By Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – It wasn’t a perfect performance on offense for the West High football team, but it certainly was a group effort that helped to defeat Cedar Rapids Kennedy on Friday.

West High quarterback Evan Flitz completed passes to nine different receivers and also ran for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass during a 34-20 victory at Trojan Field.

Flitz’s five-yard touchdown reception from Austin Geasland expanded West High’s lead to 17-0 with 5 minutes, 19 seconds left in the second quarter.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever caught a touchdown pass,” Flitz said. “That’s a first.”

Flitz has thrown plenty of touchdown passes for West High and he added another to his list on Friday, connecting with Andre White on a 7-yard scoring strike with 31 seconds left in the first quarter.

West High improved to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in district play, while Kennedy fell to 5-2 and 2-1.

“I’ve been preaching since this summer that we’ve got weapons everywhere and it’s my job to get them the ball and let them do their work,” Flitz said. “They’re dangerous with the ball, and like you saw tonight, guys can make plays all across the board. So that speaks to our depth.”

West High also showed balance on Friday with 292 rushing yards and 187 passing yards.

Senior Trumell Roberts led West High’s ground attack with 106 rushing yards, while fellow senior Andre White complemented him with 81 yards on the ground.

Roberts and White give West High a potent one-two punch at running back, along with contrasting running styles, with Roberts more of a straight-ahead runner and White more elusive.

“They work together very well,” said West High coach Garrett Hartwig. “We knew we had these two all year and it was just a matter of time before we were able to expose them both or one or the other.

“And we have to because when you get into the playoffs you have to be able to run the ball, and you can’t put it all on the back of one guy.”

Flitz also has become a threat on the ground this season, and that was the case again on Friday as he rushed for 67 yards on 16 carries.

The biggest problem for West High’s offense on Friday was holding onto the football. The Trojans lost three fumbles, including two in the third quarter.

Hartwig refused to use the wet conditions as an excuse.

“It’s no weather situation,” he said. “It’s just a lack of concentration, sometimes. We still have to learn to get that killer instinct, I think.

“We’ve played teams where we could have put it out of reach, and we haven’t done that yet. Credit Kennedy for never quitting. Those kids play hard and are well coached. But at some point, we need to get that instinct or otherwise it’s going to come back to bite us.”

West High was on the verge of showing a killer instinct when Jason Strunk scored on a 6-yard run with 1 minute left in the second quarter.

Lucas Karwal converted the point-after kick to give West High a 24-7 lead at halftime.

However, Kennedy answered with a big play with 6:50 left in the third quarter as quarterback B.J. White completed a 52-yard touchdown pass to Michael Watkins, who was wide open over the middle.

West High then answered back with a 1-yard touchdown run by Flitz with 3:29 left in the third quarter. That touchdown completed a hat trick for 6-foot-1, 180-pound Flitz, who scored as a runner, as a passer and as a receiver.

“He is a pretty good athlete, so it’s a credit to him and his offseason work,” Hartwig said of Flitz. “He’s not the biggest guy. But pound per pound, he’s one of the toughest kids in the state and he’s our quarterback and I’m glad he is.”

Karwal made a 34-yard field to expand the lead to 34-14 with 11:02 left in the fourth quarter.

Kennedy trimmed the deficit to 34-20 on a 20-yard touchdown run by White, but it was too little and too late.

                                 CRK                 ICW

First downs                13                    24

Rushes-yards             33-194             51-292

Passing yards            124                  187

Penalties                     3-35                6-60

Fumbles-lost               0-0                   4-3

CR Kennedy        0    7   7  6  –  20

West High           10  14  7  3  –  34

ICW – Lucas Karwal 27 FG

ICW – Andre White 7 pass from Evan Flitz (Karwal kick)

ICW – Flitz 5 pass from Austin Geasland (Karwal kick)

CRK – Michael Watkins 5 run (Alex Stone kick)

ICW – Jason Strunk 6 run (Karwal kick)

CRK – Watkins 52 pass from B.J. White (Stone kick)

ICW – Flitz 1 run (Karwal kick)

ICW – Karwal 21 FG

CRK – B.J. White 2 run (kick failed)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – CRK: B.J.Allen 9-90, Michael Watkins 15-84, Cade Parker 3-10, Justin Johnson 4-9, Pacen Kennedy 1-(-7). ICW: Trumell Roberts 17-106, Andre White 11-81, Evan Flitz 16-67, Austin West 2-19, Owen McAreavy 2-8, Dillon Doyle 2-5, Jason Strunk 1-6.

PASSING – CRK: B.J. White 11-21-2 124. ICW: Evan Flitz 16-26-182, Austin Geasland 1-1-0 5, Joey Kuehn 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING – CRK: Aijay Davis 4-30, Michael Watkins 3-47, Mekhia Jenkins 3-24, Samuel Harrison 1-1. ICW: Traevis Buchanon 6-52, Jalen Gaudet 4-42, Austin West 2-39, Austin Geasland 2-30, Owen McAreavy 1-11, Jason Struck 1-7, Andre White 1-7, Evan Flitz 1-5.