Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The weather conditions on Friday weren’t ideal for throwing the football, but that didn’t seem to bother Ashton Cook in the slightest.

Regina’s talented junior quarterback withstood temperatures in the low 40s and windy conditions to pass for 285 yards three touchdowns during a 37-28 victory over North Linn on homecoming at Regina.

“In the second half (the wind) was more of a (factor) because it was against me, but that’s something we train for in practice, so it didn’t really make that big of difference,” said Ashton Cook, who also had a 1-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter.

Regina won its sixth game in a row since losing to Class 3A power Cedar Rapids Xavier 35-0 in the season opener and improved to 6-1 on the season.

North Linn fell to 5-2 on the season despite getting 279 rushing yards from quarterback Austin Miller. He also scored all four of his team’s touchdowns on runs of 25, 6, 80 and 25 yards.

“We got exposed a little bit tonight,” said Regina head coach Marv Cook, who is Ashton Cook’s father. “That’s what I told the kids tonight. We have to tackle better. We have to contain better. We have to play that key power, obviously, a lot better.

“That (Miller) is a great football player. You could tell they’re really talented kids.”

Regina scored the game’s first points when Ashton Cook connected with senior Josh Dutchik for a 43-yard touchdown pass with 5 minutes, 54 seconds left in the first quarter.

North Linn answered right back, though, as Miller scored his first touchdown on a 25-yard run barely two minutes later.

The score was tied at 7-7 heading to the second quarter, and then Regina scored three consecutive touchdowns and led 27-7 at halftime.

Ashton Cook threw touchdown passes covering four and six yards to Chase Becker and Alec Wick, respectively, in the second quarter.

Wick continued his torrid pace with nine receptions for 172 yards.

“He’s unbelievable,” Ashton Cook said of Wick. “We work on it in practice and I’m really good with my timing with him, and my (other) receivers. So that helps a lot.”

It also helps to have balance on offense and Regina had that on Friday as junior Theo Kolie rushed for 119 yards and scored one touchdown on 22 carries.

Kolie’s 1-yard touchdown run, followed by Michael Dunn’s point-after kick, expanded Regina’s lead to 37-20 with 34.9 seconds left in the third quarter.

“It’s huge,” Marv Cook said of having balance on offense. “I thought out pockets were good for the most part. They did bring some corner blitzes that we actually saw and were able to pick up.

“I thought our offensive line did a great job of protection wise. And then when it did breakdown, Ashton was to create and make a couple play for us with his legs. So it was a great offensive performance. Defensively, I thought we were good for the most part, we just had some breakdowns.”

Michael Dunn made a 31-yard field goal to give Regina a 30-14 lead with 4:32 left in the third quarter, but then North Linn only needed one play to score a touchown on its next possession as Miller scored on an 80-yard run.

Miller's fourth and final touchdown came on a 25-yard run with 5:27 left to play.

Neither team would score another point after that.

Asked how much Austin Miller was responsible for Regina's defensive breakdowns, Marv Cook said:

“I think a lot of it was. A lot of it was just being in the right position. A lot of times you get flanked and you get out of position and then you’re working so hard to get back and you over-extend and he cuts back inside.

“He’s a great runner. I really, really like him.”

Marv Cook wasn’t sure how much his team would pass on Friday due to the weather conditions. But Regina offensive coordinator Ed Hinkle didn’t let the conditions change his game plan.

“I thought it would be a (factor),” Marv Cook said of the wind. “But coach Hinkle didn’t seem to think it was going to be that big of an issue and I thought Ashton did a good job of throwing the ball.”

In addition to some poor tackling, Regina also committed 10 penalties, including nine in the first half.

So there will be plenty of teaching moments for the coaches to emphasize in practice, but without having to cope with a loss.

“They gave us fits tonight,” Marv Cook said of North Linn. “So I was pleased that we came out on top and won the game. But we have to do a lot of things better, offensively and defensively and special teams.”

                                   NL                  ICR

First downs                   15                  21

Rushes-yards              35-286 3       8-173

Passing yards               37                  285

Penalties-yards           4-35              10-70

Fumbles-lost                0-0                  2-1

Punts-avg.                   3-32.3           1-23.0

North Linn   7  0   13  8  –  28

Regina          7 20 10  0  –  37

ICR – Josh Dutchik 43 pass from Ashton Cook (Michael Dunn kick)

NL – Austin Miller 25 run (Heath Moyer kick)

ICR – Chase Becker 4 pass from Ashton Cook (kick failed)

ICR – Alec Wick 6 pass from Ashton Cook (Dunn kick)

ICR – Ashton Cook 1 run (Dunn kick)

NL – Austin Miller 6 run (Moyer kick)

ICR – Michael Dunn 31 FG

NL – Miller 80 run (Pass failed)

ICR – Theo Kolie 1 run (Dunn kick)

NL – Miller 25 run (Hilmer pass from Miller)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – NL: Austin Miller 23-271, Becker 7-16, Austin Hilmer 5-minus-1. ICR: Theo Kolie 22-119, Levi Quinlan 10-40, Ashton Cook 6-14.

PASSING – NL: Austin Miller 5-10-24-1, Brennan Becker 1-1-13. ICR: Ashton Cook 19-28-0 285

RECEIVING – NL: Austin Hilmer 4-21, Brennan Becker 1-5. ICR: Alec Wick 9-172, Josh Dutchik 4-89, Levi Quinlan 3-21, Chase Becker 1-4, Sam Aitchison 1-4, Nick Nein 1-1.

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