The Iowa Falls-Alden football after starting the season 0-3 has found its stride and turned things around with a 2-0 start to Class 2A-6 action. The Cadets in district play bounced back with a 14-7 win over Union and a 30-0 shutout win over Vinton-Shellsburg the last two weeks.
IFA Head Coach Eric Walkingstick on the continued determination of the team in tracking down their recent success.
“We knew the non-district was going to be tough. They kept their head above water, kept treading, kept going in good places, kept coming back to practice, and being there and being present,” says Walkingstick. “You keep the vision the same and try to push forward. You can’t get caught up in the drama, you can’t get caught up in what’s not there. Our kids have done a great job of doing that. They got to continue to work hard and that’s what they’ve done. They’ve just worked hard, kept their vision and kept moving forward.”
The Cadets offense after being held scoreless in non-district play, has polished off endzone trips with scores in district play with 14 points against Union and a season high 30 points against Vinton-Shellsburg.
Sophomore quarterback Cade Olberding is coming off his best performance of the season, going 8-14 for 190 passing yards, 145 rushing yards and four touchdowns in a win over the Vikings.
Walkingstick notes gaining experience as a focus for further development of the offense.
“We’re still growing, we’re still maturing. I don’t have any older guys on the O-line, I’ve got some sophomores and juniors, so they’re still growing. In our backfield, we’ve got a lot of sophomores back there and a lot of receivers. We just gotta keep gaining experience and keep moving forward. That’s the thing for us, if we can continue to do that and keep growing, we want to peak at the right times.”
The Cadets defense has also given the Cadets a step-up in district play allowing only seven points total. Trevor Bailey leads the defense with 39 total tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss.
Iowa Falls-Alden (2-3, 2-0 2A-6) will host West Marshall for their homecoming game on Friday.
