MUSCATINE, Iowa – Week two doesn’t get any easier for new Muscatine coach Tony Napierala.

The Muskies will face their stiffest test of the season as they take on second-ranked Bettendorf at Muscatine Community Stadium on Friday night.

“Bettendorf has tradition,” Napierala said. “We’ve got a real challenge. We have to deal with their tailback, split end and tight end – they are all good players.”

Napierala was referring to Jared Masterson (tailback), Pat Brown (split end) and Mitch Overstreet (tight end). Masterson had two touchdowns in last week’s 37-7 win over Pleasant Valley and, Brown scored one on defense after picking up a Masterson fumble.

“Brown will probably the fastest kid on the field (on Friday night),” Napierala said. “We are going to have to execute better with him.”

Though Napierala doesn’t have a lot to complain about after his team’s opening 27-13 win against Davenport Central, he said there is room to improve.

“Hopefully we can do better,” Napierala said. “We did some good things, but we also have some things to improve on.

“We had too many turnovers. We want our pass protection to be more consistent and have a more consistent effort when working with different combinations of kids – we want to be more comfortable with who we are working with.”

The Bettendorf offense, Napierala said, will be

straightforward.

“They’ll try to run right at you,” said Napierala. “They are big and physical. I think their smallest lineman is 215 pounds, so they definitely have a size advantage. To offset that, it is more aggressive with our defensive linemen and linebackers.”

When asked if the personnel was going to change at all for this game, Napierala said he had no comment.

“We are basically going to keep things the same and see what happens,” he said.

The key to the game, said Napierala, will be turnovers.

“We have to play good defense, create turnovers and we can’t turn the ball over ourselves,” Napierala said. “We are going to take what they give us. Defensively, we have to slow them down, create turnovers and if we can do that, we have a good shot.”

Reporter contact information:

Kristi Nixon 563-262-0533

kristi.nixon@muscatinejournal.com

 What: Muscatine vs. Bettendorf

  Where: Muscatine Community Stadium

  When: 7:30 p.m., Friday

  2008 Records: Muscatine 1-0, Bettendorf 1-0

  Coaches: Muscatine, Tony Napierala; Bettendorf, Aaron Wiley

  Last week: Both football teams won their season opener: Muscatine was a 27-13 winner against Davenport Central as Bettendorf topped Pleasant Valley, 37-7. Jared Masterson had a pair of touchdowns for Bettendorf and Pat Brown picked up a Masterson fumble and went in for a score of his own. Muscatine had a 27-0 lead until the fourth quarter before substituting freely.

  Last meeting: Bettendorf defensive pressure got to Muscatine quarterback Jon Phillips in Muscatine 47-10 loss to the Bulldogs. Phillips was running for his life for most of the night despite surpassing Muscatine’s career passing mark against Bettendorf. He managed 195 yards, but just 87 before the game went to a continuous clock while he averaged 400 yards passing a game before the meeting. He was credited for negative 29 yards rushing after being sacked five times. Bettendorf, meanwhile, amassed 389 yards for the game.

  Key facts: Bettendorf has an astounding record against Muscatine during the last 11 years, going 12-2 against the Muskies in that span. The two times Muscatine has gotten the best of the Bulldogs was when Muscatine started its string of winning seasons in 1997 with a hard-fought 23-18 victory and a 2003 playoff victory that sent Muscatine to the UNI-Dome for the first time, 10-3. Both schools are working under first-year coaches. Wiley was an assistant under long-time coach Randy Scott.