Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

After a trip to the state title game last season West High coach Garrett Hartwig knew his West High squad was going to get everyone’s best shot this season.

It took less than 12 minutes of Friday’s season opener at Southeast Polk for Hartwig to be proved correct.

Southeast Polk jumped to a 14-0 first-quarter lead before West High rattled off 37 of the next 43 points on its way to a 37-27 win.  

“We got hit in the mouth,” Hartwig said flatly of the early deficit. “And we responded.”

Southeast Polk went 5-5, reached the 4A postseason a year ago and brought back a talent-laden roster led by sophomore running back Gavin Williams who put the Rams up 14-0 when he took a screen pass 74 yards for a touchdown with 27 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Against the ropes in its first game of the season West High fought back.

“We just needed to absorb their hit and just play our own football,” Hartwig said. “Like anybody would you naturally start to wonder what is going on but we saw immediately what we were doing wrong and we didn’t get it corrected until the end of the first quarter but luckily it was enough time to get the ship righted.”

Senior quarterback Evan Flitz led the way that the pulled the Trojans to within 17-14 with a pair of second quarter touchdown runs.

West High took a 20-17 lead into the half after a Traevis Buchanan 26-yard touchdown run and never trailed again.

The Trojans scored back-to-back touchdowns to break a 20-all tie while improving to 1-0.

For Hartwig the slow start was a surprise, the fight his team showed in coming back was not.

“It was what we expected them to do,” Hartwig said. “It was not so much that I was surprised that they regrouped and came back I was more disappointed in how we started.”  

Flitz picked up where he left off last season, completing 15-of-23 passes for 363 yards.

Buchanan caught seven passes for 137 yards while Jalen Gaudet had four grabs for 114 yards.

“We have a very steady veteran quarterback and some receivers who have been down the road and tight ends like Dillon Doyle and Jason Strunk,” Hartwig said. “We knew some things about our selves going in and we have things that we have to find out and the only way to do that is to play in the big games early. We learned quite a bit from the start.”

SMASHING DEBUT: With only three returning starters from last year’s 4A quarterfinal team there were plenty of question around City High during the preseason.

There was also a sense of optimism around the Little Hawk coaching staff about the group that was back.

City High showed a massive crowd at Linn-Mar on Friday why the coaching staff was excited.

Bryce Hunger passed for 229 yards in his first game at quarterback and Davonte Foster ran for 95 yards and two scores in his first start at running back in a 26-13 win at Linn-Mar.

Senior Zach Jones had a big night with 10 catches for 128 yards and a score but the new faces came up just as big for the Little Hawks.

Sophomore Keshawn Christian caught three passes for 79 yards as City High scored the final 13 points of the game.

SPARTAN SHUTOUT: The defensive plan for Solon entering its annual Highway 1 showdown with Mount Vernon was to stop the Mustang offense from hitting on big plays.

Not only did the Spartans avoid giving up the big play they made a few of their own.

Coal Flansburg returned an interception for a touchdown on the first play of the game and Adam Bock recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for another score and Solon posted its fourth shutout in its last 10 games with a 19-0 win at Cornell College.

Solon kept a Mount Vernon offense that averaged better than 46 points per game a year ago off the scoreboard on Friday and held the Mustangs to 244 yards of offense.

“I thought we kept a pretty good offense at bay,” Solon coach Kevin Miller said. “You know, they got some plays and some yards, but they didn’t make any big plays, and that was really our goal coming in, preventing the big play.”

It was the first time the high-power Mount Vernon offense had been shutout since 2011 and the first shutout for Solon in the series since a 37-0 win over Mount Vernon in 2010. 

OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: City High senior Zach Jones got his senior season off to a big start in week one.

Jones caught 10 passes for 128 yards and a 27-yard touchdown and also returned a punt 65 yards for a score in a 26-13 win over Linn-Mar.

BEST OF THE REST: West Branch junior quarterback Beau Cornwell completed 11-of-21 passes for 169 yards and four scores in a 35-20 win over West Liberty.

West High senior quarterback Evan Flitz threw for 363 yards and also ran for 37 yards and two touchdowns in a 37-27 win over Southeast Polk.

West Branch sophomore Tanner Lukavsky rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for 21 yards and two scores against West Liberty.

DEFENSIVE PERFORMER OF THE WEEK: Everyone in a Solon uniform deserves to be mentioned after the Spartans shut down one of the top offenses in Class 2A last season.

Kendrick Harris had a sack and blocked a punt and Coal Flansburg and Greg Brandt each had interceptions for Solon.

BEST OF THE REST: Clear Creek Amana senior defensive end Tanner Cochrane had two sacks among his seven tackles in a 14-7 loss to Mount Pleasant.

Regina junior linebacker Nick Milder had nine solo stops and a sack in a 23-6 loss to Cedar Rapids Xavier.

West Branch senior defensive lineman Andrew Black had 8.5 tackles and a sack in a 35-20 win over West Liberty.