Coe-Dubuque set to help decide Iowa Conference championship

CEDAR RAPIDS - They don't have to worry about too many guys. Just four of them, really.

OK, so it's the Iowa Conference's top rusher and passer. It's two of the league's top three receivers, including the NCAA's all-time leading pass catcher.

Umm, never mind. That's a lot for the Coe Kohawks to worry about.

"Obviously, they've got playmakers," said Coe defensive end Frank Weymiller, whose Kohawks host Dubuque at 1 p.m. Saturday in a game that will help decide the Iowa Conference championship. "We've got to know where those guys are at all times. I think we've got a good game plan. It's just whether we can execute it."

"We have to be aware of those four good players," said Coe Coach Steve Staker. "That's their bread and butter. We have to know at all times where those guys are at."

This hasn't been the smoothest of seasons for C0e (5-3, 5-1 conference), but it finds itself exactly where it wants to be with two weeks to go in its regular season. Win Saturday and next week at home against Cornell, and the Kohawks are IIAC outright champs for the first time and back to the NCAA Division III playoffs for the third consecutive year.

Coe shared the Iowa Conference championship in 2002, 2004 and 2005. This is the regular-season finale for Dubuque (8-1, 6-1), with a win clinching the school's first conference title and D-III playoff appearance since 1980.

Dubuque's high-powered offense averages 44 points and over 500 yards a game. Quarterback Wyatt Hanus, a former North Tama prep, has thrown for 2,919 yards and has a sterling 39-to-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Demacus Fleming and Michael Zweifel have caught 30 of his 39 TD passes. Fleming has 52 receptions this season and Zweifel an NCAA-leading 117.

The fifth-year senior (granted a medical red-shirt for 2011) has 440 career catches at Wisconsin-Whitewater and Dubuque, an NCAA record. He transferred to UD when his father, Stan, got the head coaching job three years ago. 

"We know that they have a pretty good offense," said Coe defensive back Demetreus Johnson, who has six interceptions this season, two he has run back for touchdowns. "They've got a couple of really good skill guys. Obviously, Zweifel is a really good receiver, DeMarcus Fleming is a really good receiver. Their running back is very talented, too. We're going to just have to chase to the ball.

"We have yet to put a full game together as a defense. We have to do that in order to slow this offense down. We're making huge steps forward. We feel like this is a game that we can finally put it together."

Just for kicks, Dubuque also has the IIAC's top rusher in Justin Spaulding. It's not as if Coe can't score, too, as it averages 29 points and 418 yards per game.

Senior quarterback Brad Boyle ranks just behind Hanus in total offense in the conference and has played in plenty of big games throughout his record-setting career.

"We've got to control the ball," Staker said. "Keep it away from them. Last year, that was their game plan, and to a large extent, it worked."