This year, Dallas Center-Grimes (DCG), with growing enrollment, had to make the big jump from 4A to 5A in football. As I was reaching out, doing our previews, I missed the submission from Head Coach Scott Heitland on his fall preview before the season, until week 2 was complete. (all our SGI team has day jobs, so sometimes you let a submission get by you).
I loved what Coach Heitland shared on his outlook, but since the season had started, I put it to the side not quiet sure what I wanted to do with it.
Then I started following DCG on Friday nights and on X @CoachHeitland . That is when I really started to rethink the column on the Mustangs.
Their approach to promoting their program is in my opinion, is one of the best in Iowa. This is long standing smaller school in a growing area, so many of the Mustang Schoolkids have moved into the school district from somewhere else.
So, getting them engaged and excited about being a Mustang is important.
Building that School Spirit connection requires:
Great Marketing – Great Logos sell shirts and gear, and a kid or parent with a shirt on their back or a logo on their back windshield is a walking billboard for the school. DCG has one of the best logos in the state.
DCG has their own YouTube Channel that produces an excellent quality broadcast of every home football game (including watching it on demand).
Excellent Promotion – The DCG Booster Club, Athletic Department, and Administration does some excellent cross promotion in all the main social media channels.
See Above Rally Towels for the first 500 fans tonight. I love to see how DCG is getting kids excited about being a Mustang and creating school and community spirit.
Oh, about the team this year, Coach Heitland and the Mustangs are 3-1 this year in the big step up to 5A.
His preview of the team below is turning out to be very accurate.
Q. What excites you the most about this fall football season?
New opportunities – as we move to Class 5A for the first time we will face an entirely new schedule and opponents. We are excited for the chance to play some great opponents in some amazing environments. Also excited that we bring back a lot of contributors from last year who have had some great off-season work and are better football players than they were a year ago. No one will expect us to do much but we plan to surprise a few people with what we can do on the field.
Q. Can you give us some background on returning players and (new) players
that you are excited about for the 2025 Season?
Offense: We return 7 starters and nearly all of our offensive yard leaders. We start with our QB Chase Engel who will throw to 3 returning WR: Chase Heitland, Wyatt Valenta, and Hudson Heidgerken. Ozzie Grimm will return in the backfield and Landon Montford at tackle. Excited about the emergence of Brody Miller and Lucas Scholl in the offensive line.
Defense: we return 5 starters and some key ones at each level. In the DL Kole Torsky, LB Connor Stolpe and Wyatt Valenta, and as a DB Sampson Johansen. More to replace here but like what we see from early season candidates.
Q. The Conference and District will once again be rugged, What do you think
about this fall schedule?
For the first time in 5A we felt we were given a very competitive schedule. The two that stand out as the most difficult will be Dowling and Waukee simply based upon past seasons and traditions. Then expect CR Kennedy and Waterloo West to be challenging as well. Each game will be a test for us with the move but those four stand out based upon the last 4-5 years and their performance.
Q4. What are your goals for your Football team this year?
We lost 3 games last year by less than 7 points – we were literally 2-3 plays away from being a 5-4 team that could have snuck into the 4A playoff picture. I think this year we want to see improvement in the win column like everyone does and we feel we have a team to do that. If we can play well in close games, not beat ourselves, we think that we may surprise a few people with what we can accomplish.
As always, we appreciate your support and consideration.
