Oskaloosa 7th Grade Football Splits With South Tama
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa Indian 7th grade football team hosted South Tama at Community Stadium on Tuesday night. In the first action of the year for both teams Oskaloosa came away with a split. Oskaloosa won the A game 14-8 and lost the B game 30-6. In the A game the Oskaloosa defense had their backs to the wall the entire game as the offense struggled to move the ball on the tough South Tama defense. South Tama got on the scoreboard first following a mishandled catch by one of the Indian punt return men. South Tama scored early in the second quarter from 20 yards out. The score came on a nice passing play over the middle which included an athletic catch by the receiver. The Oskaloosa defense regrouped and came up strong as they stopped the two point conversion run. From that point on the defense gave up very few yards. There were numerous tackles for loss highlighted by strong play up the middle and great containment and pursuit of the ball on the edges. The Indians first score came on a punt return after a forced three and out by the defense. Tucker Nunnikhoven picked up the South Tama punt on the bounce about midfield and followed his blockers to the sideline and would not be touched as he raced to the end zone. Nunnikhoven also used his speed to get around the edge to score the two point conversion. Nunnikhoven would also add the next score as he sneaked up the middle from three yards out following some good blocking. The two point conversion run failed and that completed the scoring for both teams the rest of the way as the defenses outmatched the offenses.
In the B game Oskaloosa got on the board first with a 30 yard scoring pass from Keaton DeKock to Jaden Van Roekel. DeKock hit the fullback Van Roekel on a nice five yard out and Van Roekel raced down the sideline and broke a couple tackles and crossed into the end zone. The point after run failed and the defense came onto the field. The Oskaloosa defense played with a lot of heart but could not contain South Tama on the edges. The Indian pursuit of the ball was excellent but poor tackling allowed the Trojan runners to advance. South Tama would go on to score four touchdowns and convert on three of their four 2pt conversions for the final score of 30-6. The Oskaloosa 7th grade squad consists of 44 players with many players seeing their first ever action on the grid. The coaches look forward to improving the next week in practice and getting better. We hope to be much sharper on both sides of the ball next week when a tough Grinnell team comes to town. That game will be played on Tuesday night September 18 at 4:30 at Community Stadium.
