Your Prep Sports

WEST BRANCH – West Branch donned its throwback uniforms for its non-district finale on Friday against Maquoketa Valley.

Then the Bears turned in a performance worthy of great teams from the program’s storied past.

Class 1A fifth-ranked West Branch scored on its first seven possessions and added touchdowns on defense and special teams in a 59-0 rout of previously unbeaten Maquoketa Valley (2-1) at the Little Rose Bowl in West Branch.

Senior quarterback Tye Hughes passed for 134 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for a score and caught a touchdown pass as West Branch improved to 3-0 on the season.

Hughes was one of six different Bears to find the end zone on Friday as West Branch rolled up a season-high 339 yards of total offense.

Carver Boelk caught touchdown passes of 49 and 41 yards and senior tailback Andy Henson rushed for 53 yards and a score and tossed a 9-yard scoring strike to Hughes in the win.

West Branch opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown plunge from Hughes to cap a five-play 36-yard touchdown drive.

The Bears added first-quarter touchdown drives of three and five plays and Kinnick Boelk returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown as West Branch scored a defensive touchdown for the third straight game while taking a 28-0 lead after one quarter.

Henson scored on a 4-yard run, Boelk caught his second touchdown pass of the game and Evan Striegel picked up a fumbled kickoff and ran it back 15 yards to pay dirt helping the Bears to a 49-0 halftime lead.

Wyatt Fiderlein made a 26-yard field goal and freshman Logan Christoffel scored on a 28-yard run in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.

Hughes finished 7-of-9 passing for 134 yards with Carver Boelk catching four passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns.

Kinnick Boelk had three receptions for 28 yards.

Henson had a team-high seven tackles including two tackles for loss and Logan Wright had four tackles with two for loss to lead a Bear defensive effort that limited the Wildcats to 69 yards of total offense.

Jaxson Kaalberg had a tackle for loss among three stops and Trenton Schutte had five tackles.

West Branch will open district play next Friday at Louisa-Muscatine (0-3).

                                                     WB                 MV

First Downs                           16                    3

Rushes-yards                         29-162             24-68

Comp-Att-Int                        10-15-0           1-6-3

Passing yards                         177                  1

Total yards                            339                  69

Punts-Avg.                             0-0                   6-31.7

Fumbles-lost                          1-1                   1-0

Penalties-yards                      2-15                 4-20

West Branch              28  21  3  7  –  59

Maquoketa Valley      0    0  0  0  –  0 

WB – Tye Hughes 1 run (Wyatt Fiderlein kick)

WB – Carver Boelk 48 pass from Hughes (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Kinnick Boelk 32 interception return (Kick failed)

WB – Hughes 9 pass from Andy Henson (Henson pass from Hughes)

WB – Henson 4 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Carver Boelk 41 pass from Hughes (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Evan Striegel 15 fumble return (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Fiderlein 26 field goal

WB – Logan Christoffel 28 run (Dilan Kazlauskas kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – WB: Andy Henson 8-53, Logan Christoffel 2-29, Kinnick Boelk 1-21, Connor Rios 2-20, Tye Hughes 3-19, Evan Striegel 3-11, Auron Marsh 3-9, Jarrett Ellyson 1-4, Cale Seydel 1-1, Carver Boelk 1-(-4). MV: Lance McShane 12-46.

PASSING – WB: Tye Hughes 7-9-0 134, Connor Rios 2-5-0 34, Andy Henson 1-1-0 9. MV: TJ Cook 1-6-3 1.

RECEIVING – WB: Carver Boelk 4-106, Kinnick Boelk 3-28, Auron Marsh 2-34, Tye Hughes 1-9.

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