Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

WEST LIBERTY – The West Branch football team was forced to look for offensive solutions without starting quarterback Gavin Hierseman.

On defense, the Bears had no answers for West Liberty tailback Jahsiah Galvan.

“It’s called tackling,” West Branch Coach Butch Pedersen said after the Class 1A fifth-ranked Bears were upended by 2A No. 7 West Liberty, 20-7, in a prep football game Friday night at Memorial Field.

“We didn’t tackle very well at all. We put kids in position to make plays and they didn’t make them. And so we will have to go see on practice on Monday. Who has some courage? Who wants to hit people? And right now, we need to find some people like that. That wasn’t a West Branch defense that we usually have.”

For West Liberty (2-0), the victory was its first over West Branch in 16 years.

In the previous nine consecutive defeats to the Bears, it would be hard to argue the Comets had a weapon like Galvan, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior that ran through, around and past the West Branch defense.

A week after a 244-yard, one-touchdown performance in the opening win at Mediapolis, Galvan topped it Friday night with 267 yards in 25 carries, including long touchdown runs of 65 and 40 yards.

“He is who he is,” seventh-year West Liberty Coach Jason Iske said. “He is a heck of a ballplayer. I think everybody is just starting to figure it out. Maybe we kept it a secret too long. Maybe that is our fault.”

As a sophomore last season, Galvan carried the ball just 16 times for 89 yards and two scores in a reserve role.

With his torrid start to the 2020 campaign, Galvan’s college recruitment is likely to heat up. He has already heard from “three or four” schools, with Division-I being the ultimate goal and the University of Iowa his dream school.

“I would say it is hard work in the offseason,” Galvan said. “Waiting for my turn to get all the carries I have gotten. The O-line just giving me those creases and I will do the rest.”

Less than three minutes into the game, Galvan gave his team the lead for good with the aforementioned 65-yard sprint and score on the first play of the Comets’ second possession.

West Liberty had just one first down in the first half, but held a decided edge in field position.

Galvan tallied 121 of his yards in the first half, while Comets’ senior receiver Lake Newton fielded a short pass from junior quarterback Caleb Wulf and twisted through the West Branch defense for a 33-yard score and a 13-0 West Liberty lead midway through the second quarter.

“We are just not a physical team right now,” Pedersen said. “And until we become physical, we are going to have some problems. On both sides of the ball. … Some of it is experience and some of it is just a matter of, ‘What do you have in your heart?’ I mean, ‘Do you like to stick or do you like to not stick?’ And we have some kids, unfortunately, right now who don’t like contact. And we are going to get them to like contact.”

West Branch defensive lineman Morgan Hartz recovered a fumble on the first West Liberty possession of the game, while teammate Cael Fiderlein turned away a Comets’ drive away with a third quarter interception at his own 3-yard-line.

On offense, West Branch was without Hierseman, who did not dress for the game after sustaining an injury late in last week’s home win over Tipton.

His availability going forward remains an unknown.

Senior Kelby Burger started at quarterback for West Branch (1-1), and his 1-yard touchdown keeper in the closing minute of the first half was the lone score for the Bears.

Burger threw for 85 yards, while West Branch sophomore tailback Andy Henson ran for 68.

West Branch had zero penalties and zero turnovers, but was outgained in total yardage, 358-146.

“Offensively, I thought we did some things well at times,” Pedersen said. “And then we broke down on some things that we should be able to do. West Liberty is a good football team, but we showed a lot of inexperience tonight. We had five sophomores and a freshman out there. … That is pretty tough, but that is an excuse. We don’t want excuses. We just want to get better.”

West Branch will host Cascade next Friday, while West Liberty hosts Maquoketa.

                                     WB                 WL

First Downs                10                    9

Rushes-yards              29-61               36-286

Comp-Att-Int              12-20-0           5-10-1

Passing yards              85                    72

Total yards                  146                  358

Punts-avg.                   6-29.2              2-34.5

Fumbles-lost               0-0                   1-1

Penalties-yards           0-0                   8-42

West Branch                       0  7  0  0  –   7

West Liberty                       7  6  7  0  –  20

WL – Jahsiah Galvan 65 run (Bryan Martinez kick)

WL – Lake Newton 33 pass from Caleb Wulf (Kick failed)

WB – Kelby Burger 1 run (Cael Fiderlein kick)

WL – Jahsiah Galvan 40 run (Bryan Martinez kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – West Branch: Kinnick Boelk 2-0, Andy Henson 19-68, Carver Boelk 5-0, Kelby Burger 3-(-7). West Liberty: Drake Collins 2-11, Caleb Wulf 5-8, Jahsiah Galvan 25-267, David Molina 3-4, Joshua Zeman 1-(-4).

PASSING – West Branch: Kelby Burger 12-19-0-85, Andy Henson 0-1-0-0. West Liberty: Caleb Wulf 5-10-1-72.

RECEIVING – West Branch: Peyton Miller 3-8, Kinnick Boelk 1-5, Carver Boelk 1-10, Simon Palmer 3-27, Andy Henson 4-35, Kaleb Sexton 0-0. West Liberty: Drake Collins 1-1, Lake Newton 2-33, Joshua Zeman 1-32, Jahsiah Galvan 1-5.

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