The Aplington-Parkersburg football will battle to clinch a playoff berth as they visit Columbus Catholic in Class 1A District 4 play and their regular season finale on Friday. The game will air on 99 The Wave.
Aplington-Parkersburg (3-4, 2-2 1A-4) rushed for 228 yards to bounce back in district play with a 27-14 win over Hudson on senior night last week. Benny Waller and Mason Pruisner have provided a one-two punch for the Falcons offense with a combined 1,553 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns. The Falcons defense has held opponents to 14 points or less in four of their seven games. Head Coach Jeff Pikna says controlling time of possession will be a point of emphasis.
“Making sure that we have it as long as we deserve to have it. Not giving them more opportunities than they’ve earned. Not giving them the ball when they haven’t done anything to get the ball. Giving free trips, is not gonna work with teams like this and it’s not gonna work this late in the season,” says Pikna. “We really gotta make sure that’s the biggest point of emphasis. Anytime you give a team that’s balanced or really dominant in one area of the ball more times than they probably planned to have, it can get really ugly fast for you.”
Columbus Catholic (4-3, 3-1 1A-4) has won two in a row including a 20-13 win at home over Union Community last week, to move into a tie for first place in the district. Armani Robinson captains a balanced offense, with 806 passing yards and 13 touchdowns (11 passing and two rushing). Drew Schultz leads the backfield with 302 rushing yards. The Sailors defense has held opponents to 18 points or less in district play.
This will be the first meeting between the teams since 2021.
Pregame coverage will begin at 6:15 p.m. followed by the kickoff at 7:00 p.m. in Waterloo.
