Central College Athletics

INDIANOLA—The closing note was a satisfying one for the Central College football team which tossed a record-tying nine TD passes to close the season with a 69-14 rout at Simpson College Saturday.
           
Receiver Ryan Neu (senior, West Des Moines, Valley HS) matched a school record with four TD receptions, giving him 16 for the season, tied for second on the school record board with Jeff Herbers (5th-year, Urbandale, Des Moines Christian HS), who had 16 in 2021.
           
Central previously threw nine touchdowns against Luther College in 2021.    The Dutch (8-2 overall, 6-2 American Rivers) got TD strikes from three quarterbacks. Hunter Hoffman (sophomore, Pecatonica, Ill.) and Brady Ketchum (junior, Mount Vernon) each fired four. And freshman Kale Hobart (Mason City), in his collegiate debut, threw a 28-yard score to freshman Zeke Nelson (Clear Lake) with 1:57 left in the game as Simpson fell to 3-7 overall and 2-6 in the conference.
           
It was a cleaner performance than last week's one-sided but uneven 56-22 win over Buena Vista University, allowing coach Jeff McMartin to make extended use of his travel roster.
           
"That was what we wanted to have happen last week and we just didn't, so we didn't get as many people in as we wanted to," he said. "We were able to do that today. We got everybody in and gave people chances to show what they could do."
           
Central needed just 1 minute, 11 seconds to get on the board as Neu grabbed a 27-yard TD pass from Hoffman, extending his streak of games with touchdown receptions to 12. He connected with Hoffman on an 18-yarder at the 8:06 mark then raced 74 and 37 yards on second-quarter Ketchum passes. Logan Mont (senior,Aurora, Ill., West Aurora HS) and Herbers added second-quarter TD grabs as the Dutch sprinted to a 41-7 halftime advantage
           
In the second half, Herbers and tight end Jacob Birch (freshman, West Union, North Fayette HS) had scoring receptions and running back Kyle Norton (sophomore, Vancouver, Wash., Evergreen HS) scored on a 3-yard run.
           
Neu finished with five catches for 191 yards. It was his fourth multi-touchdown game and he had 47 catches for 721 yards on the season.
           
"I joked with his dad (head athletic trainer Frank Neu) that he's kind of a touchdown machine," McMartin said. "He just knows how to get in the end zone. He makes big plays and he's just been great for us this year."
           
Mont topped Central's trio of talented senior receivers with eight catches for 124 yards Saturday and a team-high 49 catches for the year for 515 yards with three scores.  
           
"We went to him a lot and he made some critical catches on third and fourth downs," McMartin said.
           
Hoffman completed 14 of 24 passes for 197 yards and was also Central's top rusher with 63 yards on nine carries. Ketchum completed nine-of-13 for 237 yards.
           
"They both did a great job and took care of the ball," McMartin said. "They did a good job of moving protections around and helping our other guys know where to go. I thought that played a big role in stopping the blitz."
           
Overall, Central was 25-of-39 for 467 yards while rushing for 195 yards on 43 carries.
           
"We got off to a good start with running the ball," McMartin said. "Our goal was to finish plays and finish drives this week. That's something we really emphasized coming off of last week."
           
The Dutch outgained Simpson 662 yards to 323. Simpson quarterback J Jensen III completed 30 of 48 passes for 250 yards and one score.
           
"Their quarterback is nationally ranked in touchdown passes and they throw the ball 70% of the time," McMartin said. "It's a challenge to keep a team to low numbers passing the football. What you want to do, though, is keep the score down and we were able to do that today. We were able to get stops on third and fourth down and were able to keep them out of the end zone."
           
And Simpson was limited to 73 rushing yards while Central forced three turnovers. Linebacker Reid Pakkebier (junior, Cedar Rapids, Kennedy HS) recovered two fumbles, broke up a pass and was Central's top tackler with 11. Strong safety Cameron Bannister (5th-year, State Center, West Marshall HS) had nine stops and an interception while cornerback Ben DeMeulenaere (sophomore, Belle Plaine) had eight tackles, including six solos, and forced a fumble. Linebacker Cael Fiderlein (junior, West Branch) had six tackles.
           
Pakkebier finished the season as Central's tackles leader with 82, including a team-high eight for loss with two sacks. Bannister and Fiderlein each had 54 tackles and Bannister had five interceptions.
           
Central closes in third place in the conference after starting the year with title aspirations but it was the program's fifth eight-win season in 10 years, which shouldn't be taken for granted, McMartin said.
           
"I'm on the regional ranking committee and I there were 60 teams out of 242 (in Division III) that were 7-2 or above last week and it's going to be less than that after today," he said. "It's not something that's easy. It's hard to win games and when you win eight of them, you have to feel good about that."
           
And, like so many others, it was a season and a team that's special to McMartin.
           
"This is a team that is really close-knit," he said. "They worked really hard in the off-season. They had really big goals and they gave it everything they had. They should have no regrets as far as their effort or commitment or how they connected to each other. This is one of the closest teams I've ever coached. I give our seniors a lot of credit, they did a great job of not only playing well but teaching and encouraging the younger guys and setting the standard for how hard you have to go and what kind of focus you have to have."
           
The Dutch should return at least half of their starting lineup next season.
           
"I think we're on the right track," McMartin said. "Recruiting is going well and we have a really good culture here. We just have to keep growing. We have the right people in place and we've got a good coaching staff. We're really happy with our young coaches we've hired and our coordinators are both experienced and doing a great job. We just have to keep moving forward and believe."