Sigourney-Keota hopes to make it five in a row in the Backyard Brawl

Even though Sigourney-Keota has won the last four meetings over Pekin in the Backyard Brawl series ? and holds a 13-8 advantage in the all-time series ? Savage Cobra head coach Jared Jensen knows his team will be in for, well, a brawl on Friday night.

?It will be tooth and nail,? he said. ?Other than three years ago, it?s been decided in the last five minutes of the game. So we know it will be four quarters of tough football.?

That?s because the 10th-ranked Panthers have senior tailback Quentin Garrels, who rushed for 1,486 yards and 19 touchdowns last season, including 126 yards and two scores in a 38-32 loss to Sigourney-Keota. Garrels rushed for 200 yards and six touchdowns in Pekin?s season-opening 88-6 win over New London last week.

?We saw him last year, and he?ll be a year better,? Jensen said. ?He?ll be bigger, faster and stronger. We can?t have missed tackles. When we get to him, we have to bring him down. We just have to slow him down.?

On the other hand, Sigourney-Keota has a tough running attack, too. Senior Mark Waechter rushed for 184 yards and three touchdowns in last week?s season-opening 35-28 win over Central Lee, and junior Kolton Greiner added 106 yards and a score.

?We feel like it will be tough for anyone to shut down our run game,? Jensen said.

Waechter and Sigourney-Keota?s 10 other seniors want to keep the program?s winning streak over rival Pekin alive.

?We?ve been on a four-year run where we?ve won, and the senior class already said they don?t want to be the ones to let Sigourney and Keota down,? Jensen said.

No. 9 WACO at North Mahaska

Even though WACO blew out North Mahaska 54-6 last year, Warrior head coach Chad Edeker expects a much closer game in New Sharon on Friday night.

?We had a good game against them last year,? he said. ?We?ve had the better end of it for the past couple of years, but before that they had the better end of it for a few years. It?s a good rivalry.?

It?s also a strange rivalry between two schools that sit 70 miles apart. But the two teams have met once per season, and sometimes twice, over the past decade.

North Mahaska enters the game 0-2 on the season and coming off of a heartbreaking loss last week. The Warhawks suffered a 27-24 loss to GMG, which snapped its 26-game losing streak when Wolverine quarterback Austin Vaughn?s pass sailed through the hands of a pair of Warhawk defenders and into the waiting arms of Bryce Newcomb for a 38-yard touchdown pass as time expired.

The Warhawks are led by sophomore running back Karson Stogdill, who has rushed for 220 yards and two touchdowns this season, including 194 yards in last week?s loss. WACO is also led by a sophomore running back, Tucker Janecek, who ran for 219 yards and four scores on just seven carries in last week?s season-opening 40-18 win over Columbus.

?Tucker was a backup, and it was a big surprise for us,? Edeker said. ?It was a pleasant one to get a contribution like that.?

Wapello at Columbus

Watch out, Wapello. The Wildcats may not be the doormats they?ve been the past two seasons.

Although Columbus carries a 19-game losing streak into Friday?s game against rival Wapello, the Wildcats showed in last Friday?s 40-18 loss at WACO that they?re an improved team. Columbus was tied with a traditionally good Warrior squad early in the third quarter before WACO pulled away.

?I think we?re better right now than we have been in the last few years,? Columbus head coach Jeff Martin said. ?We just got tired in the fourth quarter and allowed them to score. It was very disheartening for us to be right there and see it slip away because we?re not used to being in a competitive ballgame.?

The Wildcats hope to be in another competitive game this week when they host the rival Indians. To be competitive, they?ll have to slow down Wapello running backs Eric Garcia and Brandon Lincoln. Garcia rushed for 112 yards and two touchdowns on just three carries in Wapello?s season-opening 45-0 win over Winfield-Mt. Union last week, and Lincoln added 90 yards on seven attempts.

?We?re going to have to take care of their trap and their sweep game,? Martin said. ?Eric Garcia was fifth place in the 100-meter dash at the state track meet, so he can wheel. We want to control where he?s at. And they have a fullback, Brandon Lincoln, who runs hard.?

Columbus ran the ball well last week, too, as senior Esteban Gutierrez rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns and junior Mark Ramirez added 111 yards on the ground. But the Wildcats struggled to find the end zone at times.

?We have to control the ball like we did last Friday and punch it in when we have a chance,? Martin said.

Clear Creek-Amana at Mid-Prairie

After turning the ball over six times in a 30-0 loss at county rival Washington last week, the Golden Hawks are ready to turn the page.

?We?ve bounced back with a positive attitude and just flushed that game and are ready to move on,? Mid-Prairie head coach Pete Cavanagh said. ?Our kids are ready to play again.?

The Golden Hawks will have their work cut out for them, as they face a Clear Creek-Amana team that defeated Independence 35-7 last week. Senior quarterback Konrad Moore threw for 206 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for 80 yards and two scores in that game.

?Their quarterback ran for a lot of yards and passed for a lot of yards the first game, so we have to slow him down,? Cavanagh said.

But most importantly, the Golden Hawks can?t slow themselves down. They moved the football at times against the Demons, but shot themselves in the foot with penalties (nine for 70 yards) and turnovers.

?We can?t turn the ball over like we did the first week,? Cavanagh said.

Highland at Central Lee

Cramping was a major problem for Highland in its season-opening 26-20 loss to Iowa Valley last Friday night, but the Huskies hope to have that issue solved by this Friday night.

?We were tied [at 20] at halftime, and then we had major cramping issues with about six players,? Highland head coach Tony Johnson said. ?We had guys going down left and right with cramps in the second half, and it made for some inconsistency with the offense for sure. We have to try to stay away from the cramping issues [this week]. We can?t have guys dropping left and right. That starts at the beginning of the week with getting a lot of fluids in your body.?

The Huskies showed flashes of solid play in their opening game. Junior Kody Wood, a first-year starter at quarterback, threw for 119 yards and two touchdowns, both to senior Talon McFarland. And senior fullback Bradlee Lucas accounted for 67 rushing yards and 40 receiving yards.

Central Lee threw the ball around a lot in its season-opening 35-28 loss at Sigourney-Keota. Senior quarterback Chase Vogel was 28-for-37 passing for 351 yards and two touchdowns.

?They have a quarterback with a strong arm and some kids who can catch the football,? Johnson said. ?We?re definitely going to have to scheme a little differently and bring another safety into the equation and maybe run Cover 2. We have to be ready.?