OTTUMWA — The Ottumwa football team has a chance to pick up that first “signature” victory when it hits the road to taken on an evenly-matched Indianola team Friday.

It will be a big game for the Bulldogs, who sport a 2-2 record four games into their season. A road win against the Indians would be the boy’s first win over a team with a winning record.

“If you’re a football player you have to want to play in a game like this,” Ottumwa coach Zach Pfantz said. “It’s going to be a physical game, and to me, that’s why you play football.”

The two teams’ seasons have followed a similar trajectory: Like Ottumwa, Indianola (3-1) has won the games it was supposed to, while losing to higher-quality opponents. Its three victories have come against opponents with a combined record of 1-9, while its one loss was versus an undefeated Lewis Central team. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs’ wins have been over teams with a combined record of 1-5, while their losses  have come against two teams with a combined record of 5-3. It should be noted that the teams Ottumwa lost to — West Des Moines Valley and Des Moines East — have only suffered losses to other ranked opponents (West Des Moines Dowling Catholic, Southeast Polk and Ames).

So both teams head into Friday’s game looking for that signature victory that proves they can not only hang with, but also beat, another quality program. For Ottumwa, a victory would provide an extra boost of confidence for the Bulldogs on the threshold of Division 3 play.

The Indians’ style is in some respects the antithesis of what Ottumwa faced last week against Des Moines East.

“You go from a team that completely stretches it out to a team that just wants to pack it in and run the ball,” Pfantz said.

The Indians have two runners — Aaron Johnson and Matt Mitchell — who have gobbled up more than 200 yards this season. In addition, they have two more runners — Jeremy Kellow and Lee Overton — who each ran for over 100 yards this year.

Indianola’s depth at the running back position stands in stark contrast to Ottumwa, which has leaned heavily on running back Seth Griffiths this season. The Bulldogs’ resilient and big-hearted running back has carried it 84 times for 405 yards and five touchdowns this year. Even for Griffiths — who is always a vital cog  in the Bulldogs’ offensive arsenal — the amount of the workload he shouldered last Friday against Des Moines East was extensive: He rushed 34 times for 129 yards. This phenomenon can be partly attributed to a non-existent passing game.

For whatever reason, Ottumwa’s passing game never got into any rhythm against the Scarlets, which forced the Bulldogs to run the ball more than usual. And, much to his credit, Griffiths came through for his team. His two rushing touchdowns were at the epicenter of Ottumwa’s third quarter comeback against the Scarlets last week.

Yet, the Bulldog offense may need to re-establish their passing game to emerge victorious Friday.

“We want to be balanced,” Pfantz said. “It will be important to be more balanced than last week.”

Revitalizing that passing attack will require wide Kyle Keck to return to his standard role on the offense. Until last Friday, Keck had been the Bulldogs’ go-to receiver. But Keck couldn’t get into the flow of the offense against the Scarlets and was held to no receptions. Hopefully, this was an outlier, and Keck will return to the important role he fills in Ottumwa’s offense.

The “Dark Side,” what Ottumwa’s defense has named themselves; will try to recover from its showing against East. The Scarlets’ offense compiled 387 yards against the Ottumwa last week.

With the exception of the third quarter, East’s offense, led by quarterback Xavier James, was able to pile up yards on the ground and in the air.

The Bulldogs’ defense, however, played tremendous in the third quarter and has been rock solid for most of the season. Moreover, the massive chunks of yardage East gained can be partly attributed to an extremely athletic Scarlets’ squad.

Linebacker Chris Peden leads Ottumwa with 37 tackles and free safety Shawn Foster and Logan McCarty have 36 tackles each. 

Ottumwa quarterback Alex Goodvin enters Friday’s game coming off a rough outing against the Scarlets that saw him complete only four of 15 passes. Completing some early passes will go a long way towards boosting Goodvin’s confidence.

Judging by their statistics, the Indians appear to be a “run-centric” team, but when quarterback Cody Smith does put the ball in the air, more often than not, Austin Dittmer is the intended target.

“They really run the football for sure,” Pfantz said. “They have been pretty effective with some play-action passes.”

Dittmer has caught eight passes for 113 yards this year.

Defensively, Hayden DeBlieck sits atop the pack for the Indians with 26 tackles this season. He’s followed by Trey Kuehl, who has 20 tackles on the year.

One area where Ottumwa has thrived this year is on kickoff returns. The Bulldogs gained an eye-opening 230 yards on six kickoff returns against East. Griffiths, on his own, gained 117 yards on three returns. He averages more than 46 yards a return and Tyler Johns averages about 32 yards a return. These two Ottumwa return men have made of habit of leaving the Bulldog offense with a short field to work with.



OTTUMWA VS. INDIANOLA

Time and Place: The Ottumwa football team hits the road tonight to take on Indianola at 7:30 p.m. at Simpson College-Buxton Stadium.

Records: Ottumwa (2-2) is coming off a 47-26 loss to Des Moines East at Schafer Stadium. The game was preceded by a two-game Bulldog wining streak that featured victories over Keokuk and Mount Pleasant. Indianola (3-1) went undefeated through its first three weeks before falling to Lewis Central last Friday.

Last meeting: Ottumwa defeated Indianola 30-7 at Indianola when the two teams last faced off in 2001.

Key Fact: Indianola’s victories and its one defeat mirror Ottumwa’s record to some extent. Both teams have defeated the teams they are supposed to, while dropping games to higher-quality squads. It should be an evenly-matched contest.



Ottumwa Probable Starting Lineup

Offense

QB — Alex Goodvin (6) Sr.

RB — Seth Griffiths (34) Sr.

FB — Alec Maas (19) Sr.

WR — Zach Bowling (9) Jr.

WR — Kyle Keck (11) Sr.

LG — Joey Lee (76) Jr.

RG — John Torres (52) Sr.

C  — Kevin Childs (77) Sr.

LT — Lucas Lunsford (72) Jr.

RT — Josh Hudnut (65) Jr.

TE — Clayton Cudworth (84) Sr.

K — Justin Vonderhaar (56) So.

Defense

DE — Kyle Lundy (12) Jr.

DE — Logan McCarty (30) Sr.

DT — Jonah Wright (62) Sr.

DT — Conner Mier (64) Jr.

LB — Chris Peden (7) Jr.

LB — Titus Weller (35) Jr.

LB — Cole Eklund (46) Jr.

CB — Zach Bowling (9) Jr.

CB — Andrew Altfillisch (8) So.

FS — Shawn Foster (14) Sr.

SS — Tyler Johns (15) Sr.

 P — Bryce Ward (88) Sr.