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West Branch was forced to switch up its week five opponent early in the week but the result remained the same for the second straight game.

The West Branch offense produced a season-high point total for the second week in a row as the Bears rolled to a 50-14 win over Maquoketa Valley (1-4) in Delhi on Friday in a game scheduled on Tuesday.

The originally scheduled district opponents for both teams were forced to cancel Friday’s games over COVID-19 concerns.

Originally set to host Northeast at the Little Rose Bowl on Friday West Branch instead picked up a big road win for the second straight week.

West Branch scored a then season-high 43 points in Class 1A, District 5 win over Wilton last Friday.

The Bear offense scored touchdown on six of its first seven possessions in the opening half as West Branch improved to 3-2 on the season with its second consecutive win.

Senior quarterback Gavin Hierseman ran for three touchdowns while senior tailback Dominic Culver had a pair of touchdown runs.

On its first possession of the game West Branch marched 82 yards in just five plays taking a 7-0 lead when Hierseman scampered into the end zone from three yards out.

Hierseman opened the drive with back-to-back passes, hitting Peyton Miller for 46 yards and Carver Boelk for 14 yards before capping the drive with his first of three touchdown runs in the game.

Miller set up a 2-yard touchdown run by sophomore Andy Henson on the next West Branch drive with a 50-yard punt return.

Leading 14-0 after one quarter West Branch put the game away with 29 second quarter points.

Following a 3-and-out on its third possession West Branch scored on four straight possessions with touchdown drives of 5, 2, 8 and 7 plays each ending with a touchdown run.

Henson had a 1-yard run to cap a 40-yard march and Culver scored on a 14-yard run set up by a Jeff Bowie fumble recovery.

Hierseman capped the first-half scoring with touchdown runs of 7 and 1 yard as West Branch built a 43-8 halftime lead.

Henson finished with 107 yards on 15 carries and Culver added 51 yards rushing as West Branch piled up 207 yards on the ground.
Hierseman completed 8-of-14 passes for 154 yards and rushed for 28 yards and three touchdowns.

Miller caught two passes for 57 yards and Carver Boelk grabbed two passes for 49 yards.

The West Branch defense forced a pair of Maquoketa Valley turnovers as senior linebacker Cael Fiderlein picked off a pass to go with the fumble recovery by Bowie.

Fiderlein posted a team-high seven tackles, including two for loss while Henson had 4.5 tackles with two for loss.

Bowie added a tackle for loss for the Bears.

West Branch is schedule to return to district play next Friday with a trip to Durant (3-1). The Wildcats fell to Dyersville Beckman 24-17 on Friday.

                                    WB                 MV

First downs                 22                    8

Rushes-yards              36-207             27-116

Comp-Att-Int              8-14-0             8-18-1

Passing yards              154                  143

Total yards                  361                  259

Punts-avg                    3-30.3              4-30-3

Fumbles-lost               0-0                   1-1

Penalties-yards           3-20                2-31

West Branch                         14  29  7  0  –  50

Maquoketa Valley                 0    8   6  0  –  14

WB – Gavin Hierseman 3 run (Cael Fiderlein kick)

WB – Andy Henson 2 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Henson 1 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Dominic Culver 14 run (Fiderlein kick)

MV – Owen Mensen 64 pass from Parker Sternhagen (Mensen run)

WB – Hierseman 7 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Hierseman 1 run (Peyton Miller pass from Hierseman)

WB – Culver 14 run (Fiderlein kick)

MV – Owen Mensen 61 pass from Parker Sternhagen (Pass failed)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – West Branch: Andy Henson 15-107, Dominic Culver 10-51, Gavin Hierseman 6-28, Kaleb Sexton 2-20, Peyton Miller 1-5. Maquoketa Valley: Parker Sternhagen 9-44, AJ Ambundo 7-50, Zach Digman 8-12, Devin Meeks 2-6, Lance McShane 1-4.

PASSING – West Branch: Gavin Hierseman 8-14-0 154. Maquoketa Valley: Parker Sternhagen 8-18-1 143.

RECEIVING – West Branch: Peyton Miller 2-57, Carver Boelk 2-49, Andy Henson 1-23, Kinnick Boelk 1-10, Kaleb Sexton 1-8, Simon Palmer 1-7. Maquoketa Valley: Owen Mensen 4-126, Andrew Kloser 1-8, AJ Ambundo 1-7, Andrew Holtz 1-4, Tony Offerman 1-(-2).

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