Indianola held Urbandale under 100 yards of offense as the defense dominated from start to finish as the Indianola football team shutout Urbandale 31-0 in their season opener Friday night as heard live on 94.3 KNIA.

The Indians forced a fumbled punt on the first drive of the game to take over in the red zone and Aiden Keller hit a field goal on the ensuing possession to lead 3-0, then a Dax Clatt interception was returned to the 8-yard line followed by an Andrew DeWall 6-yard rush to lead 10-0 in the first quarter. A Jake Pontier 29-yard run in the second quarter made it 17-0 going into halftime, and the results didn’t change in the second half. Vinnie Anderson connected on a 54-yard wide receiver pass to Jonce Hale for a third-quarter score, and Ethan McDonald scored a touchdown in the fourth to get to the final tally.

Indians head coach Eric Kluver tells KNIA Sports with so many new athletes getting time at the varsity level, he wasn’t sure how they would react. But they surprised him in a great way.

“You just never know with a new team how you are going to come out. We have only four starters back from a year ago, but we proved a year ago that we were able to overcome that inexperience early on. But every year is different, and I’m just really happy with how we came out, how we were prepared in all three phases of the game. An outstanding defensive shutout, did enough things on offense to continue to move the ball, then made some big special teams plays.”

The Indians defense unofficially held the J-Hawks to just 76-yards of offense, while Pontier led the way offensively with 23 carries for 126 yards and a score. Indianola improves to 1-0, and will travel to Norwalk next week.