Your Prep Sports

Every team wants to get out to a fast start in every football game.

Saying West Branch started quickly doesn’t do justice to the first quarter the Bears had on Friday in its district opener against Louisa-Muscatine.

West Branch bolted to a 37-0 first-quarter lead and rolled to a 51-6 win over Louisa-Muscatine (0-4, 0-1) in the Class 1A, District 5 opener for both teams at the Little Rose Bowl in West Branch.

The win was the second straight for West Branch which improved to 3-1 on the season.

Andy Henson had three of his four rushing touchdowns in an opening quarter that also saw the Bears post a safety after blocking a punt out of the end zone.

West Branch ran a total of 13 offensive plays in the opening quarter while scoring touchdowns on its first five possessions.

The Bears had touchdown drives of one, two, four, one and five yards in the opening quarter as it jumped to a 37-0 lead less than 12 minutes into the game.

Henson started the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run one play after the Bears recovered a Louisa-Muscatine fumble at the six yard line.

The safety on a blocked punt made it 9-0 and Henson then added touchdown runs of 7 and 8 yards and Wyatt Fiderlein scored on an 8-yard run that made it 30-0.

Carver Boelk recovered a muffed snap and raced 48 yards for a touchdown to give West Branch a 37-0 lead after the opening quarter.

Henson finished with 100 yards rushing and four touchdowns on seven carries while Boelk ran for 50 yards and a score.

Cash Woody and Henson both recovered fumbles and Evan Striegel returned an interception 34 yards for a touchdown to lead the West Branch defensive effort.

WB                 L-M

First downs                 14                    4

Rushes-yards              35-212             23-20

Comp-Att-Int              2-3-0               2-10-1

Passing yards              51                    36

Total yards                  263                  56

Punts-avg.                   3-28.3              6-25

Fumbles-lost               4-0                   2-2

Penalties-yards           5-31                 5-35

West Branch                          0   0   6   0  –  6

Louisa-Muscatine               37  0  14  0  –  51

WB – Andy Henson 6 run (Wyatt Fiderlein kick)

WB – Safety blocked punt out of endzone

WB – Henson 7 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Henson 8 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Fiderlein 8 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Carver Boelk 48 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Henson 39 run (Fiderlein kick)

L-M – 33 pass

WB – Evan Striegel 34 interception return (Fiderlein kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – West Branch: Andy Henson 7-100, Carver Boelk 2-50, Jarrett Ellyson 8-20, Peyton Miller 2-19, Connor Rios 4-11, Auron Marsh 4-9, Wyatt Fiderlein 1-8, Evan Striegel 3-5, Kinnick Boelk 1-2, Cale Seydel 2-(-4).

PASSING – West Branch: Carver Boelk 1-1-0 22, Connor Rios 1-2-0 29.

RECEIVING – West Branch: Peyton Miller Trenton Schutte 1-29, Peyton Miller 1-22.

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