OTTUMWA —
Whether in sports or some other area of life, adversity eventually finds us all.
It found the Ottumwa football team Friday night at Keokuk, and the Bulldogs’ response painted a favorable picture of the character of this football team.
The Chiefs really appeared to have Ottumwa on the ropes at the start of Friday night’s contest. Since Keokuk hadn’t played a game prior to last Friday, Ottumwa coach Zach Pfantz said the only thing he and his coaching staff could go off of was the team’s style of play in 2011. And that didn’t end up being very helpful.
“The beginning of the game they had a good game plan against us,” Pfantz said.
The coach credited Keokuk’s coaching staff with having their players ready at the start of the game.
But after initially being caught off guard by the Chiefs’ offense, Ottumwa made the adjustments necessary to slow down Keokuk’s formidable offensive arsenal.
The Bulldogs even managed to hold Trevor Roth, the Chiefs’ battering ram of a running back; to under 100 yards. Roth rushed just shy of 1,500 yards and ran for 15 touchdowns last season.
Gabe Vandenberg, a brother of starting quarterback James Vandenberg for the University of Iowa, threw for more than 214 yards.
Constant defensive pressure, however, decreased Vandenberg’s accuracy — he only completed 16 out of 30 passes — and that pressure possibly played a role in the three picks he threw.
The Bulldogs also made some adjustments in practice that helped reinvigorate Ottumwa’s run game.
“Valley blitzed us a lot in the first game and we saw that Keokuk was a team that liked to blitz,” Pfantz said.
So in the practices leading up to the game, the Bulldogs worked on techniques aimed at strengthening their ability to neutralize blitz-heavy defenses.
“I think our offensive line did a great job of handling that pressure and picking things up,” Pfantz said.
Seth Griffiths, Ottumwa’s shifty running back, reaped the benefits of these adjustments. Griffiths accounted for 175 of Ottumwa’s 201 rushing yards against the Chiefs.
“It’s a team effort in everything we do,” the coach said.
Ottumwa’s performance Friday also was bolstered by excellent special teams play.
“We started a lot of our drives on the other side of the 50,” Pfantz said.
Tyler Johns, who led Ottumwa with 12 tackles; returned two kickoff returns for an average of 34 yards and his one punt return went for 32 yards.
“He’s a talented return guy and our kids take a lot of pride in blocking things up for him,” Pfantz said.
Beyond picking up his first victory as Ottumwa’s coach, Pfantz was particularly pleased about how the Bulldogs were able to overcome a challenging start on their way to picking up a win.
“The mark of a good team is how we battle back from adversity,” he said.
The Bulldogs (1-1) will face Class 3A Mount Pleasant (0-1) on Friday at home in the revival of another old rivalry. Mount Pleasant struggled against Class 3A Marion last Friday and wound up on the losing end of a 70-7 score. Ottumwa has played Mount Pleasant 57 times, and the Bulldogs have a 36-17-4 all-time record against the Panthers.
Pfantz said Ottumwa will approach the game in the usual fashion.
“Our core values don’t change as a football team from week to week,” he said. “We want to run the football; we want to run, stop the run, we want to pressure the quarterback and play great special teams.
The other teams in Division 3 were mostly successful in their non-conference games this past week.
Dowling Catholic, rated fourth in the first Class 4A Associated Press poll, improved to 2-0 with a 35-12 victory over No. 10 Southeast Polk. Marshalltown (1-1) also cruised with an easy 31-7 win over Pella.
In other games featuring Class 4A, Division 3 teams, Des Moines Hoover (1-1) pulled off an impressive 24-21 win over former CIML Metro rival Des Moines Roosevelt. Mason City, meanwhile, fell to 0-2 after losing to cross-town rival seventh-ranked (3A) Clear Lake, 35-12.
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August 29, 2012
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