Milledgeville, GA
On an 'Iowa like' day in Georgia, NJCAA number two Iowa Western (8-0, 4-0) withstood a furious 4th quarter comeback by 15th ranked Georgia Military (6-3) to stay unbeaten.
With mostly cloudy skies and a crisp north wind limiting the game time high to the low 50's, the weather wasn't what the Reivers were expecting when Head Coach Scott Strohmeier scheduled a November road date with the Bulldogs at Davenport Field, a natural grass surface, on the campus of GMC.
"The thought was, go south, get some good weather and face a good team," said Strohmeier before kickoff, "but we'll be fine, the rain is staying away and we're used to this."
A pair of stout defenses presented themselves in the first quarter. Iowa Western forced Georgia Military's offense into a pair of three and outs and three punts in the opening quarter, but the Reivers 'O' didn't fair much better, also punting a pair of times, but ending the opening stanza on a momentum building 41-yard reception by Dominique Davis that put IW at the GMC 35-yard line threatening to end the scoreless tie.
Noah Sauberan converted the game's first points four plays later after the drive stalled out, the freshman effortlessly hitting his 10th field goal of the year from 36-yards out for a Reiver lead.
On the following kickoff, Sauberan kicked the ball short forcing the Bulldogs' top return man, K.J. Rose, to mishandle the kick. Dennis Fisher covered the football before it went out of bounds and IWCC was in business again, however it would be short-lived. After a nine-yard gain on first down by Trey King, Jr. the Reivers couldn't find another yard to move the chains, turning the ball over on downs as GMC survived the turnover.
One first down is all the Bulldogs could muster before giving the ball back to the visitors and seven plays later Nate Glantz found Ty'Shun Jordan across the middle for the freshman's second touchdown of the season and a 10-0, second quarter, lead.
A high snap over the head of Jake Calvert would be the only other score of the half as Georgia Military was stifled on the drive following the safety. Legend Doggett had back-to-back pass defenses as GMC QB Donovan Anthony went to top receiver Daithan Davis in the end zone on consecutive plays against the freshman DB.
The Reivers would march on their first drive of the second half as Milton Sargbah ripped off three runs for 34-yards to start and Xavier Trevino covered a ball that was hit out of Roscoe Parrish's hands on a reception to keep the drive alive. A rush of 3-yards on 4th and one by Glantz moved the chains again and three plays later Frank Bierman caught his first score as a Reiver to balloon the lead to 17-2 visitors.
The Darkside immediately followed, forcing a three and out by the GMC Offense. Kaden Wetjen appeared to return the punt by Daniel Gibbs for a 65-yard score, but a holding call on the Reivers brought the ball back and it was the Reivers that kicked the ball back to the Bulldogs after a three and out.
On the next Reivers possession, the turnover bug bit as Isaiah Petitfrere dropped back into coverage and intercepted Glantz, returning the pick 16-yards to set up the Bulldogs near midfield. An incomplete pass followed a short gain on a run by Anthony and on 3rd and seven GMC appeared ready to move the chains as Armon Porter caught a pass in front of the home sideline and headed for the sticks, but Jaheim Jenkins and Jacob Ellis forced the ball out and Jaden Scott scooped up the loose ball to give IWCC possession as the third quarter came to a close.
As the 4th quarter started, Iowa Western again had a chance to put the game out of reach, marching 44 yards in just six plays to set up first and goal from the GMC 1-yard line. Three straight rushes by the Reivers still left the offense on the outside looking in and Glantz's fourth-down pass to Ryan Flournoy turned the ball over to the Bulldogs as the home crowd celebrated their squad's big stand.
"That's something we've been working on (capitalizing inside the 10) and we mishandled a snap and didn't do what needed to be done," said Coach Strohmeier. "We didn't want to kick the field goal because of the angle that a short kick like that presents and we thought we had something we could score on 4th to put the game away, we just didn't get it and we've got to be better on those situations."
A stingy Reiver 'Darkside' had only given up 112 yards of offense through three quarters and chances didn't look good for Donovan Anthony and the GMC offense from their own one-yard line. A 2-yard gain by fullback Maurice Bell on first down gave GMC enough room to try a short pass and Armon Porter showed off his speed after hauling in a short completion from Anthony, turning it into a 79-yard pickup, stopped from scoring a touchdown by the pursuit and tackle of Cortez Eatmon. Two plays later, running back La'Darius 'Little' Ceasar, went relatively untouched for a 21-yard score with the extra-point shrinking the deficit to just one score with 8:34 remaining in the game.
Back-to-back short gains on runs by IWCC to start the next drive forced the Reivers into a passing situation on third down. Glantz, racing to his right tried, under duress, to find tight end Blake Vaughn on the sideline, but GMC's Ja'Maric Morris dove in front of the Reiver receiver and managed to get a foot in bounds for the Bulldogs second takeaway of the game.
After an unsportsmanlike penalty on the defense, Georgia Military started just outside the red zone looking for the tying scores. The 'Darkside' stood tall, forcing a third and eight incompletion, but the laundry hit the field once more, giving the Bulldogs a first down and goal from the Reivers' four-yard line after a pass interference call.
On the first play, the Reivers were flagged once more for an apparent face mask, giving GMC a first and goal and inspiring the home public address announcer to 'get the cannon loaded'. The Reivers managed stops on both 1st and 2nd down, but fullback Maurice Bell finally punched it in on 3rd. Anthony found Daithan Davis in the corner of the endzone against a near-perfect defense from Jaheim Jenkins for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 17 all.
With only 4:20 remaining in the game, the Reivers got the ball back at their own 21-yard line, converting a first down to move the chains once, but were forced to punt with under two minutes remaining as GMC looked to get a shot at a go-ahead score.
Jake Calvert's kick headed toward the GMC sideline and returner Armon Porter, attempting to give the Bulldogs some momentum on what looked to be their final possession, muffed the kick and the Reivers' Koah Thompson found the loose ball to give IWCC the possession deep inside Georgia Military territory.
A nine-yard completion by Glantz to Roscoe Parrish brought up a 2nd and one for the Reivers from the home 21-yard line. Iowa Western overloaded the right side and Glantz found Moses Bryant on the run. The running back sprinted down the right sideline for the lead as a shocked GMC defense looked on. The ensuing point after was mishandled and Jake Calvert's ill-advised attempt to the end zone was intercepted by Georgia Military's Ja'Maric Morris for a defensive PAT, making the score 23-19 with 1:15 remaining.
"C.J.'s (Horton) yelling 'throw it, throw it", but I told him (Calvert), in that situation just go down next time," said Strohmeier after the game.
GMC's final possession saw a 4th down conversion before Anthony spiked the ball to stop the clock near midfield. On second down, the Reivers forced their 4th turnover of the day as Anthony sprinted across the middle, Diontrel Wommack swiped the ball out of his hands and Quientrail Travis recovered the ball in a scrum of players to seal the win.
The victory was the fourth of the season over a ranked opponent and the third such win on the road for the undefeated Reivers. Both #1 East Mississippi and third-ranked Jones lost on Saturday leaving the Reivers and Monroe as the only undefeated teams in the country. The question of where Iowa Western will find themselves on Monday afternoon when the new NJCAA poll is released seems to answer itself, but the Reivers will wait, just as they'll do for news on the remainder of this season's regular-season schedule. With Air Force Prep and McDougle Tech remaining the next two weeks, the question is whether either of those teams will meet their commitment to come to Council Bluffs to play IWCC.
What is a near certainty is that the Reivers have played their way into the inaugural NJCAA playoff if their regular season is over. Where and against who that semifinal game will come against will be known on November 22nd. Should the Reivers get another pair of regular-season games, they'll welcome the chance to build on their 15-game winning streak dating back to the Spring Season.
**UPDATE | Iowa Western will play their sixth road game of the season when they travel to face Northwestern College at 6pm on Friday Night (11/12/21). This game will replace Air Force Prep on the schedule. The kickoff can be heard and seen on the Reiver Sports Network. The broadcast will start on Iowa Western's 100,000 watt FM station, 89.7 the River at 5:30 with Jake Ryan and Russ Nelsen on the call for the game.
Follow the news on the team on Twitter or Facebook for updates and information about the Reivers.
Check out PHOTOS from the Reivers win taken by Iowa Western SID Travis Jacobson.
NOTES
The Reivers' 15-game win streak ranks 3rd all-time in program history. IWCC's longest win streak (18) ended and the second-longest win streak (17) began the following game when the Reivers last played in Milledgeville in 2013.
Iowa Western is now 1-1 against Georgia Military in Milledgeville leaving only two teams they have a losing record against on the road (Butler 1-2, Grand Rapids 0-3).
The Reivers' 357 yards of offense in the game moved their all-time total to 60,111 all-time yards.
Frank Bierman not only caught his first touchdown but his first pass as a Reiver. The catch makes him the 156th player to catch a pass in program history and the 184th to score a TD.
