Harper quite familiar with this foe

It is going to be reunion of sorts this weekend when the Harper College football team (2-3) travels to Iowa Central (3-2) for a noon kickoff Sunday afternoon.

"I talked to coach (Kevin) Twait today (Monday). He was my head coach at Buena Vista University (Storm Lake, Iowa)," said Harper coach Eric Waldstein. "This game means a little something to me - it gives me a chance to coach against my first college coach and I guy I consider one of my mentors."

"They (Iowa Central) are pretty simple offensively. They are going to run the ball at you as much as they can."

The Tritons' offense typically runs the ball about 80 percent of the time. Waldstein joked about the offensive line saying "they are a bunch of big Iowa farm kids."

"They are not interested in putting a ton of points on the board," Waldstein said. "They just want to control the clock and win the game."

If this sounds familiar, it might be because Twait and Waldstein share the same philosophy - run the ball and control the action.

Waldstein said defensively "they do what they do (in their bend-but-not-break scheme). They know they just have to stop you because their offense is going to put points on the board."

This is the highest-scoring Iowa Central team in Twait's 11 years with the Tritons.

Cam Kinley was scheduled to start at quarterback after suffering a strained bicep in Saturday's loss to Ellsworth. But as of Thursday night Pat Czerwiec was at the top of the depth chart at the position.

Look for some personnel changes in the secondary as well. Iowa Central is coming off of a 49-44 road loss to No. 8-ranked Grand Rapids last week.

The Hawks return home at 1 p.m. on Oct. 17 against Joliet. The outcome of that game could determine which team gets a home game in the regional playoffs.