MONTEZUMA – Colfax-Mingo found out firsthand how tough it is to stop one of Class A’s best rushing attacks Friday night.
The Tigerhawks yielded 392 yards on the ground and lost to district leader Montezuma, 58-21.
“They’re a solid running team ... No one has really had any success stopping them this year,” Colfax-Mingo head coach Jeff Lietz said. “We knew they were going to come at us and we just stayed in our base defense. We had had some pretty good luck defending the run the last couple weeks coming into this, but we knew it was going to be a tough challenge.”
Colfax-Mingo turned the ball over four times against Montezuma. The first came on the Tigerhawks’ opening drive, and Montezuma took advantage by scoring the game’s first touchdown a few plays later.
Another Tigerhawk turnover late in the second quarter enabled Montezuma to increase its lead from 15 to 21 going into halftime.
“That was a pretty big swing in the game,” Lietz said.
Colfax-Mingo played without Jake Lietz and Clayton Brown due to injuries suffered last week. Lietz was Class A’s leading tackler through five games with 79.5 stops.
While no time table has been set for their returns, Jeff Lietz said the team is hoping to get the players back before the end of the year.
“We’ll just keep playing football,” Lietz said. “We’re not a team of one guy or two guys or three guys. We’re a team of 31.”
Offensively, where Jake Lietz was the team’s leading receiver, Colin Lourens picked up the slack and delivered his best performance of the season. Lourens caught eight passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns against Montezuma.
Although the loss significantly decreases Colfax-Mingo’s chances of finishing at the top of the district standings by year’s end, Lietz said his team still has plenty to play for. A win this week against Iowa Valley would ensure the Tigerhawks their first winning season since 2008.
“All is not lost. If we get a win this week, that puts us in pretty solid position for the playoffs,” Lietz said. “We lost to the No. 7 team in the state at the time with Montezuma and then the No. 9 team in the state in Belle Plaine. Our two losses are to two good football teams and we have to keep moving forward.”