Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – West High quarterback Marcus Morgan has garnered plenty of attention this season with his spectacular play under center.

In the second half of a gut-check playoff game and his last performance at Trojan Field, Morgan was part of a defensive effort worthy of superlatives.

“There were some mental lapses in the first half,” Morgan said after the seventh-ranked Trojans defeated No. 6 Dubuque Hempstead, 38-24, Saturday night in a Class 4A third round playoff game. “We cleaned it up. The defense just started doing their thing. We have a whole lot of confidence in our defense. Our defense has a lot of guys, a lot of players. They are making plays left and right, so kudos to the defense.”

The West High defense surrendered 252 yards – 224 from Hempstead quarterback Aidan Dunne, the 2020 Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division Player of the Year – in a first half that ended in a 17-17 stalemate.

In the second half, the Trojans limited the Mustangs to just 71 yards and seven points.

“Their quarterback is really good,” West High senior outside linebacker Ian McAreavy said. “We were just harping on our tackling because we missed a few screen passes. They were getting a lot of yards in that so we were trying to get rid of that as much as we could. It turned out pretty good.”

On offense, West High (6-0) had some opportunities to put the game out of reach in the third quarter, but turned the ball over twice in the Hempstead end zone and was stopped on a fourth down attempt at the Hempstead 43-yard line.

“Yeah, you know that happens,” West Coach Garrett Hartwig said. “The mentality is to go for the win in this program. We will always take our shots and when you play good teams, they are going to make plays, too. That is kind of what happened tonight. We understand the risk and we are willing to take that risk and get after it.”

And “get after it” it did with touchdown drives on its next two possessions, beginning with a 6-yard scoring toss from Morgan to senior receiver Grahm Goering that gave the Trojans the lead for good at 31-24 with 7:26 to go.

“We had them scouted really, really well this week,” said Goering, who led West with seven receptions for 97 yards and two scores. “The scout team brought it at practice this week, the coaches broke down the film really well and we just executed.”

Sensing it was on the verge of victory, the West defense did not allow a first down to Hempstead the rest of the way.

Morgan – who finished the game with 260 passing yards and four total touchdowns – put the game out of reach at 38-24 with a spectacular 39-yard touchdown run with 3:47 left in the game that required some sideline acrobatics to stay in bounds.

“Made the read,” said Morgan, who has scholarship offers from Ball State, Central Michigan, Dartmouth, Iowa State, Northern Iowa and Toledo.. “Pulled it. I got a really good block and stiff arm. I thought it was going out of bounds. I just tried my best to stay in bounds. I ended up making a play. I will take that. I am happy about it.”

Goering ended any remaining drama by intercepting his second pass of the game two plays later.

“There were a couple of times our defense had to carry our offense and our offense had to carry our defense,” Goering said.

Junior Nate Gudenkauf recovered a fumble for West, while teammate Alex McKay blocked a field goal.

Dunne threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score for Hempstead, which ends its season at 7-2.

West will visit No. 4 Pleasant Valley (9-0) next Friday in a 4A quarterfinal playoff game. Pleasant Valley defeated Bettendorf 10-6 on Friday.

Win there, and the Trojans will head to the UNI-Dome for a state semifinal for the first time since 2017.

“It will be interesting,” Hartwig said. “We have got a very mature group, though. A lot of seniors that are very good leaders. I expect that they will handle it the way they need to.”

AT TROJAN FIELD

                                  DH                  ICW

First Downs                18                    17

Rushes-yards              26-103             31-103

Comp-Att-Int              17-27-2           21-32-2

Passing yards              220                  260

Total yards                  323                  363

Punts-avg.                   3-34.0              2-48.0

Fumbles-lost               2-1                   1-0

Penalties-yards           7-35                 6-70

Dubuque Hempstead            10  7  0  7  –  24

West High                                   3  14 7 14  – 38

ICW – Owen Smith 28 field goal

DH – Ben Jaeger 42 field goal

DH – Noah Pettinger 16 pass from Aidan Dunne (Jaeger kick)

ICW – Marcus Morgan 4 run (Smith kick)

DH – Dunne 42 run (Jaeger kick)

ICW – Trey King 3 run (Smith kick)

ICW – Grahm Goering 19 pass from Morgan (Smith kick)

DH – Max Moldt 11 pass from Dunne (Jaeger kick)

ICW – Goering 6 pass from Morgan (Smith kick)

ICW – Morgan 39 run (Smith kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Dubuque Hempstead: Aidan Dunne 16-62, Zach Sabers 7-34, Jalen Smith 3-7.  West High: Trey King 13-49, Marcus Morgan 11-44, Fabian Brown 5-3, Taylon Mann 2-7.

PASSING – Dubuque Hempstead: Aidan Dunne 17-27-2 220. West High: Marcus Morgan 21-32-2 260.

RECEIVING – Dubuque Hempstead: Jackson Ostrander 6-70, Ty Hancock 5-63, Zach Sabers 1-1, Max Moldt 3-33, Noah Pettinger 2-53. West High: Trey King 3-65, Mikey Brown 3-26, Grahm Goering 7-97, Damarion Williams 3-14, Eric Torres 4-46, Pasil Salih 1-12.

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.