One of Iowa’s great football rivalries will be under the spotlight when Aplington-Parkersburg hosts Dike-New Hartford for a non-district game on 99 The Wave Friday. It’ll be AP’s home opener.
The Falcons (0-1) will look to build on last week’s 35-13 loss at Grundy Center, where they moved the ball well but were burned by costly errors. Head Coach Jeff Pikna looks forward to his first time coaching in the historic rivalry.
“New classes, or redistricts, rivalries are kind of coming to an end, unfortunately, a lot of schools are splitting up, different classes, going different ways,” Pikna says. “I’m glad to see that there’s schools like AP and DNH that even if they split classes, they’re still making it important to make sure that they keep that going. So it’s really awesome to be part of that. I’ve never really been in a rivalry game per se. So I’m sure that the environment, the feeling will be a unique one. Just trying to trying to make sure that our kids get the best experience, especially the guys that are playing DNH for the last time.”
The Wolverines (1-0) were crisp in last week’s 48-0 home win over Jesup, where quarterback Peyton Pokorny had just one incomplete pass, and numerous players got carries and receptions. Head Coach Don Betts says there’s still room for improvement.
“We did a fairly good job last week, there’s room for improvement there,” Betts says. “Passing game wise, we want to continue to expand our passing game as we go throughout the season. Work on those things a little bit. You can’t be too disappointed when you score as many points as we did, but there are always things that you can work on. Technique, things that, we dialed down on with the kids this week to try and improve upon so that we can continue to improve as the season goes.”
DNH has won six straight in the series and 13 of the last 14. Coverage will start at 6:15 p.m., followed by the kickoff at 7:00.
