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West Branch bolted to big leads early in back-to-back blowout wins the past two weeks.

The Bears needed a late rally on Friday to push their winning streak to three.

West Branch scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to overcome a 21-13 halftime deficit in a 28-21 win over Durant in a Class 1A, District 5 showdown in Durant.

Gavin Hierseman threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Simon Palmer with 39 seconds left to snap a 21-all tie as West Branch improved to 4-2 on the season and 2-1 in District 5 play with its third straight win.

Durant (3-2, 1-2) took a 21-13 halftime lead thanks to a big first half from senior quarterback Keagen Head.

The senior signal caller tossed a 75-yard touchdown pass to Aydin Flockhart to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game at 14-13.

Head made it a 21-13 Durant advantage at the half with the second of two 1-yard touchdown runs with 18 seconds left in the first half.

The second half belonged to the Bears.

Following a scoreless third quarter West Branch pulled even at 21-all when Cash Woody recovered an Andy Henson fumble in the end zone for a touchdown and Hierseman ran in the two-point conversion.

The Bears needed one final drive to secure the win.

West Branch took over at the Durant 43 yard line with 5:26 remaining and moved the ball inside the 10 yard line on seven consecutive running plays.

Henson carried six times for 35 yards on the game-winning drive and finished with 170 yards on a career-high 30 carries.

Hierseman converted a fourth-and-1 play at the seven yard line with a 2-yard run with under a minute to play.
Three plays later Hierseman found Palmer for the go-ahead touchdown with 39 seconds left to play.

West Branch sealed the win on the first play following the ensuing kickoff when Cael Fiderlein picked off a Head pass.

Hierseman completed 14-of-25 passes for 116 yards and a score and also rushed for 33 yards and a touchdown.

Henson caught a team-high six passes for 45 yards to go with his 170 rushing yards while Palmer finished with four grabs for 36 yards and Kinnick Boelk had three receptions for 31 yards.

Henson also had 4.5 tackles including three for loss from his linebacker spot as West Branch held Durant standout sophomore running back Nolan DeLong to a season-low 20 yards on 13 carries.

DeLong entered with 893 yards and 11 touchdowns on the season and was averaging better than 223 yards per contest on the ground.

He never got going against West Branch as the Bears held Durant to just 41 rushing yards on 26 carries.

West Branch outgained Durant 163 to 11 in the second half with the Wildcats’ five second-half possession producing four punts and an interception.

West Branch will close out the regular season with a trip to Dyersville Beckman (4-1, 4-0) on Friday.  The Blazers remained unbeaten in District 5 play with a 42-30 win at Wilton on Friday.

WB                 DUR

First downs                 20                    10

Rushes-yards              45-211             27-57

Comp-Att-Int              14-24-1           5-17-1

Passing yards              116                  178

Total yards                  327                  235

Punts-avg                    6-34.3              8-38.1

Fumbles-lost               3-0                   0-0

Penalties-yards           4-35                 5-40

West Branch             7   6   0  15  –  28

Durant                        7  14  0   0   –  21

WB – Andy Henson 9 run (Cael Fiderlein kick)

DUR – Keagen Head 1 run (Logan Wolf kick)

WB – Gavin Hierseman 1 run (Kick failed)

DUR – Aydin Flockhart 75 pass from Head (Wolf kick)

DUR – Keagen Head 1 run (Logan Wolf kick)

WB – Cash Woody fumble recovery in end zone (Hierseman run)

WB – Simon Palmer 5 pass from Hierseman (Fiderlein kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – West Branch: Andy Henson 30-170, Gavin Hierseman 11-33, Kinnick Boelk 2-13, Peyton Miller 2-(-1). Durant: Nolan DeLong 13-20, Keagen Head 14-37.

PASSING – West Branch: Gavin Hierseman 14-25-1 115. Durant: Keagen Head 5-17-1 178.

RECEIVING – West Branch: Andy Henson 6-45, Simon Palmer 4-36, Kinnick Boelk 3-31, Peyton Miller 1-4. Durant: Aydin Flockhart 3-128, Carter Wichelt 1-45, Ben Orr 1-5.

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