Your Prep Sports

In its final tune-up before the postseason West Branch had its offense hitting on all-cylinders.

Class 1A sixth-ranked West Branch rolled up 563 yards of offense in a 48-24 win over Dyersville Beckman (4-5) in the regular season finale for both teams in Dyersville.

The 563 yards were the second most in program history, six yards shy of the school-record 569 yards the Bears had in a 1989 against Regina.

West Branch improved to 8-1 with its fourth consecutive win to close the regular season and assured itself of a spot in the Class 1A playoffs.

Senior Beau Cornwell passed for 331 yards and four touchdowns and Tanner Lukavsky rushed for 186 yards and two scores as the Bears averaged 9.7 yards per play.

West Branch had touchdown drives to 58, 73, 57 and 97 yards in the first half while building a 34-17 halftime advantage.

Lukavsky got the scoring started with a 19-yard touchdown run with 5:47 left in the opening quarter.

Dyersville Beckman responded with a 27-yard scoring strike from Seamus O’Connor to Shawn Deutmeyer with 3:05 left in the first quarter.

Cornwell hit Brett Schiele for a 19-yard touchdown pass to put West Branch back up 14-7 and after an O’Connor field goal made it 14-10 Cornwell and Trey Eagle hooked up for touchdown passes on back-to-back West Branch scoring drives.

First Cornwell found Eagle for a 3-yard touchdown pass that made it 21-10 and then capped a 10-play, 97-yard march with a 14-yard strike to the junior receiver that put West Branch up 27-10 with 3:07 left in the first half.

Dyersville Beckman got back into the game on a 58-yard touchdown run by senior standout Owen Grover that cut the lead to 27-17 and had the ball back when Schiele came up with a play that changed the game.

The senior picked off an O’Connor pass and returned it 19 yards for a score to give the Bears a 34-17 halftime lead.

Lukavsky raced 68 yards for a score on the second play of the second half and West Branch never let back in the game.

Eagle had eight receptions for 118 yards and three touchdowns, capping the West Branch scoring with a 31-yard touchdown grab in the third quarter.

Lukavsky caught five passes for 100 yards and Schiele had three receptions for 50 yards and a score.

Cornwell finished 22-of-31 for 331 yards and four touchdowns and also rushed for 43 yards.

Grover rushed for 122 yards on 22 carries for Beckman while O’Connor passed for 235 yards and two touchdowns but was picked off twice.

Deutmeyer had four grabs for 121 yards to pace Dyersville Beckman.

                             WB               DB

First downs                    23                    15

Rushes-yards           27-232             38-153

Comp-Att-Int             22-31-0            11-25-2

Passing yards            331                  245

Total yards                  563                  398

Punts-Avg.                 4-32.8              5-38.8

Fumbles-lost               1-1                   1-1

Penalties-yards          4-35                 0-0

West Branch                14  20  14   0  –  48

Dyersville Beckman     7  10   7    0  –  24

WB – Tanner Lukavsky 19 run (Beau Cornwell kick)

DB – Shawn Deutmeyer 27 pass from Seamus O’Connor (O’Connor kick)

WB – Brett Schiele 19 pass from Cornwell (Cornwell kick)

DB – O’Connor 29 field goal

WB – Trey Eagle 3 pass from Cornwell (Cornwell kick)

WB – Eagle 14 pass from Cornwell (Kick failed)

DB – Owen Grover 58 run (O’Connor kick)

WB – Brett Schiele 19 interception return (Cornwell kick)

WB – Lukavsky 68 run (Cornwell kick)

DB – Jackson Feldman 70 pass from O’Connor (O’Connor kick)

WB – Eagle 31 pass from Cornwell (Cornwell kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – WB: Tanner Lukavsky 15-186, Beau Cornwell 6-43, Wyatt Goodale 5-2, Morgan Hartz 2-1, Wyatt Hamby 1-0. DB: Owen Grove 22-122, Evan Wulfekuhle 10-34, Seamus O’Connor 3-1.

PASSING – WB: Beau Cornwell 22-31-0 331. DB: Seamus O’Connor 11-25-2 235.

RECEIVING – WB: Trey Eagle 8-118, Tanner Lukavsky 5-100, Brett Schiele 3-50, Wyatt Goodale 3-18, Brady Lukavsky 2-33, Zach Thompson 1-12. DB: Shawn Deutmeyer 4-121, Carter Petsche 4-28, Jackson Feldman 1-70, Sean Kluesner 1-12, Riley Fangman 1-4.

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