PELLA—The two teams that shared the last American Rivers football crown and are picked to contend for this year's title square off Saturday as Central College is home to tackle Wartburg College.
           
It's homecoming at Central, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium.
           
The Dutch are 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the league after a record-setting 84-16 runaway at Simpson College last Saturday. They're ranked No. 13 in the AFCA Division III Coaches' Poll and No. 14 in the D3football.com Top 25. Wartburg (2-1 overall, 1-0 conference) outdistanced Coe College at Waverly last week, 28-7.
           
On the air and online—The Voice of the Dutch, Trevor Castle, will call Saturday's action on KRLS-FM (92.1), with NFCA Hall of Fame softball coach George Wares 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.
A video webcast of the action and live stats can be accessed via the Central athletics website at athletics.central.edu. Twitter users can get updates through @CentralDutch.
           
The series—Central and Wartburg will have a difficult time topping the drama from their last meeting at Pella in 2019. Wartburg roared back from a 49-14 third-quarter deficit to force overtime and took a 56-49 lead, only to have Central secure the 57-56 victory with a touchdown and two-point conversion. It was the highest combined single-game point total in Central history. Both teams were chosen for the NCAA Division III playoffs.
           
It was Central's first win over Wartburg since 2016 and the Dutch hold a 44-25 advantage in the teams' all-time series.
           
The Knights—For the first time in 22 years, there's a new head coach at Wartburg as Chris Winter assumed new duties in late summer after joining the staff as offensive coordinator in 2011 and serving as assistant head coach since 2013. The 2004 Wartburg grad is also the school's head strength and conditioning coach.
           
But the Knights have a familiar look, according to Central coach Jeff McMartin.
           
"They're a tremendously talented football team," he said. "The things that have made Wartburg good in the past are all there. They've got speed, they're physical, they're well-coached and they get where they need to be on the field. They're good athletes that make plays. They play with great confidence and they execute really well. They're as good as advertised."
           
Senior JoJo McNair remains a two-way threat. Saturday against Coe he caught a two-point conversion pass, returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown and made four tackles as the starting cornerback. Senior quarterback Jace Moore completed 26 of 34 passes for 204 yards Saturday and has connected on 59-of-95 for the year for 601 yards and three scores.
           
Senior safety Eli Barrett and senior linebacker Anotonio Santillan each have 20 tackles.
           
McMartin notes that Wartburg has faced some tough opposition in the early going.
           
"They've played a great schedule," he said.
           
Despite that, Wartburg is outgaining opponents 370.3 yards to 252.3. The Knights rank first in the conference in scoring defense (12.3 points per game).
           
McMartin said the coaching switch won't alter the Knights' approach.
           
"What makes a team good is how well it executes," he said. "How hard do you play? Do you run to the ball? Are you physical? Can you do things the right way and eliminate mistakes? That's what Wartburg has done well. They outplay people and that's stayed the same. There's no change."
           
Record win—McMartin was happy with Central's effort in Saturday's lopsided victory as the Dutch scored a school-record 84 points. But he quickly turned his focus to the next game.
           
"I don't think you can fall in love with your statistics from last week but I think you have to ask yourself, 'Did I execute what I was told to execute? Did I do my job? Did I play with great effort, passion and focus?'" McMartin said. "If those things get answered with a yes, then you move on and you get ready for the next week."                                                                                                                
          
 He downplays Central's early season results.
           
"I'm not going to go into this week's game focusing on the past four games," he said. "We're going to go in focused on this game. We're going to play as hard as we can play and execute as well as we can execute. In the first four games we've played, we asked our guys to be focused, to execute and to give us everything they've had. And that's what they've done. We have to continue with that format and control what we can control."
           
Precision—There was little for coaches to critique about Central's first-half performance in taking a 56-3 lead Saturday. The Dutch did surrender a field goal but the defense was on the field for 22:34 of the half's 30 minutes as the offense's efficiency was clinical. Not only did Central score touchdowns on all eight first-half possessions, only once did the squad need more than 2 minutes to do so, exhausting 2:15 on a six-play drive. Seven of the scoring drives reached the end zone in 1:11 or less and two were completed within 15 seconds. Central had just two third-down plays the entire half.
           
Central set team records for most points (84), most total offense (789 yards), most passing yards (556) and most first downs passing (26) and tied marks for most first downs (35) and most points in a half (56). Central's 36 pass completions were two shy of the record and the team's 68-point scoring margin is tied for third all-time.
           
Special teams progress—McMartin expressed concern about Central's special teams play in the first three games. Kicker Logan Sunvold (sophomore, Monroe, Southeast Polk HS) was named the league special teams performer of the week after connecting on a school-record 12 extra-point tries Saturday but McMartin wants to see more improvement from those units.
           
"They will get tested on Saturday," he said. "That's one of the areas that I think Wartburg really shines. They have great return people on both kickoff s and punts and they try to block your punts and kicks. They come after you with a lot of pressure and they'll come off the edge. We need to be really sharp and continue to improve. I feel like we're getting better each week."
           
NCAA stat leaders—Central's gaudy statistical numbers are likely to take a hit after Saturday's clash with a league title contender, but the Dutch shine this week in the NCAA Division III rankings. The Dutch are first in Division III in first downs (125) and total offense (654.8 yards), third in pass completion percentage (.773) and pass efficiency rating (222.45), fourth in passing offense (383.8 yards) and eighth in rushing offense (271.0 yards).
           
Individually Hawkins leads the country in pass efficiency rating (228.8), is second in touchdown passes (15) and third in completion percentage (.753). Running back Jason Hopp (senior, Earlham) is third in rushing yards per carry (8.6) and 11th in rushing yards (465). Receiver Jeff Herbers (junior, Urbandale, Des Moines Christian HS) is 15th in touchdown catches (5).
           
Dutch numbers—In addition to breaking the school marks for TD passes (7) and passing yards (424) despite being on the field for just 7:26 of Saturday's game at Simpson, Hawkins reached a pair of milestones. He now has 100 career touchdown passes and is up to 10,016 yards total offense. Tim Connell (2004-07) is a distant second on the TD pass list with 58 and on the total offense list with 7,415 yards.
           
For the season, Hawkins has completed 73 of 97 passes (.753) for 1,171 yards with no interceptions and 15 touchdowns. He's thrown 134 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 (631) and passing yards (8,505) and is on target to break the completion percentage record with .668.
           
Hopp is averaging 116.2 yards rushing per game. Kicker Logan Sunvold (sophomore, Monroe, Southeast Polk HS) is the scoring leader with 32, converting 26 of 28 extra points and a pair of field goals. Linebacker Tate Hagen (sophomore, Britt, West Hancock HS) has a team-high 20 tackles while linebackers Cade Humphries (fifth-year, Geneseo, Ill.) and Josh Van Gysel (sophomore, Anthem, Ariz., Boulder Creek HS) each have 17.
           
Erik Knaack (senior, Reinbeck, Gladbrook-Reinbeck HS) is up to third in school history in career pass receptions (138) and receiving yards (2,275) and is second in career touchdown receptions (28), five shy of Sam Markham's record set from 2014-17.