March 19, 2024

Underdog Cardinals face big opportunity Friday

IOWA CITY — Unranked Central Decatur has a big opportunity awaiting it here Friday, when the Cardinals take on top-ranked Iowa City Regina at 7 p.m.

The defending state champion Regals come in with a mark of 10-1 for the season, with the lone loss coming in week one to Class 3A Solon. Central Decatur enters at 9-2.

"They're very well coached," Central Decatur head coach Jon Pedersen said of the Regals. "Their schemes are very clean. They're not going to pull a lot of punches on you. You know what they're going to do. They're a solid team. There's not any weak points you can attack. They're really solid athletes one through 11."

Iowa City Regina advanced to the quarterfinals with a 66-7 win over Alburnett in the first round and a 57-13 win over District 8 runner-up Panorama on Monday.

Central Decatur, the 3-seed from District 8, advanced with wins of 38-14 over Pella Christian and 39-7 against Van Meter.

The Cardinals have played every game of the playoffs on the road, and have their longest trip yet on Friday.

But to be the best, you have to beat the best. That's the opportunity that awaits the Cardinals.

"You go up to the state tournament games at UNI and you wonder how you would match up against those guys," Pedersen said. "Now we have a chance to find out. The kids are excited about that. It's one of those things, there's nobody in the state that probably thinks we have a chance, but everybody in the state is rooting for us at the same time. Take your best swing and see what happens."

The BCMoore computer rankings list Iowa City Regina as a 39-point favorite in Friday's matchup.

But even going against a high-powered offense that generates big play after big play, the Cardinals aren't going to back down.

"First of all, it's going to be very important to limit their big plays," Pedersen said. "But I think if we go into the game thinking we have to play cautiously and stay back so they don't beat us deep, we're going to be in for a long night. We still have to play confidently and trust in our athletes to make plays. If you sit back on your heels with Iowa City Regina, you're asking for trouble."

Balanced attack

One of the challenges in stopping Iowa City Regina's offense is that the offensive attack is balanced.

Jake Brinkman is the leading rusher with 995 yards and 14 touchdowns on 108 carries. Quarterback Drew Cook adds 552 yards and 14 touchdowns on 76 carries. Nick Phillips has five touchdowns and 393 yards on 28 carries.

Cook has completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 1,729 yards and 21 touchdowns compared to just one interception this year. Phillips is the leading receiver with 41 catches for 510 yards and eight scores, while Nathan Stenger adds 394 yards and four touchdowns on 23 catches.

"They're a running team that's very effective throwing the ball," Pedersen said. "The first thing they're going to establish is the run. As soon as they do that, that sets up everything else they do. The Cook kid is a really good quarterback and they have some really good receivers."

It's a daunting task trying to slow down the Regal offense. But part of the battle is not mentally defeating yourself.

"They've earned respect," Pedersen said. "Sometimes I think teams give them so much respect, they paralyze themselves."

Pedersen has confidence in his athletes and knows that if he puts them in positions to succeed, that his team can compete. And if his team stays competitive and in the game, anything can happen.

"If we stay in the game, we're going to create doubt in their minds," he said. "If a team can give them a battle in 1A, we hope it can put some doubt in their minds. We feel like we can do that.

"We have to be extremely clean. We can't make mistakes. No turnovers. Our blocking assignments have to be impeccable. We can't allow them to get to the next level on defense. If we do those things, we feel like we can be there. We have confidence we can compete."

Pedersen said his team will have to be ready for anything while on offense, as Iowa City Regina likes to play multiple defenses.

"They blitz from a lot of different areas," he said. "They twist. They obviously have been very well coached. They'll have a good game plan against us. The key is how we adjust during the game. We need to keep our head above water long enough to make adjustments and be ready for it."