OSKALOOSA — With the high school season winding down, both Keokuk and Oskaloosa to get back in the win column in hopes of qualfying for the Class 3A playoffs.

The teams are coming losses — the Chiefs (2-3) dropping a 51-21 decision to Washington while the Indians (1-4) fell to No. 3 Norwalk 37-6.

Indians coach Mark Schilb thinks both teams have had disappointing seasons given the expectations they had coming into the season.

“We’re not satisfied where we’re at right now and we’re working real had to getting it corrected,” he said.

Keokuk has one of the better passing quarterbacks in the state in senior Gabe Vandenberg. younger brother of Iowa signal-caller James Vandenberg. Gabe Vandenberg is ranked third in 3A with 1,062 yards passing and 10 touchdowns. He’s completed 61.2 percent of his passes, but has thrown seven interceptions.

Defending the pass has been a bit of a problem for Oskaloosa — allowing 290.8 yards a game through the air with nine touchdowns.

“He’s a really accurate and good passer,” Schilb said. “We must improve our underneath coverage to help our young safeties out. We’ve tried and addressed that.

“One of the ways in the past that we’ve been successful in stopping the quarterback like him is keep him on the bench, control the clock and control the ball. I see some things I think we can exploit on their defense. We have to improve our pass defense and got to get pressure on hime in cover and gcontrol the ball.”

The Indians have done a pretty good job of controlling the clock as they have nearly a 5-minute advantage in time of possession (26:08 to 21:52).

They’ve only fumbled six times, losing four, while recovering all 11 fumbles their opponents have had.

Keoki Gibson, who is second on the team with 46 tackles, tops the team with  three fumble recovries while Mitchell Schaffner and Zach Mateer have both pounced on two fumbles.

Strasser has been in a team-best 50 tackles while Mason Wisse has made 38 stops for Oskaloosa.

Oskaloosa hopes to control the keokuk running game that features the duo of Trevor Roth and Matt Nye. The tandem has scored all 11 of the team’s rushing touchdowns with Roth leading the way with 553 yards   rushing and seven TDs. Nye has visited the end zone four times and has rushed for 289 yards.

Vandenberg’s top receivers have been Darrion Sanders and Dan Williams. The latter leads the team with 30 receptions for 351 yards and three touchdowns while Sanders has caught 24 passes for a team-leading 439 yards and six scores.

The Chiefs have four players with 30 or more tackles, led by the twosome of Bryce Baxter and Alex Meek, who have made 34 tackles apiece. Chris Barchit has 33 tackles and Dakota Shaw has been in on 31 tackles.

That group will go up against an Oskaloosa offensie unit that is averaging 20 points a game.

Jared Pace is Oskaloosa’s top ground-gainer with 456 yards and three touchdowns while Nate Van Veldhuizen has 213 yards rushing and three TDs. The team got a boost last week when Andrew Landgrebe made his season debut against the Warriors. Landgrebe gained 55 yards on the ground and scored a touchdown.

Austin Redlich made his first start at quarterback last week, completing 7 of 13 passes for 89 yards. For the season, Redlich is 8-for-15 passing for 95 yards. Jesse VanDalen, who missed last week for undisclosed reasons, has thrown for 368 yards and three touchdowns. He’s completed 29 of 65 passing on the year.

Tyce Sarver leds the team with 14 catches for 232 yards and two touchdowns while Jordan Lowry has eight receptions for 74 yards.