It was an excellent game in the season opener, and Montezuma football Coach John Beck thinks his team’s playoff rematch with Iowa Valley on Friday, Oct. 19, has that potential again.
“I think both teams have grown a lot this year and with as good of a game as it was the first time, I expect this one to be just as good,” Beck said.
It kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, at Badger-Gabriel Field.
The first one was a 36-33 Iowa Valley victory.
The Tigers went on to finish a 6-3 regular season. Montezuma comes in at 7-2 after winning a district championship for the third straight year.
“Iowa Valley is a very dynamic offensive team,” Beck said. “Evan Kearney is a great quarterback and he has a lot of skill around him.”
Kearney, a 6-foot, 150-pound senior, passed for 221 yards and three touchdowns in the first meeting. He rushed for 175 more and another touchdown.
“It is always hard to play a team the second time and it will be interesting to see how they adjust to some of the stuff we do and vice versa,” Beck said.
Braves quarterback Owen Cook passed for 114 yards and three touchdowns in the earlier meeting. He rushed for 99 yards and one score.
Receiver Masin Shearer caught five passes for 98 yards and three touchdowns.
Since then, Brett Plants has become a major threat at running back, and Garett Watts and Cruz De Jong have become frequent targets for Cook, whose passing numbers have climbed steadily.
“Defensively, Iowa Valley rallies to the ball very well and has improved throughout the year,” Beck said.
“One thing is for sure, it will be a physical game, and the trenches will be a big factor in the outcome,” said Montezuma’s coach.
“We have a few guys banged up but hopefully, we are able to get a few back in some capacity by the end of the week.”
Pleased with Friday’s effort
Beck said he was very pleased with how his team played in a 78-0 win over Woodward Academy on Friday, Oct. 14.
“We spread the ball around to a lot of guys and when we turned if over to our JV squad, they continued to play well on bth sides of the ball,” said the coach. “Overall, a good team win!”
“On defense, we rallied to the ball and created a lot of negative yardage plays,” Beck said. “Our linemen played very well and the linebackers filled off of that.”
“In the secondary, we were really good, allowing just two completions on the night,” the coach noted.
“Offensively, we clicked prety well as a team. There were a few things on one drive that we need to clean up,” Beck said.
“Owen did a great job of taking care of the ball and Brett ran the ball very well. Our receivers took care of business.”
“Our offensive line did a good job, allowing us to run well and overall we did a pretty good job with our pass blocking,” Beck said.
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