PELLA—Central College will be braced for a football air assault in the season's first American Rivers road contest at Simpson College Saturday.
           
Game time is 1 p.m. at Buxton Stadium in Indianola.
           
On the air—The Voice of the Dutch, Trevor Castle, will call Saturday's action on KRLS-FM (92.1), with former Dutch defensive coordinator 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.

Rankings—Central (3-0 overall, 1-0 American Rivers) is No. 13 in the initial AFCA Division III Coaches' Poll and No. 14 in the D3football.com rankings.
           
The series— The teams' series launched in 1905 and the Dutch hold a 66-29-3 advantage, last falling in 2013.
           
Central racked up a 49-14 victory over Simpson at Pella April 3, but coach Jeff McMartin said the unusually short five-month turnaround won't have a big impact Saturday.
           
"In some ways, the spring season seems like it just happened and in others, it's like a million years ago," he said. "We're a different team now and so are they."                                               
Simpson-- Simpson is 0-3 overall and 0-1 in league play but has played a demanding schedule, starting with a long trip to face the nation's No. 1-ranked squad in the AFCA Division III Coaches' Poll, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Sept. 4 before then tackling the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
           
In last week's 42-22 loss at Coe College, quarterback Brett Bobinet came off the bench and passed for 309 yards and three touchdowns. He's listed as the starter this week. Senior Joe McNally had eight catches for 163 yards while junior Reed Worth had seven receptions for 126 yards.
           
Central saw Bobinet last spring but senior Seth Howard had more snaps.
           
"We probably have to be prepared for two different quarterbacks," McMartin said.
           
Simpson is averaging 230.7 yards passing but has been limited to 30.3 yards on the ground. McMartin isn't reading a lot into the discrepancy, however.
           
"They've had a really tough schedule and that's part of it," he said. "It's not that they're going to ignore the running game. But I think that the teams they've played and their personnel have kind of moved that in that direction. We anticipate having to defend both the run and the pass."
           
Junior tailback Desmond Alexander leads the running game.
           
"He does a really good job," McMartin said. "And they've got good size up front. We expect them to want to come out and work to be very balanced."
           
The demanding slate will provide plenty of preparation for Simpson.
           
"They're well tested," McMartin said. "They've seen teams want to be real physical and run the football on them and teams that want to throw the football. They've had to handle different kinds of schemes."
           
Free safety Larry Herzog has a team-high 30 tackles and strong safety Boston Draper has 29. Middle linebacker Wyatt Schaben has 26 stops.
           
"They've played mostly a four-man front," McMartin said. "They have a really good defensive line and a couple guys that create a lot of problems with their speed and size. Their linebackers cover ground well. We anticipate seeing some different looks."
           
Dutch numbers—After opening the 2019 season scoring 30 or more points in four straight games, Central has started 2021 by topping that standard three times. The Dutch did it in both spring games and have a five-game streak of 30 or more points overall. They're outscoring opponents 50.6-15.6.
           
Central is outgaining opponents 605.7 yards to 267.3, but McMartin sees plenty of opportunities for improvement.
           
"We left some points out there last week," he said. "We had a field goal blocked. That's got to improve and we also fumbled down in the Red Zone. Those are things you've got to shore up and it makes the game different if you convert those. We're capable of improving and we want to get better."
           
Quarterback Blaine Hawkins (fifth-year, Ankeny) put up less gaudy numbers than in previous weeks, completing eight of 18 passes for 150 yards and two scores, but it was enough to let him become the first Central quarterback to top 8,000 career passing yards. He's completed 609 of 920 passes for 8,081 yards with 24 interceptions and 93 touchdowns over his Central career. For the season he's connecting on 69.8% of his throws (51-73-0) for 747 yards and eight TDs in three games. He's the American Rivers leader in pass efficiency at 192.0 and third in passing yards. Running back Jason Hopp (senior, Earlham) gained a season-high 168 yards and a score on the ground and leads Central with 375 yards and three TDs on 52 attempts, averaging 7.2 yards per carry. He ranks second in the conference in rushing yards. Tanner Schminke (fifth-year, Boone) has a team-high 210 receiving yards on 11 catches with two touchdowns while Jeff Herbers (junior, Urbandale) has 209 yards on 10 catches with three TDs.
           
Wide receiver Erik Knaack (fifth-year, Reinbeck, Gladbrook-Reinbeck HS) has moved into third in school history in career receiving yards with 2,110. He's tied Jeremy Snead (2008-11) for third in career receptions with 129.
           
Central has a veteran defense but the team's tackle leaders are three sophomores. Linebacker Tate Hagen (Britt, West Hancock HS) has 19 tackles while free safety Brody Klein (Rainier, Wash.) and linebacker Josh Van Gysel (Anthem, Ariz., Boulder Creek HS) both have 15. That's as intended, McMartin said, because of the positions they play.
           
"Tate and Josh played a lot at middle linebacker and they both do a great job," he said. "Things get funneled to our linebackers and they've got to make sure they make plays."
           
Lineup rotations are stabilizing but not final.
           
"I think each week we've gotten better and where we've moved a few people around from the spring, we're getting more used to them at those positions," McMartin said.
           
Improvement remains the ever-present goal.
           
"We want to continue to work on execution," McMartin said. "That's a key thing for us, regardless of size or speed or whatever, we want to execute and be consistent. That's more important than doing a lot of new things."