Photo by Paul DeCoursey Jesse Montalto, Iowa Central's new football coach, walks the sidelines at Dodger Stadium during the program's spring scrimmage on Saturday.

Jesse Montalto wants to bring a new energy to Iowa Central football.

Part of that started Saturday with the first-ever intrasquad scrimmage at Dodger Stadium, as almost 80 players suited up to conclude the spring practice portion of the schedule.

No score was kept, as the two teams were split into a blue squad and a gray squad. Situation work was included, along with an array of drills.

“These kids have been competing for 14 practices with each other and they know one another on both sides of the ball,” Montalto said. “We tried to keep it as basic as possible. We want our kids to have fun and compete at a high level as we prepare for the fall. I thought we displayed that.”

Montalto, who guided Ellsworth for four seasons, was hired last fall to replace Kevin Twait following his retirement. Most of the players who hit the field were returning following their first season with Iowa Central, while a handful enrolled in January.

While with the Panthers, Montalto won three of four meetings vs. the Tritons, leading the school to four bowl games.

Along with the scrimmage, a silent auction was held during the day. Iowa Central president Dan Kinney and Fort Dodge businessman Matt Dutcher both attempted to catch punts from returning All-American Tyreke Williams, with Dutcher hauling in his for a gift pack.

Future Triton quarterback and current Ankeny Centennial senior Chance Gibbons booted a field goal after being picked from the crowd.

“We just wanted to create some new energy and do something that hasn’t been done here before as a way to get people excited about Iowa Central football,” Montalto said. “We had some nice items on the auction and I thought we created a great tailgate scene here (Saturday) that hopefully we’ll have this fall, as well.”

During the scrimmage, Justin Blake led the Iowa Central offense on a handful of scoring drives, with Rashad Witty also continuing his strong spring on the offensive side of the ball.

“Justin had a really good spring game and Rashad just continues to get better and better,” Montalto said. “On defense, I think Michael Slater is the best defensive lineman in the country. He was all over the field causing problems for our offense.

“We had (newcomer Kevaughn) Dingle get hurt on the first play and we weren’t able to get Kendrick Holland involved much, but those are two special players.”

Now, Montalto and the Tritons will pack in for the summer before amping things up when students return to campus.

“We’ll get better in the fall,” he said. “We’ll have different guys in there battling for spots. We had kids step up and we’ll continue to grow off of this.”

Iowa Central begins the 2018 season on Saturday, Aug. 25 vs. Butler inside Dodger Stadium. They also have home games scheduled with College of DuPage, Highland, Dodge City, Ellsworth and Fort Scott.

IOWA CENTRAL 2018 SCHEDULE

Aug. 25 Butler, noon

Sept. 1 at Iowa Western, 2:30 p.m.

Sept. 8 at Coffeyville, 1 p.m.

Sept. 15 College of DuPage, noon

Sept. 29 Highland, noon

Oct. 6 at Garden City, TBA

Oct. 13 Dodge City, noon

Oct. 20 Ellsworth, noon

Oct. 27 at Independence, TBA

Nov. 3 Fort Scott, noon

Nov. 10 at Hutchinson, TBA