Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

For the fifth consecutive season the battle for Cedar County supremacy belonged to West Branch.

Gavin Hierseman passed for 222 yards and a pair of touchdowns and West Branch forced three turnovers in a 17-8 season-opening win over River Valley Conference rival Tipton on Friday at the Little Rose Bowl in West Branch.

West Branch scored the final 14 points after falling behind 8-3 in the second quarter while improving to 1-0 on the season.

Cael Fiderlein started the scoring with a 37 yard field goal with 4:30 left in the first quarter.

A touchdown and two-point conversion gave Tipton an 8-3 lead in the second quarter but West Branch regained the lead just before halftime when Simon Palmer caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Hierseman with 2:50 remaining in the second quarter.

It remained 10-8 until Hierseman connected with Carver Boelk for a 17-yard scoring strike with eight minutes to play.

Hierseman completed 22-of-32 passes in his 222-yard performance with junior Peyton Miller hauling in nine passes for 105 yards.

Palmer had four receptions for 49 yards and a score and Carver Boelk caught four passes for 37 yards and a touchdown.

Sophomore Andy Henson rushed for 69 yards on 18 carries to lead West Branch.

The Bears were impressive defensively, recovering two fumbles and picking off a pass while also registering three sacks.

Kinnick Boelk and Morgan Hartz each recovered a fumble and Carver Boelk had an interception.

Jack Buol had a pair of sacks while Jeff Bowie had three tackles for loss for the Bears.

Fiderlein had a team-high 8.5 tackles including seven solo stops while Carver Boelk made five tackles.

West Branch will travel to West Liberty (1-0) next week.

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