From Southern Indiana to Cedar Rapids to the American Rivers Conference rushing title and MVP

CEDAR RAPIDS - How in the world did a kid from the very southern part of Indiana end up playing college football in Cedar Rapids, Iowa?

“Man, sometimes I really don’t know,” Trenton Barnes said with a smile.

The short answer is he decided to open and then answer an e-mail.

Coe College head coach Tyler Staker sent him one when Barnes was a senior at Madison Consolidated High School. Madison, Ind., is about an hour and 20-minute drive from Indianapolis, Louisville, Ky., and Cincinnati.

“I saw his film and thought ‘Gosh, this kid’s a good football player,’” Staker said. “He was a running back-receiver in high school, moved around, so I thought there was something special in this player. So I reached out to him, got on the phone.”

A visit to campus cinched Barnes’ decision to attend Coe. He was a back and receiver combo for the Kohawks up until this season, when he took over main running back duties after fifth-year senior Ray Seidel suffered a season-ending injury during a Week Two game against Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

All Barnes did was lead the American Rivers Conference with 1,215 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns. He has been named the Offensive MVP of the conference.

Coe (9-1) plays Saturday at Bethel (8-2) in a NCAA Division III playoff first-round game at Saint Paul, Minn. Kickoff is at noon.

“Ray and I had a good system where he was more of like thunder and I’m lightning, when he was healthy,” Barnes said. “But I trained myself in the offseason to be able to do a pretty heavy load ... I was just happy that I was able to step up and help the team out when we needed it. It’s just been a good year overall.”

“He has taken the reins and played phenomenally,” Staker said. “We have leaned on him all year long.”

And most likely will again Saturday. Coe (9-1) plays Saturday at Bethel (8-2) in a NCAA Division III playoff first-round game at Saint Paul, Minn.

It’s the second year in a row the Kohawks are qualifiers. They lost a first-round game last season at Aurora (Ill.), 20-7.

It’s a 40-team field this season, by the way, up from 32 a year ago. ARC champ Wartburg also is a qualifier but does not play this week.

“We’ve got some pretty good vibes right now to where we’re hyped up and ready to go,” Barnes said. “Last year, we got in and kind of had a disappointing performance offensively, I’d say. So this year, I know we are ready to kind of change that and fix that from last year. Our defense, they rock out every week, so we’re ready to go in, we’ve got some good vibes, and we think we’re going to make a good push.”

Bethel, ranked 21st by D3football.com, has two losses to No. 3 Saint John’s (Minn.). Coe, ranked 25th, lost to Wartburg.

This game originally was announced Sunday afternoon during a bracket reveal as a home game for Coe but was announced Monday afternoon by the NCAA as changed to being played Bethel. The original announcement was made in error by the NCAA.

Bethel has a higher NPI (NCAA Power Index) than Coe.

“We were kind of shocked that we were playing here,” Staker said. “When they came out with it, the selection show having us hosting, we thought that maybe we’d get an opponent out of California. But then they listed us playing Bethel, and (assistant) Coach (Cody) Baethke mentioned it right away that ‘We’re hosting them, but they’ve got a higher NPI than us.’”

Staker said he got a phone call late Sunday night from Coe Athletics Director Steve Cook, who is his brother in law. This call wasn’t about family.

“The NCAA called Cook at 10:30 at night. Then he calls me, we’d been game planning already, and he says ‘We’ve got an issue. It ain’t good,’” Staker said. “I knew right away.”

Staker said there are zero hard feelings about the inadvertent NCAA error, that Bethel should host.

“I’m just real proud of our players and our team this year for advancing into postseason play,” he said. “It’s hard to do that, especially in Division III. I know they expanded the field this year from 32 to 40, you’ve got more at-large teams. But there’s roughly 250 Division III football programs, and 40 of them make it, so I know our guys are excited.

“We were able to capitalize on that bye week last week. Get in some practice, get some guys healed up, took some time off to recharge the batteries. They’re ready to go.”

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