North Tama football off to quick start thanks in part to record-setting QB Gabe Kopriva

CEDAR RAPIDS — North Tama football coach Taylor Wurth got a text message the other night from his quarterback.

Gabe Kopriva came across a play he liked and thought could be one their team could use effectively. Specifics of the play won’t be revealed here because they’re a secret, one that actually might be employed in a game sometime this season.

“I love watching film,” Kopriva said. “I’m always watching film every week, seeing things that maybe we can do to the next team we play. I’m watching plays all the time. I watch college football, the NFL, highlights and whatnot, so I love catching some good trick plays and things like that.”

It’s that erudite nature that makes Kopriva a good QB, a record-setting QB.

The senior threw for 368 yards and four touchdowns last week in his team’s 44-7 win over Ackley AGWSR, the yardage total a North Tama single-game record. He also led the Redhawks in rushing (52 yards), adding another TD, the five total tying a school mark.

Add a pair of two-point conversions, and the 34 total points also tied an NT record.

“First, I’ve got to give a shoutout to my linemen,” said Kopriva, displaying another trait in a good quarterback. “They’re the guys in the trenches, they make all that happen. No matter what I do, I’ve got to give more credit to them.

“But other than that, just a good game. Everybody was playing hard, everybody was playing fast. Guys were catching the ball. It was a little slick at first, but everybody kind of got used to it. Just a good game overall. Everybody was ready to go. We’re the underdog in every game this year, and that helps a lot, when it comes to just going out there, going 100 percent and not thinking we’re the best.”

North Tama (2-0) plays Friday night at rival Hudson, coming off two big wins that might not make it an underdog anymore. The Redhawks beat Belle Plaine for the first time in nine years, 31-14, before their disposal of AGWSR.

North Tama has matched its win total of last season, when it went 2-6.

“The boys have played really well,” Wurth said. “I can’t say it’s a surprise with as much hard work as they’ve put in. I told them I’ve been confident in them all the way from our Week 0 scrimmage against North Linn through Week 2. We’ve gotten better each week, their confidence is growing, as it should. They are playing extremely physical football right now, and that’s a credit to the kids.”

Kopriva threw for almost 1,300 yards in those eight games last season, really taking off after Wurth — in his first season — ditched his favored Wing-T offense and went with a spread attack. It’s always shotgun, with some trips formations, some bunch stuff, taking advantage of a QB who can throw it and a bunch of receivers who can catch it.

Six different players have receptions in the first two games, led by Devin McKinley (11) and Michael Schrier (9). That duo, Adam Greiner and Austin Unker all have touchdown catches early.

“I think just reading the defense,” Kopriva said, when asked his improvements from last season. “The past couple of years, I kind of just ran around and threw the ball around. But I’m starting to read defenses, which is something Coach Wurth has helped me a lot with. He played a little quarterback at UNI, so he’s a very good quarterbacks coach. He has helped me a lot in just being able to read defenses and also just going out there and playing a little backyard ball at the same time. It’s a good mixture there.”

A Le Mars grad, Wurth was a QB at Northern Iowa, though he saw no playing time. Kopriva is a four-sport kid at North Tama, with baseball perhaps his best sport (he hit .476 this past summer as a shortstop).

The word “perhaps” is used because of the way he’s playing football right now.

“He has the ability to do whatever he wants,” Wurth said. “(It’s) just having another year coaching him. Last year was my first year coaching Gabe, and I think he’s getting to know me a little better, and I’m getting to know him a little bit better. We’re using his strengths the best we can. So I think just the connection is there. I think he understands me, I understand him.”

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