PELLA—Continuing its assault on team passing records, Central College will salute 31 football seniors playing their final home game Saturday when the Dutch play host to Luther College.
           
Game time is 1 p.m. at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium.
           
The class, which includes three fifth-year players, is completing an impressive four-year run that produced a 29-6 record thus far along with a pair of American Rivers titles and two NCAA Division III playoff appearances.
           
"This is our seniors' last home game and we want them to go out feeling great about the last time they stepped foot on the turf at Schipper Stadium," coach Jeff McMartin said.
           
Luther is 1-5 in conference play and 1-7 overall after a 40-21 home-field defeat against Loras College Saturday.
           
Central is 3-3 in the conference and 5-3 overall following a 37-31 loss at Coe College.
           
Attacking passing records— The Dutch rank second in the NCAA Division III in passing offense (346.2 yards per game). And even in a loss Saturday, the Dutch made more dents in the school record book. Central's 72 pass attempts are the most by an NCAA college or university team this year. Indiana University's 66 throws against the University of Cincinnati Sept. 24 rank second. Central broke the school mark of 65 attempts set in an NCAA playoff game with Wheaton College (Ill.) last November and Saturday's 41 completions tied the record from that playoff game. Central had 458 passing yards Saturday, which ranks fifth on the school charts.
           
Individually, quarterback Cooper Downs (sophomore, Ames) completed 38 passes, the third-most by a Division III player this year. In the Central record books, it ranks second only to the 41 completed by Gagliardi Trophy winner Blaine Hawkins against Wheaton last year. Downs threw for 436 yards, which ranks fourth on the school list.
           
On the air and online—The Voice of the Dutch, Trevor Castle, calls the action on KRLS-FM (92.1), with Pella mayor and retired Central defensive coordinator Don DeWaard 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.
Castle also hosts "Coaches' Corner" with coach Jeff McMartin which airs each Monday at 6 p.m. on KRLS and is available on demand online.
           
The series—Central roared past the Norse at Decorah last year 76-13 and holds a 59-22-1 lead in the teams' series, which started in 1928. Luther's last win in the series was in 2008.
           
The Norse—Luther is getting outscored 50.2-20.0 and outgained 565.3 yards to 298.0. Junior quarterback Beau Cornwell has completed 155 of 288 passes (.538) for 1,818 yards and 13 touchdowns with 14 interceptions. Senior receiver Diego Lopez has 40 catches for 426 yards while fifth-year receiver Andre Atkins has 25 receptions for 535 yards and five touchdowns.
           
First-year coach Joe Troche has given the Norse a new look.
           
"They're doing a lot of really good things," McMartin said. "They shift a lot. They create advantages with formations and make you really think a lot on defense."
           
Freshman outside linebacker Brayden Daly has 65 tackles, including 28 solos with one interception and one fumble recovery. Senior defensive back Brandon Deas has 55 tackles with a team-high six pass breakups.
           
"They're more of a four-man front defense and pretty sound in what they do," McMartin said. "They make you earn everything."
           
The Dutch also need to be alert on special teams.
           
"They'll do onside kids, they'll do fake punts, they'll do every kind of formation on punts, they'll go for two after scores," McMartin said. "They will throw everything at you on special teams."
           
Moving forward—It was a disappointing Saturday for the Dutch, whose third loss of the season was again a one-score decision. But McMartin said that doesn't alter his team's approach, which is to continually look forward to the next play and the next game.
           
"This is the next game on our schedule and we're going to do the best we can," McMartin said.
           
It's more than the Central seniors' final home-field opportunity.
           
"We want our younger players to continue to grow and develop and learn how to win," McMartin said. "The vision for our program has not changed. We're going to continue to build off of this. I hate losing but we have to see these setbacks as growth opportunities. We can look at what we need to improve and attack those areas. We want to keep developing these players to ensure that we get back to where we know we can be."
           
Even with the large senior class, the Dutch have young players at several positions and mistakes continue to thwart Central's momentum. But the Dutch were NCAA Division III quarterfinalists a year ago and are the NCAA's fourth-winningest college or university team since 1975. McMartin said the Dutch commitment to attaining even loftier heights nationally will not waver.
           
"We know who we are, we know what we're capable of and we know what we have to do to get better," McMartin said. "I think that's what moves us forward and that's the message our team is hearing. We're going to continue to double down on working to get better."
           
Red zone focus—One of those areas where McMartin wants to see progess is in the red zone, where the Dutch were 4-8 in scoring touchdowns Saturday while Coe was 4-5.
           
"We've got to improve in the red zone offense and defense," he said. "We weren't good at getting stops off of our turnovers and we didn't get many turnovers. And when (the Kohawks) did get down in the red zone, they were able to score touchdowns and we weren't."
           
For the year, Central has scored touchdowns on 30 of 45 red zone trips (67%) while opponents are 20-for-31 (65%).
           
Dutch numbers—Central ranks 31st in NCAA Division III statistics in tackles for loss (7.8 per game). Despite making five turnovers Saturday, the Dutch are plus 0.5 in turnover margin for the season, which ranks 58th in Division III.
           
Logan Sunvold (junior, Monroe, Southeast Polk HS) is 18th in Division III in field goal percentage (.778, 7-9). Linebacker Tate Hagen (junior, Britt, West Hancock HS) and cornerback Stevie Maddox, Jr. (senior, Mesa, Ariz., Tempe HS) are tied for 16th in fumbles recovered (3). Receiver Ryan Neu (junior, West Des Moines, Valley HS) is 11th in TD catches (9) and 25th in receiving yards (742). Logan Mont (junior, Aurora, Ill., West Aurora HS) is 21st in receptions per game (6.9).
           
Linebacker Reid Pakkebier (junior, Cedar Rapids, Kennedy HS) is Central's top tackler with 69, including 31 unassisted stops and eight tackles for loss along with an interception and fumble recovery. Linebacker Nathan Rahn (senior, Chadwick, Ill., Milledgeville HS) has 67 tackles with 29 unassisted and 10 tackles for loss. Free safety Reece Miller (junior, Center Point, Center Point-Urbana HS) and strong safety Cameron Bannister (senior, State Center, West Marshall HS) each have four interceptions. Maddox has seven pass breakups.
           
Kicking clicking-- Sunvold is the latest in a line of record-setting Central kickers, which most recently included 2019 AFCA All-American Jon Alberts. Sunvold's career numbers are quietly mounting. He's converted 132 extra points in 136 tries, creeping closer to Joel Buseman's school mark of 167 (1993-97). His career percentage of 97.0 is just short of the record 97.9 set by Kevin Sheldon, who made 141 of 144 from 2011-14. Sunvold has made 16 of 21 career field goals, but that's well shy of the 38 field goals made by Jake Viggers (2007-10).
           
200 wins at Schipper Stadium—Central's last home-field appearance, a 49-17 win over Simpson College Oct. 22, was the program's 200th victory at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium. Opened in 1977 as A.N. Kuyper Stadium, the name was changed in 2006. The Dutch have posted a 200-50 mark in home games in that span for an .800 winning percentage.
           
Notes—On Central's opening possession of the first and second halves in the past three games, the Dutch have scored touchdowns five of six times…Downs is the second quarterback this year to move into the top 15 for most passing yards in a game in school history with his fourth-place effort last Saturday. Brady Ketchum (sophomore, Mount Vernon) is 10th with 366 yards against Loras College Sept. 17 and 11th with 360 against St. Olaf (Minn.) Sept. 3. Ten of the program's top 13 passing yardage totals were posted by Hawkins. Six of the top eight on the list by Hawkins came last season…With Central's up-tempo attack, the Dutch have won the time of possession battle just once in eight games…The Central junior varsity season ends with a 5 p.m. game next Monday at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge. The young Dutch are 4-0…Luther's last win in Pella was a 28-20 victory in Central's 1976 homecoming game that was played at old A.N. Kuyper Stadium, located where the Vermeer Science Center and the Kruidenier Center now stand on the south side of the campus.