Oskaloosa Defeats Grinnell At Home

Indians Blake Allsup pushes up field against Grinnell on Friday night. (photo by Denis Currier/Oskaloosa News)

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa Indians are banged up after a big opening week against the Pella Dutch. The defending state champions are still a force to be reckoned with, even after the loss of several key players from last year’s team.

For week two, the Indians hosted the Grinnell Tigers, and the players were ready to prove they will contend with anyone.

For Oskaloosa Head Coach Jake Jenkins, he was seeking his first win as a head coach.

Jenkins sees his team as moving forward with a lot of positive effort and concentration to play four quarters all the time. “In the first two games, I truly believe we’ve played four quarters. Now, we’ve made a lot of mistakes, on both sides of the ball and, on special teams as well. We’re trying to clean things up.”

Jenkins said he believes that special teams did a better job on Friday night against Grinnell, “We were more solid. I was happy about that”.

Jenkins added that there is “a lot to fix” but his number one goal is to have his players “play your hearts out for four quarters at all times, and good things will happen. You’ve just got to keep knocking at the door”.

Defensively, the Indians came up with some key interceptions against the Tigers. Jenkins said that, with 5 interceptions and 1 fumble recovery, his team had a short term memory about an early mistake, ultimately making them better in the end after recognizing their error. “I just couldn’t be more proud of these guys. They’ve worked very, very hard”, said Jenkins.

The Indians kick off district play on Friday night against Fort Madison, in Fort Madison. Jenkins says that his team is excited to enter district play. “We are looking forward to the opportunity to go into district play.”