Central Lee's path not getting any easier

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

DONNELLSON - The road doesn't get much easier for Central Lee this week after starting the season 0-2.

The Hawks are coming off an 82-14 pounding at the hands of Mediapolis on Friday night, a game where Head Coach Nick Ehret said, "everything that could have gone wrong... did."

Mt. Pleasant comes to town with a 1-1 record, but their loss came at the hands of Class 3A's 6th ranked Pella, 55-20. The Panthers got a week 1 win over Clear Creek-Amana on the road 42-20.

The Panthers' senior signal caller Brody Bender has thrown for 351 yards in two games and four touchdowns against one pick. Senior Logan Bass is right at 100 yards per outing on the ground with a couple of scores. Mt. Pleasant also utilizes junior Jack Johnson out of the backfield. He has 97 yards and three scores.

Senior wideout Rylan Seberg has close to 200 receiving yards and a touchdown, but averages almost 22 yards a grab.

Central Lee on the other hand has struggled offensively. Ehret, in his third year, said the Hawks started the season well against Fort Madison.

"We came out and played hard against Fort Madison and then at Mepo - everything that could have went wrong - went wrong," Ehret said. "We couldn't get out of it. They're frustrated and our message is just go compete, play our best, and hopefully we can find some success."

Ehret said Mt. Pleasant is a solid team with a huge offensive and defensive line.

"They're a very good team and beat a good Clear Creek team week 1," Ehret said. "Pella is one of the premier programs at any level and they competed and moved the ball. They're balanced, huge up front, and they are an all-around a good team."

He said the Hawks need to read and stop the Panthers' run first and foremost by keeping linebackers free, but said his secondary will be tested in a tough matchup.

Ehret said his philosophy is run first and control the clock.

"I've kind of been a run-first guy. That's what I grew up on and played in and we'll get back to that a bit. We need to get back to a more traditional game to control the clock and find success that way."

He said senior running back Dalton Westercamp has been running hard and Adam Boeck has been able to slip away for some big gains in the first two weeks.

Westercamp has 93 yards on 35 attempts and a 2.7 average, while Boeck has 67 yards on just five carries and the Hawks' only two scores. Defensively, David Vance leads the team with 13 stops, one for a loss.

"Defensively, we played very well against Fort Madison and Mepo runs that spinner back and has some good athletes so that was tough going," Ehret said.

"Westercamp's running really hard. He had a good game even against Mepo and that good defense. A lot of times he's making those runs out of nothing."

Ehret said another a bright spot has been the kicking game. He said several times the kicking teams have gotten the team out of offensive jams.

"We just can't have a good game and then a bad game and have that consistency for 48 minutes. We can't turn one mistake into many," he said.

Kick off is set for 7 p.m. at Central Lee.


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