Central Decatur’s 9-3 season that came to an end in the Class 1A quarterfinals against eventual state champion Iowa City Regina was rewarded with four players being named to the Iowa Newspaper Association’s all-state teams, as announced Tuesday.
The INA all-state teams are selected by a panel of sports writers, with assistance from the Iowa Football Coaches Association.
Representing the Cardinals are Trenton Wells and Noah Bishop as first-teamers and Peyton Pedersen and Peyton Gilbert as second-teamers.
“I’m very excited for them,” Central Decatur head coach Jon Pedersen said. “I thought, first of all, it was one of the most enjoyable years of coaching I’ve ever had. The wins were nice, but it was just how the team played together and overcame adversity. When you do things the right way, things usually work out for you in the end. That happened with four guys making all-state, which we were really happy with. It was just a really fun group with great senior leadership this year.”
Central Decatur’s Mr. Everything, Wells, earned first-team recognition at the offensive utility spot.
The Cardinal senior quarterback, who measures 6-2, 190 pounds, led Class 1A in total yards passing and rushing with 3,497 yards. He tied for third with 41 total touchdowns.
Drew Cook of state champion Iowa City Regina earned the quarterback position on Class 1A’s first team, but Wells performed at just as high of a level this season.
“He was that in important in every facet of the game for us,” Pedersen said. “What we always try to do is maximize what our kids can do the best. Our line got better and better as the year went along. Once PG (Gilbert) came back, we had two really good blockers in the backfield. Then Trenton just runs really hard. He’s able to make people miss in the open field and run over people in close quarters. It’s rare to have both of those in 1A football.”
Wells, who made the switch to quarterback late in the season last year, was also able to throw the ball well enough to keep defenses honest, which was a big key to his success.
He finished 100-of-216 passing for 1,638 yards in addition to his 1,859 rushing yards. On top of the 41 rushing and passing touchdowns he accounted for, Wells also caught two touchdown passes and returned two of the four kickoffs he returned for touchdowns, in addition to leading the team in tackling.
“What it really says is the type of competitor he is,” Pedersen said. “If you’re going to lead both of those (rushing and tackling), be our punter, lead us in kickoff returns, you’re not going to get a rest. Trenton couldn’t take a play off. He committed to that. It’s one thing to turn around and hand it off, but when you’re running the ball, it’s taxing. It’s pretty impressive he’s able to do that. Couldn’t have had a much better year.”
Joining Wells on the all-state offense was junior receiver Peyton Pedersen, a second-team selection.
Pedersen’s switch from quarterback to wide receiver paid off for the Cardinals this year, giving Wells a big target to throw the ball to.
“It just fits his personality quite a bit better,” coach Pedersen said. “He didn’t feel comfortable throwing the ball. He’s a really skilled dude, that when you put him out on the edge, he’s tall enough and lanky enough to go get the ball. He’s pretty shifty once he gets the ball.”
Pedersen ranked fifth in Class 1A in receiving with 932 yards and 10 touchdowns on 57 catches. But in addition to leading the Cardinals in receiving, he also improved as a blocker on the edge.
“That’s probably the biggest improvement he’s made,” coach Pedersen said. “He made a lot of catches, but if you get on film, he became a very good edge blocker. If you bet me $1,000 before the year, I don’t think I’d have said that would be a strength.”
If the Cardinals needed a big play in a tough spot, they knew they could always throw the ball up to Pedersen, a 6-4, 180-pound receiver.
“If we get in trouble, most of the time, we can throw it up and Peyton can go up and get it,” coach Pedersen said. “If we get in a long situation, we always had confidence we could do it. It wasn’t a shock where we were going to throw the ball.”
Defensively, Pedersen led the Cardinals with seven interceptions for the year.
Defense
Joining Wells on the INA’s first team was senior defensive back Noah Bishop, who ranked third on the team in tackles with 56.5 tackles.
As the season went along, the Cardinals made a switch on defense that was made easy because of how well Bishop and Pedersen played in the defensive backfield.
“We started out as a 4-3 cover 2 team,” coach Pedersen explained. “He was an extremely strong corner for us. As the year progressed, we went to more of a man-to-man to shut the run down. He was able to turn around and cover their best guy every night. He had five picks and did a good job. To be that versatile on both sides was big.”
At just 5-11, 155 pounds, Bishop ranked as one of the top tacklers for the Cardinals, being able to come up and help stop the run.
“Noah is not the biggest guy in the world, but he does a tremendous job of tackling,” Pedersen said. “Hits low, he’s fast. Can take guys down consistently. Noah is a really quick guy in the box. He was able to use that to his advantage guarding people or tackling people.”
With Pedersen and Bishop in the defensive backfield, the Cardinals felt comfortable loading up to stop the run.
“Big part of when we went to that man scheme was that Peyton and Noah both were going to take the top two guys,” coach Pedersen said. “We felt like until that Regina game, we always had an advantage in the backfield.”
He provided another big-play threat at receiver, as well. Bishop finished third on the team in receiving with 20 catches for 308 yards and one touchdown.
“He was our big play guy,” Pedersen said. “We were running the ball a lot and Peyton caught a lot of passes, but there’d always be two or three times throughout the game we’d try to hit Noah long. To his credit, he bought into that. He blocked really well. He’d take advantage of his two or three opportunities per game.”
Earning a second-team nod at linebacker was 5-9, 210-pound senior Peyton Gilbert.
Gilbert suffered a spiral fracture in his foot during the first game of the season against Nodaway Valley. It was the same injury that sidelined Iowa State’s Georges Niang during last year’s NCAA Tournament.
“Trenton was our best player, but PG was maybe our most important player,” Pedersen said. “Talk about being the heart and soul of your team. He was the heartbeat. It’s tough to be that heartbeat when you’re on the sideline. He tried. He overcame adversity with his foot to play. It’s scary how well he played on one foot. For him to have the impact he had while playing hurt like that is nothing short of amazing.”
Gilbert played in only two district games because of the foot injury, yet was still respected enough by opposing coaches for how he played to receive a unanimous first-team all-district spot at linebacker.
He finished the year with 50 tackles, which ranked fourth for the Cardinals despite missing five games with injury.
“He reads extremely fast,” Pedersen said. “We changed our scheme up for him so that he didn’t have to go from sideline to sideline as much. He just couldn’t move like he could in years past. He’s an extremely hard hitter once he arrives. Every week we played, they had a big-time tailback and it ended up being PG vs. that tailback. There were a lot of collisions those last five weeks.”
With the season on the line going into the Woodward-Granger game, Gilbert knew he had to make an early return from his injury.
“After the Southwest Valley game, I said, ‘We have to beat Woodward-Granger or we’re going to be out of the playoffs,’” Pedersen said. “PG was sitting on the mat rolling out, and he looked up and said, ‘Well then I have to play.’ He said, ‘If I get the OK from my parents can I play?’”
Gilbert returned against Woodward-Granger, three weeks before he was supposed to, and sparked Central Decatur’s run to the quarterfinals.
Central Decatur’s offensive explosion late in the season directly correlated with Gilbert’s return at fullback.
“As important as he was, and he was our lifeline on the defensive side, when our offense was really rolling late in the year was when he started playing both ways,” Pedersen said. “He was our edge blocker and he’s so physical at that point of attack, we were able to make those gaps a little bit bigger for Trenton. Then you have to tackle him in space, and that’s not good.”