Iowa high school football rewind: Decorah heads to Class 4A district play unbeaten

CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s that cliche in a sense.

If it’s ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If it works, don’t change it.

Mike Tangen is in his first season as head football coach at Decorah. He has little things here and there that he is employing, personal preferences about how he wants the program to run.

But the main philosophies remain the same. He played football at the school, was an assistant coach for 10 prior seasons as defensive coordinator.

It’s still about the Decorah way.

“It’s been a little different not calling the defense all the time. I still have my hand in that a little bit,” Tangen said Saturday afternoon. “It’s also been good kind of organizationally to change some things, but I’m a Decorah kid at heart, so we do a lot of the same things traditionally. We push the values, the work ethic, playing the game the right way. That’s always been the message at Decorah, so it’s kind of been that.

“So I think the transition has been pretty smooth, just with me being from Decorah and being familiar with the program. I just kind of put my own stamp on things but also follow suit with all the great coaches before me.”

Tangen’s Vikings moved to 4-0 Friday night with a 21-14 win at home over Independence. Decorah came into the game ranked sixth in Class 4A, Indee sixth in 3A.

Independence won last year’s game, so this was a nice bit of revenge.

“It was a physical football game,” Tangen said. “They are a really explosive team offensively, can score on one play. So we kind of had to turn it into a possession game, where our game plan was basically to run right at them and try to maintain possession of the ball as much as we could. If we’re going to score, kind of grind it out. The kids executed the game plan well. We did give up two explosive pass plays, but the way their quarterback throws that deep ball ... their wide receiver is fast, and you can only contain them for so long.”

To Tangen’s point, Decorah rushed 50 times in the game for 203 games. That definitely is ground and pound.

Trevor Kuennen led the way with 103 yards on 22 carries. The coach said the team loves running behind left tackle William Hahn, a 6-foot-3, 278-pound senior who is playing at a high level on both sides of the football.

Tangen also gave plaudits to senior quarterback Louis Bucksa, who leads Decorah’s veer attack.

“I think we are playing physical, solid football,” Tangen said. “Offensively, we can do a little bit of both. We can throw the ball and also we can run the ball, so that’s going to provide a little challenge to (opposing) teams. I think defensively we are playing solid football, too. I think we’re getting better each week on both sides of the ball. We have a lot of juniors playing, so it takes juniors a little bit to get up to varsity speed, but those guys have done a pretty good job.

“We do need to clean up some things penalty wise. We keep kind of shooting ourselves in the foot. Have had some chances to put games away but haven’t.”

Now up is district play. Decorah is in 4A-2, with eighth-ranked Western Dubuque (which upset No. 2 North Scott on Friday night, 21-7) and Waverly-Shell Rock appearing to be fellow title contenders.

The Vikings play this coming Friday night at Mason City.

Linn-Mar falls at Bettendorf

Bettendorf scored 17 points in the second half to overcome a six-point halftime deficit and give Linn-Mar its first loss, 27-24, Friday night at Bettendorf. The Bulldogs (4-0) were ranked fifth in Class 5A, Linn-Mar (3-1) sixth.

Linn-Mar’s Brody Pata had to be taken off the field via stretcher with 1:55 left in the game and Bettendorf leading, 27-16, after an injury incurred on a kickoff. He was driven via ambulance to a local hospital for precautionary reasons, though he never lost consciousness and had total body movement, according to the Quad City Times.

After a delay of 20-plus minutes, Linn-Mar used a long pass play to set up a touchdown, with a two-point conversion run making it 27-24. The Lions recovered an onside kick and drove into Bettendorf territory, with a 44-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the game coming up short.

Oelwein forfeits another game

Oelwein forfeited a second game in a row Friday night, this one to Crestwood, because of a lack of available varsity players. The Huskies also forfeited a game last week against Sumner-Fredericksburg for the same reason.

Oelwein went into the season with a roster that included just six juniors and five seniors.

Union returns with heavy hearts

Union Community lost to Iowa Falls-Alden, 14-7, Friday night in a return to the field. The school forfeited its game last week to West Delaware after the death of a player in an automobile accident.

North Tama QB Kole Knaack throws 6 TD passes

Quarterback Kole Knaack threw six touchdown passes in North Tama’s 54-24 win over Conrad BCLUW. The senior completed 18 of 23 throws for 355 yards.

He also rushed for a TD. Five different receivers caught Knaack passes, with the lowest yardage total being 42 yards (by Bryar Hall) and the highest being 111 (by Gavin Rausch) and 110 by (Josh Dostal).

More upheaval in Class 5A

There will be yet another big shakeup in this coming week’s Class 5A poll, as the top two teams lost. Top-ranked Ankeny Centennial fell to unranked Southeast Polk, 21-13, while No. 2 Waukee fell to No. 3 West Des Moines Valley, 42-25.

There are only four undefeated teams left in the class: Bettendorf, Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Waterloo West and Ottumwa.

Comments: (319) 398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com