Once again, it came down to the final play.
But two passes to the end zone fell incomplete and the Central College football team tumbled 37-31 at Coe College Saturday, dropping to 5-3 overall and 3-3 in American Rivers play.
Five turnovers doomed the Dutch, who have suffered three crushing one-score defeats.
"There hasn't been a game this year where our guys haven't played hard the entire game," coach Jeff McMartin said.
Central launched a school-record 72 passes in a furious comeback bid. Quarterback Cooper Downs (sophomore, Ames) completed 38-of-64 for a career-best 436 yards with three interceptions and four touchdowns. The Dutch were 41-of-72 overall for 458 yards with four interceptions and four TDs. The previous pass attempts mark of 65 was set in a memorable NCAA Division III playoff win over Wheaton College (Ill.) last year.
Trailing most of the day, Central faced a two-score deficit following a Coe field goal that made it 37-28 with just 6:12 left. But the Dutch needed just over a minute to answer with a 36-yard Logan Sunvold (junior, Monroe, Southeast Polk HS) field goal. A defensive stop and punt gave Central one final try from its own 46-yard line with 1:06 left.
Four completions, highlighted by a 21-yard 4th-down strike to Logan Mont (junior, Aurora, Ill., West Aurora HS), got Central to the 18-yard line. But Downs couldn't connect on two shots to Jeff Herbers (senior, Urbandale, Des Moines Christian HS) in the end zone.
"The guys are pretty disappointed right now, but we're going to keep battling, learn from it, grow from it and hope some of these lessons pay off down the road," McMartin said.
Herbers fell just shy of his own single-game receptions record with 15 catches for 174 yards and two touchdowns. He had 16 catches against Wheaton last year. Mont was one off his career-best with 13 catches for 148 yards and one score.
"Jeff did some really good things today," McMartin said.
But Central's five turnovers loom large in McMartin's mind.
"Those certainly are killers," he said. "You can't do that and win a football game. That's just a big number."
Central was limited to 27 rushing yards on 20 attempts, which included three sacks of Downs. The Dutch converted 5 of 8 red zone opportunities and was 5 of 15 on third down conversions.
Central outgained Coe 485 yards to 452 and held a 32-24 advantage in first downs. The Kohawks, who remain in contention for the conference title at 5-1 and are 6-2 overall, scored on all five of its trips inside the red zone. Quarterback Carter Maske completed 23 of 46 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns but Coe also got 152 rushing yards from running back Ray Seidel, finishing with 147 net rushing yards overall. Coe controlled the ball for 35 of the game's 60 minutes.
Central, which lost a fumble in addition to the four interceptions, benefited from just one Coe turnover, a fumble that was forced by linebacker Cael Fiderlein (sophomore, West Branch). He and linebacker Tate Hagen (junior, Britt, West Hancock HS) each had a team-best nine tackles while defensive end Derrick Voss (senior, Cedar Rapids, Xavier HS) had eight stops, including 3.0 tackles for loss, and free safety Reece Miller (junior, Center Point, Center Point-Urbana HS) and linebacker Nathan Rahn (senior, Chadwick, Ill., Milledgeville HS) each had seven tackles.
McMartin noted that the Dutch defense limited Coe to 25 rushing yards in the fourth quarter and said the unit gave Central an opportunity for the comeback win.
"I was really happy with how we slowed their running game down," he said. "We really got into some good downs and distances on second and third downs for most of the game. They battled and they gave us a chance, for sure. They just kept getting the ball back and when they did something that wasn't right, it motivated them to go out there the next time and play even better."
McMartin saw that same level of resilience on both sides of the ball and sensed it on the sidelines.
"Nobody quit believing," he said. "They were really supportive of each other. They kept working and kept thinking we're going to find a way."
They almost did.
Central makes its final 2022 home appearance next Saturday with a 1 p.m. American Rivers contest with Luther College. It will be Senior Day at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium. Luther is 1-7 overall and 1-5 in conference play after a 40-21 defeat at home against Loras College Saturday.
Record air assault but Central comeback bid foiled
/seasons/2022/boxscores/20221029_veve.xml
2022
Central
31
Coe
37
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central (5-3) | 7 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 31 |
| Coe (6-2) | 14 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 37 |
Oct 29, 2022