West High Defense Ready for Round Two With Cedar Falls
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – Watching the Cedar Falls offense can give an opposing head coach a headache.
Garrett Hartwig knows that all too well.
The fourth-year West High head coach has gotten a couple this season prepping for the Tigers the latest coming this week in advance of Friday’s 7 p.m. Class 4A quarterfinal matchup at Trojan Field.
“They are tough to defend all the way around because they have very good receivers, they have an excellent quarterback and they have a running game that is averaging eight or nine yards a rip,” Hartwig said of Cedar Falls. “We have to take away one before we can take away two and which one that is I don’t know we will find out.”
The fifth-ranked Tigers (9-1) have offensive numbers that stand out.
Cedar Falls averages 45.3 points and 392 yards per game and has scored more than 50 points four times and more than 30 in every game but a 28-7 opening round win over No. 8 Cedar Rapids Prairie last week.
The Tigers can do it all on offense but top-ranked West High (10-0) is more worried about what it does on defense.
“We are going to try to focus on ourselves more,” West High senior linebacker Caden Fedeler said. “They can throw it or run and we are just going to try to focus on what we are doing.”
West High had mixed results in slowing the Tigers in a 32-31 win back on Sept. 8 in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.
The Trojans held Cedar Falls to a season-low 106 rushing yards but allowed 360 yards through the air.
West High came away with a one-point overtime win in the regular season meeting but Hartwig said win or lose that game doesn’t play into Friday’s outcome.
“That was eight weeks ago, it’s outside, it’s a different season,” Hartwig said. “If we would have lost that game I wouldn’t look at this as revenge it’s just playoff football and we are ready to go.
What will be a factor on Friday is how West High defends the Tigers’ balanced offense.
Outside of the temperature controlled UNI-Dome expect the Tigers to attempt to establish its patented power running game behind a mammoth offensive line and junior running back Sam Gary.
The 198-pound Gary has rushed for 1,481 yards and 18 touchdowns this season and is coming off a 176-yard performance in the win over Cedar Rapids Prairie.
“They are going to come out and try to run the ball so we need to come out harder and more focused,” West High senior linebacker Trumell Roberts said. “They play hard and we have to match their intensity.”
West High slowed Gary in the first meeting, holding him to a season-low 46 yards on 16 carries.
The Trojans don’t expect a change in game plan for the Tigers on Friday.
“I love those games where teams are going to come out and run it at you,” Fedeler said. “It’s just guys against guys, that’s the kind of game that I love.”
West High has been impressive on defense all season, holding opponents under 14 points and 260 yards per game.
The Trojans will need another strong defensive performance on Friday.
“They are solid, they just don’t make mistakes,” Hartwig said of Cedar Falls. “This time of the year there are eight teams left in the state and you are going to play a team that’s good and deserves to be here.”