Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – When it comes to playoff football you take wins any way you can get them.

For Regina that means taking what the defense is giving.

In its postseason opener against Cascade on Friday the Cougars were giving Regina the opportunity to pass.

The Regals took what was given and rolled to a 41-19 win over Cascade (4-5) in a Class 1A opening-round matchup at Regal Field in Iowa City.

“Levi (Daniel) does a great job of running the ball but we will take whatever the defense gives us,” Regina senior Sam Aitchison said. “If they are going to stack the box we will throw, if they play guys in coverage we will run, we just try to do what the defense gives us.”

Junior quarterback Jack Tierney passed for 232 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 130 more yards and a scored as fourth-ranked Regina improved to 9-0 on the season and ran its winning streak to an even 20.

Regina will host a 1A second-round matchup on Friday and will learn its opponent when the Iowa High School Athletic Association Announces updated pairings on Saturday morning.

“Sometimes you win with the good, bad and ugly and we had a little bit of all of it tonight but it’s playoff football you are going to get everybody’s best shot,” Solon coach Jason Dumont said. “Cascade is a good team, I think Class 1A is as deep as it has been in a long time so you have to bring your A game.”

Cascade was intent on slowing a Daniel-led Regina run game and put as many as eight or nine players in the box in an attempt to slow Daniel who entered averaging 155 yards per game on the ground.

The Cougars were successful in slowing Daniel, holding the junior to 62 yards on 13 carries but Regina exploited other openings.

“That’s kind of what we’ve been expecting all year with a new quarterback and our line and running game are so strong,” Tierney said. “Our just is if they pack the box to beat them over the top.”

Tierney completed 17-of-20 passes for 232 yards, connecting with five different receivers as the Regals racked up 420 yards of total offense.

Aitchison caught six passes for 79 yards and a touchdown and Blake Chambliss had six receptions for 88 yards.

“That’s what we are going to see right now and we work on it all week,” Dumont said. “We hit some passes over the top and (assistant coach) Ed (Hinkel) does such a good job if they are going to load the box he is going to find what we can get. That little 4-yard hip pass we will take that all day long right now.”

Tierney immediately made Cascade pay the price for keying on Daniel pulling the ball on a read option play and racing 65 yards for a touchdown on the first snap of the game.

The junior broke tackles at the 30, 25 and 20 while giving Regina a 7-0 lead less than 20 seconds into the game.

“It was a read and I just pulled the ball and made a couple of moves on the linebacker, corner back and safety,” Tierney said. “My teammates were blocking and my job is to keep running.”

That was just the beginning for Tierney.

He completed his first eight passes and was 13-of-14 for 174 yards in the first half as Regina built a 27-6 halftime lead.

Tierney connected with Jackson Naeve for 25 yards on a fourth-and-16 play to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Daniel that gave Regina a 14-0 lead with 6:47 left in the first half.

Cascade junior Jack Menster returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a score but Tierney and the Regals answered immediately.

Regina had perhaps its best drive of the game, a 10-play, 68-yard march that saw the Regals convert a third-and-12 with a 12-yard pass from Tierney to Naeve.

“We try not to get too high or too low, it’s so what next play and we play as a unit,” Aitchison said. “That was definitely big for momentum to come back and not get rattled.”

Tierney tossed a 21-yard scoring strike to Aitchison to cap a quick, three-play scoring drive and give Regina a 27-6 halftime lead that would never be threatened.

“Our coaches put us in great spots to make plays and we just capitalize whether it is running throwing or kicking,” Aitchison said. “All we have to do is make plays.”

ICR                 CAS

First downs                 16                    15

Rushes-yards              36-188             25-104

Comp-Att-Int              17-20-0           15-34-1

Passing yards              232                  228

Total yards                  420                  332

Punts-avg.                   1-27                 2-26.5

Fumbles-lost               3-1                   2-0

Penalties-yards           8-65                 5-57

Regina                        7  20  7   7   –  41

Cascade                      0   6   0  13  –  19

ICR – Jack Tierney 65 run (Andrew Deninger kick)

ICR – Levi Daniel 2 run (Deninger kick)

CAS – Jack Menster 90 kick off return (Pass failed)

ICR – Daniel 5 run (Deninger kick)

ICR – Sam Aitchison 21 pass from Tierney (Kick failed)

ICR – Andrew Wiese 65 interception return (Deninger kick)

CAS – Isaac Nava 19 pass from Justin Roling (Pass failed)

ICR – Chris Waikel 1 run (Deninger kick)

CAS – Nava 52 pass from Roling (Tyson Hill kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – Regina: Jack Tierney 12-126, Levi Daniel 13-62, Chris Waikel 5-6, Jose Monestina 2-1, Connor Nicpon 2-0, Team 3-(-7). Cascade: Jack Menster 15-74, Justin Roling 6-19, Tanner Simon 3-15, Isaac Nava 1-(-4).

PASSING – Regina: Jack Tierney 17-20-0 232. Cascade: Justin Roling 15-34-1 228.

RECEIVING – Regina: Blake Chambliss 6-88, Sam Aitchison 6-79, Jackson Naeve 2-37, Levi Daniel 2-9, Steven Liu 1-19. Cascade: Isaac Nava 4-134, Cass Hoffman 3-36, Tanner Simon 3-23, Luke Ruggeberg 2-23, Jack Menster 3-12.

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