Oskaloosa Football Builds Confidence with Route of Fort Madison

Posted on September 11, 2017September 20, 2017 by KBOE Administrator

Just two short weeks ago, the Oskaloosa football team stumbled in a highly anticipated season opener against the three-time defending state champion Pella Little Dutch. But on the first week of district play, Osky seems to be finding their groove.

The 58-14 drubbing of Fort Madison is a similar score to the 49-0 win the Indians picked up on the Bloodhounds’ home field last year. That’s a great sign for Osky supporters as their team looks to get back to the playoffs.

Quarterback Seth Howard looked in the zone against Fort Madison, going 15 for 24 for 257 yards and 3 TDs. He also ran ten times for 110 yards and 3 TDs. This kind of performance is sure to excite fans of the Indians as an athletic quarterback who can find his targets downfield will make Osky tough to beat.

Howard will be the first to say he couldn’t do it without his targets, as several players got into the act offensively. None more so than Cole Henry, who caught four passes for 38 yards and two touchdowns. The 6-foot-7-inch junior will be a threat in short yardage, especially in the redzone, all season long. Alex Chapman led Osky with 127 receiving yards on four receptions. Tanner DeKock had three catches and a TD on the day as well.

Complementing the improved passing game was a rush attack that got going behind the Blake VanVeldhuizen-led offensive line. Casey Hill was the main beneficiary, rushing 13 times for 60 yards and a TD. Tyler Miller also had his best day in the backfield so far this season, gaining 47 yards on 6 carries with a rushing TD as well.

Defensively, Osky starting a little slowly, but eventually were able to surround the Hounds and not allow any big plays. Keaton DeKock and Cole Kraber had seven tackles each. Turnovers also played a factor as Alex DeJong picked off two more passes to increase his season total to four and Calvin Silvers had a fumble recovery.

All in all, there didn’t seem to be a lot of holes for Coach Jake Jenkins and the Indians last Friday, but there will be stiffer tests in Class 3A District 5. Mount Pleasant will host Osky this Friday and they are no pushover, as they nearly upset Washington, falling 16-14 on the road.

You can hear that game live on 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN, radiokmzn.com, and the KMZN mobile app starting with the pregame at 7 PM on Friday as Mount Pleasant and Oskaloosa battle to stay in the mix at the top of District 5.

Story By Emery Songer

Oskaloosa Football Prepares for New Format to Old Shoe Game

Posted on August 11, 2017September 11, 2017 by KBOE Administrator

The Oskaloosa football season is getting closer by the day and next Friday night is the Old Shoe Game.

Traditionally, the Old Shoe Game has been a scrimmage between Osky’s first, second, and third teams. But this year, to help with early season improvement and get better action on the field against true varsity starters, the format has changed.

Centerville will be bringing their varsity team to the Lacey Recreation Complex on Friday, August 18^th. There will be four segments to the Osky vs. Centerville scrimmage.

The first segment will be each team getting at least two 15 play series alternating at their own 30 yard line. Following that, each team will get at least two 15 play series alternating in the red zone. The third segment will feature special teams for both sides, and the night will wrap up with kicking competitions. There will be a slight break in between each segment.

The Oskaloosa freshman team will scrimmage the junior varsity in a traditional intrasquad scrimmage prior to the varsity teams taking the field.

The gates to the Lacey Recreation Complex Stadium open up at 4:30 next Friday night and the admission is just one sports drink per person. The action on the field begins at 5:30 PM. The Activities Department will be at the stadium selling Activity Passes and Reserved Football seats.

Oskaloosa Football Looking to Make It Back to the Playoffs in 2017

Posted on August 10, 2017September 11, 2017 by KBOE Administrator

Yesterday, we took a look at the Game of the Week schedule for the football season, which will be heard on 104.9 FM KBOE, kboeradio.com, and the KBOE mobile app.

Today, we’ll take a peek at the Oskaloosa Indians football schedule, which as always, can be heard on 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN, with live video on radiokmzn.com, and the KMZN mobile app.

Osky gets to open their season against their archrival Pella at home on August 25^th. In case you’ve been under a rock the last few years, Pella has won the last three Class 3A state championships in football while going 41-0. If you go back to the start of the 2013 season, Pella is 52-1 on the gridiron.

While this seems daunting, Oskaloosa has improved in several aspects over the last few seasons and a great 7-3 year in 2016 under first year Head Coach Jake Jenkins gives the Indians a reason to hope for similar success in 2017. That all starts against a new cast of characters for the Little Dutch, who beat Osky Week 1 of the regular season and in the first round of the playoffs last year.

That Week 1 matchup will be a huge contest, but it is a non-district game, so it will have limited implications for the playoffs. Osky will follow that with a road game against Grinnell in Week 2, which the Indians should be favored.

The Indians start Class 3A District 5 play with a Week 3 matchup against Fort Madison at home, another game that Osky will be expected to win.

Week 4 will be a date with Mount Pleasant on the road, and while the Indians handled the Panthers last year, this game could get tricky. Same will be said for the Week 5 home matchup against Solon, who won the district last year.

Week 6 is another tricky road game against Fairfield followed by a Week 7 home game against Keokuk.

Washington gets to host Osky this year in Week 8 and they will be looking for revenge for their one point loss in Oskaloosa last year which kept them out of the playoffs.

The Oskaloosa regular season will wrap up on the road against West Burlington/Notre Dame.

Oskaloosa will likely need to win 6 of the final 7 games to comfortably secure a playoff berth for the second straight year, but that will be no easy feat. Several interesting road games mixed with a tough matchup against Solon at home will test the Indians.

If Osky does fall twice during district play and finds themselves on the outside looking in, that Pella game could loom large. A win in that game to snap the 41-game winning streak of the Dutch could go a long ways to helping Osky grab one of the two wild card playoff spots in Class 3A.

As mentioned, all of the action this season can be heard on 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN with a live video stream on radiokmzn.com and the KMZN mobile app every Friday night with help from the Oskaloosa Video Production program at OHS and MCG. Pregame will start at 7 PM with kickoff every week at 7:30.

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