My Friday Night Lights in 2012

2012 brings a new adventure to my broadcasting career. I’ll again be going behind the mic, but this time for the web. Specifically football in West Des Moines. Valley Stadium will be my home on Friday nights in 2012.

I’ll be doing home games on the internet for the West Des Moines Dowling Catholic Maroons and hold on to your hats, the West Des Moines Valley Tigers.

We experimented with the web last year at www.DowlingWebcasting.com and this year will expand to www.ValleyWebcasting.com.

Romelle Slaughter and I will be together each Friday, but our dancing partners will rotate. Some nights it will be the KWKY crew of Dave and Brian with our old pal Mark Amadeo returning to the radio. We will split some time in the pregame, halftime and post game and Mark and I may trade spots once a game for a few plays to keep things interesting.

My analyst is still being determined and it should be fun to have a new adventure each week.

I will likely only post game preview and reviews of the games I’m doing play-by-play. Here are the games you can expect coverage on this blog:

• August 24 – Southeast Polk at Dowling Catholic
• August 31 – Dowling Catholic at Valley
• September 7 – Ankeny at Dowling Catholic
• September 14 – Urbandale @ Dowling Catholic
• September 21 – Indianola @ Valley
• September 28 – Urbandale at Valley
• October 5 – Ottumwa at Dowling Catholic
• October 12 – Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson at Valley
• October 19 – Sioux City East at Valley

We have a couple of ways to watch our coverage.

For Valley home games on the web, go to ValleyWebcasting.com you can also follow the broadcast crew on Twitter @ValleyWebcast

For  Dowling home games on the web, go to DowlingWebcasting.com and for the Tweets follow @DowlingWebcast

Enough options yet?

I will provide start times for broadcasts once they are ironed out.

New Divisions announced in 4A football

Radio play-by-play guys will have new press boxes to haunt this season.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association released the new Divisions for Class 4A football in Iowa.  These divisions will play in the 2012 and 2013 seasons.  The eastern side in 4A will remain in conferences.

This is not to be called district football like it is in the other classes of Iowa high school football.

The teams were seeded on past performances and then split into four divisions. Any thoughts on the new match ups?

Schools will submit wish lists of teams to fill out the remaining 4 games on the schedule. My understanding is, that won’t have an impact on playoff points.

Here are the divisions.

Division #1

Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson
Des Moines, Abraham Lincoln
Indianola
Sioux City, East
Urbandale
Valley, West Des Moines

Division #2
Ames
Ankeny
Fort Dodge
Des Moines, North
Johnston
Sioux City, North

Division #3
Ankeny Centennial (no varsity until 2013 season)
Des Moines, Hoover
Dowling Catholic, West Des Moines Des Moines
Marshalltown
Mason City
Ottumwa

Division #4
Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln
Des Moines, East
Roosevelt
Sioux City, West
Southeast Polk
Waukee

On first blush the Division 3 has the longest road trip with Ottumwa and Mason City grouped together. This division does not include a Sioux City or Council Bluffs team, either.

Darboh returns, same result: Maroons win 43-3 against Ames

BILL NEIBERGALL/THE REGISTER After scoring Dowling Catholic's first touchdown on a pass reception against Ames, #15 Amara Darboh, right, celebrated with #67 T. J . Palme, left, and #76 Mark Kenkel, center, in Class 4A first round playoff football game played at East High School Williams Stadium on Wednesday night Oct. 26, 2011.

West Des Moines Dowling Catholic started slow but finished fast against Ames in an opening round win in the 2011 Iowa High School football playoffs. The Maroons improved to 8-2 with a 43-3 victory to Ames’ season at 4-6.

Amarah Darboh returned to action to grab his longest TD of the season with a 45 yard catch and set the pace for the night. He grabbed 4 during game worth 81 yards. If not a huge stat line, it was a morale boost to a team that went 3-1 since his departure at Southeast Polk on September 23rd.  The Michigan, Florida, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Iowa recruit will be a vital part of the Maroons march to defend their 4A football title.

Since that SE Polk game, the Maroons have built depth at receiver with Matthew Haack and Brandon Ogden. The pair was used heavily in Coach Tom Wilson‘s game plan with Ogden catch 5 passes and scoring a 14-yard TD just before halftime. Haack was used more in the running game, carrying it 4 times and 25 yards. The Maroons would finish with 267 yards rushing and 190 yards passing.

Dowling Catholic also developed a double QB/TB combination with the emergence of freshman Ryan Boyle and Chase Dowell. Boyle would run the option style attack with Dan Hartlieb used more in the passing offense. Boyle provided a spark in the regular-season finale at Indianola and did so again against Ames. His 7 carries were worth 87 yards. A couple of those jaunts set up touchdowns and the freshman did put the last points on the scoreboard of the game on a 1 yard plunge.

BILL NEIBERGALL/THE REGISTER Dowling Catholic's #11 Jon Wisnieski, right, looked up in thanks as touchdown was signaled after a minute delay, after his 70 yard interception return against Ames. A flag had been thrown on the play, but was against Ames.

Dowell put his head down and popped a few Little Cyclones during the contest. He finished with 10 carries for 75 yards and a blocked punt.

Ben Goaley started, played and continued to carry the load, but he’ll likely be used as needed to keep him as healthy as long as possible. He finished with 9 carries and 56 yards.

Jon Wisnieski played primarily on offense, but he made the most of his defensive opportunities when he stepped in front of a Alex Brammer pass and ran it back 70 yards for a score. Wiz would grab a score in the north endzone on a pass only he could catch for a 22-yard score on a drive that went 98 yards on 6 plays.

BILL NEIBERGALL/THE REGISTER Dowling Catholic quarterback #3 Dan Hartlieb dropped back to pass against Ames.

Dan Hartlieb would get a TD following 2 great runs by Boyle in the no-huddle offense. That drive changed the tempo of the game and the firmly put the momentum in Dowling’s corner.

Michael Gillotti picked of a pass in the next drive to add to his season of accomplishments at cornerback. That defense held a beat up Ames team to 38 yards rushing on 22 carries and 102 yards passing on 35 attempts and 10 completions.

The Maroons advance to Monday’s game at Des Moines Lincoln. The Rails advanced with a 52-14 victory against DM East.

Our KWKY broadcast begins at 6p with kickoff slated for 7p on 1150 AM or KWKY.com.

Slow and steady ends in win

Indianola on the drive against Dowling Catholic. 2011.

The Indianola Indians followed the same script as the 5 of their last 7 games. Start well, hold the opponent to only a few or no points, then see the opponent come to life late in the 3rd quarter and win it in the 4th. The exact thing Coach Eric Kluver was hoping against.

History repeats itself as Dowling Catholic came back for a 21-7 win Friday night at Simpson College’s Buxton Stadium.

Indianola would get out of the gate, keeping the football for 18 of the game’s first 22 plays, scoring on that last one when Kale Render found Chris Henry in the back of the endzone for a 7-0 lead. The Maroons had zero yards of offense in that stretch.

Coach Kluver called for the on-side kick, stunning the Dowling return team, and recovering the ball. That drive would stall in three plays before the Indians were forced to punt the football. A great punt to the Maroon 5 put the offense on alert. DC would punt, and watch the Indians drive all the way down to the Dowling 7 when Sam Herold picked up a fumble to change the momentum of the game.

Dowling Catholic would finally get a drive to move more 15 yards. The Maroons’ 3rd drive would feature Ben Goaley left, right and up the middle before an interception by Joey Gioffredi ended that possession. Goaley would end the night with 115 yards on 28 carries. He would top the 1,000 yard mark for the season, early in the 2nd quarter.

Indianola would hold the Maroons to 2-10 passing for 25 yards. Dan Hartlieb and Ryan Boyle each had a completion. Goaley’s74 yards on 15 carries was the lone bright spot for Coach Tom Wilson‘s squad. Indianola held the advantage in total yardage with a 172-140 margin.

But the Indians saw that 7-0 halftime lead over Dowling disappear on a 65-yard QB keeper by Ryan Boyle with 7:37 to play in the 3rd quarter. Boyle would see a lot of second half action, trying to jumpstart the team. He’d finish with 6 carries worth 106 yards.

The game would remain tied until the first drive of the 4th frame when Chase Dowell took a toss sweep left, cut it against the grain and score on 3rd and goal to cap a 11 play, 79 yard drive. The Maroons would put a defensive bow on the score when Alex Kramer picked up a fumble and scored what he said was his first high school touchdown.

Dowling’s defense would keep the pressure on, forcing the Indians to go backwards on their last drive of the game. The final play of the drive was a 4th and 40 yards to go situation. Sacks by Nick Navin, Sam Herold and Matthew Formanek would allow QB Dan Hartlieb to take a knee for the with seconds remaining to ice away a 21-7 win.

The offense gained 267 yards rushing on 41 carries and were 5-15 passing for 76 yards and a total of 343 yards.

Indianola was 46-137 rushing and 11-24 passing for 153 yards and 290 total.

The victory gave the Maroons a share of another CIML Central title. That adds to their titles in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and now 2011.

They finish the regular season 7-2 and have a bye in week 9. The Indians fall to 0-8.

Less intensity, same result, a win for DCHS

Lee Navin / Special the Register Dowling Catholic senior quarterback Dan Hartlieb (#3) sprints to a 11-yard first-half touchdown as the Johnston Dragons (4-2) battle against the tenth-ranked Dowling Catholic Maroons (5-2) in a CIML Central Conference Class 4-A game at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Dowling won 27 to 14.

A lot of factors were in the corner of the Johnston Dragons coming into Friday night’s matchup against West Des Moines Dowling Catholic.

The Maroons were coming off an upset win of previously unbeaten Ankeny, it was senior night meaning a break in the pregame routine, and the sophomore game ran long and kickoff moved back to just before 8 PM. Players and the head coach said they were playing uninspired football.

But good teams find ways to win and Dowling Catholic did that in a 27-14 win at Drake Stadium Friday night.

The Maroons continued to unveil wrinkles in their offense. Last week, it was the use of freshman QB Ryan Boyle doing his best Connor Bravard impression. This week it was Boyle throwing a pass, Dan Hartlieb running the ball and an extended use of the no-huddle offense in the football game.

Dowling still tried running the ball, employing Ben Goaley for 25 carries worth 112 yards and Boyle’s 5 rushes worth 17 yards. The Hartlieb run was a called pass play, but with good Johnston pass coverage, Danny improvised for an 11-yard run to the endzone. The Maroons finished the night with 181 yards rushing on 38 attempts.

Lee Navin / Special the Register Dowling Catholic senior wide receiver Addison Bennett (# 84) hauls in the 39-yard touchdown pass as the Johnston Dragons (4-2) battle against the tenth-ranked Dowling Catholic Maroons (5-2) in a CIML Central Conference Class 4-A game at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

The passing game also looked really good on a couple of plays Friday night. The game’s first score was a Hartlieb to Addison Bennett for a 34-yard TD pass. The catch was Bennett’s first touchdown of the season.

Johnston tied the game on a 1-yard run by Connor Yocum at the 10:17 mark in the 2nd quarter. The drive was set up after the Dragons recovered a Dowling fumble and only had short, 37-yard field to play with.

The next drive for Dowling would feature big plays on an something-out-of-nothing run by Goaley for 31 yards and a Boyle’s first varsity pass, a nice, into the wind toss to Matthew Haack for 33 yards. Two plays later, Hartlieb was back in the game and in the endzone.

Hartlieb was throw another beautiful pass to Brandon Ogden for a 13-yard score to give the Maroons a 20-7 halftime lead.

Johnston QB Michael Kinning would find Cullen Maahs for a 13-yard TD strike to pull the Dragons within 6 at the 7:53 mark in the 3rd Quarter.

The next drive featured the play of the night. Dan Hartlieb, one of 37 seniors playing in his final regular season home game, would make the highlight reel on a 52-yard TD pass to Haack. Haack had 7 catches worth 141 yards. Hartlieb would finish the night 10-18 passing for 209 yards.

Lee Navin / Special the Register Dowling Catholic senior linebacker Sam Herold (#49) puts the pressure on Johnston junior quarterback Michael Kinning (#1) as the Johnston Dragons (4-2) battle against the tenth-ranked Dowling Catholic Maroons (5-2) in a CIML Central Conference Class 4-A game at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. Dowling won 27 to 14.

The defenses would hold up the rest of the night and the score would hold up at 27-14.

Dowling Catholic had 422 yards of total offense while Johnston had 285. The run game of the Dragons did not yield much fruit with only 40 yards on 26 carries. Yocum had 54 yards on 18 carries. The difference in yardage total is due to a couple of QB sacks and a snap that went over the QB’s head.

The Maroons improve to 6-2 with a regular season finale at Indianola on Friday. Johnston is now 4-3 and faces Ankeny this week with Southeast Polk to follow.

Amara who? Don’t ask Ankeny

Dan Hartlieb in action against Ankeny. (Des Moines Register photo)

West Des Moines Dowling Catholic Head Coach Tom Wilson found out what life is like without Amara Darboh on his team last week in a loss at Southeast Polk. He lived the real-time adjustment of a football game plan.

Fast forward a week and Wilson had a full seven days of preparation of a new 2011 offense to throw at unbeaten and 4th ranked Ankeny.

Dowling Catholic came out and threw multiple formations, personnel and plays at the Ankeny defense en route to a 28-16 win Friday night at Drake Stadium.

Dan Hartlieb started the game and got a workout running from the huddle to sidelines as freshman Ryan Boyle came in to run an offense that looked a lot like the 2010 offense, one that featured among many things, running quarterback Connor Bravard.

The Maroons’ first play from scrimmage was a pass to TE Jon Wisnieski, but a chop block penalty would bring it back. DC would see this happen a few times during the course of the night, a big play wiped out by penalty.

But new wrinkles would be stopped on a 4th and 1 on a great defensive play by Cole Myers in the opening drive.

Ankeny would have a short field but would be forced to punt.

Brandon Ogden scored on 2 pass plays for DCHS. (Des Moines Register Photo)

Hartlieb’s strength is throwing the football. He found SE Brandon Ogden who made a move to get the ball, then a juke to the outside and he was gone for a 75-yard TD run for the game’s first score. Ogden would add another TD pass reception on the second half. Hartlieb was 8-12 passing for 139 yards and 5 of 35 rushing. Ogden had 6 catches over 123 yards and 2 TDs for his stat line Friday night.

Dan Hartlieb would cap a drive with a touchdown set up by Ben Goaley’s 63 yard run to put the Maroons up 14-3 with 9:51 to play before halftime. Goaley had 100 yards at half, finishing with 126 yards over 23 carries for the game.

Ankeny would start possessions on their 49, 41, 42 and 45 and only get 9 points coming on the leg of kicker Cole Netten. Those drives featured a few big pass plays to Marshall Clark, but Joel Lanning was limited in his effectiveness against the Maroon defense all night. He would finish with 15 carries and only 29 yards. His passing stats were a little better going 20-41 for 203 yards.

Lanning engineered a drive that went 72 yards in 8 plays he would cap on a 3 yard run. The drive took very little off the clock.

Coach Jerry Pezzetti elected to kick the ball deep and not go for the on-side kick trailing 21-16 with 2:51 to play and no timeouts. The strategy worked as the Maroons were forced to punt from their own endzone after going three and out.

Alex Heckman didn't hear the "get down, get down" yells. He just kept running for the endzone. (Des Moines Register photo)

Lanning came into the game having thrown no interceptions. That stat changed late in the second half when Alex Heckman stepped in front of a Lanning pass and cashed in his pick six card to put the final tally on the board and the game in the win column for Dowling.

The Dowling Catholic win muddies up the CIML Central with three teams now on top with only 1 loss, to each other. Ankeny beat Southeast Polk, the Rams beat the Maroons, you get the idea. DCHS is now 5-2 overall with Ankeny falling to 6-1.

Freshman QB Ryan Boyle had 6 rushes for 36 yards. Chase Dowell would have 5 carries and 29 yards. The Maroon rushing effort finished with 222 yards over 41 carries. The passing game was worth 139 yards on 8-13 passing. That’s 361 total yards of offense to the Hawks’ 302.

Dowling closes out the regular home season against Johnston Friday night at Drake Stadium. Our KWKY pregame show begins at 6p. This game will also be on DowlingWebcasting.com

Rams ‘bye’ a week to heal

Last season, the Southeast Polk Rams were a blocked extra point away from making a CIML game very interesting. Instead, the kick fell to the turf and the Dowling Catholic Maroons held on to win and eventually a state championship.

The Rams try to improve their 3-1 record hosting the 4-1 Maroons for homecoming. Dowling comes off a 47-7 win last week at Fort Dodge. Pregame begins at 6p on 1150 KWKY and KWKY.com. Kickoff follows the sophomores or close to 730p.

Year in and year out, the Rams are known for tough linebacker play and a good passing game. They return Tanner Donovan and Mike Pavon in the linebacking corps. Also coming back is returning QB Kyle Starcevich. The junior signal caller continues to improve and amaze. He’s now a year older, an inch taller and a few pounds of muscle heavier.

SE Polk's Kyle Starcevich tries to get away from Ankeny's Drew Carlson in the first quarter of their game in Ankeny Friday night. (Justin Hayworth/The Des Moines Register)

He burned the Maroons last season for 261 yards going 20-35 with those completions going all over the field. His arm is strong and can move if needed. Two of his three targets return this year. Cody McCoy had 7 catches for 111 yards and Zach Warren scored a key touchdown in last years 24-23 Maroon win. Gone is big TE Austin Pinegar, who walked on at Iowa State.

The new TE is Tyler Donels. At 6’2″, 210, the senior will likely be a significant part of the offense. He has the ability to jump out of the gym. The Drake Relays high jump champ cleared 7’2″ and has many athletic skills in his toolbox.

The Rams last played two weeks ago in a 12-7 loss at Ankeny. Coach Denny Muller says RB Dalton Sanford was out with injury and RB Alec Kilby was injured on his first play against the Hawks. WR Brock Daniels played, but with a 103 degree temperature. So, you could make the case the Rams were not at full speed.

A bye week allows teams to do what they’ve not been able to do in years past during the season, heal. Coach Muller says his team went back to basics, almost a camp-like approach. There were some evaluations that came after the loss, but overall a fun time away from game competition. Last year, Southeast Polk used the time to install a new defense. So, it may be a safe bet this week off wasn’t all beaches and tanning for the Rams.

Coach says their offense is based on the run, even with a potent passing game in the chamber. The main running threats are Jordan Beem (51 carries, 293 yards), Kilby (31-196) and even WR Daniels (10-96) will rush the ball on from time to time. Overall, SEP has rushed the ball 120 times for 689 yards and 10 TDs. The rushing game of Jake Sargent last season was hard to stop by the Maroons.

Friday will likely mark the 2011 debut of Dalton Sanford. The junior running back has been held out of competition this season. He is likely the fastest member of the team in terms of track speed. How will that translate to football and following an injury? That will play out in front of us on KWKY Friday night.

Back to the passing game now. Starcevich is 43-63 for 645 yards, 9 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. His favorite targets are McCoy (13 receptions, 244 yards), Daniels (8-181) and Donels (8-113). As a team, the Rams are 44-65 for 657 yards and 9 TDs. That’s mostly Kyle’s stat line.

Ankeny's Joel Lanning lets go of a pass before SE Polk's Chris Schaffer and Tanner Donovan can get to him in the second quarter during their game in Ankeny Friday night. (Justin Hayworth/The Des Moines Register)

Tanner Donovan is the team’s leading tackler with 33 stops, 16 of those done solo. He is 6’1″ 225 and as his coach describes, has a knack for knowing where the football is always. You can’t teach that in most guys. If anything, he plugs the middle and prevents teams from going up the gut for yards. Muller said Ankeny and DM Lincoln both struggled to run the ball up the middle and he credits Donnovan with making life miserable for fullbacks and interior lineman. I’m sure Mr. Marcoullier will brief us on the importance of interior lineman in our Ask the Announcer segment in our pregame show.

Coach says look out for Jacob Miller, a transfer who did not play last season against Dowling Catholic, Evan German at CB and Jordan Coates at safety. These three, according to Muller are playmakers. Coates leads the team in interceptions with 4.

Maroon Notes: The DCHS rushing attack is now over 1k mark with 1,197 yards on 189 carries. The first 12 yards passing will put the Maroons over 1,000 for the season.

We go on the air at 6p in Pleasant Hill on 1150 KWKY and KWKY.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Maroons air attack knocks out the Fort (Dodge)

Cool evening at Dodger Stadium in Ft. Dodge.

The West Des Moines Dowling Catholic Football team has a reputation for running the football. Last week in a 30-14 win at Urbandale, they used Ben Goaley37 times.

This week it was 4 touchdown passes from QB Dan Hartlieb that led the Maroons to a 47-7 thumping of Fort Dodge Dodgers.

Senior flanker Amara Darboh scored a pair of those from 10 and 20-yards out. Matt Haack had one and Brandon Ogden had the other.

The KWKY crew expected a lot of passing, but from Ft. Dodge. Afterall, they had the second-best passing attack coming into the game. Dodger QB Sam Edwards was running most of the night, just trying to get away from the Maroon defense. Edwards finished 15-26 for 223 yards, 1 interception and 1 touchdown pass. He was also sacked 9 nine times.

Again, the Matt Miller-led squad struggled to run the football for positive yardage. The Dodgers rushed it 34 times for only 17 yards.

The Maroons controlled the game from the first series of the game going 88 yards on 12 plays capped by the Darboh pass from Hartlieb.

KWKY analyst Dave Marcoullier said during the broadcast that film review after Urbandale showed other receivers were wide open when defenses would give double coverage to Darboh. This week in practice, the senior signal caller worked on looking to other receivers on those plays. The drills paid off as Hartlieb located a wide-open Matthew Haack on the right side for a 29-yard scoring play, 14-0 Maroons with 1:48 remaining in the first quarter.

The second quarter started sloppy with a sack, fumble and an interception by Alex Heckman. The Maroons regained composure to find Darboh again, this time for a 20-yard play to put Dowling Catholic up 21-0.

Just before half, coach Tom Wilson‘s team worked on the 2-minute drill, mostly looking for Brandon Ogden. He would get his first TD with :55 left before half to make it 28-0.

Dan Hartlieb would score on a 5-yard run to get the continuous clock going just before the end of the 3rd quarter. Hartlieb finished with 13-21 passing and 197 yards passing.

The Dodgers would find the end zone on a Edwards to Isaac Lehman 36-yard passing play.

Then backup QB Anthony Denkinger would run the boot for 80-yards and a touchdown. Then Ethan Grace would get his first varsity touchdown to end the game’s scoring at 47-7.

The Maroons finished with 262 rushing yards, 197 passing for a 459 total. That put the Maroons over the 1,000 yard mark for rushing yards, but just 27 shy of 1,000 passing.

Ben Goaley still carried the ball 13 times for 92 yards. Haack, Darboh and Ogden all had 4 catches in the victory.

The Maroons put on the road jerseys again next week at Southeast Polk who was idle Friday night. The Rams lost last week at Ankeny and carry a 3-1 mark. The Maroons sport a 4-1 record.

The Dodgers play Ames next week to open CIML conference play with a record of 1-3.

We go on the air at 6p on 1150 KWKY and KWKY.com.

Maroons try to Dodge more injuries on road trip

Every football season is different. Some years no player sustains a major injury. Other years, you can’t seem to keep the trainer off the field.

During the West Des Moines Dowling Catholic football team’s championship run in 2010, there were some sprains and a few broken bones, but few dramatic ends to the season for any one player. Backup quarterback Dan Hartlieb was one of the few not in uniform during the final against City High.

This year, the season wasn’t even a play old when Michael Palme was lost for the year with a knee injury. A few plays later Jacob Stacy would have almost the same thing happen to him. He’d come back in a couple of games, but his season likely ended last week in a 30-14 Maroon win against Urbandale.

This week, more of Tom Wilson‘s Maroons will likely be unavailable because of injury. Fort Dodge Coach Matt Miller told me earlier this week, he’d be okay if  Coach Wilson left some players back in West Des Moines.

Fort Dodge quarterback Sam Edwards throws a pass in the fourth quarter during their game against East at Williams Metro Stadium Friday night. (Justin Hayworth/The Des Moines Register)

Coach Miller’s 2011 squad has seen its fair share of dinged up players. The Dodgers have been in physical contests this season which begin to take their toll during the season on wrists, ankles and knees. They opened with a win at Des Moines East (28-19) before back-to-back losses to Urbandale (25-14) and Sioux City North (37-21). Nose guard Gavin Thomas will get his first start of the season after sitting out much of season trying to recover from an injury.

The Dodgers made the playoffs last season and were hoping to get back to the postseason this year. They begin district play next week at Ames. The Dodgers close out the season by hosting West Des Moines Valley.

Last season’s team featured a strong running game that helped QB Levi Peters settle into his role on his new team. This year, the running game behind Sam Edwards is still trying to find its identity. The Dodgers have rushed it 74 times for a 68 yards. Austin Anderson has the most carries and yards (39-104). Tommy Halligan, the starting fullback has no carries this season. Wesley Castro has a couple of touches, but Coach Miller admits the running game is a work in progress.

Fort Dodge's Isaac Lehman grabs a pass over East's Colby Carmicheal in the first quarter during their game at Williams Metro Stadium Friday night. Lehman scored on the play. (Justin Hayworth/The Des Moines Register)

Senior quarterback Sam Edwards has turned to the air, a lot.

He’s 66 of 90 for  879 yards,  7 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. That’s good enough for second best passing offense in 4A. His main targets are Isaac Lehman (22-461), Tommy Halligan (15-171) and Wesley Castro (10-103). Look for Tyler Vaughn (4-38), Jaydan Bruhl-Lara (2-31) and Austin Anderson to get some attention for the senior signal caller.

To recap those offensive stats:

Fort Dodge Passing: 61-102, 887 yards, 8 TDs 4 INTs
Fort Dodge Rushing: 74 attempts,  68 yards, 1 TD

By comparrission:

Dowling Passing: 50-84, 776 yards, 6T (need 224 for 1,000) 1 INT

Dowling Rushing: 160 attempts, 951 yards, 13 TDs (need 49 for 1,000)

The Dodgers use a 3-5 defense and like to blitz. Three players coming it not enough, look for as many as 5 or 6 every play. Coach Miller uses players from all over the field to rush the action. But they did give up 371 rushing yards to SC North last week.

Look for linebackers Dillion Christiensen, Cole Jarrard, Jalen Mosley and Adrean Johnston to make the majority of the tackles. They are the team leaders in this category, but also are in the middle of most plays. The stunting puts them in position to make plays.

Friday marks the 5th game of the season for the Maroons. This is the downhill side of the season with the playoff stretch still ahead. If there’s a chance to get starters off the field, look for a lot of different jersey numbers in the game to get playing time for experience against a good team and to keep starters healthy.

We go on the air at 6p from Dodger Stadium in Fort Dodge. We’ll have a surprise for you in our tailgate show and on our sidelines. We’ll be on 1150 KWKY and KWKY.com. I believe there is webcast with video available 24 hours after the game. That is being done by the Fort Dodge school.

Maroons grind out win at Urbandale, 30-14

Markell Coleman juggles a catch and then runs for six. (Image from KCCI.com)

A football game is a series of single plays. Fans will say if just that one goes the other way, we win the game. Many Iowa fans will name you the play that cost them against Iowa State.

But ask a coach what one play determines a win or loss, they’ll point to a series of play and not one snap.

Take away two plays for the Urbandale J-Hawks and you likely take away their 14 points against West Des Moines Dowling Catholic.

Amara Darboh goes in for six against Urbandale. (Image from KCCI.com)

The Maroons scored first on a 9 play, 80 yard drive capped by a 23 yard TD pass to Amara Darboh from Dan Hartlieb.

Then the J-Hawks ran a simple option play to the left side. QB Ben Hurley faked the dive, then went wide, kept running about 7 yards and pitched it to Markell Coleman. The junior running back did the rest, sprinting past the rest of the Dowling D and was in the endzone. Just like that it was tied, the extra point was good and Urbandale had the lead.

Dowling Catholic ran three plays and went nowhere, were in punt formation. Matthew Haack took the snap, rolled to his left and kept running. He saw an opening and went 15 yards for the first down to extend the drive. Darboh would cough up the football after a catch, opening the door for the J-Hawks.

Coach Sam Anderson‘s squad would struggle for yardage before punting the ball away just before the end of the 1st quarter.

Dowling on offense at Urbandale.

Then the meat grinders went to work. A drive that started on their own 5, ended in a 28 yard field goal by Avery Mason. At the end of that series, Amara Darboh had been involved in 12 of 29 offensive plays for Coach Tom Wilson. Maroons led 9-7 with 9:16 to play in the 2nd quarter.

The J-Hawks converted on a third and five with super sophomore Allen Lazard catching a pass. Two plays later, Urbandale went to the air again, Hurley finds Coleman over the middle, a little juggling sideshow and Coleman sprints 62 yards for a score to the put the J-Hawks up 14-9 with 6:25 to go before halftime.

It took the Maroons 11 plays to go 80 yards on a mix of Goaley, Haack and Jon Wisnieski before Darboh ran it in from 1 yard out. Johnny Wiz had 43 receiving yards in two catches on the drive. Darboh would finish with 10 catches and 170 yards, his best performance of the season receiving.

Haack blocked a punt, but the Maroons couldn’t capitalize, as Lazard picked off a Hartlieb pass on the first play from scrimmage of that series that started on the Urbandale 17.

The J-Hawks moved the ball only 21 yards in their opening series of the second half, punting it to Haack who returned the football 33 yards to make it a short 52 yard scoring drive with Alex Heckman getting the call from 5 yards out to put the Maroons up 23-14.

Punter Jack Cronin would pin the Maroons back to their own 3 before the Maroons went 97 yards on 10 plays, 7 of them to Goaley, who finished the drive with a 6 yard TD run to put the boys in maroon and white up 30-14.

Goaley would help run out the clock on my running plays, he had 25 carries in the second half alone, to finish with 37 touches for the game worth 196 yards. Nick Navin got his first carries of the season for 35 yards.

The maroons orchestrated scoring drives of 80, 84, 80, 52 and 97 yards to rack up 530 yards of total offense in a 243/287 pass/rush split. The J-Hawks managed 313 on 140 passing and 173 rushing. Take out the Coleman run and that number is only 102.

The KWKY crew working in the press box.

The Maroons improve to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the CIML Central. The J-Hawks fall to 2-1 and 0-1 in the conference. They play host to Johnston while the Maroons travel to Fort Dodge.

We’ll be on the air at 6p Friday night in Webster County on 1150 KWKY and KWKY.com. We’ll have the crew on the road for you next week.

Glad to have you aboard. Send us your questions via Twitter to @KWKYSports. We’ll have our Ask The Announcers segment before 7p Friday night.

I’d say we’d have Dave Marcoulier make a bet about shaving his head, but he’s already got a close cut. Maybe Brian Morris?