Fast start not enough against district co-leader Bulldogs

OAKLAND — The Nodaway Valley/OM football Wolverines knew they had their work cut out for them last Friday in visiting Oakland Riverside, the co-leaders of Class A, District 7.

Two weeks after playing state-ranked Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center, which has a returning all-state running back in Joe Crawford, the Wolverines had to deal with another all-state running back in the Bulldogs’ senior featured back, Jaxon Gordon.

Gordon came into the game as the state leader, regardless of class, with 1,009 rushing yards through just four games of the season. He added 275 yards to his total Friday in a 60-14 win over the Wolverines.

With the loss, NV/OM fell to 1-3 in the district and 1-4 overall. The Bulldogs improved to 4-0 in district play and 4-1 overall. Riverside started the season ranked fourth in Class A and has won four straight after losing in Week 1 to Treynor.

Despite the final score, the first quarter was quite entertaining for Wolverine fans who made the trip.

NV/OM won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half. After Riverside received the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs fumbled the football, which Wolverine senior Parker Schneider recovered.

On the first play of the ensuring drive, quarterback Titan Foster threw a dart down the middle of the field to senior Keyin Steeve, which stunned the Bulldogs, giving the visitors a 7-0 lead. This was in stark contrast to the start the Wolverines had one week earlier, when they gave up 35 early points to AHSTW.

“We couldn’t have had more of an opposite start than our week before,” NV/OM head coach Jack West said. “The first half of the first quarter, we answered them with two scores and got some big third down conversions. We challenged the kids too, to be better. The way the program has been in the past, some might expect us to fall apart and stop getting better through the last game of the season. Friday night, we left that game with a better taste in our mouths.”

Riverside scored the game’s next points on a 7-yard run from Gordon and a 10-yard run by Cole Jeppesen, on back-to-back possessions, which gave the Bulldogs a 14-7 lead with 6:38 on the first-quarter clock. NV/OM tied the game with 3:55 left in the quarter when Foster found the end zone on an 8-yard touchdown run that tied the game at 14-14.

A couple of minutes later, Riverside took the lead for good, scoring on Jeppesen’s second scoring run, this one for 19 yards, which set the score at 22-14. The Bulldogs scored twice more in the first quarter off of Wolverine turnovers, leading 36-14 at the first quarter break.

Two short Gordon touchdowns in the second quarter gave the Bulldogs a 52-14 halftime lead. Another Gordon scoring run came with 3:35 left in the third.

Gordon, a multi-sport athlete who is a two-time state qualifier in wrestling and a state champion and state record holder as a track runner in the distance medley relay, rushed for 1,932 yards and 31 touchdowns last season. This season, one example of the big numbers he’s putting up is a 422-yard, 38-carry, five touchdown performance in a game against Mount Ayr.

The Wolverines had 138 yards of offense with 118 passing and 20 rushing. Foster completed five passes and also led the Wolverines with 21 yards and five carries in the run game. He also had four interceptions in the game. Foster is closing in on the 500-yard passing mark for his sophomore season with 473 on 33 completions in five games.

The NV/OM defense was led by juniors Caleb Christensen and Bram Dahl, Christensen leading with 15 total tackles, including 11 solo, and Dahl totaling eight tackles with seven being solo. Senior Ashton Honnold had 6.5 tackles and blocked two Riverside extra points.

NV/OM travels to Southwest Valley this Friday. The Timberwolves, tied with the Wolverines at 1-3 in the District 7 standings, have won more games than the Wolverines overall at 2-3. They have lost two straight games, however, the most recent being a 49-12 loss at AHSTW.

The Timberwolves have been bitten by the injury bug and could have a few key players out against the Wolverines. They’ve played two players at quarterback: senior Wyatt Mendenhall as well as Wyatt Shires. Senior Cael Hogan leads a run game that has three backs that have gone over 100 yards. Senior receiver Gavin Wetzel has 21 catches for 392 yards and four touchdowns.

“Southwest Valley is in the same spot we are: looking for a win, a little banged up with key guys and coming off of tough losses. They have some players that they like to get the football to, so we know who we need to key on,” West said. “When we have the football, we have to figure out how to run the football better and get more from our run game. We are going to work on that this week. We can throw the ball around all we want but we need more balance.”