Big 4th-Quarter Pushes Reivers to Seventh Straight Victory, Bowl Match-Up Announced This Week

The Reivers (8-3) faced a 22-13 deficit heading in the final quarter, but White came through with a pair of touchdown runs from four yards out as well as a score from two yards out, in the frame. He was the go-to option all day, finishing with 36 carries for 145 yards while adding three catches for 31 yards.

The Reivers' fourth-quarter performance was needed. Their offense struggled prior to that. Marcell Barbee's 16-yard touchdown in the second quarter served as the team's only score up to that point.

IWCC also didn't help its cause, getting flagged 13 times for 165 yards. And the defense, which was the most consistent piece of the team's winning streak entering Saturday, allowed 400 yards of total offense and 356 passing yards to Highland quarterback Joseph Cambridge.

But the only statistic that mattered, in the end, was the Iowa Western win.

"It wasn't pretty," Iowa Western coach Scott Strohmeier said. "Not the way we wanted it to go, but we came out on top. It's tough. They had a lot going for them for why they were playing hard. I don't think we helped them by any stretch. We didn't play clean at all through the first three quarters offensively. But we came away with the victory."

Another bright spot for the Reivers was at quarterback. Making his first collegiate start on the Reivers' varsity roster, sophomore Braydon Aker performed well, completing 17 of 32 passes for 244 yards with the touchdown to Barbee and an interception.

"I can't stress enough how proud I am of Braydon," Strohmeier said. "That's what we're asking of all of our guys. He never complained one time. He never missed anything. He's done everything we've asked him to do. As a coach, what else can you ask for? And he went out and performed with his opportunity. He might've earned himself an opportunity to play more."

The Reivers surely have. They had a slim hope of sneaking into the national championship game conversation, but top-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast won Saturday, which likely clinches one of the spots in the title game and Lackawanna survived a rally from 9th ranked Georgia Military to likely clinch the other spot.  Third-ranked Garden City was tripped up by No. 11 Butler Saturday night, meaning the Reivers likely will enter bowl season ranked 4th or better in the NJCAA poll.

The bottom line is that IWCC will play in a bowl game in December, a concept that didn't seem likely after the team's 1-3 start.

"As much adversity as we came through, we did all we could do," Strohmeier said. "Now where the chips may fall, they fall. We're going to try to get the next-best opponent that we can get and go and play another game. You're only guaranteed 11, and we've got the 12th one now. We've earned it; we've got some time off to prepare for whoever we play."