Copyright American Press
Iowa High School has come close to a perfect football regular season in recent years. Since 2021, they have lost a single regular-season game three times. Today’s District 3-4A matchup with DeRidder gives the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 4A No. 4 team another chance at perfection. “I think this team has some solid high school football players that get to come to work every day,” Iowa head coach Tommy Johns said. “They want to be good, and they work hard.” A win would give Iowa its first undefeated regular season since 2017, which was also Johns’ first season at the school. That year, Iowa lost in the regional round to Crowley. Iowa didn’t have a Week 9 game in 2017, so a win over the Dragons would be Iowa’s first 10-win regular season. “We’re going to approach it the same way we do any other week, to be honest,” Johns said. “In my experience, that’s how you have to do it. “I don’t want them to press or worry about that type of stuff.” In 2021, it was a one-point loss to Lake Charles College Prep in Week 9. Week 2 losses to Leesville in 2022 and Little Cypress- Mauriceville, Texas, last season were the only regular-season blemishes those years. Coming off the school’s second semifinal run, Johns said the team has become one of the most even-keeled he has coached, despite many lacking varsity experience. “I think every year each team is different to me,” Johns said. “This team is probably the steadiest team we’ve had in a while, as far as they don’t get too up or down. “They’re not overly emotional. I think that’s kind of helped us. I think a lot of that comes from a lot of these guys didn’t have much experience coming in. We didn’t have very many returning starters, so they were all hungry and looking for an opportunity to play.” Iowa averages 39.9 points a game and has scored fewer than 30 points once, while the defense has held opponents under 20 points seven times and allows 12.8 points a game. The closest any team has come to the Yellow Jackets was a 35-20 win at Wossman in Week 4, which started a month-long road trip before they returned home in Week 8 with a 51-22 win over Eunice. “We’ve been playing a lot of good, complementary ball this year,” Johns said. “Last year, there were times we had a hard time putting it together, especially early in the year. We played really well on offense and maybe not so well on defense, and then the next week we flipped it. We played good on defense and not all that great on offense.” The defense is built around the front four of senior Kyan Rivera, and juniors Landon Joseph, Gaven Brown and Thomas Harris, who have combined for 27 tackles for loss. “Those guys have been playing really, really well,” Johns said. “Two of them played the entire year as sophomores, and Kyan Rivera came in late last year and had to play for the offense and defensive line. “He’s had a great year,” Johns said of Rivera. “And then the first-year starter, Thomas Harris, has had an outstanding season. Those guys have played really, really well to me. They’ve taken a lot of pressure off the linebackers in the secondary, where we’re probably the least experienced. “To me, if you’re ever going to play good defense, it all starts and stops with the front four.” The offense is spread between running back J’vien Adams (1,137 yards, 16 total TDs), receiver Jeremiah Bushnell (10 total TDs), and multi-position player Kaston Lewis (12 total TDs), who is also one of the team’s top defensive backs (3 INT, 3 PBU).
