Week six of the high school football campaign should be an interesting one. In District Five, Belle Plaine will attempt to get back on the winning track against a team that has tasted victory only once this season.
The Plainsmen take to the road this week to face an Iowa Valley team that topped Van Buren last Friday, 42-6. The big offensive story in that game was Nick Heisdorffer, who gained 167 yards in 18 carries and scored four touchdowns.
The Tigers bounced back from a 50-14 loss at the hands of Eddyville-Blakesburg the week before. They have given up an average of 26 points per game and have been shut out twice this season.
The marquee game in the district this week has to be the match-up of Pekin at West Branch. Both teams are perennial Class 1A powers. This year, the Bears, currently rated third in the state and undefeated, appear to have the edge.
They have scored at least 31 points in each of their first five games and have topped the 50-point mark twice. Their defense may not be the team strong point this season. After giving up only six points in each of their first two games, the Bears gave up 28 points twice before allowing 12 against the Plainsmen last week.
Nobody has found a real way to stop star running back Cole Kelly yet this season. He had 126 yards against Tipton, 137 against Wilton, 182 against Eddyville-Blakesburg, 286 against Wapello and 158 last week against the Plainsmen.
Down at Pekin, this is not a typical year for Coach Tom Stone’s squad. The Panthers are 3-2 overall, 2-1 in the district. They dropped a 17-16 decision in the season opener against Sigourney and last week, they were tripped up by an improving Wapello squad, 38-29. But the Panthers can certainly put the points on the board, as evidenced by their 90-0 win over an outmanned Van Buren team the week before.
The Panthers do feature a varied attack. Spencer Adam has had two games of over 100 yards rushing in each, including 195 last week against Wapello. But in the 90-0 win against Van Buren, 11 men were listed with rushes and Adam’s name was missing. The team also features an adequate passing attack, spearheaded by quarterback Dalton Stone.
Another team quickly gaining respect in Class 1A circles is Wapello, which hosts Durant this week. High school football observers across the state may have been surprised to see the Indians hand Pekin a 38-29 defeat last week. But their only loss so far this season came the week before against West Branch, 55-28. They had scored at least 40 points in each of their first three games, while limiting their opponents to 12, 12 and eight points.
Most coaches value a solid running game as the basis of a successful squad and Wapello appears to be no exception. In their first win, the Indians had two runners, Danny Johnson and Dylan Schrader who each gained 134 yards. But Johnson has been missing from the stats since. Schrader followed that performance with two more plus-100 yard efforts. Pekin held him to just 32 yards on the ground, but the Panthers were unable to stop quarterback Taylor Jacobsmeier, who hit on 16 of 23 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns.
At Durant, statistics are available for only three of the first five games. The Wildcats opened with a 3-0 loss to Wilton, then beat Tipton the next week, 20-6. They handed Iowa Valley a 28-0 defeat in district opening action. Then they dropped a 27-7 decision to Belle Plaine and last week, they dropped a 19-14 decision to Eddyville-Blakesburg.
In statistics available, the Wildcats appear to be riding the back of running back Jake Goering. He had 169 yards and two touchdowns in 25 carries against Tipton, 32 carries for 203 yards and two scores against Iowa Valley and 24 rushes for 118 yards against Belle Plaine.
In the other district contest, Eddyville-Blakesburg takes its 3-2 record into Keosauqua to face winless Van Buren. In its two losses to CMB and West Branch, Eddyville gave up 56 points in each game. But the Rockets scored 49 in a win over Pleasantville and 50 in a victory over Iowa Valley.
Running back Jacob Batterson had what must have been a career night against Pleasantville, when he had 10 carries for 325 yards and scored six touchdowns. He also had four carries for 131 yards and two touchdowns against Iowa Valley.
It’s been a truly tough year for Van Buren, which lists only 23 men on its varsity roster, including 11 sophomores. The Warriors have scored in four of their five games this season, but including that crazy loss to Pekin, they have given up an average of 43 points per game.
In that game against Pekin, they managed just 33 yards on the ground and 142 yards in total offense.
It would appear that Belle Plaine may be over the hump, both in the number of games on its regular schedule and in toughest opponents. After this week’s trip to Marengo, the Plainsmen must host Wapello next week for homecoming, then comes a trip to Van Buren before they close out the regular season at home against Eddyville-Blakesburg.
