Oskaloosa Gets Homecoming Revenge On Fairfield
Oskaloosa’s Tyler Miller had 114 total yards against Fairfield on Friday night.
Fairfield, Iowa – The Oskaloosa Indians had their homecoming celebration spoiled the week before by the Solon Spartans, and they returned the favor to the Fairfield Trojans on Friday night.
After last week’s game, Oskaloosa Head Coach Jake Jenkins spoke about how many of the games in the district seemed to be blowouts when the Indians were victims of the Spartans. This week, the Trojans were victims of an Indian team looking to continue their march to a state playoff berth.
Jenkins was happy with the way his team performed against Fairfield. “I thought we dominated the offensive and defensive line of scrimmage.”
Dominating the line of scrimmage allowed the Indians to open up their offense, and move the ball nearly at will all night long. “We executed better, but we’ve still got a long way to go. Definitely made some good strides this week.”
“We won three phases of the game, offense, defense, special teams,” said Jenkins. “I feel like we just played a lot harder.”
The penalty bug was trying to bite the Indians once again. Jenkins said he wasn’t as upset by the penalties as previously. Jenkins didn’t agree with many of the calls by the officiating team. “I didn’t argue them. I didn’t say anything. I just wrote them down.”
“It was bad, but it wasn’t as bad as it seemed,” added Jenkins of the penalties against the Indians.
With the Indians leading by more than 35 points, the continuous clock kicked in, and some Indians that haven’t seen as much time on the field got an opportunity to shine, and to get the future starters some reps on the field.
Jenkins said that the ability to play others is essential. “It’s difficult when you don’t get everyone in, but in a game like this it’s nice because you try to get everybody in.”
That depth on the team has allowed the Indians to continue battling forward in the district.
After Solon last week, three players are still sidelined with the effects of concussions. “It’s tough. It’s especially tough losing a center. We haven’t played without Noah all year. Hunter Else did a good job stepping up there playing center.”
“Another guy is Tommy Coon, who’s not here tonight because of a concussion. I hate to lose those guys and not have them here and not at school,” said Jenkins. “I really hope they get healed up. We’re going to be very careful with them before we get them back in and make sure they are 100% healthy first, because we are more concerned about their health than winning football games.”
The Indians had possession of the ball for 26 minutes of the game, while the Trojans had it for 22 minutes.
The Indians had 15 first downs, to the Trojans 3. The Indians had six rushing and eight passing first downs.
Compared to last week when the Indians had under 100 yards of total offense, the 424 yards of total offense speaks to dominating at the line of scrimmage.
Casey Hill had 84 rushing yards, and Seth Howard had 83 yards, both on 12 carries.
Howard passed the ball for four touchdowns, completing 13 of 19 passing attempts.
Cole Henry had 41 yards receiving, with Tanner DeKock having 37 yards. Jarad Kruse also had 22 yards. All three snagged three passes to gain those yards.
Tyler Miller had 52 receiving yards on two catches, while Alex Chapman ran up 39 yards on a single catch.
Overall, Miller lead the Indians with 114 total yards on the night; Hill had 84 and Howard 70.
Aaron Blom booted a 49-yard field goal for the Indians.
Blake Van Veldhuizen lead the Indians with six tackles and one sack for a 9-yard loss for the Trojans.
Riley Miller and Keaton DeKock both had five tackles. Jaden Van Roekel, Cole Kraber, Calvin Silvers and Michael Hoven all had four tackles on the night.
