Season Comes To An End At The Hands Of The Dutch

The Indians battled tough against the Dutch, but ultimately it wasn’t enough, as the Dutch advance to play next week.

Pella, Iowa – The Oskaloosa Indians football team had their season come to an end on Friday night 34-14.

The senior-heavy team brought a winning season and carried on a winning attitude that started with a softball state championship.

For first-year head coach Jake Jenkins, the night was one tough one. Jenkins was obviously proud of his team’s accomplishment on the field, but also proud of a community that stood behind the team.

Jenkins said that the team was upset with some missed opportunities. “We laid it out there. We played hard for 4 quarters.”

“We scored more points than anyone had, and we had just an average night,” said Jenkins of the 14 points the Indians put up against the Dutch. The Indians had scored 13 against the Dutch on week one, which tied two other teams as the most points previously scored against the two-time defending champions. “We could put up a lot more points than that.”

“We shot ourselves in the foot, and they made some good plays,” added Jenkins. “We definitely have to give them [Dutch] credit. They’re a good team.”

“It’s frustrating, because you know there’s more in the tank there,” said Jenkins.

“Proud of them,” Jenkins said he told his squad as they ended the season. Jenkins remarked that as coachable as the squad was this year, and in particular the seniors on the squad. “You listened, you did what we asked you to do and believed in us.”

“Pretty much, we accomplished almost every single goal this year. We wanted to finish in the top 1 or 2 in the district. We did that,” said Jenkins.

“We wanted an automatic playoff berth. We got that.”

“We wanted to make a run in the playoffs, and we did that. This was our run,” Jenkins added.

“If you’re going to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. So we made our run; it was just cut short tonight,” Jenkins said.

“They played football with some of the best teams in 3A. We can play with anybody, and we can beat anybody. We just can’t make those mistakes and we have to capitalize.”

“We’re just gonna keep getting better, that’s the plan,” said Jenkins of the look towards next year.

Oskaloosa fans filled the visitor’s side to beyond overflow capacity on Friday night, and the team and coaches felt the support from the community. “You look up there, and I think we had just as many people here as they did. I think we had more. That’s awesome to see and I love the support. They never gave up on us.”

“I’m super proud of these seniors, and I am proud of this team,” said Jenkins in closing.