IOWA FALLS — The 14th-ranked (NJCAA Div. I) Iowa Central football team did what it needed to do in a 55-23 victory at Ellsworth on Saturday.

Now, head coach Jesse Montalto’s group can breathe a little sigh of relief heading into the stretch run of the season.

The Tritons (5-3 overall) exploded for six touchdowns in the middle two quarters to wipe out the Panthers (3-5) at Cadet Field. A balanced offensive attack led to 550 total yards for Iowa Central, which won for the third time in four weeks and bounced back from last Saturday’s setback at No. 10 Coffeyville.

“I think the biggest thing was we took better care of the football,” Montalto said after facing his former program. “We’ve been averaging at least this much offense yardage-wise recently, but we’ve gotten in our own way too often with (self-inflicted mistakes).

“We still have a lot of things we need to clean up, especially on the penalty front. This bye week comes at a perfect time to work more on ourselves and get healthy heading into the last three games of the regular season.”

Three different Tritons caught, passed and ran for touchdowns, as Iowa Central rushed for 296 yards and threw for 254 more. Quarterbacks Trevon Taylor, Damarcus Creecy and Ty Purdy had TD tosses, while Marcellus Chandler, Anthony Hall and Creecy hit paydirt on the ground. Chandler scored twice.

Sejhe Jackson, Darrion Gilliam and Kamare Williams had the touchdown receptions. Taylor found Williams and Jackson in the first half from 26 and 70 yards out, respectively; the latter came in the final 20 seconds before intermission to make it 28-10.

CJ Phillip rushed for 101 yards on just six carries, with Creecy (71) and Hall (66) not far behind. Jackson (100 yards), Jacob Kania (71) and Williams (56) were the leading receivers.

Ahmad Grayer also found the end zone on a blocked punt for ICCC. The Tritons intercepted three errant Panther passes and recovered a fumble defensively.

“We played the way we needed to overall,” Montalto said. “We gave up some points, but Ellsworth has a solid team. We left some points out there and had a few mental errors that cost us. For the most part, though, we took care of business.”

The Tritons are off this Saturday before hosting Independence (Nov. 8) and 13th-rated Butler (Nov. 22) at Dodger Stadium around a road trip to No. 6 Garden City on Nov. 15. All three of Iowa Central’s losses to date have been against Top-10 opponents, including top-ranked Hutchinson and No. 2 Iowa Western in back-to-back weeks last month.

“You get a little beat up during a stretch like that,” Montalto admitted. “We’re still trying to get all of our guys back and be as close to 100 percent as possible.

“There’s a path to eight wins and a bowl game, and that’s what we’re focusing on now.”

IC E

First Downs 25 18

Rushes-Yards 38-296 34-210

Passing 13-23-0 14-27-3

Passing Yards 254 180

Total Offense 550 390

Iowa Central 7 21 20 7 – 55

Ellsworth 7 3 7 6 – 23

Scoring summary

Ellsworth – Deandre Rutherford 11-yard run, 12:09 left first quarter.

Iowa Central – Demarcus Creecy 6-yard run, 4:44 left first.

Iowa Central – Creecy 14-yard run, 9:11 left second.

Iowa Central – Trevor Taylor (26-yard pass to Kamare Williams), 2:24 left second.

Ellsworth – Ben Denton 31-yard field goal, 0:35 left second.

Iowa Central – Taylor (70-yard pass to Sejhe Jackson), 0:20 left second.

Iowa Central – Ty Purdy (13-yard pass to Darrion Gilliam), 11:06 left third.

Ellsworth – Armoud Seals (33-yard pass to Donte Ferrell), 8:55 left third.

Iowa Central – Ahmad Grayer (blocked punt return), 4:23 left third.

Iowa Central – Marcellus Chandler (5-yard run), 2:21 left third.

Ellsworth – Seals (39-yard pass to Ferrell), 13:48 left fourth.

Iowa Central – Chandler (5-yard run), 7:07 left fourth.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Iowa Central: CJ Phillip 6-101, Damarcus Creecy 12-71, Anthony Hall 7-66, Terrance Topete 3-15, Ethan Johnson 4-13, Ty Purdy 2-11, Marcellus Chandler 2-10, Drew Hanks 2-9. Ellsworth: Deandre Rutherford 21-136, Armoud Seals 10-40, Landen Mickelson 2-26, Tyvon Cade 1-8.

Passing – Iowa Central: Trevon Taylor 3-6-0-111, Damarcus Creecy 5-7-0-73, Ty Purdy 5-10-0-70. Ellsworth: Armoud Seals 8-14-1-121, Drew Paulakovich 4-8-2-35, Landen Mickelson 2-5-0-24.

Receiving – Iowa Central: Sejhe Jackson 2-100, Jacob Kania 3-71, Kamare Williams 3-56, Anthony Hall 1-19, Darrion Gilliam 2-16, Ahdan Muhammad 1-11, Sencerre Brown 1-5, Ethan Johnson 1-4. Ellsworth: Donte Ferrell 2-74, Deandre Rutherford 3-44, Shane Helmick 3-28, Nick Stevenson 2-27, Omarion Lewis 1-19, Jesse Abruscati 1-6, Ryan Sinnott 1-5, Aaron Logan 1-4.