Under a name, the 2022 Game One Bowl (formerly The Graphic Edge Bowl) will feature the #14 Iowa Central Tritons (6-4, 1-1) against the #10 Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College Cardinals (8-2, 7-0) on Sunday, Dec. 4 at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls.
This will be the first-ever matchup between the two teams in their program history, and the first time a team from Texas will participate in Iowa's oldest bowl game -- which began in 1978.
The Tritons will play in their fifth-straight bowl dating back to 2018. They have won all four of the games, most recently a 35-27 win over Monroe (N.Y.) last season.
This year's Iowa Central team has had its highs and lows. Known for their offense, the Tritons boast the second-highest scoring output in the country at 39.5 points per game. Four times they've scored 49 points or more, with their season-high totaling 66 against Ellsworth.
The Tritons reached their highest ranking of the season early on, holding onto the No. 7 ranking for four different polls. At 4-1, Iowa Central got into the heart of their schedule and dropped three of their next four games. Most recently they blew past Highland (Kan.) in their regular season finale on Nov. 5, 50-20.
Offensively Iowa Central is led by a trio of quarterbacks and their comprehensive passing attack. Zach Marker, Justin Silverstein and Omarion Bartlett have thrown for a combined 2757 yards and 39 touchdowns in their 10 games. Marker leads the group with 1162 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Jadon Washington leads a balanced rushing attack in which seven players have run for over 100 yards this season.
Notably, the favorite target of Iowa Central quarterbacks is three-time All-Conference performer and 2022 ICCAC Offensive Player of the Year Desna Washington. The wideout has 49 catches for 812 yards and nine touchdowns -- a top 10 performer in the NJCAA this season. Cal Weidemann is another target of note, but three others have 300 or more receiving yards for the Tritons balanced attack.
As for the tenth-ranked Cardinals of Trinity Valley, they come into the game as the Southwest Junior College Football Conference regular season champions. Through the seven-game conference slate, TVCC went unbeaten -- a perfect 7-0. Their only two losses this season came against No. 5 Snow (in Week 1) and to No. 7 Kilgore in the SWJCFC playoffs -- a team they had already beaten earlier in the year.
Another high-powered offense, Trinity Valley scores 31 points per game, 11th most in the country. They gain over 420 yards per game -- which is top five in the country -- mostly through their passing attack which goes for 260 yards per game.
Darion Peace has thrown for 2146 yards and 18 touchdowns but has given it away with 15 interceptions on the season. Trent Hudson is Peace's primary target. The freshman wide receiver has 641 yards and 6 touchdowns this season.
On the ground, the primary ball carrier is Quincy Thompson. The Cardinal feature back has 820 yards and five touchdowns in 2022.
Both teams allow 20 or more points per game on defense --- with Iowa Central giving up a whole touchdown more than the Cardinals.
Iowa Central is 17-9 in their history at the Game One Bowl. The Tritons have won in each of their last 11 appearances.
This will be Trinity Valley's first Game One Bowl appearance -- their 24th in program history.
Kickoff for the game will be at noon.
For more information on the 2022 Game One Bowl visit www.gameonebowl.com.
