Prep Football Rewind: Florida to Postville for Coach Minikwu

POSTVILLE - He'd never been to Iowa until football practice began at Upper Iowa University in 2005. Now Mike Minikwu won't leave the state.

The Florida native played linebacker and fullback for the Peacocks, got his degree and a teaching/coaching position at nearby Postville. He's in his first season as Pirates head coach and finds his first club 7-0 and fourth ranked in Class A.

Gotta love the Hawkeye state, eh, Coach?

“I didn't come on any visits (before enrolling),” Minikwu said. “When I got here, I decided that you just have to make the best of your situation ... The people here are nice. I'd never hunted until I got here. Now I like to hunt.”

And Minikwu loves winning football games. Postville whacked Edgewood-Colesburg on Friday night, 35-6, a solid response to that huge 31-20 win the week before over then second-ranked defending Class A champion North Tama.

Postville fell behind at halftime of that one, 20-7, but scored 24 unanswered second-half points to shock the RedHawks. All 241 of the Pirates' yards were on the ground.

“We circled that one on our schedule,” said Minikwu. “We knew how good a team they had, that they have a lot of great athletes ... We lost to them last season, 45-14, but we felt a play or two here or there, and it would have been a much closer game.”

Minikwu runs the shotgun “Pistol” offense at Postville, with Dallas Imoehl and Cody Jarmes pretty much equally splitting carries. Quarterback Zach Steffans also has run for seven touchdowns.

Postville ends District 4 play this week at Elgin Valley, then it's a big non-district encounter and playoff primer to end the regular season against Mason City Newman.

“This season really started last off-season when the guys made a commitment to get bigger and stronger,” Minikwu said. “We knew we had to do that to be able to compete with the top teams in Class A. Plus, we've got a great group of leaders in our junior and senior classes.”

Red-zone ramblings

- La Porte City Union weathered a 70-minute delay to top Western Dubuque, 42-17. A traffic accident took out the power in the Epworth area but couldn't slow down Union running back Wes Burnside, who rushed for 213 yards and three touchdowns.

- Wide receiver Andy Henry set a Linn-Mar school record with his 11th TD catch in Friday's 56-7 demolition of Cedar Rapids Washington. The Mississippi Valley Conference mark is 14 by James Mullesch of Waterloo West in 1998.

- Sam Rasmussen rushed for 142 yards and three touchdown to help Independence break a 14-game losing streak via a 36-8 win over Crestwood.

- Jordan Schmitt's 16-yard run and Jordan Mitchell's two-point conversion run in the third quarter allowed Turkey Valley to upset Class 1A 10th-ranked Starmont, 20-12.