USAFOOTBALL.COM Game Report

Central (IA) rallies past Coe 31-7

by Larry Happel, Associate Director of College Relations and Sports Information Director, Central

PELLA, IA --- Coe threw a scare into Central before the Dutch rallied for 25 fourth-quarter points and a 31-7 Iowa Conference victory. A Dutch fumble on the 15-yard line set up a Coe touchdown early in the second quarter. Kohawk receiver Kye Bennis caught a five-yard TD pass from Tim Vinyard and Coe was up 7-3 at intermission. Passing just twice in the second half, Central cut the gap to 7-6 on a 21-yard Marc Kroloff (senior, Urbandale) field goal in the third period, then suddenly broke the game open in the fourth period with three touchdowns in less than five minutes. Fullback Joe Ritzert's (junior, Lake Mills) one-yard run capped an 80-yard drive to give Central the lead. One minute later, defensive end Justin Snyder (senior, Panora) scooped up an errant lateral and raced 20 yards for a touchdown. Just three minutes after that, it was tailback Joey Liekweg (sophomore, Iowa Falls) scoring on a two-yard run. Central added a third Kroloff field goal to make it 31-7. Coe's league-leading offense was limited to 220 yards. However, the Kohawks were without starting tailback Fred Jackson, who suffered a broken wrist in practice Thursday. Central linebacker Jeff Sanger (senior, Britt) had eight tackles while tackle Ryan Anderson (senior, Treynor) had six stops, including three for loss. Snyder had a quarterback sack to raise his league-leading total to 13.5. Central, got a career-high 129 yards rushing from Liekweg and finished with 369 yards total offense, with a season-high 307 yards on the ground. The Dutch controlled the ball for 36:45 of the game's 60 minutes. Quarterback Scott Koerselman (senior, Pleasantville) completed seven of 20 passes for 62 yards with one touchdown. He threw just once in the second half, but made some key plays on the ground, rushing six times for 63 yards. Tailback Aaron Aeschliman (junior, Dallas Center) rushed 15 times for 61 yards. Coe is now 6-3 and hosts Buena Vista next week. Central moves to 8-0 heading into next week's battle for first place with unbeaten Wartburg.

Where are the D-III 20th Century All Stars? Where is the NCAA Division III 20th Century All American Team? As usual, the student/athletes who have played the game for fun have been ignored by everyone who has selected Teams of the Century - but that will be corrected by usafootball.com. See story.....

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