Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

WEST BRANCH – In an offensive onslaught that featured better than 80 points and 1,000 yards of total offense it was a defensive play that secured the outcome.

Ben Thompson came up with a diving interception in the final seconds as Class 1A No. 9 West Branch (5-0) held on for a thrilling 45-41 win over No. 8 Bellevue (4-1) on a steamy Friday night at the Little Rose Bowl in West Branch.

“I was just trying to do what our d-backs coach says, I had to bump him and not let him over the top or inside,” Thompson said. “I just tried to get as much hands on as I could and then I turned and the ball was there and I caught it.”

Offense ruled the day for 47 minutes, 50 seconds on Friday.

Beau Cornwell passed for a school-record 343 yards and three touchdowns and West Branch rolled up a season-high 524 yards of offense but couldn’t shake the Comets until Thompson snagged a tipped pass at the Bear 1-yard line with 6 seconds left.

Bellevue quarterback Cade Daugherty threw for 317 yards and rushed for 85 more as the Comets finished with 560 yards of offense but committed five turnovers including the game-clinching interception by Thompson.

“We told them at the very end, it takes one play,” West Branch coach Butch Pedersen said. “We were pretty tough from the 30-yard line in, we let them get away from us outside the 30 a few times but we were pretty tough from the 30 on in so we had faith we could do it.”

With the win, West Branch moved to 3-0 in District 3 play and avenged a 26-13 loss to the Comets last season.

West Branch and Clayton Ridge are the lone 3-0 teams in District 3 play with four games remaining.

“It means a lot because now we are in first place in the district,” West Branch senior Jacob Graves said. “We are in a good spot now.”

With fatigue setting in on a warm night and two red-hot offenses firing up late the second half quickly turned into a shootout.

Both teams scored on back-to-back fourth quarter drives as the lead changed hands four times in the final 7:32.

Bellevue marched 69 yards to the West Branch nine with 11 seconds left but on a second-and-goal play Thompson cut in front of a receiver and made a diving catch of the game-clinching interception.

“I knew we were going to eventually stop them,” Cornwell said. “I knew our defense would make a play at the right time.”

West Branch led 28-13 at the half thanks to touchdown runs of 28 and 18 yards by sophomore Tanner Lukavsky and a pair of scoring strikes from Cornwell to Graves.

A 67-yard strike from Cornwell to Graves with 23 seconds left in the half gave the Bears a 15-point halftime cushion.

“We were clicking on all cylinders in that first half and that was a great feeling,” Cornwell said. “I thought we were really sharp.”

A 27-yard Cornwell field goal put West Branch up 31-13 with 4:43 left in the third quarter.

A game that looked like it could be a blowout turned into a shootout in a hurry.

Hunter Clasen returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown to start a string of 21 unanswered Bellevue points in a span of just more than nine minutes.

Bellevue took a 34-31 lead on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Daugherty to Trevor Hager with 7:32 left.

It was back and forth the rest of the way.

West Branch answered quickly on a 31-yard strike from Cornwell to Thompson to go back up 38-34 just 61 seconds later.

“That was huge,” Thompson said. “We always keep our heads up, we knew we were fine and we were going to make a play.”

Both quarterbacks took turns giving their teams the lead with 1-yard touchdown plunges on fourth and goal.

Daugherty scored on a quarterback sneak to put Bellevue up 41-38 with 3:06 left.

Cornwell returned the favor capping a six-play, 86-yard drive by pushing in from a yard out on a quarterback sneak that put the Bears up 45-41 with 54 seconds left.

“It was quarterback sneak all the way,” Cornwell said. “Coach (John) Hierseman knew right away and I told Graves and Tanner if I can’t get in you guys make me get in and all the guys up front did a great job of blocking for me.”

The go-ahead scoring drive for West Branch started with a 63-yard strike from Cornwell to Graves.

Cornwell was flushed from the pocket but found Graves all alone down the sideline for a gain that took him to the Comet 23-yard line.

“I improvised,” Graves said. “It was supposed to be a post and I saw Beau start to scramble and I just went up field. We were trying to pick up some yards and get some momentum but it worked out and we got a huge gain.”

Daugherty nearly pulled off a miracle drive in the final 52 seconds.

He hit Clasen for 18 yards and Dillon Rentz for 25 before scrambling 26 yards to the Bear 9 yard line.

Two plays later Thompson came up with the third interception and fifth takeaway of the game for the West Branch defense.

“We just wanted try to control them really, there is no stopping them when they have that many weapons,” Thompson said. “The main goal for us was just to slow them down.”

It was a historic offense night for West Branch.

Cornwell who broke the single-game school record for passing yards of 303 set by Aaron Vincent against Mount Vernon in 1996.

Cornwell finished 18-of-27 passing for 343 yards and three touchdowns.

Graves caught five passes for a school-record 168 yards, breaking the previous mark of 163 set by Cooper Kabela last season.

“In the end, what people are going to remember is the wins so I’m just glad we got the win,” Cornwell said. “That’s all I was thinking about today was winning the game.”

                                West Branch            Bellevue

First Downs               22                               20

Rushes-Yards             37-181                        36-243

Comp-Att-Int               18-27-1                       13-29-3

Passing Yards             343                            317

Punts-Avg.                  4-34                           2-35.5

Fumbles-Lost              0-0                            2-2

Penalties-Yards           5-30                           8-50

Bellevue          7     6    14   14  –  41

West Branch   7    21    3    14  –  45

BEL – Hunter Clasen 63 pass from Cade Daugherty (Ty Kloser kick)

WB – Jacob Graves 12 pass from Beau Cornwell (Cornwell kick)

WB – Tanner Lukavsky 28 run (Cornwell kick)                                         

WB – Lukavsky 18 run (Cornwell kick)                                                       

BEL – Clasen 26 pass from Daugherty (Kick failed)                                

WB – Graves 67 pass from Cornwell (Cornwell kick)                                

WB – Cornwell 27 field goal                                                                        

BEL – Clasen 82 kick off return (Kloser kick)                                            

BEL – Trevor Hager 33 pass from Daugherty (Kloser kick)                      

BEL – Hager 39 pass from Daugherty (Kloser kick)                               

WB – Ben Thompson 31 pass from Cornwell (Cornwell kick)                  

BEL – Daugherty 1 run (Kloser kick)                                                         

WB – Cornwell 1 run (Cornwell kick)                                                        

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – WB: Tanner Lukavsky 29-160, Jacob Graves 3-6, Beau Cornwell 5-15. BEL: Hunter Clasen 25-158, Cade Daugherty 11-85.

PASSING – WB: Beau Cornwell 18-27-1 343. BEL: Cade Daugherty 13-29-3 317.

RECEIVING – WB: Jacob Graves 5-168, Brett Schiele 5-69, Tanner Lukavsky 4-32, Ben Thompson 3-46, Brady Lukavsky 1-28. BEL: Hunter Clasen 5-119, Trey Daugherty 3-73, Trevor Hager 2-72, Conrad Ernst 2-28, Dillon Rentz 1-25.