Your Prep Sports

After showing off an explosive passing game in its season opener West Branch went back to its trusty power running game on Friday.

Senior workhorse Andy Henson rushed for 113 yards and two scores and quarterback Tye Hughes ran for a pair of scores to lift Class 1A sixth-ranked West Branch to a 34-13 road win over Waterloo Columbus at TJ McLaughlin Field in Waterloo.

West Branch paired its potent running attack with a stingy defense on Friday to improve to 2-0 on the season.

The Bears held Waterloo Columbus (0-2) under 200 yards of total offense and returned its fourth fumble for a touchdown in two weeks in the 21-point win.

Jack McCullough returned a fumble 27 yards for a score during a 21-point West Branch second quarter that gave the Bears a 28-10 halftime cushion.

Henson scored on runs of five and three yards and McCullough became the fourth West Branch player to return a fumble for a touchdown in the opening two games as the Bears jumped to a 21-0 lead.

Waterloo Columbus tried to climb back into the game before the half as Gavin Reed hit a 37 yard field goal and Myles Gardner picked off a Hughes pass and then scored on a 25-yard touchdown toss from Carter Lockert to cut the lead to 21-10.

West Branch responded with a 10-yard touchdown run by Hughes to take an 18-point lead into the locker room at halftime.

Hughes tacked on a 1-yard scoring plunge in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.

Hughes completed 11-of-16 passes for 72 yards and rushed for 55 yards and two scores.

Trenton Schutte caught three passes for 32 yards to lead West Branch.

Henson led a West Branch defensive effort that limited the Sailors to 192 total yards with eight tackles while Kinnick Boelk had 7.5 tackles and Carver Boelk had seven tackles including one for loss.

Quintyn Rocha had two sacks among his five stops.

WB                 WC

First Downs               17                    11

Rushes-yards             32-172             38-113

Comp-Att-Int            11-16-1           6-14-0

Passing yards            72                    79

Total yards                244                  192

Punts-Avg.                 4-41.3              5-23.4

Fumbles-lost              0-0                   1-1

Penalties-yards          3-19                 4-25

Waterloo Columbus          0  10  0  3  –  13

West Branch                         7  21  0  6  –  34         

WB – Andy Henson 5 run (Wyatt Fiderlein kick)

WB – Henson 3 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Jack McCollough 27 fumble return (Fiderlein kick)

WC – Gavin Reed 37 field goal

WC – Myles Gardner 25 pass from Carter Lockert (Reed kick)

WB – Tye Hughes 10 run (Fiderlein kick)

WC – Reed 37 field goal

WB – Hughes 1 run (Kick blocked)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – WB: Andy Henson 25-113, Tye Hughes 8-55, Carver Boelk 2-4.

PASSING – WB: Tye Hughes 11-16-1 72.

RECEIVING – WB: Andy Henson 4-9, Trenton Schutte 3-32, Jack McCullough 2-22, Kinnick Boelk 2-9.

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