The Tiger football team continued to steamroll their way through conference play Friday night, stomping Cedar Rapids Prairie 41-28. Ranked No. 1 in class 4A, the Tigers out think, out play and out hustle opponents. They are a force to be reckoned with. The Tigers will be showing their stuff on Friday at the UNI Dome against Cedar Rapids Jefferson.
But, like every team, greatness doesn’t come without a few bumps in the road. Last week, the game with Prairie was a much greater battle than some expected.
“I think we need to do a better job controlling third downs on defense, those really made a big difference,” said senior captain Zach Rahnavardi, starting center for the Tigers. The Prairie Hawks offered something new to the Tigers, and they were forced to adapt as the game went on.
“We had some things we hadn’t seen before last night, so we need to work on that. Keep developing, keep getting better. It was a crazy game last night. Defensively we need to make some big plays and get off the field,” co-head coach Pat Mitchell said.
Looking ahead to the Jefferson game on Friday, the team will be preparing for a threatening J-Hawk quarterback, Alex Baxter. Although the J-Hawks are 0-3, they are running up to 85 plays per game.
“We don’t have any game breakers. We don’t have great speed, so we have to be a very disciplined team that drives the ball down the field,” Jefferson coach Jim Womochil said.
Though the J-Hawks lack speed, the Tigers are going to be preparing for another tough game. The J-Hawks quarterback has a reputation of being a big player, in both size and ability.
“They are big and getting better. They aren’t there yet, but they are getting there. They are going to play like crazy to beat us,” Mitchell said. Being ranked No. 1 isn’t always a walk in the park. Each team is going to work that much harder to be the team that knocks out the No. 1 team.
Starting quarterback for the Tigers Ike Boettger said, “We are expecting a good match-up, but we will put in the work this week watching film and hopefully take care of business Friday.”
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