Senior All-State Trio Making A Big Impact On Knights 5-1 Season

North Cedar seniors (l-r) Jayden Johnson, Noah Sander and Adam Poduska demonstrate their position in which they earned 2013 INA All-State honors last season.  The trio have helped the Knights to a 5-1 record and number-10 ranking in class 1A.  Photo by Ryan Stonebraker, Tipton Conservative Sports.

Senior All-State Trio Making A Big Impact On Knights 5-1 Season

STANWOOD — As the North Cedar Knights inch closer to a postseason spot in the class 1A playoffs, the Knights have an advantage that few 1A schools can say they have.  Three All-State players on their roster.  Seniors Jayden Johnson, Noah Sander and Adam Poduska were all selected by the Iowa Newspaper Association last fall for class 1A All-State selections.  All three were named 2nd team selections with Johnson being tabbed as quarterback, Sander as an offensive lineman and Poduska as a defensive lineman.

“We weren’t expecting to be All State last year,” said North Cedar senior Adam Poduska.  “We all were excited when the list came out last year,” he said.

Johnson, one of the top quarterbacks in the state and making a claim to be the best quarterback in class 1A,  is 10th in the entire state among all classes and first in 1A with 1,332 passing yards.  His 15 touchdown passes and 1,728 yards of total offense (rushing and passing) lead all of class 1A.

North Cedar had the biggest turnaround in wins last year in class 1A.  After an 0-9 2012, North Cedar finished last year 5-5 and a spot in the 1A playoffs.

Johnson said that the Knights have a goal this year of of finishing in the second half of the season, especially after North Cedar lost their last four regular season games and their first round playoff game at Wilton.

“No one was happy with losing those last five games.  It was cool to be in the playoffs, but, we would have liked to get a few more wins,” he said.

“Our goal is to make it back to the playoffs and complete the season better than last year.  We (himself, Sander and Poduska) would all like to be 1st team this year,” said Johnson.

Johnson and his teammates worked hard this past summer getting ready for the 2014 season, knowing that they wanted their senior season to be a special one.

“We worked a lot this summer on getting better.  We thought a lot about what it would mean to finish the season strong and it was a message we wanted to bring to this season,” he said.

The Knights have started the 2014 season 5-1 with their only blemish a hard-fought 42-28 loss at home to West Branch two weeks ago.  The Knights are ranked number-10 by most statewide High School football polls.  They are 3-1 in class 1A district 5 and took control of the second spot in the district with a 26-17 win at Bellevue last Friday.

“Football is football.  You get better and keep improving,” said North Cedar football coach Charlie Feller.  Feller is in his second season as the head football coach of the Knight’s program.

“We have had some tough teams on our schedule this year.  Anamosa, West Branch, Bellevue, Lisbon and Tipton.  Those are teams that are going to likely make the playoffs out of their districts,” he said.

“We are lucky here at North Cedar to have three All-State guys.  They all deserved it.  They work hard, never miss practice and really are leaders for us,” said Feller.

North Cedar is not just the three All-State players this year.  The emergence of receivers Ian Malaby and Trever Greene as well as defensive players Kaleb Galloway and Spencer Armstrong have helped the Knights get off to their fast start.

“We have several players that can make plays for us on both sides of the football and it’s my job to find a way to get the football in their hands,” said Feller.

Malaby is fourth in the entire state in all classes in receptions with 51 and fifth in the entire state in receiving yards with 740.  Those totals along with his 8 touchdowns, lead class 1A receivers. Greene has 21 receptions for 251 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He also has rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown. Galloway has 49 tackles and is solid on defense, and Armstrong has 41 tackles and has rushed for 169 yards on 29 carries with 3 touchdowns and a 7.3-yard per carry average.

Sander has anchored both the offensive and defensive lines this year and at 6-foot-4, is an imposing figure when he lines up.

“We will have a great season - We are trying to stay optimistic this year we want to have a shot to get far in the playoffs,” he said.

“I feel like our seniors have stepped up in the offseason. For some it was getting more consistent in showing up for practice.  For some it was competing for open spots we had coming into this year.  Their work has made our team better this year,” said Sander.

Sander earned All-State honors as an offensive lineman last year and said that this year, teammate Adam Poduska runs a different style than last year’s running back Derrick Gray.

“Derrick was more of a shifty and move around guy and Adam is more of a run straight forward and run you over kind of guy.  As long as we block for him, things have worked out well,” said Sander.

Sander is second on the Knights in tackles from his defensive tackle spot with 47 tackles including 21 solo stops.  He has five tackles for loss and one quarterback sack.

Poduska has seen his carries increase and with that, his yardage on the ground.  Three of the last four football games, he has rushed for over 100 yards, including a 12-carry, 147-yard, 4-touchdown game against Tipton on homecoming.

“It is exciting to be the feature back,” he said.  “Last year I was the fullback and this year I have carried the ball more,” said Poduska.

Poduska earned All-State honors last year in part to his play on the defensive line.  As a defensive lineman, Poduska said that he generally has three assignments from his position.  First, outside containment; second, look for the ball, especially on option plays and don’t commit too early to the pitch man; and three, go after the quarterback.

Defensively, Poduska is the top North Cedar tackler with 66.  He has eight tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.  Offensively, he is the top North Cedar ball carrier with 478 yards on 77 attempts and 10 touchdowns.  He averages 6.2 yards a carry.  He also has caught 11 passes for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns.

North Cedar will play at home in two of their final three 2014 regular season games starting this week with Durant.  The Knights travel to Wapello next week before ending at home against Wilton on Friday, October 24.

2014 North Cedar Schedule/Results - as of October 8, 2014

Friday, August 29         @ Anamosa        W 32-29

Friday, September 5     Lisbon                 W 27-12

Friday, September 12  @ Alburnett          W 50-19

Friday, September 19   West Branch        L 42-28

Friday, September 26   Tipton                  W 49-20

Friday, October 3         @ Bellevue          W 26-17

Upcoming Schedule:

Friday, October 10        Durant

Friday, October 17        @ Wapello

Friday, October 24        Wilton

2014 Stats (Johnson, Poduska, Sander) Through The First 6 Games:

Jayden Johnson

Passing:

Anamosa - 19-for-43 222 yards 4 TD’s, 2 INT’s = QB Rating of 108.9

Lisbon - 15-for-30 178 yards 1 TD, 1 INT = QB Rating of 104.2

Alburnett - 17-for-23 317 yards 5 TD’s, 0 INT’s = QB Rating of 261.4

West Branch - 18-for-36 238 yards 2 TD’s, 1 INT = QB Rating of 118.3

Tipton - 10-for-20 132 yards 1 TD, 1 INT = QB Rating of 111.9

Bellevue - 20-for-30 245 yards 2 TD’s, 0 INT’s = QB Rating of 157.3

Rushing

Anamosa - 7 carries (-3) yards

Lisbon - 17 carries 122 yards 1 TD, 7.2-yard ave.

Alburnett - 9 carries 25 yards, 2.8-yard ave.

West Branch - 3 carries 56 yards, 1 TD - 18.7-yard ave.

Tipton - 14 carries 114 yards, 8.1-yard ave.

Bellevue - 15 carries 82 yards - 5.5-yard ave.

Punting:

Anamosa - 4 punts 137 yards - 34.3 ave.  Long of 37

Lisbon - 5 punts 168 yards - 33.6 ave. Long 27

Alburnett - 1 punt 40 yards - 40.0 ave.  Long 40

West Branch - 3 punts 103 yards - 34.3 ave.  Long 45

Tipton - 3 punts 117 yards - 39.0 ave. Long 48

Bellevue - 7 punts 193 yards - 27.6 ave.  Long 40

Adam Poduska

Rushing:

Anamosa - 10 carries 53 yards - 5.3 ave.

Lisbon - 8 carries, 45 yards - 5.6 ave.  2 TD’s

Alburnett - 24 carries 107 yards - 4.5 ave. 2 TD’s

West Branch - 14 carries 103 yards - 7.4-yard ave. 1 TD

Tipton - 12 carries 147 yards - 12.3-yard ave. 4 TD’s

Bellevue - 9 carries 23 yards - 2.6-yard ave. 1 TD

Receiving:

Anamosa - 2 receptions 9 yards

Lisbon - 2 receptions 12 yards

Alburnett - 1 reception 7 yards

West Branch - 1 reception 5 yards

Tipton - 1 reception 20 yards

Bellevue - 4 receptions 51 yards 1 TD

Defense:

Anamosa - Total Tackles 16 - 3 tackles for loss, 1 QB sack

Lisbon - Total Tackles 13 - 2 tackles for loss

Alburnett - Total Tackles 5

West Branch - Total Tackles - 14

Tipton - Total Tackles - 8

Bellevue - Total Tackles - 10 - 3 tackles for loss, 1 QB sack

PAT’s:

Anamosa - 2-for-4

Lisbon - 3-for-4

Alburnett - 6-for-7

West Branch - 2-for-3

Tipton - 7-for-7

Bellevue - 2-for-4

Noah Sander

Defense:

Anamosa - Total Tackles - 9

Lisbon - Total Tackles - 9 - 3 tackles for loss

Alburnett - Total Tackles - 6 - 1 tackle for loss - 1 QB sack

West Branch - Total Tackles - 7

Tipton - Total Tackles - 8 - 1 tackle for loss

Bellevue - Total Tackles - 8