IWC Tigers Play Kohawks for Old Threshers Trophy!
MOUNT PLEASANT – Opening the home portion of their 2010 schedule, the Iowa Wesleyan College football team starts a difficult three-game stretch against ranked teams with a matchup against Coe College Saturday evening at Mapleleaf Stadium.
The Tigers will take on a Kohawks team ranked 12th in the D3football.com NCAA Division III preseason poll and will face their visitors in the first-ever Old Threshers Bowl. The game is taking place during the weekend of the annual Midwest Old Threshers Reunion in Mount Pleasant, and IWC and Old Threshers have partnered this year for a game that will include the two teams playing for the first-ever Old Threshers trophy.

Coe was one of the surprises of the Iowa Conference and all of NCAA Division III last season and had one of the best seasons in school history. The Kohawks were predicted to finish seventh in conference but instead finished second and advanced to the second round of the Division III playoffs, capping the year with a 10-2 record. Head Coach Steve Staker was named conference coach of the year and also received the Liberty Mutual Division III National Coach of the Year award.

Coe has an experienced team returning this season and has been ranked in the top 20 in most preseason polls of NCAA Division III, including 18th by The Sporting News and 20th by USA Today. The Kohawks return last year’s Iowa Conference MVP in Brad Boyle, a junior quarterback who threw for 2,639 yards and 19 touchdowns last year and also rushed for 337 yards and 15 touchdowns. The offense returns a total of 10 starters, including all five offensive linemen. The defense returns defensive lineman Frank Weymiller, who as a freshman last year was named Honorable Mention All-American and ranked among the nation’s leaders in sacks.

Though the two schools are separated by little more than an hour, this is only the seventh meeting ever between Coe and Iowa Wesleyan. The Kohawks lead the series 4-2 and won the last meeting back in 1985 by a 42-21 score in IWC’s season opener. That matchup capped a run of four straight years when the two teams played, splitting four games from 1982-85. The teams first met in 1915, with Coe pasting the Tigers by a 69-0 score.

Saturday’s game will be broadcast on the radio and online in both the Mount Pleasant and Cedar Rapids areas. KILJ 105.5 FM in Mount Pleasant will provide an IWC broadcast of the game, with John Kuhens handling the play-by-play. The game will also air in Cedar Rapids on KMJM AM 1360, with Coe College announcer Jerry Kiwala calling the game.

For more information regarding the IWC football program or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics Web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.