The weight is over: Wolverines defeat Central Decatur to end losing streak

Just more than three years of Friday nights without a victory came to an end for the Nodaway Valley/OM football program last Friday.

The Wolverines snapped a 26-game losing streak that began with the last game of the 2022 season with a big 33-18 victory at home over Central Decatur.

The Wolverines’ defense came up big, coming up with eight takeaways in the game, while the offense was equally as impressive, posting nearly 400 yards of total offense.

Two of the turnovers directly resulted in points. The win set off a big celebration with the student section flooding the field. No one wanted to go home after this one.

“It was a clean game and we were proud of how we played,” Nodaway Valley/OM head coach Jack West said. “We didn’t let anything that didn’t matter affect us. We did in Week 1 and we got penalized and lost the game. We talked and worked on that at practice this week and they did a million times better this week. That was what were were most proud of with the Week 1 to Week 2 jump.”

West said that getting the victory was a great step for the program.

“It’s been a while,” he said. West said that he didn’t get the feeling that the team as a whole was carrying a weight of the streak, but that consistent hard work helped stop it.

“Maybe some of the kids felt that way, but it was more happiness and joy. It was more of their work and commitment to do it the right way. Their work on the fundamentals and commitment to running what we are doing and the execution of the team was good. We stayed within ourselves and they bought into what we are selling,” West said.

Despite numerous challenges during the losing streak, the Wolverines showed progress in West’s first season last year, where they were only shut out once and had three contests where they scored 10 or more.

The 33 points in this game was the second most a Wolverine team has scored in the past 26 games. Nodaway Valley lost 36-34 at home over Panorama in the last game of the 2022 season.

Several players shared comments with Adair County Free Press photographer Dan Dickinson following the game.

Senior Keyin Steeve said the team has been working hard throughout the summer, so to break through with a win felt really good.

“We’re really progressing as a team,” Steeve said. “I really feel like we’ve come a long way.”

After tearing his meniscus, senior Ashton Honnold didn’t know if he’d be able to play his final prep football season.

“I’m so grateful to even be out on this field. It’s an unreal feeling being able to go out there and finally win a game,” Honnold said. “I’m so happy for all our team, our hard work and everything that has gone into this. I’m so proud of every single one of them.”

Junior Caleb Christensen said he felt the team played as an entire unit and followed a good game plan, which paid off toward the win. He also credited an enthusiastic student section and fan base for sticking with the team and cheering them to the win.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard [the stadium] like that,” Christensen said. “It was awesome and really got us all pumped and brought us all together.”

The Wolverines were impressive defensively with seven interceptions, which is believed to be a school record. Sophomore Titan Foster had three of them for 87 yards and Steeve made two for 54 yards. Junior Mason Payne returned an interception 70 yards to the house and senior Remington Woosley had an interception for three yards. Also, Honnold recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.

Senior Titus Hamer was tackles leader with eight, while Christensen finished with 7.5 and Honnold with 6.5. The Wolverines made three sacks on the night, led by Christensen, Honnold and Lawson Jackson, and the team had eight tackles for loss, led by Hamer, Jackson, Woosley and senior Parker Schneider.

Offensively, NV/OM was fairly balanced, passing for 143 yards and rushing for 218. Foster passed for 143 yards on 11 completions with a touchdown, caught by Christensen, while rushing for 25 yards. Three receivers had at least three catches. Steeve and Woosley had four each and Christensen three.

In the run game, Hamer rushed 29 times for 153 yards. Sophomore Cassius Burnside ran nine times for 48 yards. Each ran for touchdowns.

NV/OM was the only team to score in the first quarter, leading 7-0 after the first quarter on a two-yard run from Hamer less than three minutes into the contest. The Cardinals scored early in the second quarter on a 97-yard catch by Brody Hamilton from quarterback Asher Norman. The Wolverines led 13-6 at the half after Burnside made a 35-yard haul to the end zone.

Central Decatur scored twice in the third quarter — both on passing connections from Norman to Hamilton — which cut their deficit to 20-18 just before the start of the final quarter.

Payne’s third-quarter Pick-6 paved the way for the Wolverines to be able to outscore Central Decatur 13-0 in the fourth quarter to secure the win. Honnold recovered a fumble in the end zone, brought about by a Foster interception on defense, and Foster connected with Christensen for an 8-yard score to finish the scoring.

The Wolverines turn their attention to fifth-ranked Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center (Radio Iowa) for a game this Friday in Guthrie Center. The Chargers are 2-0 with wins over Panorama and Southwest Valley.

The Chargers bring their run-heavy approach into the game. They’ve only passed once in their first two games. They have rushed for 724 yards and averaged 9.9 yards per carry. Senior trio Joe Crawford, Angel Martinez and Brexton Schneider lead the team offensively but six players have scored touchdowns.

Since 2018, these two teams have played four times with AC/GC winning all four. The last time the teams played was in the 2022 season. In three of the four games, AC/GC has scored 50 or more points. The Wolverines will return home the next week to host AHSTW for homecoming.

Dan Dickinson and Caleb Nelson contributed to this report.