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The Norse will be back on the road Saturday traveling to Central. This rivalry has produced some great games over the past few years. Three years ago, the Norse defeated Central 30-24 in overtime for Homecoming. Two years ago, Luther came back from 42-14 down to pull within 42-35. Last year, it was overtime that Central beat Luther 19-13. So no matter what this game says on paper, it will be an entertaining one. Expect nothing less Saturday.

In talking to coach Hefty this morning the two weeks between games one and two have been good. Last week, focus on themselves, this week focus on Luther. It helps the Norse get healthy as well. By the way, Tyler Sherden is ready to go. All in all, a week off before the always tough Iowa Conference schedule can't do anything but help in the coaches mind.

There is definately mutual respect between the two programs. Coach Hefty said this morning Central is a class-act operation, one of the best coached teams in division three and one of the best envirorments in Division three football. Central coach Jeff McMartin told the Central sports website, "Luther does some things very well, they've had two weeks to prepare for us and they're extremely well-coached, so we've got to be ready. Tyler Sherden is one of the top backs in the league, they rely on him for big plays. He's a tough guy to bring down. He's a good athlete and a terrific competitor. They move the ball well and against us they've played great defense. They're very aggressive both offensively and defensively. They've played us tough every time we've played them since I've been here."

The Dutch defeated St. Thomas in week one 35-10 and came from behind last Saturday night with a 36-17 win at Hope College in Michigan. In the Hope game, two time conference MVP Vance Schuring, a running back, was out with an injury. Despite that, the Dutch gained 172 yards on the ground, led by Dustin Veldhuizen rushing for 71 yards and David Zachary with 46 yards. Senior Quarterback Tim Connell has definately diversified the Dutch attack. Last Saturday, he was 21 of 28 for a career high 286 yards and three touchdowns. His favorite target was Cody Huisman, a senior from Mason City (high school teammate of Tony Brantner), who had seven catches for 137 yards.

Defensively the Dutch did give up 443 yards of offense against Hope, but did pitch a shutout in the second half. Since Hope scored 17 points, I would assume they were pretty bend but don't break in that ballgame. The top Dutch players against Hope were linebacker Greg Altmaier had a game high ten tackles and linebacker Andrew Lehn had five stops, an interception and a sack.

Hefty said the emphasis has to be winning the turnover battle and making big plays. Against St. Olaf, they did one but not the other. Luther was plus one on the turnover ratio. The two Norse turnovers resulted in nine Ole points. Simple math when you lose by seven. Also the defense gave up too many big plays.

As for getting over the hump in close ballgames, Hefty says they'll do that by keep believing in what they're doing. Five of the last eleven games the program has played have been decided by seven points or less. They've lost them all. Hefty told me this morning they're all about the close games. They're comfortable in close games and once they win one of these close ones, it could snowball.

I'll be back after the Central game with a review. Listen right here Saturday. 12:30 pregame. One kickoff. Mike, Jerry and I with the call.

Published Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 1:32 PM by Darin Svenson

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