Cadets Football Celebrates Homecoming with First Win on Friday Night
The Iowa Falls-Alden football team won a close game 28-20 over Union Community, to open district play with a win on Friday night in Iowa Falls.
In the first quarter the Cadets and Knights traded touchdowns, as the game was tied 6-6. The Cadets broke the tie after scoring two touchdowns and only allowing one to the Knights in the second quarter and took a 20-12 lead into halftime. After a scoreless third quarter, the Knights tied the game 20-20 in the fourth quarter and on the ensuing kickoff Jaden Damiano returned it 96 yards for a Cadets touchdown and the two-point conversion was good, that gave the Cadets the lead and their first win 28-20. Head Coach Eric Walkingstick says using homecoming as an advantage and executing big plays led the Cadets to the win.
"Tell you what, you know alot of times as coaches, we sometimes percieve homecoming as a distraction, this week we just used it as a plus, we had fun with it," says Walkingstick. "It was an exciting game, the guys played extremely well, still made some mistakes, but we were able to put things together, keep drives alive and had some really big plays that sealed the deal for us."
The Cadets were led by senior quarterback Jaden Damiano with 147 passing yards, 222 rushing yards, and four touchdowns (one passing, two rushing and a kickoff return for a touchdown). Senior receiver Nick Regan had eight receptions for 63 yards, and junior receiver Carter Weaver added a touchdown. Defensively, Damiano was the leading tackler with 8.5 total tackles and junior linebacker Carter DeBates added 7.5 total tackles.
Iowa Falls-Alden improves to 1-3 and 1-0 in district, their Week 5 matchup will be at Vinton-Shellsburg in district play Friday.
