Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Class 4A No. 3 West High (2-0) at 4A No. 8 Cedar Falls (2-0)  

Where: UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, 7:15 p.m.

Last Season: West High 17, Cedar Falls 10

Player to Watch: Cedar Falls junior running back Sam Gary (5-11, 198) is averaging better than 11 yards per carry while rushing for 302 yards and six touchdowns in two games.

Key Stat: Cedar Falls is averaging 7.5 yards per rushing attempt this season while West High has limited opponents to 2.8 yards per carry.

About the Trojans: A week after falling into a 14-0 hole after one quarter against Southeast Polk in a season-opening win West High scored 21 first-quarter points in a 51-3 rout of Muscatine.

Senior quarterback Evan Flitz has been razor sharp through two games, passing for 572 yards and four touchdowns while completing 71 percent of his passes.

Traevis Buchanan (12 receptions for 245 yards) and Jalen Gaudet (7 receptions for 206 yards) give Flitz a pair of big-time targets.

About the Tigers: Two games into the season Cedar Falls has nearly equaled its scoring output from all of last season when the Tigers finished 6-3.

Cedar Falls has scored 120 points in back-to-back wins over Fort Dodge and Ames after scoring 145 points all of last season.

The Tigers have done most of their damage on the ground averaging 282 rushing yards per game but senior quarterback Luke Gillett has been efficient, throwing for 270 yards and five touchdowns without an interception.

City High (1-1) at Ames (1-1)

Where: Ames Stadium, 7:15 p.m.

Last Season: Ames 30, City High 27 (OT)

Player to Watch: Ames senior quarterback Joe Evans (6-3, 215) has passed for 362 yards and five touchdowns and completed 57 percent of his passes.  

Key Stat: City High sophomore receiver Keshawn Christian (6-2, 174) is averaging 33 yards per catch on five receptions.

About the Little Cyclones: Ames opened the season with a 43-13 win at Marshalltown but was hammered by Cedar Falls 65-7 in its home opener last week.

Evans directs an Ames offense that averaged 23.7 points per game last season and has scored 30 points or more in two of three meetings with City High.

Junior Will Krapfl (6-3, 195) is the top target for Evans catching eight passes for 105 yards and a pair of touchdowns this season.

About the Little Hawks: City High never got going in a 35-0 loss to Pleasant Valley last week as the Little Hawks were shutout for the first time since a 34-0 loss at Ottumwa in 2014.

Senior quarterback Bryce Hunger has thrown for 387 yards in his first two starts at quarterback with the receiver duo of Zach Jones and Keshawn Christian combining for 18 catches for 361 yards.

A meeting with Ames may be just what City High needs to get its offense going. The Little Hawks have averaged 24.3 points and 390 yards of offense in three games with Ames putting up more than 400 yards of offense in two of the three meetings.

Clear Creek Amana (0-2) at Dubuque Wahlert (0-2)

Where: The Rock Bowl in Dubuque, 7:15 p.m.

Last Season: Clear Creek Amana 24, Dubuque Wahlert 14

Player to Watch: Dubuque Wahlert senior running back Kolton Bartow (5-11, 185) has rushed for 291 yards and two touchdowns in two games while averaging 5.4 yards per carry.

Key Stat: Between 27 rush attempts and nine receptions Clear Creek Amana senior Matt Brimeyer is averaging 5.9 yards per offensive touch.

About the Clippers: After a strong defensive effort in its opener Clear Creek Amana got its offense going last week against Independence putting up 337 yards but allowed 459 total yards to the Mustangs including 335 on the ground in a 35-7 loss.

The Clippers will look to put a full game together on both sides of the ball against Wahlert as first-year head coach Gabe Bakker goes for his first win leading the program.

Senior quarterback Ethan Postler passed for 251 yards last week against Independence with senior Darius Moore snagging eight passes for 108 yards in his season debut.

About the Golden Eagles: The 0-2 non-district record is a little deceiving for Wahlert with back-to-back losses to Class 4A opponents by a combined five points.

Wahlert lost to Western Dubuque 12-10 in the opener and dropped a 27-24 overtime heartbreaker to rival Dubuque Senior last week.

Bartow and Kelan Dickson (5-10, 180) give Wahlert a potent 1-2 punch in the backfield, combining to rush for 439 yards which accounts for nearly 75 percent of the Golden Eagles’ total offense. 

Class 3A No. 1 Solon (2-0) at Keokuk (0-2)

Where: Calvert Stadium in Keokuk, 7:15 p.m.

Last Season: Solon 42, Keokuk 0

Player to Watch: Keokuk sophomore linebacker Dylan Jeffers had seven tackles for loss and four sacks among his team-high 16 tackles this season.

Key Stat: A Keokuk offense that is averaging 144 yards per game faces a Solon defense allowing 185.5 yards per game and coming off consecutive shutouts.

About the Spartans: It’s tough to start a season much better than the way the Solon defense has.

Two games into the season the Spartans are yet to allow a point after shutting out 2A No. 2 Mount Vernon and 1A top-ranked Regina in back-to-back games.

Solon is allowing less than 3.5 yards per rushing attempt while holding teams to 185.5 total yards per game and has forced four turnovers. 

Solon has three non-offensive touchdowns this season and now scored nine touchdowns on defensive or special teams in its past 10 games.

About the Chiefs: Keokuk won four of its final five games to finish 6-3 last season but has opened with back-to-back losses to Central Lee (21-14) and Chariton (14-7).  

Freshman quarterback Corey Skinner passed for 104 yards and a score in his varsity debut against Central Lee but completed just 2-of-18 passes for 27 yards last week against Chariton.

Sophomore Keegan Carter leads the Keokuk rushing attack with 63 yards on nine carries and two scores.

Wapello (1-1) at Class 1A No. 4 Regina (0-2)

Where: Regal Field, 7 p.m.

Last Season: Regina 48, Wapello 6

Player to Watch: Wapello senior quarterback Logan Belzer has passed for 422 yards in the first two games and is coming off a 287-yard, six-touchdown performance last week against Winfield-Mount Union.

Key Stat: Wapello allowed 393 rushing yards in a week one loss to New London and held Winfield-Mount Union to 18 rushing yards on 28 carries in a 42-0 win last week.

About the Indians: Wapello started 5-1 last season with the only loss a 48-6 setback to Regina, before dropping two of its final three games to finish 6-3.

The Indians bounced back from a 25-0 season-opening loss to New London with a 42-0 win over Winfield-Mount Union last week.

Ricky Pforts leads the Indians with 104 rushing yards while Brenton Ross has become the favorite target for Belzer hauling in seven passes for 146 yards and three touchdowns.

About the Regals: Regina is off to its first 0-2 start in 11 seasons under head coach Marv Cook following a 33-0 loss to Solon last week. The shutout was the first for Regina since 2008.

Regina was held to 123 yards last week and is averaging 206.5 yards per game during its 0-2 start.

The Regals will try to bounce back this week against a Wapello team that they put up 397 yards on last season.

Isaac Vollstedt leads Regina with 219 rushing yards while Michael Conlon has passed for 177 yards and a touchdown.

Jesup (0-3) at 1A No. 10 West Branch (2-0)

Where: The Little Rose Bowl, 7:30 p.m.

Last Season: West Branch 35, Jesup 14

Player to Watch: Jesup senior Cole VanBrocklin (5-8, 157) leads the J-Hawks on both sides of the ball, rushing for a team-best 216 yards and making a team-high 25 tackles.

Key Stat: After allowing better than 450 yards in the season opener the West Branch defense held West Burlington/Notre Dame to 122 yards of total offense last week.

About the Bears: West Branch recorded its second consecutive impressive win to open the season, downing Class 3A West Burlington/Notre Dame 30-6.

The Bears have been balanced on offense through two weeks with junior quarterback Beau Cornwell throwing for 363 yards and five touchdowns and sophomore running back Tanner Lukavsky rushing for 235 yards and two scores.

Seniors Jacob Graves and Ben Thompson are the top targets for Cornwell with 10 receptions each. Graves leads the team with 160 receiving yards while Thompson has three TD grabs about his 10 catches.

About the J-Hawks: Jesup has been outscored 135-13 in three straight losses to open the season following a 40-0 shutout at the hands of North Linn last week.

The J-Hawks haven’t had an easy road early with their three losses coming to teams with a combined 7-0 record.

Three different Jesup players have combined to complete 19-of-49 passes for 133 yards with six interceptions and one touchdown.