Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Football season kicked off last week with the first full slate of Friday night games across the state.

Week two brings plenty of intrigue as teams outside of Class 4A get a final tune-up before district play begins next week.

Here are five things to keep an eye on around the Your Prep Sports Area in week two contests. 

Don’t Overthink It

Everyone has a theory on how to defend the triple option it is finding one that actually works that can get tricky.

City High has had success slowing the triple option attack of Pleasant Valley the past two seasons.

The Little Hawks allowed just 24 total points in back-to-back wins over Pleasant Valley the past two seasons while holding the Spartans 76 yards under their average for rushing yards a game during that span.

City High limited Pleasant Valley to 137 yards on the ground in a 2015 playoff win and gave up 271 yards on 45 attempts in a 19-17 win last season.

To earn a third straight win over the Spartans on Friday the Little Hawks will need to slow a Pleasant Valley rushing attack that averaged 5.8 yards per carry while rolling up 285 yards in a season-opening win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

The key to stopping the triple option attack? Don’t over think it.

“I think you have to stay aggressive,” City High Coach Dan Sabers said. “People think what about this, what about this, what about this and if you overthink all that then you get into a lot of trouble and then people don’t turn it loose and play. I think you just have to stay aggressive, aggressive, aggressive and then we will take our chances.

Another Shot at Number One

Gabe Bakker has won games as a head football coach, 29 to be exact.

Win number 30 will be one to remember for Bakker.

Bakker will try to notch win number one at Clear Creek Amana when the Clippers travel to Independence (0-2) on Friday.

Clear Creek Amana fell to Mount Pleasant 14-7 in the coaching debut for Bakker last week.

Evan’s Encore

Evan Flitz established himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the state last season when he threw for better than 2,220 yards and 22 touchdowns in 11 games as a junior while directing West High to the state title game.

Flitz got his senior season off to a sizzling start last week completing 15-of-23 passes for a career-high 363 yards.

The loss of all-state receiver Oliver Martin didn’t do much to disrupt Flitz last week as he completed passes to five different receivers.

Flitz gets a matchup with Muscatine (0-1) this week, a team he passed for 210 yards and a score against last season. 

No Panic From The Regals

Regina didn’t get off to the start it wanted last week, especially on offense in a 23-6 loss to Class 3A second-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier.

That is probably the understatement of the opening week and maybe the season.  

Regina came within 20 seconds of being shutout and was held to six points and 290 yards of total offense.

You have to go all the way back to the 2009 season-finale to find the last time Regina failed to reach double figures.

Regina was held to seven points twice in 2009, both in losses to Solon and had scored at least 15 points in 97 straight games before last week’s opener.

That doesn’t mean there is any panic coming from the Regals.

An offense that returned three starters on the offensive line, an all-state quarterback and running back didn’t suddenly forget how to put up points.

“I was confident after the game,” Regina senior Jake Phillips said. “Everyone is going to look at the score and say those guys’ offense isn’t good but with the pieces that I saw in the game, like the offensive line and what they did, how we ran the ball and the way (senior quarterback) Mike (Conlon) is throwing the ball really well, I was honestly really enthused with the offense.”

The Regina offense gets another big test on Friday against a Solon defense that ranks among the best in Class 3A.

Solon shutout Mount Vernon in week one, forcing three turnovers while holding the Mustangs to 248 yards.

Revenge of the Bears

Any time a team drops a game they look forward to a rematch.

West Branch has likely looked forward to Friday’s matchup with Class 3A West Burlington/Notre Dame since the final horn of last year’s meeting.

West Branch out-rushed, out-gained and pretty much out-everythinged the Falcons but still came up on the wrong end of a 27-18 score in a wacky game at the Little Rose Bowl. Quarterback Beau Cornwell was lost for the season on the second series of last year’s game that saw West Burlington/Notre Dame use kick returns to set up a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.

West Branch won the last meeting in West Burlington 38-17 in 2015.