Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Last season Oliver Martin spent his final season at West High rewriting the West High receiving record books.

This year it has been the guy that was on the other end of all of Martin’s receiving records taking aim at West High school records.

Senior quarterback Evan Flitz became the all-time leading passer at West High in Friday’s regular season finale surpassing the mark set by Charles Rogers from 2009 to 2011.

Flitz passed for 255 yards in a 55-7 win over Ottumwa on Friday giving him 4,419 yards in his career to break the mark of 4,240 held by Rogers.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Flitz now holds West High career records for touchdown passes (46), completions (313) and passing yards.

“It’s humbling really because playing at a school like West High where excellence is a tradition that has such a historic storied athletic past there have been a lot great athletes that have come through and gone on to do great things at the next level and in high school itself,” Flitz said. “It’s humbling to be in the conversation with guys like that and being able to put my name on the board.”

Flitz also set a single season school record for touchdown passes with three scoring strikes on Friday giving him 24 for the season.

The 24 touchdown passes broke the previous record of 22 shared by Flitz from last season and Alex Henderson.

The record breaking likely isn’t over for Flitz.

He needs 48 completions and 328 yards to break the single season marks in those two categories.

The way Flitz is playing those records certainly seem attainable.

A year after completing 70 percent of his passes for 2,237 yards and 22 touchdowns in 11 games Flitz has improved on those numbers through nine games.

He is completing 72 percent of his passes while throwing for 2,157 yards and 24 touchdowns with three interceptions.

Flitz has also run for 436 yards and nine touchdowns after 150 yards and two scores all of last season.

“I’m faster this year and that’s running but it’s also using my eyes and my progressions,” Flitz said. “With a year under my belt I am faster at reading the defense where they are moving before the snap and that’s been a huge thing for me. With a lot of our routes we have real true one, two, three options and being able to read the defense faster specifically pre-snap for me with my eyes has been effective.”

Family Business

The City High single season records for receptions and receiving yards both reside in the Jones family but are held by two different players.

With his 12 catches in Friday’s regular season finale against Davenport North City High senior Zach Jones set a single school record for receptions with 77.

Jones couldn’t quite break the single season yardage mark owned by his older brother Jason, finishing the season with 1,045 yards, third most in City High history in a single season.

Jason Jones had 1,153 receiving yards in 2015.

Zach Jones finished a brilliant prep career with a school record 118 catches for 1,614 yards, second most in City High history. 

More Zeros

Solon finished the regular season the way it started it, with a shutout.

The Spartans blanked Fairfield 43-0 on Friday holding the Trojans to 55 yards of total offense.

Solon posted a state-best six shutouts on the season, didn’t allow more than seven points in a game and allowed a total of 21 points in nine regular season games.

“At the start of the season we didn’t see that coming but we are always striving to be our best,” Spencer Wegmann said of the six shutouts. “Once we realized that no points is the best gam we can play that became the expectation.”

Offensive Player of the Week

City High senior quarterback Bryce Hunger closed his career with one of his best performances, accounting for better than 350 yards of offense and four touchdowns in a 34-28 loss to Davenport North.

Hunger passed for 254 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for 101 yards and a score on 24 carries.

Best of the Rest

<!–[if !supportLists]–>·         <!–[endif]–>West Branch senior Jacob Graves rushed for 170 yards and four touchdowns on 30 carries in a 38-12 win over Clayton Ridge.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>·         <!–[endif]–>Solon senior running back Kendrick Harris rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries in a 43-0 win over Fairfield.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>·         <!–[endif]–>West High senior Traevis Buchanan caught five passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns in a 55-7 win over Ottumwa.

Defensive Player of the Week

David Jensen had a performance to remember in his final game in a Clear Creek Amana uniform.

Jensen had 7.5 tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks as Clear Creek Amana snapped a three-game losing skid with a 29-14 win over Central DeWitt.

The senior linebacker had six solo stops in the win and led the Clippers with 37 solo tackles on the season.

Best of the Rest

<!–[if !supportLists]–>·         <!–[endif]–>West High junior defensive lineman Josh Halverson had 5.5 tackles including 3.5 for loss in a 55-7 win over Ottumwa

<!–[if !supportLists]–>·         <!–[endif]–>City High junior Kyle Hefley had a team-high 10.5 tackles including eight solo stops in a 34-28 loss to Davenport North.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>·         <!–[endif]–>West Branch senior linebacker Andrew Black had six tackles, four tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in a 38-12 win over Clayton Ridge.