One of the state’s most highly anticipated matchups tonight is in La Porte City, as a couple of top-five rivals clash. fifth-ranked Aplington-Parkersburg scored a big win last week over North Tama, 51-13, thanks to 100-yard performances by Alex Johnson and Lane Hovenga.
“It’s nice to have options that’s for sure,” A-P coach Alex Pollock said. “Our offensive line utltimately was the factor, we opened some big wholes.” One of the key areas to clean up for the Falcons is the turnover margin. Aplington-Parkersburg fumbled the ball six times in last week’s game, and lost four of them.
“Guys probably don’t need that extra practice to hold on to the football, they’re probably thinking about it enough…but we practiced ball security like crazy and I would expect them to be better about it,” Pollock says. Pollock says both his team’s offense and the third-ranked Knights feature up-tempo offenses, making the game fun for the players and for the fans.
Union quarterback and Iowa recruit Jay Scheel will be the player many fans have their eyes on tonight. The senior ran for four scores in last week’s win against Center Point-Urbana. Knights coach Joe Hadachek says the defense deserves plenty of credit for the win as well.
Last year’s Union team put 34 points on the board before halftime in a 41-14 runaway victory over A-P. Hadachek says he doesn’t expect that to happen a second time. “We’ve got a lot of new people and A-P does too,” He says.
(Reporting by Austin Draude, KLMJ, Hampton)