The Iowa Falls-Alden football team put all phases together, and defeated Hampton-Dumont-CAL 36-13 in Week 3 Friday, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ and RadioOnTheGo’s YouTube channel.
Hampton-Dumont-CAL got on the board first with a 17-yard rush by Jacob Mahler, but it was all Cadets after that. Quarterback Karsen Kalous rushed in for a short score, and found Cade Olberding for a short pass just before halftime for a 15-7 lead. Kalous had another rushing score on the first drive of the second half, then Cade Olberding delivered the backbreaker on a pick six.
Kalous ran in from 74 yards late in the game, and the Bulldogs got a garbage time touchdown run by Ryder Strother near the end.
“It means everything,” Iowa Falls-Alden coach Eric Walkingstick says. “We worked through the summer and we’ve seen success throughout the summer, but we had to have that belief. We knew this was a pivotal game. We had to have this game. It was do or die for us because if we go to 0-3, then we start self-doubting ourselves. So I was just so proud of our young men tonight stepping up, going on the field, and when things seemed kind of bleak, we had a few things turn, we didn’t drop our heads. We kept fighting. We kept battling. So tonight was awesome. We learned how to fight and how to fight through things.”
The Cadets had 247 rushing yards, including 126 by Kalous and 99 by Jack Duit.
Hampton-Dumont-CAL coach Cole Miller says the team continues to struggle sustaining momentum.
“The same song, different verse,” Miller says. “We started out really fast, scored in three or four plays, and then we’re able to get the ball back on defense. But then every time we got momentum offensively, we shot ourselves in the foot, whether it was a pick or dropped passes or fumbling the football. So yeah, we’ve got to figure out some way to finish drives, because it’s really killing us right now. And we’re leaving points on the board.”
Ryder Strother led the Bulldogs with 98 rushing yards.
Next week, Hampton-Dumont-CAL (1-2) will begin district play by hosting Vinton-Shellsburg, and Iowa Falls-Alden (1-2) will finish non-district play at Boone.
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