2017 River Battle Bowl Preview

The third playing of the River Battle Bowl, sponsored by The Graphic Edge, will be the series’ first tiebreaker between Iowa and Nebraska all-star high school football teams. Nebraska won the inaugural River Battle Bowl in 2015, topping Iowa 21-12. Iowa answered in 2016 with a convincing 31-7 win.

Now in its third year, the River Battle Bowl provides outgoing high school football players one more chance to showcase their talents in front of family, friends, and interested college coaches. Athletes are selected to play in the bowl based on performance throughout the year and are invited by the bowl selection committee. Players can also be nominated for consideration by their peers, fans, and coaches.

Returning to coach their state’s all-star teams are Scott Auderer for Iowa and Steve Warren for Nebraska. Auderer is the head coach at Gilbert High School; Warren is the head coach at Omaha Northwest and also runs Warren Academy, an athletic performance training center in Omaha. Both Auderer and Warren have coached their respective all-star teams for all three years of the bowl’s history.

Asked about the tiebreaker, Coach Auderer had this to say: "We talked about it right away at our first meeting on Sunday. Obviously, we're 1-and-1; last year we kind of put it on Nebraska pretty good. We think they're going to want to say something about that this year. We told our players, 'this is the position you're in, and they're going to be coming after you - they probably didn't like what happened last year.'"

Auderer went on to say that, although this is a new rivalry for many of the players involved, it's a rivalry nonetheless and all the players and coaches are driven to represent Iowa in the best possible way.

Coach Warren echoed those sentiments from the Nebraska perspective, stressing that this game is mostly about having fun and playing football one last time before the season ends, but winning is always the goal. "This is a game that's played for wins and losses," he said. "We go out to win, but at the same time we understand that this is a fun game for the kids and we want it to be a great, positive experience for all of them." As for the tiebreaker, Warren said simply, "We absolutely want to get back on top."

Rivalry, competition, and tiebreakers notwithstanding, both coaches agree that the real story of this game is what it means for graduating seniors who are anxious for one last chance to make an impression on college recruiters. "We've had several kids in the past two years that this game has helped to propel into either finalizing an offer they've been wanting or even getting an offer they might not have otherwise had," said Warren.

Coach Auderer has a similar take. "There are multiple kids who have received bigger scholarships or even their first offer out of this game in the past two years," he said. "We had a kicker last year who didn't have any offers coming into the game. He made a 59-yard field goal and ended up with multiple full-ride scholarship offers, including Michigan State, where he ended up going."

That's just one example, according to Auderer. Another such story was a defensive back who, by virtue of three interceptions in last year's game, earned a full-ride scholarship to Northwest Missouri State.

Stories like these, of which Auderer says there are far too many to list, gives the coach hope that his colleagues both in Iowa and across the river in Nebraska, will start to take notice of the game. "Coaches need to understand what this game is all about and if they have kids they would like to be in this game, they need get them nominated."

Nomination forms and additional game coverage can be found on the River Battle Bowl website at www.RiverBattleBowl.com.

Game Time

The newly-renovated football stadium at Treynor High School in Treynor, IA will play to host to this year’s showdown. Game time is 2:00 PM CST on November 25. Tickets can be purchased the day of the game at Treynor Stadium. General Admission Tickets are $15 per person, $10 for students with current student I.D.

Team Iowa Roster

Team Nebraska Roster