Riding a season high: PV football finds much needed momentum

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After pulling off a stunning upset against the then second ranked Iowa City Little Hawks, The Spartan football team has found their footing during the most pivotal time of the regular season.

Riding season-high momentum after beating rival Bettendorf and upsetting the Iowa City Little Hawks at home during senior night, the Spartan’s rocky start is well in the rearview mirror. The team has once again set itself apart as one of the teams to beat in 5A moving into the final two weeks of the season. 

Losing the opening game of the season and falling to Linn-Mar in the homecoming game, the now 5-2 team was struggling at 2-2 only a few short weeks ago. Junior Rusty Vanwetzinga credits the momentum switch to an attitude change from the whole team. “We started practicing better as a team, when we started focusing more our results got a lot better and we started playing like the contenders we know we are,” he said.

PV has discovered its strength in running the ball and playing sound defense. This was especially evident when the defense held City High to a second half shutout and the offense moved the ball 310 yards on the ground, grinding out 23 first downs. There game strategy has been effective in wearing out defenses and utilizing all four quarters to win.

If the team is able to win their final two games, it will most likely result in a playoff berth for the second year in a row. For the last two weeks of the regular season, PV will travel to Dubuque and Iowa City for back to back games on the road. While PV is favored statistically, being away from a home crowd will play to their disadvantage.  

Senior Drew Micek, one of the student section’s frontline supporters, believes that greater attendance will, without a doubt, better their chances of success. “It’s more fun to play when the people watching are on your side, I can speak from personal experience there,” he said. “It’s always fun to go out and support and it’s reassuring when I know my peers on the field are benefiting from the crowd. Especially at away games when they need it most.” 

Needless to say, PV has once again found itself back into the fold and is eyeing another successful postseason campaign.