POCAHONTAS — Manson Northwest Webster kept its recent theme of a dominating defense going in a clash between Class 1A, District 2 rival Pocahontas Area here on Friday night.

Head coach Zach Noffsinger’s Cougars pushed their win streak to three and remained unblemished in district action, toppling Pocahontas Area by a final of 21-0.

MNW has now won seven straight district contests after going undefeated and winning the district championship last fall.

The Cougars limited the Indians to four first downs and just 75 yards of total offense.

“We knew we had something going with our defensive group going into the season,” Noffsinger said. “We had a couple of tough out-of-district outings at the start (of the season), but they have found their traction lately with just 19 points given up the last three weeks.

“When we get that kind of effort, it allows us to get our offense opened up, even if we start a little slow.”

After an opening stanza that featured no points and just three first downs between the two sides, the visitors got their rushing attack going in spades.

Controlling the line at every turn, the Cougars finally cracked through, as senior tight end Mason Anderson ripped the seam up the middle and found the end zone early in the frame.

MNW hit paydirt again later in the quarter after an interception near midfield set up a short drive. Junior wide receiver/quarterback Coy Moline dove into the end zone from three yards out.

“Coy got us going,” Noffsinger said. “We have been moving parts around in our wing-T look. It’s starting to produce impressive results, led by the line getting us space to work.”

Moline did a little bit of everything, carrying the ball 27 times for 149 yards, hitting the only pass attempt to senior wide receiver Jack Hoeppner for 41 yards and also finding himself in the Indians’ offensive backfield for a large share of the evening.

The Cougars closed out the scoring in the final stanza with junior running back Tegan Thoma going around the left side for a 15-yard scoring scamper.

Pocahontas Area (1-4, 0-2) did have opportunities to get their home crowd going.

The Indians turned over the visitors with a fumble recovery on the first drive near midfield, and had a slick 70-yard-plus kickoff return for what looked like a touchdown from sophomore Karson Welander potentially pointing their way.

However, MNW’s defense got the ball right back after the turnover with an interception — one of four they took in — while Welander’s house call was negated by a penalty.

Hoeppener had two interceptions, Thoma, Aiden Nelson had one each.

“We need to find a way to be more physical up front — that’s what it comes down to,” Indians head coach Mike Ehn said. “You have to credit Manson Northwest Webster, as they were just more the physical team. We did have some chances, but could not take advantage of them.”

MNW (3-2, 2-0) makes a key road trip to perennial power Emmetsburg Friday. PAC welcomes South Hamilton for its 2025 Homecoming game the same evening. Both games kickoff at 7 p.m.

PAC MNW

First downs 4 16

Rushes-yds. 19-48 48-243

Passing yds. 27 41

Total yds. 75 284

Return yds. 102 50

Penalties-yds. 5-40 5-30

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1

Punts-avg. 4-34.5 4-35

Score by quarters

MNW 0 14 0 7 — 21

PAC 0 0 0 0 — 0

Second Quarter

MNW – Mason Anderson 41-yard run (Miljan Rasovik kick)

MNW – Coy Moline 3-yard run (Rasovik kick)

Fourth Quarter

MNW – Tegan Thoma 15-yard run (Rasovik kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – MNW: Isaiah Daggett 2-(-15); Mason Anderson 3-46; Charlie Sturgis 11-53; Dawson Marine 3-14; Coy Moline 27-149; Tegan Thoma 5-20; PAC: Blake Bunda 9-16; Karson Welander 3-14; Brayden Hudson 1-4; Xander Small 2-5; Ian 1-4; Christian Valenzuela 1-7; Logan Shiflett 2-(-2)

Passing – MNW: Moline 1-1-41; PAC: Bunda 4-10-2-27, Welander 0-1-1-0, Valenzuela 0-2-1-0.

Receiving – MNW: Jack Hoeppner 1-41; PAC: Welander 2-7; Shiflett 2-20.