Ship Righted, Reivers Stay Undefeated Versus Conquistadors

Council Bluffs, IA

Three seconds and one point.  That's the difference between being top ranked and chasing number one. 

If there were any hangover from the Reivers last second loss to rival Hutchinson last week, it didn't appear right away on Saturday at Titan Stadium.

NJCAA #2 Iowa Western (2-1) looked like all was right to start Week 3, rolling 75 yards in 10 plays to break into the scoring column against visiting Dodge City (1-2).

Quarterback Hunter Dekkers hit on his first six passes of the game and running back Trevor Burnett notched his first score of the year from four yards out.

The ensuing attempt swung the momentum slightly as Amarian Louis blocked the kick and scooped the loose ball to give the Conqs two points on the return.

The Reivers' 'Darkside' defense, torched for nearly 1,000 yards in the season's first two contests, forced a Conquistadors' punt on their first drive and Dekkers and Company returned to the field.

While the first offensive drive was nearly all positive for IWCC, Dodge City's defense had warmed up, forcing a pair of incompletions and a Jonah Dupont punt.

'DC3' looked to be giving it back again after sending out the punting unit on 4th and 2, but a bold fake by first year head coach Ryan Lusby moved the chains for Dodge City and they took the lead one play later.

Wide receiver Kerya Powell took the ball on a jet sweep and raced 68 yards to put the Conqs up 9-6 with 2:49 remaining in the opening quarter.

Another Reivers' drive was snuffed after 12 plays when Jonathan Humpal was tackled for a four-yard loss on 4th & 1 inside the Dodge City redzone.

After another Conquistadors' punt, the Reivers got their first takeaway when Jonah Dupont's punt was mishandled by Jamari Mosley and recovered by the Reivers' Jaxson Cherry.

Both IWCC and DCCC entered the game negative in turnover margin and for the Reivers their first takeaway was long overdue. 

The miscue extended the possession for Coach Strohmeier's squad, but a 44-yard, game-tying field goal attempt by Max Bartachek was wide left.

While the offense struggled, the 'Darkside' was finally finding their footing.  Forcing yet another three and out by the visitors' offense.

A 13-yard punt by Dodge City gave the Reivers' a short field with under three minutes to play, but Dodge City's defense held strong again.

While the drive stalled out, Bartachek's three-point attempt was good from 33-yards out, evening the game at 9-9 into halftime.

"After that first drive, we've got a lot of guys who just expect to keep rolling without continuing to play," a clearly agitated Coach Strohmeier said at the half, "that's not the way it works and we're going to play the guys who understand that. We've got 30 minutes of football left and we better be ready to play."

Out of the break, the defense answered the call.

Dodge City picked up a first down, but Walt Gray tackled Conover for a loss and the Conquistadors were forced to punt the ball away three plays later.

Dekkers capped off a six-play, 56-yard drive when he found Titus Myers from 12-yards out for the go-ahead score.  Bartachek capped it off with the PAT to make the score 16-9, Reivers.

Myers and Dekkers teamed up again on the Reivers' next possession, connecting on a 36-yard touchdown to put IWCC up two scores.

The Reivers' weren't done, forcing another three and out with Fresh Walters finding the endzone for the first time on a 10-yard reception from Dekkers.

The 21 points were the first points of the season in the third quarter, by either team, in games involving the Reivers.

Ryan Scott entered at QB as Dodge City looked for a spark and for one drive, it worked.

Scott led the Conqs on their first sustained scoring drive of the game, capping off a 75-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Jamison to cut into the three-score lead, but Iowa Western answered right back.

Dekkers, in his final drive of the game, led the Reivers on a 73-yard scoring drive, finding Myers again for his third scoring catch of the game.

Nolan Geislinger would enter to cap the scoring on the day.  The freshman quarterback from Watkins, Minnesota would complete two of three passes before rushing to the left side of the field and catching the pylon for an 11-yard score.

The win for Iowa Western was the 70th all-time victory in Council Bluffs and the 10th in 10 tries over Dodge City.

"The second half was much better," said Strohmeier after the game, "we challenged them at halftime and for the most part, that challenge was answered. We're going to get everyone's best shot. There are no easy ones, when Iowa Western is the opponent, people want to beat us. We've had success and every team wants to be the team that knocks us off. We make that a lot easier to do when we start slow and unfocused."

Hunter Dekkers continues to impress through three games.  His 371 yards passing pushed him past 1,000 yards on the season.  He becomes the first Reiver to surpass 300 yards passing in consecutive games since Jake Waters did it in back-to-back games against Iowa Central and Ellsworth in 2012.  Dekkers also became the first to go back-to-back games with at least four touchdowns throwing since Waters did it on a pair of occasions in 2012. Waters had two separate three game runs of four or more TD passes during the Reivers' run to their first National Title.

As a team, the Reivers are just 110 passing yards from 40,000 all-time program passing yards.

While the Reivers' rushing game was quiet on the day, picking up only 80 yards, they inched closer to 400 all-time rushing touchdowns.  In fact, both all-time rushing and all-time passing scores could surpass the 400 plateau at some point this season.  

Sophomore Jonathan Humpal surpassed the 1,000 yards rushing mark for his career.  Humpal, a Lewis Central High School grad, has 1,005 yards in 189 attempts and 11 touchdowns to this point of his Reiver career.  He currently sits alone in sixth place as the sixth Reiver rusher to surpass the 1,000 yard mark.  

Max Bartachek's blocked first point-after attempt, ended a string of 10-straight PATs made to start the season.  That was good for the sixth longest streak in program history.

Up next, a huge challenge for IWCC as they take a trip to Ft. Dodge to take on Iowa Central.  The Tritons saw a fourth quarter lead against Hutchinson slip away as the Blue Dragons rallied for an overtime win.  The Reivers will play both of their ICCAC match-ups this year on the road, meeting Ellsworth on November 9th in Iowa Falls.

The game is set for a 12:00 pm kickoff from Dodger Stadium. The last loss in the series with the Tritons occurred in 2019 in Ft. Dodge. Iowa Western currently holds a 18-2 advantage in the series, dating back to the very first game in program history in September of 2009.

All the action can be heard, free of charge, on the Reiver Sports Network. The game, with Jake Ryan, Russ Nelsen, Josh Odson, and Tony Boone on the call, can also be found on Iowa Western's 100,000-watt FM radio station, 89.7 The River. The RSN Countdown to Kickoff begins at 11:30 PM from Dodger Stadium Ft. Dodge.

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