Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Class 1A No. 1 West Branch (5-0) at Class 1A No. 3 Durant (5-0)

When: Friday, 7 p.m.

Where: Durant   

These two River Valley Conference rivals have played eight times in the past 10 seasons with West Branch winning all eight meetings by an average of 21 points per game.

The last three meetings have all been close games with West Branch winning 24-23 in 2017, 28-21 in 2020 and 28-14 last season.

Durant has been one of the most improved teams in the state this season going for 2-7 a year ago to 5-0 this season.

West Branch meanwhile has been among the most dominant teams in the state through five games outscoring opponents by a combined score of 275-46.

Players to Watch

Durant – Nolan DeLong     

DeLong is among the most productive players in the state at any level and has been for duration of his prep career.

A four-time 1,000-yard rusher DeLong has rushed for 5,624 yards and 64 touchdowns in his career averaging 181.4 yards per game and 8.5 yards per carry over the past four seasons.

This season the 6-foot-1, 191-pound DeLong has rushed for a state-leading 1,429 yards and 17 touchdowns (285.8 yards per game) and is averaging 10.9 yards per carry.

DeLong also leads Durant with 34 tackles including five for loss and a sack and has recovered a fumble and is averaging 40.1 yards per punt.

West Branch – Andy Henson  

A couple of the best two-way players in all of Class 1A square off in the matchup inside the matchup as Henson and DeLong will no doubt meet more than a few times on the turf on Friday night.

Like his counterpart DeLong, Henson is among the most productive players in the state on both sides of the ball.

A 6-foot-2, 215-pound Minnesota State commit Henson has rushed for 568 yards and 15 touchdowns this season and has caught 10 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown.

Henson also leads his team in tackles from his linebacker spot with 26 with four going for loss and is averaging 38.5 yards per punt.

Keys to the Game

Durant – Lend a Helping Hand  

One of the worst kept secrets in the state is who is getting the ball when Durant needs a big play.

The Wildcats have run 209 offensive plays this season with DeLong carrying the ball 131 times.

That means the senior tailback is touching the ball roughly 63 percent of the time.

With a player of his level that makes sense.
The key for the Wildcats on Friday against a stout West Branch defense that will no doubt be focused on slowing the senior standout is to get contributions from others.

Sophomore quarterback Isaac Nielsen has been efficient completing 9-of-16 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown and has rushed for 51 yards and two touchdowns.

Nielsen is 5-for-6 passing over the past two games without an interception and three different Wildcats have at least three receptions this season.

The offense flows through DeLong and no other Wildcat needs to go wild on Friday but if an opportunity to make a play presents itself the rest of the players on the Durant will need to capitalize.

West Branch – Slow Down DeLong

Like any player of his caliber completing shutting down a Nolan DeLong is a tall task.

West Branch doesn’t need to completely stuff DeLong to remain unbeaten on Friday night but the Bears need to make sure the Durant standout doesn’t run wild.

The Bears have a couple things going for them in keeping DeLong bottled up.

First, West Branch has been excellent against the run this season holding opponents to 63.6 rushing yards per game and one total rushing touchdown while limiting teams to 2.3 yards per rushing attempt.

Second, the Bears have had previously success in slowing DeLong.

DeLong has rushed for at least 100 yards and a touchdown in 22 of his previous 23 games.

The lone team to hold DeLong under 100 yards and out of the endzone during that stretch was West Branch in 2020.

In two previous meetings with West Branch DeLong has rushed for 146 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries.

Since being limited to 20 yards an no touchdowns against the Bears in 2020, DeLong has posted 17 consecutive 100-yard games and scored a touchdown in all 17 averaging 211.5 yards and running for 46 touchdowns in that stretch.

Both teams – Take Care of the Ball

Turnovers could be listed as a key in any big game but valuing the ball could be of the utmost importance on Friday in a meeting of two teams that have been excellent at creating turnovers this season.

West Branch has forced nine turnovers (6 fumbles, 3 interceptions) in five games and returned six of those for touchdowns.

Durant has taken the ball away 13 times in five games (6 fumbles, 7 interceptions) and returned one for a score.

West Branch has been better about holding on to the ball this season committing just one turnover while the Wildcats have turned it over six times.

In a game that figures to be close and with possessions potentially being at a premium between a pair of teams that love to run the ball and grind the clock turnovers could be the difference.

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