First-ever football clash at DePauw for Central

Central Dutch Athletics

PELLA—It’s a homecoming for coach Jeff McMartin but one of the more imposing hurdles on the schedule for his Central College football team which journeys to DePauw University (Ind.) for a first-ever meeting Saturday.

Game time is 1 p.m., Eastern Time (noon, Central Time) at Blackstock Stadium in Greencastle, Indiana.

McMartin spent four seasons (2000-03) as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at DePauw before returning to Central in 2004. The Blackstock Stadium field is named for Nick Mourouzis, who served as DePauw head coach during McMartin’s tenure there.

Central is 1-0 after a promising 49-3 road rout of Northwestern-St. Paul (Minn.) Saturday evening. This week’s game will be the season opener for DePauw, which was 8-2 a year ago.

“DePauw is a very good football team,” McMartin said. “We’re going to have to show a lot of improvement this week.”

McMartin said he wasn’t initially eager to add the Tigers to the schedule but that the program is a good fit.

“There are a lot of good memories from being there,” McMartin said. “But what we always try to do is we want to find teams that provide a good challenge and have a good program. DePauw certainly has that. It’s a very good school academically and it’s a good school athletically. The football program has done really well and it will be a big test for us.

“And I think from the standpoint of values, and what’s important to them, we’re playing an institution that’s very similar. I would always rather compete against those types of schools than a school that’s vastly different.”

On the air and online—The Voice of the Dutch, Trevor Castle, will call Saturday’s action on KRLS-FM (92.1), with retired Central defensive coordinator Don De Waard providing the color. The KRLS pregame show will air at 11:35 p.m. Central Time The broadcast can also be accessed through www.kniakrls.com or directly at rdo.to/krls. It’s also accessible via mobile device with the KRLS app available through iTunes and other outlets.

On Mondays, Castle plays host to coach Jeff McMartin on the KRLS Coaches’ Corner at 7 p.m. Those broadcasts are also available on demand through www.kniakrls.com.

Twitter users can follow Saturday’s action through @CentralDutch.

Former Big 10 coach—DePauw’s Bill Lynch enters his seventh year as coach and served as Indiana University head coach from 2007-10. He was head coach at Butler University from 1985-89 and at Ball State University from 1995-2002. He also served as an assistant at Butler, Northern Illinois and Indiana and spent a year as an assistant in Orlando in the USFL in 1985. He was head coach at DePauw in 2004 before leaving for Indiana, then returned in 2013. He’s compiled a 43-17 (.716) record at DePauw, with three straight 8-2 campaigns.

“I think he’s one of the top coaches out there,” McMartin said. “I have great respect for him. He’s a tremendous person and an awesome head coach.”

McMartin, a 1990 Central graduate, is in his 15th season as Dutch head coach with a 109-38 (.739) record and ranks 13th in career winning percentage among active coaches in the NCAA Division III. He’s just the 11th Division III coach ever chosen for the American Football Coaches Association board of trustees, having served since 2015.

The Tigers–DePauw is coming off an 8-2 season and is among those receiving votes in the d3football.com top 25. The Tigers received a first-place vote in the preseason North Coast Athletics Conference coaches poll and are tabbed for third place overall. No. 14-ranked Wittenberg (Ohio) is the favorite.

The Tigers are loaded on defense, where they start nine seniors and two juniors. Three returning defensive linemen and two inside linebackers gained all-conference recognition last year. Also back is all-league receiver and return specialist Andy Hunt, who had 45 receptions for 878 yards and 12 touchdowns last year.

“DePauw is a very good team,” McMartin said. “They’ve got a lot of seniors. Defensively, they’ve got a lot of guys back. They’ve got excellent team speed.

“Offensively, they’re a shotgun team. Their skill players a good. Schematically, they know what they’re about. They do a good job of setting up plays and they’re tough to stop.”

Encouraging start—Central took control early at Northwestern-St. Paul (Minn.) Saturday and raced to a 35-3 halftime lead. Running back Nathan Fitzgerald (Elkader, Central HS) ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries while quarterback Blaine Hawkins (sophomore, Ankeny) completed 14 of 21 passes for 130 yards and a score

“For us, it was a game when we could find out what we need to get better at,” McMartin said. “It was great that we could win the game and learn some important lessons. The guys we started solidified themselves in a lot of ways but there is still going to be competition for playing time.”

No early scouting report—Starting the season before DePauw has pros and cons, McMartin said.

“They’ve been able to see us play and we haven’t been able to see them play,” he said. “But, traditionally, we’ve shown a lot of improvement from week one to week two and that’s what we expect to do.”

Running back shuffle—Central was expected to roll out its talented trio of senior running backs at Northwestern-St. Paul, but Donny Groezinger (Sulphur Springs, Texas; Eastland, Illinois HS) was sidelined by a nagging injury and didn’t dress. The Dutch still had Fitzgerald and Pat Gray (West Des Moines, Waukee HS), however, and they’re listed as co-starters this week. Gray had 49 yards and a touchdown on eight carries and also caught a pass for four yards.

Objectives—McMartin said the week’s film session would be instructive for his young squad and he’s looking for progress in Indiana.

“We have to continue to improve on the little things, like how we block certain plays,” he said. “We need to continue to understand who we are. That’s always a good thing about the first game is you start to find out who you are, what you’ve got, what the personality of your team is and what the strengths of your team are. You think you know and then you get in a game and you really find out. I hope each week we get a clearer picture so we can improve. I just want to see our guys keep getting better.”

While DePauw lists 14 seniors in its starting lineup, Central took the field Saturday evening with five. The Dutch started seven juniors and 10 sophomores.

Notes—This is only the third time Central has played in Indiana. One of the Dutch program’s most memorable games was at Evansville University (Ind.) in 1974 in the opening round of what was then the four-team NCAA Division III playoffs. Defensive lineman Mike Street blocked an extra point in the closing moments to preserve a 17-16 Central victory. A national championship followed. And the Dutch opened the 1980 campaign in Crawfordsville, Indiana at long-time DePauw rival Wabash College (Ind.), a 17-0 loss…McMartin said he and Lynch were briefly on the same staff. He was at DePauw when Lynch was hired in 2004, but two days later was named Central’s coach…This is Central’s first trip to the Eastern Time Zone since playing at Albion College (Mich.) in 2012… The Dutch finally make their Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium debut Sept. 15. It will be the program’s latest home opener since 2005.

Central College two-deep roster
at DePauw University (Ind.)

Sat., Sept. 8, 2018

OFFENSE

QB 3 Blaine Hawkins (5-10, 190, so.) 12 Tanner Schminke (6-0, 185, so.)

RB 8 Pat Gray (5-11, 210, sr.) 26 Chase Copeland (5-8, 180, so.)

or 32 Nathan Fitzgerald (5-9, 200, sr.)

SB 1 Caleb Schlatter (5-11, 195, so.) 44 Daniel Coovert (5-10, 210, sr.)

TE 19 Ross Norem (6-3, 235, jr.) 44 Daniel Coovert (5-10, 210, sr.)

WR 11 Erik Knaack (5-10, 195, so.) 7 Gavin Ritchie (5-10, 185, so.)

WR 10 Tylor Obermeyer (6-0, 195, so.) 2 Hunter Robinson (6-0, 180, jr.)

LT 68 Cody Smith (6-4, 285, jr.) 75 Griffin Sargent (6-3, 260, so.)

LG 65 Tylor Newhouse (6-0, 280, sr.) 71 Dylan Tuttle (6-0, 295, sr.)

C 53 Jake Suggett (5-10, 295, jr.) 50 Ed Henning (6-0, 265, jr.)

RG 58 Josh Mayhew (6-0, 260, so.) 64 Cody Tuttle (6-0, 270, sr.)

RT 70 Travis Wagner (6-5, 280, so.)

or 60 Carter Smith (6-6, 275, jr.)

DEFENSE

DE 94 Lou Gomez (6-0, 255, so.) 59 Hunter Maddy (6-2, 205, so.)

NG 92 Blade Durbala (6-0, 265, so.) 93 Martin Olson (6-1, 250, jr.)

DE 96 Carter Terpstra (6-0, 240, jr.) 67 Matt Glockel (6-0, 235, so.)

OLB 36 Tate O’Tool (5-11, 185, jr.) 10 Josiah Soderstrum (5-10, 195, sr.)

ILB 21 Drew Smith (5-9, 195, so.) 39 Jake Poster (6-1, 195, sr.)

ILB 46 Drew Kithcart (5-10, 225, sr.) 6 Cade Humphries (5-8, 200, so.)

OLB 12 Connor Lewin (6-1, 190, so.) 29 Louis Kriegel (5-11, 205, sr.)

CB 14 Danny Anderson (6-0, 190, jr.) 13 Tre Wilridge III (5-7, 145, so.)

SS 9 Tate Jensen (6-0, 185, sr.) 22 Jordy Borman (5-9, 175, jr.)

FS 7 Collin Erickson (5-11, 185, sr.) 26 William Diaz, Jr. (5-6, 155, so.)

CB 25 Trevor Smith (5-9, 175, jr.) 20 Mason Cross (5-11, 180, so.)

SPECIALTY

K 19 Jon Alberts (5-11, 180, jr.) 3 Gavin Thompson (5-11, 195, so.)

P 45 Tyler Bryant (6-0, 185, sr.)

or 87 Cam Kiner (6-4, 235, sr.)

KR 12 Connor Lewin (6-1, 190, so.)

36 Tate O’Tool (5-11, 185, jr.)

PR 14 Hunter Robinson (6-0, 180, jr.)

LS 67 Matt Glockel (6-0, 235, so.)

H 4 Brett Staton (6-0, 195, so.)

2018 Central College football schedule

(1-0 overall, 0-0 conference)

Sept. 1 Northwestern-St. Paul (Minn.) St. Paul, Minn. W, 49-3

Sept. 8 DePauw (Ind.) Greencastle, 1 p.m.+

Ind.

Sept. 15 *Luther Pella 1 p.m.

Sept. 22 *Dubuque Dubuque 1 p.m.

Sept. 29 *Buena Vista Pella 1 p.m.

Homecoming

Oct. 6 *Nebraska Wesleyan Lincoln, Neb. 1 p.m.

Oct. 13 *Simpson Pella 1 p.m.

Oct. 20 *Wartburg Waverly 1:30 p.m.

Oct. 27 *Coe Pella 1 p.m.

Nov. 10 *Loras Dubuque 1 p.m.

+Eastern Daylight Time

*American Rivers Conference game