High School football week five preview

Sep. 22—Week five of the high school football season is here and local teams are battling their way towards playoff pushes.

Some schools saw district play begin last week while others begin theirs this week. There were a lot of good games a week ago and expect more of the same as the kids go back under the Friday night lights.

Starting things with Clinton High, they found themselves in the midst of a shootout with Maquoketa last week. In this game they lost 44-36 as they gave the Cardinals too many second chances and big plays.

Penalties were also an issue for the River Kings, hurting them when they had big play potential. These drug them down into a hole that they could not get out of as they fell.

"We've been all over the guys about being accountable about their job and don't get too high or too low on themselves after a play." Clinton coach Nate Harrig said.

They head down to Burlington this weekend, playing the 3-1 Grayhounds. This will be an interesting test for the River Kings. The Grayhounds have thrown the ball just 15 times all season.

"They run a basic defense but they've got some big guys. If we take care of us up front and keep Addison clean, everyone knows what Addison can do." Harrig said.

The River Kings did not have much trouble with stopping the run a week ago as it was the big passing plays that hurt them. They will need a physical defensive front to win the battle.

"We like it. We've got to make sure we are physical up front. We were kind of banged up this week but the kids are starting to get healthier as the week gets on." Harrig said.

Northeast

Northeast is coming off of a thrilling win against Anamosa where they scored a go ahead touchdown with 16 seconds to pick up the win 22-21.

The run game was lacking for the Rebels last week but their defense proved to be very strong in the fourth quarter as they shut out Anamosa.

"We can always improve. The run game needs to improve. We need to be able to run more." Northeast coach Mark Lee said.

This week they host Tipton in their homecoming game as they look to break past the .500 mark and move to 3-2 on the season.

"We've had a real good week of practice. With homecoming you can have a lot of distractions but the kids have been really good in practice." Lee said.

Camanche

Turnovers got the better of Camanche last week in their 22-14 loss to West Liberty. They turned the ball over three times and could not make their way back into as they start the season off 1-3.

"It was more of what we did that shut ourselves down. We turned the ball over three times. We out gained them by over 100 yards but the turnovers got to us and we couldn't come back from it." Camanche coach Dustin Coit said.

The focus has been to clean up the mistakes as they were able to get really good offensive production against West Liberty, it was just the turnovers killed them.

"We've been focusing on ball security. We gotta be able to hold onto the ball" Coit said.

They now shift their focus over to their homecoming game this week against 0-4 Anamosa. Each team is looking for their first district win of the season and it should turn out to be an exciting matchup.

"We've had some really good practices this week. Anamosa is 0-4 but they've played some really good teams. They're gonna be ready to play and they're itching to get their first win." Coit said.

Fulton

Fulton lost their first game of the season a week ago as they moved to 3-1 on the year. They lost in a 7-6 close battle with Muskegon Catholic Central from Michigan.

The weather was less than ideal as they fell just short on Saturday.

"I was proud of our kids. They fought the whole time but they just weren't able to get the job done. Some days are like that where you fight hard, you play hard but you just can't make plays when you need to." Lower said.

The defense was a bright spot as turnovers were a key to getting points on the board.

"The defense did a really job of putting us into position to be successful." Lower said.

The Steamers meet number one state ranked Lena-Winslow this weekend in what should be a battle. The question marks are whether or not they can slow the run game down. If they do that they may have a chance.

"They're a really good football team. They're a physical run first, run second and run third team. We're going to have to match their physicality and intensity. We knew these three weeks were going to be very physical games." Lower said.

Central DeWitt

The Sabers lost their first game of the season last week against Marion as they fell 20-14.

"It hurt when our quarter back went out. We played well but we made some bad mistakes. We had issues with penalties and that was pretty much it." Central DeWitt coach Ryan Streets said.

Injuries have been a huge factor for the Sabers this week. Just a week after losing senior running back Ben Pace to an ankle injury, the Sabers lost quarterback Paul Kuehn to a knee injury.

"We're putting Gus in and he has been the backup all year. He's gonna run the show from here on out." Streets said.

The Sabers will be host Assumption this Friday in what should be a good one on Friday night.

"We've gotta make sure we don't turn the ball over. If we don't turn the ball over then we wouldn't have had any problems last week." Streets said.

Easton Valley

The River Hawks picked up another blowout win last week to pick up their third consecutive win on the season. Everything was working for the River Hawks as they dominated Springville 66-0.

"We've worked really well in practice making sure we're doing things the right way. We've not been turning the ball over and we've been controlling the line of scrimmage." Easton Valley coach Tony Johnson said.

They now shift their focus to undefeated Central City this Friday. It should be a close one as these two state ranked squads match up against each other.

"We're going into a homecoming game for them and they're undefeated. It's going to be a great game and they've got some athletes that are really quick and they just look to attack. We have to have our veterans take over. We've been in big games the last couple of years so we need to show our maturity and take care of business." Johnson said.