Tigerhawks deck the Tigers

COLFAX – Colfax-Mingo earned an accomplishment Friday night the school hasn’t seen in several years.

With a 36-22 victory over the Iowa Valley Tigers, the Tigerhawks ensured themselves their first winning season since 2008.

“We’ve always wanted to make the playoffs, but that was kind of a stretch or a dream because last year, we had a really bad season,” Colfax-Mingo’s Colin Lourens said. “We just wanted to get a few wins under our belt and see how we go from there. We’re doing pretty good now.”

The playoff talk began immediately after the game among coaches and players. Sitting in fourth place in Class A District 7 and owning head-to-head tie breakers with the next three teams below them in the district standing, the Tigerhawks are in good position to advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

Scoring early and often, Colfax-Mingo set the tone less than a minute into the game against Iowa Valley. Quarterback Jared Myers connected with receiver Jimmy Abell on the fourth play from scrimmage for a 27-yard touchdown and a lead that only increased as the night went on.

“We talked all week to the boys about setting the tone and coming out and doing what we wanted to do, get a big play and not letting them get some momentum,” Colfax-Mingo head coach Jeff Lietz said. “We come out, four plays and boom, we’re in the end zone. Got our crowd into it and we fed off that excitement.”

Myers accounted for all five of Colfax-Mingo’s touchdowns. The junior completed 22 of 33 pass attempts for 321 yards and four scores. He also led the Tigerhawks on the ground with 23 carries for 95 yards.

Myers frequently prolonged drives or found the end zone on third downs. He increased his team’s lead to 13-0 on a third-and-7 early in the third quarter by running into the end zone from 16 yards out.

With four seconds left in the first half, he found Abell for a second time in the end zone on a third-and-goal from the 3.

Then on a fourth-down play in the fourth quarter, Myers hit Lane Dunblazier in the left corner of the end zone for the Tigerhawks final score of the night.

“We’ve got a hell of a quarterback in Jared,” Lietz said. “He makes great decisions. We know on third-down situations he’s going to make good reads and good decisions, and he did.”

Lietz noted two of Myers’ touchdown passes went to the quarterback’s fourth option on the plays.

Colfax-Mingo has had several players emerge in the passing game in recent weeks after the team lost Jake Lietz, the Tigerhawks’ leading receiver, due to injury.

The Tigerhawks have seen a spike in the production of both Abell and Lourens since the injury. Abell had five catches for 87 yards Friday night while Lourens caught four passes for 61 yards and a third-quarter touchdowns.

“Since Jake’s been hurt, the offense really hasn’t slowed down at all,” Myers said. “We have enough guys at wideout and we all know each position, so we can just rotate guys in an out.”

Myers said the team’s top goal at the beginnig of the season was to post a winning record.

After doing so Friday, he and a couple teammates charged back on to the field with a Gatorade bucket and dumped its contents on to their head coach.

“Playoffs was right behind,” Myers said of the team’s top goals, “but if you’re going to make it to the playoffs, you’re going to have to have a winning record, so this kind of goes hand in hand.

“To get back on the winning side of things, it’s just great for the school.”

Contact Sports Writer Ben Schuff at (641) 792-3121 Ext. 6536 or at bschuff@newtondailynews.com.