Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – It’s his feet that make Alec Wick a star on the soccer field.

An all-state pick each of the past two springs Wick is a whiz with the ball at his feet on the pitch with 46 goals in two prep seasons.  

It’s a combination of his hands and his feet that makes Wick just as dangerous on a football field.

That combination of quick feet and soft hands has helped Wick become one of the most dynamic pass catchers in Class 1A.

After snagging 88 passes for better than 1,000 yards in his first two seasons Wick is back and seeking even bigger seasons as Regina chases a return to the playoffs.

“The footwork you develop in soccer is a big help in football,” Wick said. “With soccer you have the ball at the feet and in football running routes, it helps with the footwork to break in and out of routes.”

The soccer-football combination is fairly rare for a high school athlete.

For Wick, who is a three-sport standout that also was a member of Regina’s state basketball team, the two sports go hand in hand.

“I think soccer helps with football but I also think football helped me in soccer,” Wick said. “Football builds confidence and its builds character too. Football really builds character for anyone that plays it.”

The confidence boost for Wick on the football field came immediately in the form of a 29-catch freshman season.

Wick ranked second on the team with 347 receiving yards that season as Regina finished as the 1A runner-up.

That confidence carried over to the spring where Wick burst onto the scene as one of the state’s top playmakers with four goals and an assist in three state tournament matches are Regina won the 1A soccer title.

Last season came the breakthrough.

Wick cemented his status as one of the best receivers in 1A, catching a team-high 59 passes for 746 yards and two scores in the fall.

In the spring he exploded for 31 goals as Regina won its third consecutive state title.  

“He is an incredible soccer player so I just think that has helped him have a great understanding of the concept of what we are doing with our passing games,” Regina football coach Marv Cook said. “He has great instincts, he has great spacing, he understands spacing and leverage and change of direction and change of pace and those types of things.”

The breakthrough season for Wick last season came during a 5-4 season in which Regina started three different players at quarterback and played four games without starter Ashton Cook who was sidelined with an injury.

Cook still threw for nearly 1,300 yards and closed the season with back-to-back 300-yard passing performances

The two spent the summer running routes and perfecting timing in hopes of putting up bigger numbers and more wins this season.

“It will help a lot having Ashton healthy, he is an outstanding quarterback so it helps everybody when he is on the field,” Wick said. “Running backs, receivers it helps us out as a team.”  

Wick, who doubles as a defensive back and has returned two of his four career interceptions for touchdowns, is bigger and stronger than he was the past two seasons.

The 6-foot-1 junior is up to 179-pounds.

More importantly he has two full seasons for experience at the varsity level.

“The key for Alec is he is right there with the coaches talking about adjustments and what he is seeing from a defensive standpoint or offensive standpoint and that is just invaluable,” Cook said. “He was able to get that experience as a freshman and to me he is one of the most exciting players that we have had in a long time and he is a great young man and fun to be around.

While Wick is poised for an even larger role in the offense with more targets and yards his only goal is more wins.

Wick isn’t fixated on missing the playoffs for the first time since 2003 last season, instead he is focused on the present and getting Regina back to the postseason.

“We can’t worry about that,” Wick said of last season. “There is nothing we can do about it now it’s just something that we don’t want to do again.”

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by becoming a member.