Oskaloosa Stops Keokuk Passing Game For Homecoming Victory
The Indian running game was strong against Keokuk Friday night at the new Community Stadium (photo D.Hubbard)
Oskaloosa, Iowa – With the first homecoming ever at the new Community Stadium at the Lacey Complex, the Indians and local students celebrated homecoming in traditional fashion, with a rousing song and chant near the stands, after a big win over Keokuk.
I asked Coach Schilb how the first homecoming win for him at Oskaloosa felt. “It feels great. Been talking to our guys for a long time about competing for 4 quarters…. You know we got down, [our] backs were against the wall. They played for each other and they competed hard, and that’s what I wanted to see. We’ve been playing hard, I haven’t felt like every play we were competing, and that’s big step, because they [Keokuk] are a good team.”
During halftime, one might think there would be a special words from the coach, but Schilb says, “Nothing real special. We break up into defense and individual, and let the coaches coach their individual positions.” He went on to say, “You know, you just get in there and you talk to them, communicate to them. Tell them what you’re seeing, what they need to correct. Our guys, they’re doing an awesome job. We got a great staff here. I started out the season with doing both offense and defense. Coach Douds’ calling the plays and very involved with Coach Sterner. I’m leaving it alone. You saw how well we adjusted, changed some things up, played hard.”
Coach Schilb says that next week, they will continue to focus on “continuing to execute both offense, defense, just trying to find things we did well and things we need to correct to. It wasn’t perfect. We’ll find, especially at home, when we have the end-zone camera, the eye in the sky never lies. We’ll watch that film and there will be a lot of constructive criticism in the morning, even on a win.”
The Indian Defense played strong and provided a good counter to the Chief offense (photo D.Hubbard)
Keokuk quarterback, Gabe Vandenberg, is the brother to Iowa Hawkeye quarterback James Vandenburg. I was curious if they took extra steps during the week to prepare for a passing game. “Honestly, we’ve been doing what we always do. 23s’ a big tough back, those offensive linemen are big and physical.” Schilb said, “They were a very balanced team”.
The first quarter of the game had the Indians with over 2 minutes more possession time than the Chiefs. Adam Rowley ran it in with 10:00 on the clock for a touchdown, but Trevor Roth of Keokuk sprinted out a 69 yard TD from the Indian kickoff. Chiefs Dan Williams caught the 17 yard pass from Vandenbuerg with 2:14 remaining in the 1st quarter to put the Chiefs up 14-7 at then end of the quarter.
Keving Jennings started off for the Keokuk Chiefs receiving a 19 yard pass from Gabe Vandenberg with 8:38 on the clock in the second quarter. This would be the final time the Chiefs would find the end zone Friday night as the Indians began to fire up, making the score Keokuk 21 to the Indians 7, and not looking good for the Indians at that point in the ballgame.
Adam Rowley on the second of his five touchdowns ran right for an 8 yard gain, with Tristan Cook booting his second PAT with 7:28 on the board before the half. The Indians and Rowley wasn’t finished yet in helping to even the score, putting the Indians to within a touchdown of the Chiefs. Rowley once again bullied his way for a 31 yard TD run with 2:37 remaining on the board and after the boot from Tristan Cook tied it all up at 21 each.
Cook would help the Indians make a statement heading into half-time with a 25 field goal to put the Indians on top of the Chiefs for the first time all night as the teams headed to the locker room.
Tyler Hafner seen here checking out on his 65 yard TD run (photo D.Hubbard)
The third quarter seen Rowley run left for 15 yards with 8:51 on the clock to secure his fourth touchdown and with a quick shoe from Cook, the Indians were up on the Chiefs by 10 and starting not to look back.
Tyler Hafner made the long sprint down the middle for a 65 yard TD run, with the PAT once again good from the consistent Cook, the Indians were in command of the ballgame with 33 seconds left on the clock at the end of the third quarter.
Adam Rowley secured the final TD for the evening with a 3 yard run on the left, and the PAT once again sailing down the middle of the uprights to place Osky well in control with a score of 45-21 for the Indians with 6:27 remaining in the ball game.
Overall the Indians had 22 first downs to the Chiefs 20, showing their dominance with the running game with 56 rushing attempts to the 26 of the Chiefs. The Indians racked up 513 yards rushing to the 162 yards generated by the Chiefs.
The accurate arm of Vandenberg proved to be formidable as well, gaining 262 yards passing, completing 23 of 40 passing attempts. Oskaloosa with little need to go to the air had 9 yards in passing and was 1 for 1 in passing attempts.
