Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

No team wants to start the season with a loss.

A perennially powerful program like Regina certainly isn’t satisfied with any setback let alone a 35-0 loss in its opener.

Regina hasn’t let a season-opening loss to two-time defending 3A state champion Cedar Rapids Xavier linger.

In fact, the Regals believe the week one loss to Xavier has played an important role in its 3-1 start.

Regina has rattled off three consecutive wins since the loss to the Saints in week one including a thrilling 42-35 last-second win over Williamsburg in its district finale on Friday.

“I felt like our kids really pushed through a bunch of barriers that night which makes them better. I don’t think we win the Williamsburg game without playing Xavier week one,” Regina coach Marv Cook said. “I attribute a lot to our kids finding out deep down what they’ve got in the tank.”  

Since being shutout at Xavier in the opener Regina has gotten its offense going behind juniors Ashton Cook and Alec Wick.

Cook has passed for 795 yards and 11 touchdowns without an interception during the Regal’s current three-game winning streak while Wick has caught at least five passes and had more than 112 receiving yards and multiple touchdowns in each game.

Regina is averaging 47.7 points and 430 total yards per game during its current win streak and has averaged 7.5 yards per play during that stretch.

“I think Ed (Hinkle) always does a great job and Brad Beane has taken over the offensive line and he has brought some new ideas and I think we’ve protected well for the most part,” Cook said. “We’ve changed up some of our run blocking schemes a little bit to fit our players and I think it’s been a really good process for our kids to step up.”

The Regina offense was perhaps at its best in the win over Williamsburg.

Regina ran a whooping 85 offensive plays in the win, 43 runs and 42 passes while putting up a season-high 509 yards of total offense.

The Regals rushed for 252 yards behind a career-high 186 rushing yards from junior Levi Quinlan and had 257 yards through the air.

“I think at halftime we were 21 pass and 18 rush so we were really balanced well and that forces defenses to try to figure out what they want to stop,” Cook said. “Ed (Hinkle) does a good job of getting our offense in plays that give us a good chance to be successful.”

Regina opens district play with back-to-back road trips to East Marshall (1-3) and South Hardin (3-1) before hosting No. 10 North Linn (4-0)

“We still have a lot of work to do and a lot of guys that are young and still learning but I really like where we are at as a team going into districts,” Cook said.

Liberty High Cranks Up Running Game: It’s among the worst kept secrets around but Liberty High likes to run the football.

Liberty High had its running game humming on Friday piling up 371 yards in a 33-6 win at Mid-Prairie.

The 371 runs are the second most in program history and came with three different players running for more than 90 yards.

Senior Jack Ankenbauer had 94 yards in the win while junior Max Tafolla had 97 and Kaleb Williams had 134 yards on just eight carries.

In two years of a varsity program the Lightning have proved they are a tough team to beat when they get their running game going.

Liberty High is 4-0 when it rushes for 250 yards or more over the past two seasons and currently ranks seventh in Class 3A averaging 260 yards per game on the ground.

Another Big Game For Wick: Regina junior receiver Alec Wick keeps building on what has already been an impressive season.

A week after posting a career-high 227 receiving yards in a win over Pella Christian Wick hauled in a career-best 15 passes for 149 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-35 win over Williamsburg.

Four games into the season Wick ranks in the top 10 in the state in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns.

Wick has 35 catches which ranks fifth in the state for 556 yards and eight touchdowns.

His 556 receiving yards are eighth best in the state and the eight touchdowns are the seventh most.

Wick has 100 yards and at least two touchdowns in each of his past three games.

Offensive performer of the week: West High junior quarterback Marcus Morgan did it all in a loss to Dubuque Senior on Friday.

Morgan completed 14-of-27 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed for 112 yards and a score.

Best of the rest: Regina junior quarterback Ashton Cook completed 23-of-43 passes for 257 yards and four touchdowns and also rushed for 47 yards in a 42-35 win over Williamsburg.

Clear Creek Amana junior running back Alex Figueroa rushed for 175 yards and a touchdown on eight carries in a 47-7 win over Marion.

Liberty High senior running back Kaleb Williams rushed for 134 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries in a 33-6 win over Mid-Prairie.

Defensive performer of the week: Solon senior linebacker Jax Flynn came up with a couple of huge defensive plays as the fourth-ranked Spartans survived a scare from Davenport Assumption.

Flynn had a pair of interceptions, including the game-clincher with 51 seconds left as Solon held on for a 17-13 win.

The senior linebacker also recovered a fumble that set up a Solon score and had a team-high nine tackles.

Best of the rest: Clear Creek Amana junior defensive end TJ Bollers had two sacks and forced a fumble that he recovered for a touchdown in a 47-7 win over Marion.

Liberty High senior Brian Lively had four sacks as the Lightning held Mid-Prairie to 92 total yards in a 33-6 win.

Liberty High senior linebacker Dawson Zimmerman had six solo stops and three tackles for loss among his team-leading nine tackles in a 33-6 win at Mid-Prairie.

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