Your Prep Sports

The third and sixth-ranked football teams in Class 4A squared off on Friday in Bettendorf and the higher ranked team had just enough offense to withstand the other.

Third-ranked Bettendorf (2-0) hung on to defeat sixth-ranked West High 10-7 in a game in which defense clearly had the upper hand.

Bettendorf quarterback Carter Bell certainly did his share of damage with over 200 total yards, but his offense struggled to sustain drives, as did West High’s offense.

Trailing 10-0 and buried deep in its own territory, West High (1-1) finally found the end zone, and did so in spectacular fashion as quarterback Joseph Kuehn connected with Jalen Gaudet on a 90-yard touchdown pass on the final play of third quarter.

West High was held to just 88 yards in the first half, including just 33 on the ground.

The Bulldogs scored first on a 20-yard field goal by Keegan Schmidt with 4:32 left in the first quarter and then expanded the lead to 10-0 on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Carter Bell to Iowa State commit Darien Porter that was followed by Schmidt’s point-after kick with 8 minutes left in the second quarter.

West High’s defense bent at times in the first half, allowing 146 yards, but it only broke once despite Bettendorf having started four of its five possession either near midfield or in West High territory.

Bell threw for 146 yards and a touchdown and also rushed for 92 yards as the Bulldogs snapped a two-game losing skid to West High.

The Trojans had a 14-game regular season winning streak end after being held to a single digit scoring output for the first time since scoring seven in a loss to City High in 2016.

Kuehn completed 9-of-17 passes for 163 yards with Gaudet hauling in four passes for 124 yards and a touchdown.

Bettendorf hammered out 157 hard earned rushing yards while West High was held to 50 yards on the ground on 22 carries.

West High returns to action next Friday when it hosts No. 10 Southeast Polk (0-2) at Trojan Field.

                               ICW                BETT

First Downs               9                     17

Rushes-yards          22-50               47-157

Comp-Att-Int          10-18-0              11-20-0

Passing yards          164                   146

Total yards               214                   303

Punts-Avg.               7-45.7                7-37

Fumbles-lost            2-1                    1-0                  

Penalties-yards        5-44                  9-75

Bettendorf      3  7  0  0  –  10

West High      0  0  7  0  –   0

BET – Keegan Schmidt 20 field goal

BET – Darien Porter 34 pass from Carter Bell (Schmidt kick)

ICW – Jalen Gaudet 90 pass from Joey Kuehn (Josh Jasek kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICW: Cole Mabry 5-30, Marchaun Hoover 4-21, Xarminto Lubuelo 2-7, Justin Thomas 1-3, Owen McAreavy 1-2, Mason Sorge 1-2, Joey Kuehn 8-(-15). BET: Carter Bell 20-92, Austin Kalar 19-49, AJ Douglas 6-10, Darien Porter 1-8, Team 1-(-2).

PASSING – ICW: Joey Kuehn 9-17-0 163, Marcus Morgan 1-1-0 1. BET: Carter Bell 11-20-0 146.

RECEIVING – ICW: Jalen Gaudet 4-124, Tate Crane 3-28, Noah Aanestad 1-12, Justin Thomas 1-1, Nick Biancuzzo 1-(-1). BET: Noah Abbott 3-51, Darien Porter 4-44, Brandon Tillman 2-34, Austin Kalar 1-12, Jack Hester 1-5.