Indians Escape Trojan Last Minute Charge
A team effort helped the Indians overcome a Trojan offense threatening to win the game with just seconds remaining.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Fairfield Trojans were just yards away from making Friday night’s football match-up a tie ballgame with just seconds remaining when a fumble changed it all.
Fairfield’s Carson Crile fumbled the ball on the Oskaloosa 6 yard line, and Oskaloosa’s Cole Kraber recovers the rolling fumble at the 20, rushing 80 yards for the first defensive touchdown of the season for the Indians.
Kraber and teammate Nick Dykstra put the pressure on Crile. Kraber saw the ball come out, “I just picked it up and I was running for my life.”
“It was just an awesome moment,” says Kraber of scoring the last-second touchdown to seal the Indian victory.
Kraber said that concentrating on getting turnovers was the focus this week in practice, because the Indians haven’t had much success so far this year in forcing turnovers. “This one was a big one.”
“Coach always says finish strong, and I’d say we finished pretty strong,” added Kraber. “Our team battled, and our coaching staff is one of the best in the state. We’re good.”
Oskaloosa Head Coach Jake Jenkins spoke about Kraber’s touchdown run. “Kraber made a big play. Our defense made a big play. It was a frustrating night, and you’ve got to give credit to Fairfield.”
Kraber scooped up the football and ran for the end zone, “instead of jumping on it [fumble], he scooped and scored like a veteran captain should,” added Jenkins. “It was awesome.”
“They played really, really hard, and they should be proud of their effort because they laid it on the line,” said Jenkins of the Fairfield Trojans. “They played a really good game and we were just fortunate to win it.”
The first half of the contest belonged to the Indians, but the momentum began to swing Fairfield’s direction following the break. “They kept grinding,” said Jenkins of the Trojans offense.
“They kept knocking, they kept knocking, they kept knocking, and then we gave them a little light, and they made us hurt,” said Jenkins of the Trojan offense in the second half. “They made it a game and they dang near took it at the end.”
“They played well enough to win that game,” said Jenkins.
The Indians face Norwalk next week in what may be one of the toughest games on the Indians schedule. “They are a good program year in and year out,” said Jenkins of the Norwalk Warriors football program.
Jenkins hopes his team is more mentally prepared to take on Norwalk this coming week than when they stepped on to the field against Fairfield. “We came out flat tonight. I don’t know why, but we did come out flat tonight.”
The Indians scored 7 points every quarter in the contest against the Trojans. The Trojans points all came in the second half, a TD in each of the final two quarters.
With 42 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Casey Hill carried it 9 yards for the Indians first score. PAT kick by Aaron Blom was good, and the Indians are up 7-0.
With 8 seconds remaining in the first half, Cole Henry and Tyler Miller once again teamed up for a touchdown reception from 11 yards out. Blom’s PAT was good, and the Indians went into halftime up 14-0.
Fairfield’s nearly unstoppable force of #44 Tristian Waugh carried the ball 19 yards for the Trojans first touchdown. A PAT kick from Landen Schafer made it a 14-7 ballgame.
With 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter, Henry finds Nikolas Dykstra for a 33 yard TD reception. A PAT kick from Blom was good, and the Indians are up by 14 points again, 21-7.
In the fourth quarter, Fairfield’s Waugh once again found the end zone from 8 yards out with just over 8 minutes remaining in the game. The PAT by Schafer was good, and the Trojans were trailing by only a touchdown.
The Trojans were threatening the end zone when Fairfield’s Carson Crile coughed up the ball, and Oskaloosa’s Cole Kraber recovered, rushing 80 yards to seal the game for the Indians. The PAT kick by Blom was good, and the Indians were up 28-14 with just 4 seconds remaining in the game.
Oskaloosa had 19 first downs compared to Fairfield’s 15. On the ground, Fairfield had 209 yards in rushing compared to Oskaloosa’s 181. In the air, Oskaloosa had 156, while Fairfield had just 69.
The Trojans of Fairfield had 57 total offensive plays compared to the Indians 53.
Fairfield’s top rusher, Tristin Waugh had a total of 171 yards, while Oskaloosa’s Casey Hill had 142.
Cole Henry had 156 total yards for the Indians in the air, while the Trojans Carson Crile had 69.
Both Hill and Dykstra had 47 yards receiving, and Tyler Miller had 44 yards.
On the defensive side, Fairfield’s Cole Engle and Brittan Bowman each had 10 total tackles.
Oskaloosa’s Zaiyan Mamun had 17 total tackles for the Indians. Aaron Blom had 8 tackles, with Tyson Breuklander, Walker Newman, and Nikolas Dykstra each recording 7 tackles.
The Indians are on the road next week to Indianola, with kick-off scheduled for 7:30 pm.
