Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Football fully returned to the Your Prep Sports area on Friday highlighted by prep action returning to Kinnick Stadium for the first time in more than 40 years.

The other six Your Prep Sports area teams were in action on Friday and Rapid Reaction offers a quick, first look at what stood out from Friday night in the area.

Lets get into it.

What Stood Out?

Liberty High

Last season it was City High that set the tone early and used an emphatic season-opening win to propel itself into a 6-0 start and a 10-2 turnaround season.

This season Liberty High is hopeful its own impressive opening-night win can do the same.

Liberty High opened the game with an 81-yard touchdown drive and never looked back in a 36-19 win over City High in the ‘Clash at Kinnick’.

“I think we are going to be really good this year,” Liberty High senior Barney said. “Our team is coming together and being better teammates and we know each other’s strengths.”

Liberty High went 3-6 last season under first-year head coach James Harris and started the season 0-5.

The Lightning are already off to a better start and showed Friday they could be the area team in for a big bounce back.

Liberty High looked improved on both the offensive and defensive lines, displayed better depth and had a variety of players making plays on both sides of the ball.

It was night and day difference from last year’s opener and the Lightning should only get better.

The Clash at Kinnick

The event in general was a massive hit.

A crowd that had to be over 10,000 people enjoyed a game filled with big plays on a perfect night weather-wise.

The atmosphere was absolutely electric. The best I’ve been around for a high school football game in nearly 20 years covering prep sports.

I wasn’t alone with that feeling.

“I can’t say enough about the turnout,” City High coach Mitch Moore said. “Before the game I did soak it in. I did. I took a moment and lived in the moment and you felt it. I felt grateful that’s all I can say.”

The wave to the Children’s Hospital following the first quarter was spectacular.

Kudos to everyone involved for bringing prep football back to an iconic Iowa venue. Well done.

Quarterback Play

How about these week one lines for local QBs.

West High sophomore Jack Wallace vs. Cedar Rapids Kennedy: 14-of-22 for 238 yards and 3 TD with 22 rush yards.

City High junior Drew Larson vs. Liberty High: 18-of-24 for 298 yards and 2 TD with 18 rush yards and a TD.

Liberty High junior Graham Beckman vs. City High: 16-of-24 for 236 yards and 3 TD with 43 rush yards and a TD.

West Branch senior Tye Hughes vs. Lisbon: 12-of-14 for 192 yards and 2 TD with a rush TD.

Solon senior Blake Timmons vs. West Liberty: 9-of-15 for 104 yards with 34 rush yards and 2 TD.

Clear Creek Amana senior Jackson Schmidt vs. Marion: 7-of-8 for 127 yards and a TD with 80 rush yards and a TD.

Not a bad start to the season for the guys under center.

West Branch

The addition of Liberty High transfer quarterback Tye Hughes was a boost for the West Branch offense.

The Bears were supposed to be more explosive.

But 61 points in a half? Sure there were some defensive touchdowns but West Branch showed it could be scary good offensively scoring touchdowns on six of seven first-half possessions.

Of those six touchdown drives three were one play and another was a four-play drive.

The average length of the six offensive touchdowns for the Bears on Friday was over 25 yards.

With Hughes, the Boelk brothers at receiver and Andy Henson in the back field West Branch is going to be a fun team to watch this season.

Who Stepped Up?

Liberty High junior quarterback Graham Beckman

Beckman stepped up big.

Beckman threw for 236 yards and three scores and rushed for 43 yards and another score in his first career start in front of 10,000 fans at a 72,000-seat stadium against a City High defense that had four shutouts and held teams to 11 points per game last season.

That is the very definition of stepping up.

What’s Next?

Three Games to Watch Next Week

Linn-Mar (1-0) at Liberty High (1-0) – This game certainly drew more attention with the way Liberty High played in week one. Linn-Mar is coming off a 41-0 win over Muscatine and defeated the Lightning 25-15 last year in Marion.

Clear Creek Amana (1-0) at Independence (1-1) – The Clippers’ focus on physicality will face another test against an Independence unit that rushed for 259 yards in a 28-14 win over Clear Creek Amana last season.

Mount Vernon (1-0) at Solon (1-0) – Solon is seeking a 20^th (that’s right 20^th) consecutive victory over its Highway 1 neighbor to the north.  

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