PELLA—Seeking to take sole possession of second place in the Iowa Conference, the Central College football team must take on the league's most improved club at Luther College Saturday.
           
Game time is 1 p.m. at Carlson Stadium in Decorah.
           
Both squads are 5-3 overall and 4-2 in conference play, trailing first-place Wartburg College by two games with only two regular-season games remaining. It's been a turnaround season for the Norse, who were 3-7 last year and just 2-6 in the conference. But Dutch coach Jeff McMartin is unsurprised by the Luther resurgence.
           
"Everyone in the conference knew that Luther was a dangerous football team," McMartin said. "They've got a lot of seniors on the team and a lot of talent on both sides of the ball."
           
Last Saturday, Central overwhelmed Loras, 65-24, while Luther rallied from 14 points back in the second half for a 36-28 triple-overtime victory over Coe College.

On the air and online—The Voice of the Dutch, Trevor Castle, will call Saturday's action on KRLS-FM (92.1), along with analyst Cory Houser and sideline reporter Libbie Randall, a Central senior. The KRLS pregame show will air at 12:35 p.m. The broadcast can also be accessed through www.kniakrls.com or directly at rdo.to/krls. It's also accessible via mobile device with the KRLS app available through iTunes and other outlets.
On Mondays, Castle plays host to coach Jeff McMartin on the KRLS Coaches' Corner broadcast live from Fred's dining establishment inside Central's Maytag Student Center at 7 p.m. Those broadcasts are also available on demand through www.kniakrls.com.
Twitter users can follow Saturday's action through the Central football account @CUI_Football.
               
The series—In last year's game, also at Decorah, Central prevailed 37-27. The Dutch hold a 55-22-1 lead in the teams' all-time series, which launched in 1928.
           
The Norse—Luther's run-oriented option offense presents preparation challenges for the Dutch.
           
"It's a whole new game for us," McMartin said. "You've got to spend extra time doing different drills. You watch film differently, you practice differently and what you do with your scout team is different."
           
Discipline is the defensive key.
           
"Everybody's got to do their job," McMartin said. "You can't try to do someone else's job because that vacates an area. You have to depend on people being certain places and if they're not, they're going to get big yards."
           
The Norse boast the league's most productive running game, with 276.8 yards per game, which ranks 11th in the NCAA Division III. They're gaining 377.4 yards overall and rank second in the conference in total defense, allowing 364.9 yards, including 154.1 rushing yards given up.
           
"They're very effective in the running game," McMartin said. "They can really grind it out and possess the ball."
           
But McMartin warns Luther has a much-improved passing game as well. Senior quarterback Brady Letney has completed 31 of 71 passes for 456 yards and four scores, throwing for two overtime TDs in Saturday's comeback.
           
"They're throwing the ball better than they ever have in recent years," McMartin said. "They're making big plays."
           
Luther ranks 11th in Division III in yards per completion at 16.77.
           
Running back Nick Slavens is averaging 8.3 yards a carry with 525 yards on 63 attempts with two touchdowns. He ranks first in the league in all-purpose yardage, also gaining 202 receiving yards and 624 by kick return.
           
Senior linebacker David Ponath is the top tackler with 57 (8.1 per game) while junior defensive back Dante Joseph has 55 stops, including 41 solos.
           
Luther is averaging 27.2 points a game while giving up 27.9.
           
"The defense gives you some different looks," McMartin said. "They keep four guys up front and move the linebackers around and on certain downs and distances they like to bring pressure.
           
"If you're not on your game and prepared, you're going to struggle."
           
Record collector—Wide receiver Sam Markham (senior, Atlantic) continues to make a shambles of Central's receiving records. He added his name to the record book yet again Saturday with four touchdown receptions, breaking the single-game mark of three he shared with 11 other players. Markham now has the career TD receptions mark (32) while adding to his career records for receptions (280) and receiving yards (3,805). His 77-yard TD grab on Central's first play from scrimmage was his career long and he added scoring catches of 73, 32 and 13 yards in the second quarter. Markham had five receptions for 201 yards overall despite seeing limited second-half action. That's tied for fifth on the school's all-time receiving yards list for a single game.
           
For the year, Markham has 54 receptions for 960 yards and 10 scores and ranks first in the league in receiving yards.
           
"You watch him and he's really a challenging player to defend," McMartin said. "There are times I look out there and wonder what we're going to do without this guy next year. He makes so many big plays. He really stresses and pressures defenses."
           
McMartin also cited a less-recognized receiver, versatile S-back Kyle Gritsch (senior, Brooklyn, BGM HS), who has 26 catches for 353 yards and three touchdowns, including a 30-yard scoring toss from receiver/quarterback Kohle Helle (senior, Guttenberg, Clayton Ridge HS)..
           
"Every year, Kyle makes a lot of big catches," McMartin said. "He had eight touchdown catches last year. For some people, that's a good career. He's coming on really strong. He's battled through injuries throughout his career but he keeps making key catches at key times."
           
Rookie record-breaker--In just his fourth collegiate start, freshman quarterback Blaine Hawkins (Ankeny) continued to announce his presence as well. Hawkins set a new standard for most passing yards in a game with 367, eclipsing the 347 yards by Nate Snead against Loras in 2011.  He completed 14 of 19 passes with five touchdowns and no interceptions while also rushing for 131 yards on just eight carries with two scores. The five TDs tied the mark set by Chris Nelson in 1972 and matched by Riley Gray against Wartburg last year. His 498 yards total offense was a record as well, surpassing Gray's 414 yards, also against Wartburg last fall.
           
Hawkins was named to the D3football.com Team of the Week and was the conference offensive player of the week. Hawkins has already topped the season production of any freshman quarterback in school history with 1,226 passing yards and 13 TDs. He's connected on 77 of 121 passes (63.6 percent) with three interceptions and he's Central's top rusher with 446 yards (89.2 per game) on 59 carries with eight TDs.
           
Total offense marks tumble—Central's 471 first-half yards easily broke the total offense record for a half of 409 yards set against Cornell in 1989. And the 693 yards for the game topped the mark of 667 rolled up on William Penn in 1995. The 65 points were the most the Dutch have scored since a 65-0 whitewashing of Maranatha Baptist (Wis.) in 2015.
           
D getting it done—McMartin isn't pretending to be comfortable giving up 619 yards as the Dutch did against Loras, but he notes that was partly a function of the defense being on the field much of the game. Central scored on the first play of a drive four times in the first half, including the first two possessions.
           
"When you've run seven plays and you've got 21 points, that doesn't give your defense much rest," he said, emphasizing that he's not complaining about the offensive explosion. "By the time you make it to the bench and start trying to make some adjustments, you're back on the field. It's not an excuse, but they were out there a lot."
           
And, he noted, the Dutch did make some big stops, keeping Loras scoreless until they had a comfortable lead.
           
"Overall, we made the plays we needed to make," McMartin said. "We had a big blocked field goal and recovered a fumble. We did a lot of things we needed to see. We battled the whole time."
           
McMartin said there was some capable secondary play from the Dutch.
           
"I thought Collin Erickson (junior, Gilbert, Ariz., Dobson HS) and Tate Jensen (senior, De Soto, ADM HS) had a good game," he said. "They both played well."
           
Erickson has 42 tackles with two interceptions and three pass breakups while Jensen had 32 tackles, an interception and six breakups.
           
Defensive lineman Jared Keenan (senior, Grinnell) is a steady presence up front, McMartin said. Keenan's made 30 tackles, including 2.5 for loss.
           
"He's having a really solid year," he said. "If you watch, you see what he does on a week-in, week-out basis to benefit the defense."
           
Linebackers Sam Norgaard (senior, Naperville, Ill, Neuqua Valley HS) and Tyler Olson (senior, Mapleton, Minn., Maple River HS) each had 15 tackles. That was a career high for Olson. Norgaard is the conference season leader with 107 and ranks fifth in Division III. That also ranks eighth on Central's season-record leaderboard. Greg Altmaier set the record with 138 in 2007.
           
Notes—Saturday's win assures the Dutch of no worse than a .500 season. Central hasn't had a losing year since 1960…Donny Groezinger (junior, Sulphur Springs, Texas; Eastland, Ill. HS) remains the starter at running back but is also now seeing a few snaps at defensive back in certain situations…Kicker Jon Alberts (sophomore, Huntley, Ill.) booted his 12th field goal in 12 attempts Saturday. He needs one more to tie the season mark of 13 set by Jake Viggers in 2007, a mark that included three NCAA playoff games…Central has topped the 50-point mark twice in each of the past three seasons.