Iowa Central Downs Iowa State
Iowa Central Downs Iowa State
Iowa Central CC and Iowa State the two programs have started playing each other for in the early part of the season and it's valuable bot, and this past weekend their continued their rivalry.
A talented Iowa Central side won 28-8, providing a solid start to the 2022-2023 year for both sides.
Iowa Central Head Coach Brent Nelson said his team took a while to shake off the rust. The score was 7-3 at halftime and Nelson chalked that up mostly to poor play by the Tritons (although ISU had a hand in it, too).
"We made lots of handling errors and bad decisions," said Nelson. "Taking nothing from the effort of the Cyclones, but we just didn't play well. That was not our standard."
The Tritons did run in some subs in the second half and several made an impact—enough to get a starting look. Center Rico Echols certainly showed well off the pine.
Meanwhile, starting flanker Sione Foliaki and starting lock Jay Gaines led the forward effort. Among the backs center David Grigorkiv was a stalwart in the midfield and wing Wayne Cosper (a teammate of Gaines in the Toledo Celts HS program) was, said Nelson, "a difference maker."
Iowa State is slated to kick off their Heart of America season against Iowa next week. Iowa Central, meanwhile, will host Marian in the opener of the new Big Rivers conference, which featured only school-supported teams.
