INDIANOLA — Closing out its 2026 season with a 35-10 win, the Central College football team extended its winning streak over Simpson College to 13 Saturday afternoon.
After the team's exchanged punts after three and outs on the first five possessions of the game, Central (6-4, 4-3 American Rivers Conference) struck first with a five-yard rushing touchdown by quarterback
Gentry Dumont (junior, Solon, Regina Catholic HS) with 7:16 left in the first quarter.
The teams exchanged second quarter touchdowns, but a Simpson field goal made it 14-10 at the half. The Dutch scored 21 unanswered points in the second half.
"I thought today was a great way to end the season," coach
Jeff McMartin said. "I'm really proud of our team and how we finished the second half of the year. We've played better each week."
Central piled up 351 net rushing yards as a team.
Cody Klein (junior, Newton) had a career-high 234 yards, the seventh highest single-game total in program history. He averaged 11.7 yards on 20 carries with three touchdowns.
"Cody had a huge game and we knew we needed him to for us to have success," "He's had a really special season and we knew he was capable of it."
Dumont added 144 rushing yards on 17 carries with a touchdown. It's the first time since November 6, 2021, that Central had two players rush for over 100 yards in the same game.
"Gentry was also really effective running the football," McMartin said.
Central only attempted 10 passes. Klein had three catches for 29 yards.
Tyler Fiala (senior, Kansas City, Mo., Blue Springs HS) had a seven-yard scoring grab in the fourth quarter from Dumont.
Linebacker
Clay Saak (junior Grundy Center) led the team with 11 total tackles. Cornerback
Jordan Martino (sophomore, Aurora, Ill., West Aurora HS) had nine tackles, including eight solo stops.
Zach Teague (sophomore, Stuart, West Central Valley HS) had 2.5 tackles for loss.
After allowing 139 points during a 2-3 start, Central held opponents to 77 points while going 4-1 in the second half of the season.
"If you look at the second half of our season, we showed marked improvement defensively," McMartin said. "We held opponents to some of their lowest scoring totals of the year."
On Central's offensive and defensive 2-deep from Saturday's game, only seven seniors were included among the 44 names. Central will lose just one offensive starter and four defensive starters from today.
"We're a young team and it's exciting to have so many players coming back that are going to contribute," McMartin said. "They will be year better and ay ear stronger and more experienced."
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