One of Iowa’s premiere football rivalries delivered an instant classic Friday when Dike-New Hartford defeated Aplington-Parkersburg 7-0 at Ed Thomas Field, as aired on 99 The Wave.
In a game where neither defense gave up much to the opponent, the Wolverines won in the margins. AP drove the ball inside the 10-yard line in the second quarter, but turned it over on downs in a prime scoring opportunity. DNH recovered their own blocked punt in a bizarre turn of events late in the first half, but their drive stalled out. After the teams traded turnovers to start the third quarter, the Wolverines had two big chain-moving plays, including a reception by Aiden Walston and a long run by Peyton Pokorny to move into scoring position. Then on a 4th and 17, Pokorny lobbed to Walston in the corner of the end zone for the game’s only score.
Penalties hurt the Falcons, and DNH milked the clock in the fourth quarter to finish the win, taking their eighth straight in the series.
“I thought it was a very old-school Dike-New Hartford Aplington-Parkersburg football game,” DNH coach Don Betts says. “Very, very physical. Both teams really got after it. Our guys were able to make enough plays to win. I thought both defenses played extremely well, which bodes well for both teams, quite honestly, if you can kind of hang your hat on your defense. But yeah, our guys were able to make enough plays to win. We’ll take the win. It wasn’t exactly pretty, but we’ll take the win.”
“We’re stacking our days and we’re keeping things going and we’re learning from our mistakes,” AP coach Jeff Pikna says. “Obviously tonight, a big play was brought back by holding, a lot of offsides in crucial moments jumping, so just little things. We’re not the most disciplined team we can be, we’re not even close. I wouldn’t even call us disciplined right now. But once we get those little things fixed and stop having these bounces go the other way, the ones that are self-inflicted at least, we should be in pretty good shape.”
The Falcons will return to action next week by hosting Garner Hayfield Ventura, and the Wolverines will host Grundy Center.
