Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR FALLS – It didn’t take Regina long to set the tone in its Class A semifinal against Saint Ansgar on Friday.

Regina received the opening kickoff and promptly put together a 12-play, 64-yard touchdown drive that ended with the first of three touchdown runs by senior quarterback Ashton Cook.

The opening drive took more than five minutes off the clock and was a sign of things to come as Regina did mostly what it pleased on offense in a 49-28 win that sent the Regals back to the state title game for the ninth time in 11 seasons.

On the opening touchdown drive Regina converted both of its third down attempts on the opening touchdown drive another forecast of what was coming for the final three quarters.

Regina finished 5-of-10 on third down in the win but was 5-of-7 through three quarters when the game was on the line.

“That was really important, it kept drives going so we could go down and score,” Ashton Cook said. “We had a lot of good play calls, we had good matchups and we made a lot of big plays.”

On the game’s opening drive Cook connected with his top target, senior Alec Wick twice for third down conversions.

Cook found Wick for seven yards on a third-and-three play and later hit the senior for 11 on a key third-and-nine.

“That is (Offensive coordinator Ed Hinkle) getting them lined up and seeing what the defense is in,” Regina coach Marv Cook said. “Then we are making adjustments to what we see.”

Regina was 2-of-4 on third down attempts in the first half and converted on its first three of the second half, all in the third-quarter, while putting the game away.

Cook ran for six yards on a third-and-four on the Regals opening drive of the second half, a 9-play, 71-yard march.

After Saint Ansgar returned a fumble to cut the Regina lead to 35-28 the Regals put together a 10-play, 61-yard drive in which Cook converted twice on third down.

He hit senior running back Theo Kolie for 16 yards on third-and-seven and then tossed a beautifully executed shovel pass to Levi Quinlan for a touchdown on third-and-goal.

“Theo and Alec and Levi and Ashton have been doing this for a long time now and they can tell if guys are baiting them in coverage and things like that,” Marv Cook said. “It’s little things like that that are huge for us.”

2-Minute Drill: Regina took the lead for good with perhaps its most impressive drive of the game, a 9-play, 77-yard burst that ended with a Kolie sneaking into the end zone on fourth down on the final play of the first half.

The Regals ran the two-minute drill to near perfection on the touchdown drive that took 2:09 and gave Regina a 28-21 halftime lead.

Kolie carried five times for 32 yards and Cook was 3-of-3 passing for 45 yards.

“The drive right before the half was a huge two-minute drive for us,” Marv Cook said. “It wasn’t as clean as I would have liked at the end but coach Hinkle had a great call and Theo got in the endzone. Our receivers were the key to that play, they did a great job blocking the edge and got Theo in.”

Cole Does It All: Regina was able to slow Saint Ansgar senior standout running back Ryan Cole in the ground game holding Cole, who entered with better than 1,900 rushing yards, to 69 yards on 17 carries.

Cole still had a major all-around impact for the Saints.

He caught three passes for 106 yards, went 3-of-3 passing for 19 yards and a touchdown and made eight tackles including one for loss.

“He did damn near everything for them, he threw the ball, he caught the ball, he ran the ball I’m not sure he didn’t punt it,” Marv Cook said. “He looked like Christian McCaffery for a quarter and half there until we kind of got him corralled a little bit.”

Defensive player of the week: Every member of the Regina front seven deserves a helmet sticker this week but senior defensive tackle Jackson Mills was one of the biggest reasons for the Regals rush defense success.

Mills had a tackle for loss and four solo tackles among his six total tackles as Regina held a Saint Ansgar team that entered averaging better than 350 rushing yards to 172 yards on the ground.

Best of the rest: Regina sophomore linebacker Ronan Poynton had 5.5 tackles including a tackle for loss in the semifinal win.

Regina junior linebacker Blake Chambliss made a team-high 7.5 tackles including one for loss in the win over Saint Ansgar.

Regina junior defensive tackle Aidan Udell had 4.5 tackles in the semifinal win over Saint Ansgar.

Offensive player of the week: It was Saint Ansgar that entered the state semifinals as the top rushing team in Class A but it was Regina senior Theo Kolie that came up with a big game on the ground.

Kolie rushed for 159 yards and three touchdowns and also caught three passes for 55 yards in the 49-28 Regina win.

Best of the rest: Regina senior quarterback Ashton Cook completed 17-of-23 passes for 251 yards and also rushed for 43 yards and three touchdowns in the semifinal win.

Regina senior receiver Alec Wick caught nine passes for 128 yards in the win.

Regina senior receiver Levin Quinlan caught five passes for 68 yards and a touchdown in the win over Saint Ansgar.

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