Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

WEST BRANCH – For the West Branch football team, the start of the playoffs brought an opponent both aggressive and versatile.

In response, the Bears leaned on a formula that venerable Coach Butch Pedersen has utilized on for decades –  a stingy defense and a strong run attack.

“They have a very good offensive team and I thought we shut them down very, very well,” Pedersen said after West Branch routed Cardinal, 35-6, in a Class 1A first round playoff game Friday night on the field that bears his name inside the Little Rose Bowl. “I thought we gave them a lot of secondary looks. I thought we really had them fooled a little bit for a while. … They are a football team that is not used to being in the playoffs. They came up here, they battled hard.”

True to its go-for-broke mentality, Cardinal attempted an onside kick on the opening kickoff of the game in an attempt to catch West Branch off guard and give the Comets’ offense the first offensive possession.

The resistance to the failed trick on the part of the West Branch special teams was indicative of what was to come.

Until a long touchdown pass in the final four minutes of the game, the West Branch defense had yielded zero points and just 150 total yards.

“We are definitely playing a lot better than we have before,” West Branch senior defensive end Cash Woody said of the Bears’ defense. “Just make sure that all our sides stay home, do their own jobs and we can make sure we get the person who has the ball.”

While its defense made life difficult for Cardinal (5-4), the West Branch running game piled up big chunks of yardage.

Behind 113 first-half rush yards from junior tailback Andy Henson, the Bears strung together three-consecutive touchdown drives, including a resounding 95-yard march that staked West Branch to a 21-0 halftime lead.

“Definitely the second-level blocks from the linemen,” said Henson of the reason for the run game success. “That helped a lot. We changed up our offense a little bit after Week 2 and our quarterback is getting more and more confident every game. That is just opening it up.”

Henson ran the ball 18 times overall for 188 yards and posted touchdown runs of 11 and nine yards in the second half.

West Branch junior quarterback Carver Boelk threw for 133 yards and ran for 39, which included a trio of short first-half touchdown runs.

“Our offensive line did fantastic,” Boelk said. “They were very sound and disciplined. I was really impressed with it. Andy ran super hard. It is just on them. They were fantastic.”

Cardinal speedster Griffin Greiner led the Comets with 49 rush yards and also caught six passes for 98 yards, including the aforementioned 72-yard score from quarterback Maddux Jones with 3:33 left in the game that ruined the Bears’ shot at a second defensive shutout this season.

Greiner also collected an interception on defense.

The win delivers West Branch (7-2) to the second round of the playoffs for the fourth year in a row.

The Bears will learn their opponent once the Iowa High School Athletic Association draws up its four four-team pods to determine the second round matchups in 1A.

No matter the opponent, the preparation by West Branch will remain unchanged.

“Just keeping it up during practice.” Henson said. “Keeping high intensity and being aggressive.”

                                   CAR               WB

First Downs                10                    18

Rushes-yards              23-59               36-268

Comp-Att-Int              13-29-0           7-11-1

Passing yards              163                  133

Total yards                  222                  401

Punts-avg.                   5-40.6              2-36.5

Fumbles-lost               0-0                   0-0

Penalties-yards           4-20                 2-20

Cardinal            0   0   0  6  –   6

West Branch    7 14 14  0  –  35

WB – Carver Boelk 3 run (Wyatt Fiderlein kick)

WB – Boelk 9 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Boelk 1 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Andy Henson 11 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Henson 9 run (Fiderlein kick)

CAR – Griffin Greiner 72 pass from Maddux Jones (run failed)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Cardinal: Maddux Jones 6-2, Griffin Greiner 14-49, Ian Liles 3-8. West Branch: Carver Boelk 7-39, Evan Striegel 5-19, Wyatt Fiderlein 5-20, Andy Henson 18-188, Jarrett Ellyson 1-2.

PASSING – Cardinal: Maddux Jones 13-29-0 163. West Branch: Carver Boelk 7-11-1 133.

RECEIVING – Cardinal: Griffin Greiner 6-98, Landon Becker 2-19, Konnor Sanders 2-18, Isaac Lett 1-11, Dylan Telfer 2-17. West Branch: Peyton Miller 1-5, Holden Arnaman 2-21, Kinnick Boelk 2-39, Andy Henson 1-32, Brady Hunger 1-36.

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