North Polk's rushing attack secures first state football title in program history

North Polk’s rushing attack secures first state football title in program history

Posted by Admin November 22, 2024 Football

CEDAR FALLS — North Polk wasn’t about to let a flu bug get in the way of a state championship.

The Comets won their first state football title on Thursday, beating Pella 24-14 in the Class 4A final at the UNI-Dome.

North Polk’s catalyst? A red-hot rushing attack by the Comets (13-0) that accumulated 311 yards on the ground behind stellar performances from their offensive line, quarterback Nathan Feldmann (117 yards, three rushing touchdowns) and running back BJ Tate Jr (152 yards). Much like it did all season, North Polk’s rushing attack flourished by averaging 5.6 yards per carry against a stingy Dutch (11-2) defense.

To make it that much more impressive, the Comets did so while a good portion of the team battled the flu. North Polk didn’t have a full team practice until Wednesday. The bug included Feldmann, who was hospitalized for two days prior to the game, receiving IVs before leading his team to victory. He credited the guys around him for pushing the team to a win.

“The team felt sick too, but we got it done,” Feldmann said.

The Comets were clean and efficient on offense in the first half, scoring on two of three drives. On the first scoring drive, Tate had 50 all-purpose yards on a 98-yard touchdown drive that was capped off by a short touchdown run from Feldmann.

On their next offensive series, the run game continued to churn for the Comets. In a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ate up over five minutes of game time, Feldmann converted on a crucial fourth and five and later rushed for a five-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 ahead of the second half.

After long, clock-eating drives dominated the first half, the pace picked up in the second half. The fiesty Dutch refused to go down quietly, as quarterback Colin Kerndt threw over the Comet secondary for an 89-yard touchdown pass to Harrison Mullins to cut the deficit in half less than a minute into the third.

For the third time of the night, however, Feldmann found the end zone on a five-yard touchdown run after a kickoff return from Bryce Burke set up the Comets for a 50-yard drive to make it 21-7.

After Pella’s following drive stalled on fourth and long, linebacker Bailey Shetterly read the North Polk screen pass perfectly and returned the interception for a 41-yard touchdown to make it 21-14 with 4:47 in the third.

On the following drive, North Polk drove it into the redzone of Pella and Liam Triplett knocked through a field goal from 21 yards out for a 10-point lead. As Pella put together a drive of its own, safety Brady Cathcart came up with a spectacular interception at North Polk’s 25-yard line with 6:25 remaining. From there, the Comets’ rushing attack ran out the clock to secure their first state title.

Coach Tim TeBrink grinned when asked about his offensive line’s effort. The guys up front will never be the stars of the show, but they did what was necessary to win the game.

“The O-line doesn’t get a lot of credit, but those five straight up get after it and they have fun doing it,” TeBrink said.

Pella fell short of winning the fourth state title in program history and under coach Jay McKinstrey, but the Dutch walked out with heads high after finishing 11-2 in McKinstrey’s final season as head coach. In a 28-year tenure, McKinstrey racked up a 236-75 record and three consecutive titles from 2014-16. McKinstrey was pleased that this was the group with whom he finished his illustrious career.

“I just wanted to have a group of kids to finish with that I knew would be an enjoyable group to be around, that were never going to quit, and they were going to play to the very end like we did tonight,” McKinstrey said.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.