Tim Coleman and the North Nodaway Mustangs capped off an impressive three year run forty years ago. Coleman had completely rewritten the passing record book at North Nodaway the previous two years. In 1982, the Mustangs made the playoffs for the first time ever. In 1983, the Mustangs won conference in football and basketball. And in 1984, the winning continued.
They started off in 1984 by beating West Nodaway 55-14. Jeff Blackford opened the game with an 80 yard kickoff return. Coleman threw for 213 yards of passing and ran for 106 more on 11 carries and added one touchdown, a 26 yard run. Blackford scored on two four yard runs. One of them was set up by a blocked punt by Coleman.
North Nodaway jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the second quarter. Steven Hughes hit Robbie Meyers twice for strikes of 51 and 63 yards, but North Nodaway maintained a 41-14 lead at the half.
Coleman threw strikes of 60, 66, and 35 yards to Curtis Morrison.
Rodney Vance scored on a six yard run set up by a pick from Joey Spalding. Vance had 10 carries for 67 yards and Blackford had 10 carries for 62 yards. Spalding caught three passes for 34 yards.
Charles Blake had 11 tackles and Curtis Morrison had 10 for the Mustangs.
In the second week, Rodney Vance had a big night with 124 yards on the ground and three touchdowns in the Mustangs 34-12 win over Fairfax. North Nodaway scored the first 28 points of the game. The game was tight at first, but Tim Coleman scored from nine yards out with 13 seconds left in the first half. The Mustangs were stymied by penalties, picking up 100 yards of penalties in the first half alone.
The game remained at 14-0 until the fourth quarter when Jeff Blackford scored from seven yards out and Vance scored twice. Chris Rosenbohm threw strikes of 10 yards to Ryan Rogers and 23 yards to Joe Gigliotti for the Bulldogs. Both Fairfax scores came in the last four minutes.
Jeff Blackford had 77 yards and Tim Coleman had 73. Coleman also had his second blocked punt in as many games. But Coleman had an off night throwing, only completing three of 13.
Helping folks cheer on the Mustangs was the band, which performed for the game against Craig. Members were Lonny Graves, Christy Sorenson, Pam Ashford, Sim White, John Turner, Tom Brand, Brian Florea, James Spalding, Kyle O’Riley, Robert Reynolds, Phillip Reynolds, Tom Hansen, James Huffman, Lynn Clements, Bret Wallace, Billy Pistole, Nicki Baldwin, Rebecca Curtis, Tiffany Uhlmann, Lori Thompson, Becky Lohman, Tina Heming, Laura Carmichael, and Lori Williams.
The band must have brought good luck for the Mustangs, who were much sharper against Craig, picking up a 50-6 win in their next game. Like the resurgent Shamrock girls basketball team or the NEN girls basketball team that is off to a good start, North Nodaway always had different people step up in 1984. This time, it was Jeff Blackford who stepped up, getting 121 yards and three touchdowns. Rodney Vance added 89 yards and three touchdowns, while Tim Coleman threw for 194 yards, ran for 88, and scored a 10 yard touchdown run.
Blackford had runs of 4, 17, and 6 yards. Vance had 2, 14, and 5 yards.
Charlie Blake had a big night defensively for the Mustangs, blocking a punt, getting two sacks, picked off a pass, and recovered a fumble for the Mustangs. It was North Nodaway’s third blocked punt in as many games.
Craig got its lone tally in the fourth when Troy DeLong recovered a fumble in the end zone.
The Mustangs scored their second straight 50 point game when they beat South Holt 50-12 in week 4. This time, it was Rodney Vance’s turn to shine as he had 10 carries for 112 yards. He had runs of 16, 49, and 8 yards. Tim Coleman was only 3 of 9 passing, but one of his passes was a 77 yard strike to Tony O’Riley. Jeff Blackford had a 1 yard touchdown run and kicked three extra points. Craig McIntyre had a 28-yard pick six. Rex Jackson and Virgil Carroll had South Holt’s two tallies.
The Hopkins Journal of September 26th did a feature on the Iron Horses of North Nodaway, also known as the linemen. They were Charlie Blake, Todd Gorman, Todd Stites, Craig McIntyre, and Kirby Morrison. They were so nicknamed by Earle Bennett, who was assistant to coach Marty Albertson and who was the line coach that year.
Jim Lohman wrote, in part, “If the quarterback drives a Cadillac, and the runningbacks drive Fords, then you’ll probably see Charlie Blake driving down the streets of Hopkins on a motor-scooter. This illustration goes to show that there is very little glory in being an offensive lineman. There is little action, except to beat your brains out on every play blocking for the runningbacks, or giving the quarterback enough time to get a pass off to a wide receiver. There are very few chances at even getting into the statistics book unless you’re lucky enough to pick up a fumble your own quarterback made and advance it for yardage. Being an offensive lineman is a plain vanilla life, it’s constant hitting, and when you’re not hitting, you’re being hit, and your only hope of accomplishment is being able to walk away.”
Lohman also noted that the Iron Horses enjoyed zipping down the streets of Hopkins on their motor scooters just as much as opening up holes for Vance, Blackford, and Coleman.
North Nodaway had a knack of nicknaming their linemen during the 1980’s; they nicknamed three of their linemen of 1988 and 1989 the “Fat Boys;” they were called on to come in for short yardage situations.
But North Nodaway met their match when Rock Port, the eventual state champions, invaded Hopkins and came away with the 33-0 win. Their two headed monster of Todd Irvine and Tim Minter, were the best backs in the area according to Worth County coach Rob Bowers, as quoted in the St. Joseph News-Press after the Tigers were dismantled by Rock Port. Irvine had 137 yards and four touchdowns and Tim Minter had 170 yards and one score.
Tim Coleman was a bright spot for North Nodaway, running for 87 yards and throwing for another 129.
But there was still football to be played and their Homecoming game against DeKalb was next. King candidates were Jeff Blackford, Kirby Morrison, Tim Coleman. Queen candidates were Lori Williams, Carla Scroggie, and Stacy Hurtado. Freshman attendants were Tracy Sorensen and Scott Swaney. Sophomore attendants were Karma Bovard and Tony O’Riley. Junior attendants were Rhonda Swaney and Curtis Morrison.
DeKalb was coming into the game on a high note following a double overtime win over West Nodaway the week before, but North Nodaway got back on the winning track 48-14 as Jeff Blackford had 108 yards in 11 carries and Rodney Vance had 11 carries for 78 yards. Blackford had three touchdowns and Vance two more. Kirby Morrison and Lori Williams were named Homecoming King and Queen.
DeKalb played North Nodaway tough for the first quarter, sacking Coleman twice. But North Nodaway was still able to get on the board and lead 6-0. DeKalb was able to move the ball through the air, throwing for over 100 yards. But Jeff Blackford ran for a three yard score, Rodney Vance ran for a 17 yard score, and Coleman got untracked, hitting Tony O’Riley for an 11 yard score to make it 27-0 at the half. Coleman would get untracked after the early going, throwing for 150.
Rodney Vance added a 13 yard score and Jeff Blackford added a 4 yard score in the third. Dave Chesnut recovered a pair of fumbles. Rick Baldwin added a score in the fourth.
North Nodaway had not beaten Tarkio in 19 years, but everything looked to change at Tarkio when the two 5-1 teams met. Jeff Blackford was carrying the team, scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter as North Nodaway raced to a 13-0 lead. Kevin Clark scored in the second for Tarkio to cut it to 13-6 at the half. But Tim Coleman was carrying the Mustangs defensively, picking off four passes that night. Coleman threw a strike to Joey Spalding in the second half.
But North Nodaway failed to convert a fourth and two inside the Indian 10 with time winding down in the fourth quarter and Tarkio took over on their own 10 with 59 seconds left. It only took Chris Hall, the Tarkio quarterback, two plays to cover the 90 yards needed to score and give the Indians the 21-19 win. Hall had victimized enemy teams all year, throwing for over 500 yards in one game. This is rare in 11 man games; now, in 8 man games, Gade Iddings and other Pattonsburg quarterbacks make throwing for 500 yards look like just another day at the office. It was one of many heartbreakers the Mustangs dropped to the Indians over the years during their 11 man days.
The Mustangs had a choice at this point with two tough teams coming up. Nodaway-Holt had lit up the conference the last three years and was still solid, and Mound City had shown a lot of improvement, up to 5-3 at that point. But Tim Coleman had a banner night, completing 17 passes for 316 yards. He threw touchdown strikes to Joey Spalding of 31 and 11 yards in a 39-24 win.
Nodaway-Holt scored first, but then Coleman went to the air with success. He added strikes to Jeff Blackford and Tony O’Riley for a total of four touchdown passes. Kirby Morrison had 9 tackles.
The Journal that week had a feature article about Erle Bennett, the assistant coach at North Nodaway. Wrote Jim Lohman, “Most of us know the stocky, red haired, blue-eyed assistant coach of the North Nodaway Mustangs. Of course we’re talking about Earle Bennett, assistant football coach and student teacher. Bennett is a native of Gallatin, where he played football for four years, but says that he didn’t play football at Northwest because of a knee injury. Bennett, after his graduation this year, wants to go on and coach high school football. He says that is all he wants. Really? Having spent many years hanging around high school football coaches as a journalist, it did not take long to notice something special about Bennett. In fact, it was at a recent junior varsity game where he was acting as head coach. The boys had life, he would not allow a person to take their interest from the game. Bennett’s plan of winning games is unique, which can also be translated exciting. High School football will not hold Bennett long if he can keep a fresh approach to the game.”
Although Lohman’s prediction for Bennett becoming either a college or NFL coach didn’t materialize, one prediction did come to pass. People still remember him favorably both at North Nodaway and Worth County, where he went afterwards. Although he didn’t win a lot of games at Worth County, he got the weight room built, which is still being used today, and which is instrumental in Worth County’s ability to reload every year. Bennett went on to become a successful coach at Centralia for many years.
North Nodaway closed out their season on a winning note, beating a tough Mound City squad 16-0. Tim Coleman hit Jeff Blackford for a 14 yard scoring pass and hit Joey Spalding for a two point conversion to make it 8-0 in the first quarter. Coleman dove into the end zone for a score in the fourth and hit Todd Gorman for a two point conversion to make it 16-0. It was set up when Todd Gorman picked off a pass at the Mustang 30 to kill a Panther drive that could have tied it. He was 15 of 29 for 207 yards for the night. For the rest of the night, both teams threatened to score at times, but neither one could push it over the line.
The Mustangs did not make the playoffs, but they were able to win seven games that year. It was the final game for Tim Coleman, Joey Spalding, Jeff Blackford, Tim Roush, Alan Roush, Rodney Vance, Todd Gorman, Charlie Blake, David Chesnut, and Kirby Morrison.
For the season, Rodney Vance had 105 carries for 698 yards. Jeff Blackford had 105 carries for 598 yards. Tim Coleman had 82 carries for 592 yards. Coleman 87 passes in 183 attempts for 1463 yards.
Curtis Morrison had 20 catches for 428 yards. Joey Spalding had 22 catches for 389 yards. Alan Roush had 7 catches for 51 yards. Tony O’Riley had 15 catches for 230 yards. Jeff Blackford had 13 catches for 220 yards. Rodney Vance had 9 catches for 84 yards. Tim Coleman was all-275 first team quarterback and linebacker. Rodney Vance and Jeff Blackford made the first team as backs. Blackford was also a first team defensive back and placekicker. Kirby Morrison was named as a first team interior lineman, and Craig McIntyre was named as a first team defensive lineman. Charlie Blake was an honorable mention linebacker and Joey Spalding received honorable mention as an end.
Team members were Charlie Blake, Rodney Vance, Kirby Morrison, David Chesnut, Jeff Blackford, Tim Coleman, Todd Gorman, Tim Roush, Joey Spalding, Mike Blackney, Rick Baldwin, Mike Spalding, Jon Pistole, Tony Volner, Dan Titus, Alan Roush, Brad Judd, Todd Roush, Rick Frampton, Jason Thompson, Brian Komers, Tom Blair, Mike Hutchinson, Craig McIntyre, Scott Swaney, Curtis Morrison, Todd Stites, Scott Clements, Scott King, David Roderick, Scott James, and Troy Dew.
Cheerleaders were Shelley McIntyre, Karma Bovard, Christy Sorensen, Diane Colville, and Tracy Sorensen.
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