PELLA—After an unbeaten start, the No. 11 Central College football team opens the second half of the season Saturday at Cedar Rapids against Coe College in another key American Rivers game.
           
Game time is 1 p.m. at Clark Field.
           
Coming off a pivotal 49-24 triumph over Wartburg College last Saturday, the Dutch are 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the league. They're ranked No. 11 in both the AFCA Division III Coaches' Poll and D3football.com Top 25. Coe was off last week and is 3-1 overall with a 1-1 league mark.
           
On the air and online—The Voice of the Dutch, Trevor Castle, will call Saturday's action on KRLS-FM (92.1), with former Dutch defensive coordinator and Pella mayor Don De Waard providing the color. The KRLS pregame show will air at 12:35 p.m. The broadcast can 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.
Twitter users can get updates through @CentralDutch.
           
The series—Central last met Coe in the 2019 regular-season finale at Cedar Rapids, a 31-21 Dutch victory. Central holds an 18-10-2 lead in the teams' all-time series.
           
The Kohawks—"Coe's having a great year and has a very talented football team," coach Jeff McMartin said. "They have some special players and they're in the thick of the race right now."
           
Coe's defensive line is receiving special attention from McMartin this week. The Kohawks rank second in the league in defense and are outscoring opponents 28.8-19.5 per game and outgaining them 412.5 yards to 340.8. They're limiting foes to just 101.0 yards rushing and have recorded 10 sacks.
           
"They'll give you both a four-man and a three-man look from their defensive line, which is tremendous all the way across the board," McMartin said. "They have one of the best defensive lines in the conference. Their linebackers do a great job and are very physical. Their secondary each week just continues to make plays and does a good job of keeping teams off the scoreboard."
           
Coe junior running back Soko Alphonso, a transfer, is the league rushing leader with 140.0 yards per game, which ranks seventh in Division III.
           
"He's got great speed and vision and is really good in the open field," McMartin said. "He can make you miss and can break away from people."
           
Sophomore Carter Maske has seen the most action at quarterback, completing 62 of 104 passes for 711 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. But Coe also lists junior Nick Casey as a possible starter.
           
"They're effective both running the ball and throwing it," McMartin said. "They've had some really big games throwing the football which has allowed them to be very balanced."
           
McMartin said the team needs to maintain its intensity following last week's victory.
           
"I think that's something we've experienced in this program and we're going to lean on that," he said. "We've talked at great length each week about how important each game is and how important it is to keep focusing on each week. That's what we're going to continue to do. We're not going to look too far ahead and what's in the past we're going to learn from and move on."
           
Winning the turnover battle—Central has forced seven turnovers this year but has lost the ball only twice. The Dutch were plus-3 against Wartburg Saturday.
           
"All of those were really big plays and important plays in the game that got us to where we were on the scoreboard," McMartin said.
           
Cornerback Brayden Egli (senior, St. Charles, Interstate 35 HS) also delivered a blocked field goal try along with 11 tackles and two pass breakups.
           
"Brayden has certainly been one of the top performers on our defense," McMartin said. "He just brings up the energy level, passion and focus each week. He's just continued to improve. He's better week four than week one and he's better this year than he was last year.
           
"I think our entire secondary has gotten better each week. We're getting great performances from those guys. They're physical and they're ready to be involved in both the run game and the passing game."
           
NCAA stat leaders—The Dutch remain first in Division III in first downs (152), total offense (612.4 yards) and pass efficiency rating (223.22), second in scoring (57.0), second in pass completion percentage (76.4), 14th in rushing offense (248.6) and 18th in third-down conversion percentage (50.0).
           
Individually quarterback Blaine Hawkins (fifth-year, Ankeny) leads the country in touchdown passes (21), is second in pass efficiency rating (227.47), fourth in completion percentage (74.6) and ninth in passing yards (1,468). Running back Jason Hopp (senior, Earlham) is eighth in rushing yards per carry (7.4) and 18th in rushing yards (102.4) Receiver Jeff Herbers (junior, Urbandale, Des Moines Christian HS) is 10th in touchdown catches (7).
           
"I think that offensively we executed very well Saturday," McMartin said. "And after watching the film, I think our coaching staff is confident there's room for improvement. We can continue to get better."
           
Dutch numbers—Tanner Schminke (fifth-year, Boone) is the Dutch receiving leader in catches (24) and yards (441).                                                                                                             
Strong safety Cameron Bannister (junior, State Center, West Marshall HS) is the team tackles leader with 28 and has a team-high four pass breakups.
           
For the season, Hawkins has completed 94 of 126 passes (.746) for 1,468 yards with no interceptions and 21 touchdowns. He's thrown 162 consecutive passes without an interception after earlier setting the school mark with 212 over nine games from Oct. 7, 2017 to Sept. 22, 2018. He holds career marks for completions (652) and passing yards (8,802).
           
Erik Knaack (senior, Reinbeck, Gladbrook-Reinbeck HS) is third in school history in career pass receptions (142), nine shy of second-place Chris Johnson (1995-98), third in receiving yards (2,319) and is second in career touchdown receptions (30), within three of Sam Markham's record set from 2014-17.
           
Notes-- Central was stopped on fourth down Saturday for just the second time in 11 tries this year…            Despite outscoring opponents by a lopsided 57.0-17.4, foes are controlling the ball for 31:39 of the game's 60 minutes…The Dutch have scored on 88% of their trips to the Red Zone with touchdowns 78% of the time…They're outscoring opponents 103-21 in the second quarter…At 5-0 the Dutch are ensured of going a 61st consecutive year without a losing season…Central has won 12 consecutive regular-season games.