FOOTBALL: In loss to Thunder, NV/OM’s offensive numbers pop off the page

Week seven of the Iowa high school football season will be remembered as the week where Nodaway Valley/OM put up a lot of offense, however neraly 300 yards of total offense was not enough for the Wolverines in a 48-8 loss to Grand View Christian last Friday.

The loss, at Saydel High School, where the Thunder play their home games, officially eliminated the Wolverines from playoff contention. A win last week and a win this week at home against Ogden could have put the Wolverines in the playoffs as the No. 4 seed out of Class 1A, District 7.

The Wolverines will return home and get a chance to play Friday in their regular-season finale against Ogden, where they will also honor their seniors.

“This has to be the first time a team has gotten nearly 300 yards of total offense and only scored eight points. It’s a hard thing to do,” NV/OM co-head coach Jack West said. “They never really stopped us, and we executed our game plan, but we had some mistakes, like dropped snaps, penalties here or there, that we couldn’t overcome. We excecuted more consitently than we have all season, but those mistakes were tough.”

Ogden is fifth right now in the district standings at 1-4 and comes into Greenfield after seeing their playoff hopes evaporate Friday in a 28-16 setback to West Central Valley.

Against GVC, the Wolverines moved the ball very well in the opening quarter, chewing up a lot of game clock, just like the game plan ordered, but the Wolverines oculd not finish off drives.

The Thunder took advantage, scoring two opening-quarter touchdowns for a 14-0 lead after the opening 12 minutes. They added three more scores in the second quarter for a 34-0 lead going into halftime.

The Thunder went up 41-0 early in the third to activate the 35-point mercy rule running clock. It was a 48-0 lead going to the fourth quarter, when NV/OM got their touchdown on a 38-yard strike from quarterback Eli Harris to Garrett Welsch.

All told, Nodaway Valley/OM had 291 yards of total offense in the game, 170 passing and 121 receiving. Harris passed for a season-high 166 yards, completing 18 of 35 pass attempts. He also led the Wolverines in rushing with 96 yards on 12 carries, and Titan Foster also completed a pass for four yards, which was his only attempt.

Titus Hamer ran for 29 yards on four carries.

Keyin Steeve caught three passes for 20 yards and rushed for 15 on two carries.

Paul Berg caught four passes for 30 yards and rushed twice for 11 yards.

Welsch had a career-high 10 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown in the game, while Foster and Harris each had receptions as well.

Caleb Christensen and Hamer were tackle leaders with 4.5 each, while Trent Warner, Berg and Remington Woosley had 3.5 apiece. Warner recovered a fumble in the game.

The Wolverines were led by Hamer with 75 of the team’s 128 return yards on four return attempts.

GVC signal-caller Judah Lock was the real deal in the game for the Thunder, completing 14 passes for 291 yards and two touchdown passes. Receivers Austin Jordan (6 catches for 128 yards and one touchdown) and Brayden Hoben (5 catches, 125 yards and a touchdown) each went over the century mark in receiving yards.

Jake Albright was Grand View’s leading rusher for 64 yards on 10 carries, and he scored four times.

Woodward-Granger topped South Hamilton 49-12 last week, deciding the district title. W-G moved to 6-1 in the league and will be the district’s top seed in the playoffs.

West said the Wolverines still have goals they’re focused on.

“We are still focused on making this last week a good experience, and we want to send the seniors out with a good result,” West said. “Our seniors have had an interesting experience in their high school careers, but they’ve worked hard. We have one more Friday night and we want to make it the best we can.”

Looking ahead to this Friday, Ogden has stumbled in their last three games, but the Bulldogs have been scoring a lot of points. They put up 30 or more points in three of the last four games, and in the fourth game, they scored 28.

Ogden has been known for a prolific passing game with junior CeJay Jones. Jones has passed for 1,293 yards on 92 completions with 10 touchdown passes with four receivers who have more than 10 receptions and 200 receiving yards. Junior Cayden Dudley leads Ogden’s run game with 443 yards on 90 carries and six touchdowns.