By Sam Parsons
The Oskaloosa Indians made the long road trip to Clinton on Friday night for their second district game of 2024. The Indians and the River Kings both entered the game at 1-4, coming off of lopsided losses in their respective district openers the previous week, and with the River Kings celebrating their homecoming weekend, both teams were raring to go.
The game was defined by its sloppiness on the part of both teams, which became evident early in the first quarter. Oskaloosa’s first offensive possession resulted in an interception; on the following drive, the River Kings took the ball inside the Indians’ 5 yard line before stalling out and turning the ball over on downs at the 3 yard line. After a false start and a play for no gain, the Indians ran a pitch play to AJ Walker, who received the pitch about 5 yards deep in his own end zone, where he was instantly swarmed by Clinton defenders for a safety. Midway through the first quarter, it was 2-0 Clinton.
Oskaloosa’s defense, however, was undaunted, and they played an excellent game for virtually the entire evening. They forced a 3-and-out after the safety kickoff, and the punt by BJ Cooley of Clinton was picked up off a bounce by Osky junior Heavon Knox, who took the punt roughly 75 yards to the house against an unsuspecting punt coverage unit. Knox was untouched the entire run to the end zone, and Osky led 7-2.
For approximately the next 10 minutes of game time, the two squads traded punts and turnovers. Osky quarterback Kayne Boender threw his second interception early in the 2nd quarter; Clinton quarterback Jordan Coleman lost a pair of fumbles in the 2nd quarter off botched snaps; and Boender fumbled a handoff exchange as well. However, the Indians got the ball late in the 2nd, still with a 7-2 lead, and finally set about extending it. Starting a drive at their own 37 after one of the aforementioned fumbled snaps by Coleman, the Indians marched down the field in 9 plays, aided by a pass interference penalty and three big pass plays: sophomore running back Jalin Woodard took a screen pass for an 18 yard gain, which was soon followed by a 23 yard hookup between Boender and senior Maddux Ashman on a post route. In the waning seconds of the first half, Boender found Heavon Knox from 20 yards out for a touchdown, Knox’s second of the night, to make the game 14-2 at halftime.
The start of the third quarter favored the Indians, too: their offense went 3-and-out on their first drive of the second half, but a punt from sophomore Tyler Edgar was muffed by the River Kings and recovered by Maddux Ashman. On the next play, the Indians took advantage of the sudden change, as Boender once again tossed a touchdown pass to Heavon Knox, this time from 31 yards out, giving Knox 3 touchdowns on the night. A successful PAT from Arabsho Davlatshoev made it 21-2 Osky.
The two offenses then traded empty possessions for a short period. Clinton’s Jordan Coleman threw an interception, the Indians punted, and the River Kings again turned it over on downs. Late in the 3rd, it was still 21-2 Indians, but the game reached a huge inflection point when Boender was intercepted for the third time of the night: Jaxon Spooner of the River Kings jumped all over a throw over the middle and there was nobody standing between him and the end zone for a pick-6. Clinton missed the PAT, but it was now 21-8.
At this point in the game, both teams had committed at least 5 turnovers apiece. However, the River Kings, for the most part, cleaned up their act the remainder of the way; the Indians did not.
The following kickoff was muffed by Heavon Knox of the Indians, as he tried to pick the ball up off a bounce but ended up booting it right back to the River Kings. On the first play of their short-field drive, Coleman uncorked a wide-open deep bomb to Jordan Gruhn for a 31-yard touchdown. The River Kings, again, botched the PAT, but they had cut the lead to just one score: in less than one minute of game time, it had gone from 21-2 to 21-14.
The very next possession, the Indians gave the ball away again, this time courtesy of a high snap that sailed over the head of Kayne Boender, who was beaten to the ball by Maddux Cooley of Clinton. The River Kings kept their momentum going with a short touchdown early in the 4th quarter, a 4-yard touchdown pass from Coleman to Cooper Belitz to make it 21-20 after a failed 2 point conversion.
Then, both teams traded turnovers: AJ Walker of the Indians lost his second fumble of the night on his first carry of the next drive, but then Lukas Toubekis of Oskaloosa picked off Coleman. This forced turnover briefly snapped the Indians out of their funk, as they were able to work their way down to the Clinton 5 yard line on their next offensive drive to kick a short field goal, which was successfully converted by Arabsho Davlatshoev from 23 yards out to make it 24-20.
The good times were short-lived: on the following kickoff, Davlatshoev sent it deep for the first time of the night after exclusively squib-kicking, and the River Kings promptly took it 89 yards to the end zone, courtesy of Maddux Cooley. After trailing 21-2, the River Kings had completed the comeback, outscoring the Indians 24-3 in the final 15 minutes of the game. From there, the Indians were unable to muster a comeback of their own on offense, failing to enter Clinton territory in the remaining 5 minutes of the game. The final score was 26-24, giving Clinton their first district win since 2022.
Oskaloosa (1-5) will host Cedar Rapids Xavier this Friday. Live coverage can be heard on KBOE 104.9 FM and kboeradio.com starting at 7pm.
