowa in week 1. The #8 Wildcats dropped 4A’s 4th ranked team Webster City by a count of 35-7. QB Caden Matson was stellar going 15 of 16 passing for 233 yards and 5 TD’s. Wildcat Coach Derrick Elman praised his QB’s performance.

Jacob Heier in his 1st game back from injury had two TD catches and Will Orness had three on the night. Here’s Coach Elman on the landmark win.

Manson NW Webster and Pocahontas Area renewed their storied rivalry on Friday. Pocahontas Area took the rivalry game 28-12. A pick 6 for Pocahontas in the 1st half proved to be a major turning point. That put them up 14-0 early, Indians RB Ruger Bunda had 138 yards and 2 TD’s on 28 carries. DL Keaton Bindle had 3 tackles for loss and 3 sacks.  Cougars were minus one in the turnover margin. Tate Bianchi had a nice game at RB going 116 yards on 16 carries and had a TD run. Teammate, Brodie Anderson had a nice game on both sides of the ball. Anderson had 4 catches for 51 yards and a TD and on defense had 8.5 tackles, 2 Sacks and a fumble recovery.

Newell-Fonda rolled past West Bend-Mallard 54-12. Mustang QB Mason Dicks had nearly 250 total yards and accounted for four TD’s. Wyatt Kret had two rushing TD’s and two in the return game. Seth Menke was everywhere on defense as he racked up 16 tackles for Newell-Fonda. Wolverine QB Max Fehr had two total TD’s, one through the air and the other on the ground.