Dutch Blank Prairie Wolves in Football Finale

Forcing turnovers at the right times helped the Central College football team to a 32-0 shutout win heard live on 92.1 KRLS against Nebraska Wesleyan University Saturday afternoon.

Central held Nebraska Wesleyan scoreless for the third consecutive year and allowed just 187 yards of total offense while posting 404 yards themselves. The Dutch struck first with an opening drive touchdown, as Jase Grunder took a handoff on 3rd and 1 and went 56 yards for a score. Grunder totaled 150 yards on 21 carries. Central added 10 points in the second quarter with a 1-yard Cam Schulte touchdown catch and a 27-yard field goal from Logan Sunvold.

Starting the second half with a 17-0 lead, the Dutch forced and recovered fumbles on consecutive drives. The second was a strip sack by linebacker Josh Dennison on 2nd and goal from the 4-yard line recovered by Nick Bandy. Central launched a 12-play 82-yard drive that was punctuated by a Grunder 2-yard plunge on the opening play of the fourth quarter. Central’s third fumble recovery was also forced by Dennison and this time Austin Burns recovered it on Central’s 35-yard line late in the fourth quarter. It ended just the third drive Nebraska Wesleyan had in Dutch territory. Reid Pakkebier’s blocked field goal in the first quarter also thwarted the Prairie Wolves.

Central’s final touchdown of the season came from an unlikely player, as offensive lineman Kade Tippett flipped from his normal right tackle position over to the left tackle and caught a two-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Hunter Hoffman. Linebacker Cole Clark had a team-high 10 tackles with a sack and 2.0 tackles for loss. Cael Fiderlein added nine tackles.

Central will graduate 33 seniors or fifth-year seniors off this year but still have plenty of depth and talent returning for 2025.

Parrott, Steffen Crack Top Five at Women’s Regional Cross Country Meet

Securing their spots as individuals at next Saturday’s national meet, Addison Parrott and Peyton Steffen of the Central College women’s cross country team were third and fourth at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Saturday morning. The Dutch were fourth as a team with 152 points and will find out Sunday if they are selected as an at-large participant for the national meet as well. Parrott was the third runner to cross the finish line in 21:42.6, with Steffen right behind her in fourth with a time of 21:46.4. A pair of Central seniors saved their best time of the season for Saturday, as Kira Hooper was 38th in 23:01.7 and Sara DeHaan had a career-best time of 23:37.9 to take 52nd. The final scorer for the Dutch was Emma Rocha in 58th place (23:49.2). Also running for Central but not contributing to the team score, Teah Miller was 64th (23:57.2) and Kaleena Hagen was 83rd (24:21.4).

Central Men 10th at Cross Country Regional

Competing in one of the toughest NCAA Division III regionals, the Central College men’s cross country team finished 10th at the Midwest Regional Saturday. Central’s top runner in the meet was Derek Webster who finished in 28th place with a time of 25:16.3. Donovan Card, Noah Lutzke, and Randy Jimenez finished within 12 seconds of each other, as Card was 55th (26:02.7) and Jimenez was 64th (26:14.4). Ben DeValk was Central’s fifth runner, taking 90th in 26:47.2 Three freshmen got a taste of regional action on Saturday. Ben Every was Central’s fourth scoring runner in 87th position (26:44.3). Jack Every (Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) and James Brant (freshman, Tama, South Tama HS) did not score but finished in 104th (27:01.1) and 139th (27:33.8) respectively.

Dominant Second Half Propels Central Women’s Basketball to Win

Trailing by 13 at halftime, the Central College women’s basketball team outscored the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire 16-5 in the third quarter and hung on to win 56-54 Saturday.

In the third quarter, the Dutch held the Blugolds to 2-20 on field goal attempts and 0-7 from behind the three-point line. Abby Johnson led all scorers in the game with 25 points on 8-16 shooting and also added five rebounds and a blocked shot. Emily Naughton scored 11 points, added five rebounds, and led the team with four assists. CeCe Moore scored eight points and collected 14 rebounds including four offensive boards. Hannah Dau scored six points but also collected four steals.

Central improved to 3-1 overall on the season and return to the court in Oshkosh, Wisconsin against the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Friday at 7:15 pm.

Central Men’s Basketball Collects First Win of the Season

The Central College men’s basketball team never trailed and picked up its first win of the season 105-60 over Augsburg University on Saturday.

Central (1-1) got off to a hot start scoring 54 points in the first half, while shooting 62.8% from the field and 7-14 from behind the three-point line. As a team, Central finished the game shooting 61.8% from the field, 50% from behind the three-point line and collected 27 assists.

The Dutch were once again led in scoring by Joshua Van Gorp, who scored 23 points on 10-13 shooting. He also collected his second double-double of the season with 10 rebounds, including five offensive boards. Central scored 60 bench points in the contest, led by Aiden Stoltz with 12 points on 4-5 shooting from behind the arc. Grant Uecker had nine points and five assists, also off the bench. Owen Schipper was perfect from the field, going 3-3 and scoring seven points, and collected six rebounds and an assist. Kaleb Brand also scored seven points, while also racking up five assists and two steals.

The Dutch return to the court at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota at 7 pm on Wednesday.

West Wins Second Wrestling Title at Augsburg

Freshman Carter West won his second individual championship in as many tournaments with a title in the 133-pound bracket of the Freshman Division at the Augsburg Invitational Saturday.

West was one of 10 place winners for Central on the day, going 3-0 en route to his crown. Fellow freshman Dominick Marre also made it to the championship bout of the Freshman 125-pound bracket, settling for second place after a 2-1 day. Kyler Hall finished third in the 285-pound bracket of the gold division with a 3-1 record. Duncan Delzell had a big exclamation point to end his day, needing just 40 seconds to stick #7 ranked Michael Conklin of The College of New Jersey for a pin in the fifth-place match of 149 pound gold division.

Six other freshmen earned place finishes in that division of brackets: Carter Cianfrogna was third at 133 pounds, Tharren Jacobs was fourth at 133 pounds, Casey Jackson was sixth at 149 pounds, Chase Greiner was fifth at 165 pounds, Garrett Kingery was third at 174 pounds, and Jacob Rystrom was fifth at 174 pounds.

Central wrestles at home for the first time next Wednesday against Nebraska Wesleyan University at 6 pm.