Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

As if the riddle of how to slow the Regina offense wasn’t already complicated enough for opposing defenses the Regals added yet another wrinkle to their offensive repertoire.

Senior quarterback Ashton Cook rushed for a season-high 74 yards in a 32-27 quarterfinal win over Wapsie Valley on Friday to help the third-ranked Regals return to the state semifinals for the second consecutive season.

The season-high rushing total for Cook helped Regina roll up 475 yards of total offense in the win, the fifth time in the past six games the Regals have accumulated more than 475 total yards.

Cook rushed for 302 yards and eight touchdowns last season but hadn’t been called upon to use his legs much this season, entering with just 150 yards on the ground through the first nine games.

On Friday the top passer in Class A helped Regina roll up 235 yards on the ground while averaging better than five yards per carry.

“I knew I could run like that,” Cook said. “I just haven’t done it a lot this year. Theo (Kolie) has been playing great. So it really just depends on the game plan and how we think we can attack them.”

The season-high rushing total for Cook helped Regina rush for 235 on Friday, the fifth time this season the Regals have run for more than 200 yards in a game.

Cook played a key role in the Regina running game success as Wapsie Valley keyed in on trying to slow senior tailback Theo Kolie.

Kolie still had 169 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, pushing his season totals to 1,316 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns.  “It was in the game plan, we knew they ran a four-two (defense) and we thought we could attack that with quarterback draws and quarterback runs,”  Cook said. “And, obviously, Theo draws a lot of attention for how good he’s been playing. But that’s what they were giving us tonight, and it worked in the first half, especially.”

Friday was another in a recent string of stellar showings for the Regina offense.

The Regals have had at least 475 yards of total offense in five of their last six games, averaging 458 total yards per game and 9.2 yards per play during that stretch.

Goering Does it All: Grahm Goering did a little bit of everything for West High this season playing key roles on offense, defense and special teams.

Goering was at his multi-faceted best in a quarterfinal loss to Pleasant Valley on Friday.

The senior caught eight passes for 139 yards, had a 13-yard touchdown run and three a 5-yard touchdown pass in a 38-24 loss to the Spartans.

Goering had a pair of interceptions in a win over Dubuque Hempstead last week and had 10 touchdown receptions this season, ran for a touchdown, threw a touchdown pass and a returned a kickoff for a score.

1,000 Yard Club: Two area players joined the 1,000-yard club on Friday as Solon senior running back Jackson Ryan and Regina senior receiver Alec Wick each eclipsed 1,000 yards this season.

Ryan had 31 yards rushing in a quarterfinal loss to Waukon and finished the season with 1,017 yards and 12 touchdowns in 10 games.

Ryan became the first Solon 1,000-yard rusher since Brandon Kramer ran for 1,274 yards in 2014.

Wick caught six passes for 61 yards in a quarterfinal win over Wapsie Valley to push his season receiving yards total to 1,047.

It is the second consecutive 1,000-yard receiving season for Wick who has pushed his career total to 3,301 receiving yards.

Scoop and Score: A strong defensive effort allowed Solon to stay within striking distance of Waukon throughout its 2A quarterfinal on Friday.

It was a big play by the Spartan defense that got Solon right back in the game in the fourth quarter.

Junior defensive lineman Gage Marty scooped up a fumble and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown to cut the Waukon lead to 16-8.

It was the first defensive touchdown of the season for the Spartans which forced 17 turnovers in 10 games this season.

Stat Backers: The catalysts for a stingy Solon defense this season has been a strong linebacking corps led by seniors Lucas TePoel, Carson Shive and Colton Hoffman.

That trio was outstanding in its final prep game, combining for 24 tackles, including 20 solo stops 5.5 tackles for loss and a sack in a 24-8 loss to Waukon.

TePoel had a team-high 9.5 tackles including three for loss, Hoffman had 8.5 and Shive had six and a sack as Solon limited Waukon to 257 total yards.

Defensive player of the week: Solon senior linebacker Lucas TePoel had one of the best performances of his career in his final game in a Spartan uniform.

TePoel had three tackles for loss among his team-high 9.5 stops in a 24-8 quarterfinal loss to fifth-ranked Waukon.

Best of the rest: Regina junior defensive lineman Aidan Udell had 5.5 tackles including 5 solo stops and half a sack in a 32-27 win over Wapsie Valley.

Solon junior safety Parker Pentico picked off two passes in a 24-8 loss to Waukon.

West High senior running back Trey King rushed for 86 yards and a touchdown in a 38-24 loss to Pleasant Valley.

Offensive player of the week: The deeper Regina plays into the postseason the better senior quarterback Ashton Cook seems to play.

Cook turned in his second straight stellar postseason performance on Friday completing 18-of-23 passes for 240 yards and a touchdown in a 32-27 win over Wapsie Valley.

Cook also rushed for 74 yards and a touchdown as Regina rolled up 475 yards of total offense.

Best of the rest: Regina senior running back Theo Kolie ran for 169 yards and three touchdowns and also caught three passes for 52 yards in a 32-27 win over Wapsie Valley.

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