OSKALOOSA — Oskaloosa had held a lead in a game only one time going into Friday night’s Class 3A, District 8 game with Chariton at Lacey Sports Complex Stadium.

Make that two times and the Indians never gave up that advantage in getting a 40-20 win over the Chargers as Nate Van Veldhuizen, Jared Pace and Tyce Sarver all scored two touchdowns.

But it was a total team effort as the defense forced five turnovers — four of them fumbles — and the special teams blocked a Chariton punt and recovered a fumble to set up a pair of touchdowns as the 1-3 Indians never allowed Chariton to get in the game.

“We certainly had a much better performance on both sides of the ball as far as our offensive and defensive lines,” Oskaloosa coach Mark Schilb said. “We’ve been working very hard on our o-line and d-line techniques. We expected to come out and see improvement and we did.”

Things didn’t get off on the right foot for Oskaloosa (1-0 in district play) as Chariton’s Token Hall returned the opening kickoff 52 yards to the Oskaloosa 49-yard line. But the Chargers lost a yard on three plays and were forced to punt.

The Indians gave the ball back to Chariton as Austin Peterson forced Pace into a fumble of the Indians’ first play of the game. Carter Isley recovered the ball at the Oskaloosa 21.

Matt Schultz gained the entire 21 yards with the final three yards going for a touchdown and Chariton led 7-0 after the PAT by Alex Wright.

That’s when the Oskaloosa ground game took over.

The Indians ran the ball 10 of the 11 plays on the 64-yard drive after receiving the kickoff. Pace and Van Veldhuizen did the bulk of the workload, going for 58 of the 64 yards. Van Veldhuizen went the final 1 yard to tie the game at 7 with 4:11 to go in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Sarver punted the ball to Hall, who fielded it at the Chariton 33. However, Hall fumbled and Ryder Curtis pounced on the loose pigskin.

Six plays later, Van Veldhuizen visited the end zone for the second time on a 2-yard plunge to put the Indians on top 13-7.

The next possession didn’t go too well for the Chargers as TJ Hockenson’s punt was blocked by Keoki Gibson and Drea Lamb recovered it at the Charger 29.

Two running plays picked up 17 yards and Sarver got the ball on a reverse, going the final 12 yards to the end zone for a 19-7 lead.

“That was big,” said Schilb on the blocked punt. “There were a lot of them there. We decided to go after it. It was a back-breaker.”

Chariton turned the ball over on downs and Oskaloosa tallied its third touchdown of the quarter, this time by Pace — who ran for 164 yards on 19 carries — as he went in from 8 yards out with 45 seconds remaining until halftime for a comfortable 26-7 advantage.

The Indians extended the lead in the third quarter with two scores in a span of less than 3 minutes.

The Oskaloosa defense got the ball back on downs and Sarver went high over Chariton defensive back Chasen Blue to haul in a 24-yard TD pass from Jesse VanDalen to increase the margin to 33-7 at the 5:16 mark of the third quarter.

On the ensuing possession, Oskaloosa’s Mason Wisse forced Schultz into a fumble and Dane Jones recovered it at the Charger 28.

Van Veldhuizen ran for 10 yards on three carries and Pace went the last 13 yards for his second touchdown of the game and a 40-7 lead with 2:52 remaining in the period.

Schilb was able to put in his reserves and the Chargers scored two touchdowns in the final minute, but the outcome was already determined.

The Indians won’t have long to enjoy the win as they travel to No. 3 Norwalk for their next game.



Oskaloosa 40, Chariton 20

C    7    0    0    13    —    20

O    7    19    14    0    —    40

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C — Matt Schultz 3 run (Alex Wright kick), 8:51

O — Nate Van Veldhuizen 1 run (Jonah Renter kick), 4:11

Second Quarter

O — Van Veldhuizen 2 run (Kick failed), 8:16

O — Tyce Sarver 12 run (Run failed), 4:11

O — Pace 8 run (Renter kick), :45

Third Quarter

O — Sarver 24 pass from Jesse VanDalen (Renter kick), 5:16

) — Pace 13 run (Renter kick), 2:52

Fourth Quarter

C — Stephen McCurdy 69 run (Wright kick), 1:-1

C — TJ Hockenson 20 pass from Christian Bengston (Kick failed), :36

Team Statistics

        C    O

First downs    13    24

Rushes-yards    34-213    56-278

Passing yards    53    75

Total yards    266    353

Comp-Att-Int    8-18-1    7-9-1

Fumbles-lost    4-4    3-2

Penalties-yards    3-30    3-30

Punts    3-24.3    2-38.0

Time/possession    16:31    31:29

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Chariton, Stephen McCurdy 3-96, Matt Schultz 20-94, Masley Pape 7-39. Oskaloosa, Jared Pace 19-164, Nate Van Veldhuizen 16-62, Riley Coniglio 12-31, Ethan Huyser 4-12, Tyce Sarver 1-12, Austin Redlich 2-)-1), Jesse VanDalen 2-(-2).

PASSING — Chariton, Christen Bengston 8-18-53-1. Oskaloosa, VanDalen 6-7-69-0, Redlich 1-2-6-1.

RECEIVING — Chariton — TJ Hockenson 3-32, Schultz 2-18, Token Hall 2-3, Austin Peterson 1-0. Oskaloosa, Sarver 3-52, Jordan Lowry 3-17, Ryder Curtis 1-6.

TACKLES — Chariton, Conner Grgurich 12, Travis Morr 11, Peterson 7, Alex Wright 6, Ethan Askland 6. Oskaloosa, Mason Wisse 14, Keoki Gibson 9, Brandon Strasser 9, Mitchell Schaffner 6, Ki-Jana DeJong 5, Drea Lamb 5, Sarver 4, Redlich 3, Max Johnson 3, Jimmy Brown 2, Spencer Medlin 2, TJ Boyle 2, Steven Shannon 2, Dane Jones 2, Zach Mateer 2, Coniglio 1, Darin Yang 1, Cody Bossard 1, Patrick Flaherty 1, Trevor Mabee 1, Colton Mitterer 1, Jonah Renter 1.

SACKS — Oskaloosa, Wisse 2.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES — Chariton, Carter Isley. Oskaloosa, Gibson, Schaffner, Jones, Ryder Curtis.

INTERCEPTIONS — Chariton, Chasen Blue. Oskaloosa, Nick Waters.