Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Stepping into a new role is never easy for a football player and doing it as a sophomore is even tougher.

When that new role is replacing one of the best players in program history its downright difficult.

Tanner Lukavsky has made that transition look easy.

In his first season replacing the all-time leading rusher at West Branch Luke Lenoch as the lead ball carrier in the Bear backfield Lukavsky has posted four consecutive 100-yard rushing performances after running for a career-high 141 yards in a 38-21 win over Maquoketa Valley on Friday.

“I’m getting more comfortable,” Lukavsky said. “I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable working with my line. They are opening the holes wide and making it easy for me to read it.”

Lukavsky is no rookie.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound sophomore ranked third on the team with 39.5 tackles as a linebacker last season.

On offense Lukavsky caught 14 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns but didn’t record a carry.

This season he didn’t just take on a new position with his move to running back but had to replace Lenoch, who left West Branch with more than 6,000 career rushing yards.

So far, so good for Lukavsky.

He gained 119 yards in his running back debut and hasn’t slowed down.

 “He’s still only a sophomore and this is really his first time really running the ball,” West Branch coach Butch Pedersen said. “He hasn’t played much running back so he’s doing pretty well.”

In four games Lukavsky has rushed for 477 yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 5.6 yards per carry.

Lukavsky had the best game of his career against the Wildcats on Friday.

His 141 yards came on a career-high 29 carries and he scored touchdowns on runs of 3, 6 and 4 yards.  

“There are certain points when he runs like a bull and other times he dances,” Pedersen said. “We are trying to get the consistency going with him because he’s a great athlete and he’s slowly growing and before he’s done he’s going to be one of the better ones we’ve ever had at West Branch.”

His time as a pass catcher last season has helped make Lukavsky a multi-faceted back.

He already has 10 receptions for 114 yards and three receiving touchdowns this season in a more wide-open Bear offensive attack.

“Having a balanced offense is a lot better than running the ball 40 or 45 times a game,” Lukavsky said. “When you do that teams are going to load the box and we’ve been able to be balanced this year.

Boot Heads West

For the first time since 2014 the Boot is headed to the West side of town.

West High made sure of that with an emphatic 52-6 win over City High in the annual cross-town Battle for the Boot.

The West High win snapped an eight-game losing skid for the Trojans at Bates Field and was the first victory for West High at City High since 1999.

The 52 points were the most ever for West High in a boot game and the second highest total for any team and the most since City High scored 54 in 1984.

The 46-point win was the largest margin of victory in the history of the series, the previous mark was a 45-0 City High win in 1991.

Offensive Player of the Week

After two solid outings that ended with losses Ethan Postler played his best game yet in the first win of the season for Clear Creek Amana.

The senior quarterback completed 17-of-20 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns in a 51-0 win over Maquoketa.

Postler had touchdown passes of 68, 11 and 11 yards to three different receivers.

Best of the Rest

·         Regina senior running back Isaac Vollstedt rushed for174 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries in a 42-20 win over Sigourney-Keota.

·         West Branch junior quarterback Beau Cornwell completed 23-of-29 passes for 214 yards and a touchdown and also ran for 53 yards and a score in a 38-21 win over Maquoketa Valley.

·         West High senior linemen Jonathan Gannon and Guy Snow and their teammates helped pave the way for the Trojans to average better than eight yards per carry while rushing for 300 yards               and six touchdowns.

Defensive Player of the Week

Solon was dominant on defense for the fourth straight week and Jack Stahle became the latest in an increasingly long line of Spartans to come up with a big play.

Stahle returned an interception 24 yards for a touchdown and helped Solon post its third shutout in four games with a 40-0 blanking of Washington.

The senior defensive back also had two solo stops among his three tackles on Friday.

Best of the Rest

<!–[if !supportLists]–>·         West High senior defensive end Dillon Shephard had 2.5 sacks among his 4.5 tackles in a 52-6 win over City High.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>·         <!–[endif]–>Regina senior defensive end Cole White had a team-high 6.5 tackles, including six solo stops, in his Regina debut in a 42-20 win over Sigourney-Keota.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>·         <!–[endif]–>Clear Creek Amana junior Quentin Gisleson had his second straight two-interception performance, picking off two passes in a 51-0 shutout of Maquoketa.