Top-ranked Pleasant Valley Powers Past City High
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – Taking on the top-ranked teams leaves little margin for error.
When that number one ranked team is as nearly flawless as Pleasant Valley was on Friday night margin shrinks even further.
Class 5A top-ranked Pleasant Valley scored on seven of 10 drives, punted just one and rolled up 336 rushing yards in a 51-21 win over City High on Friday at Bates Field in Iowa City.
“That’s who they are, they don’t beat themselves and they made zero mistakes,” City High coach Mitch Moore said. “They are very physical, we knew we had some places where we could out-athletic them and we did a couple of times but not enough. They made more winning plays than we did.”
Pleasant Valley (7-0) jumped to a 14-0 lead less than seven minutes into the game, led 21-0 in the first half and broke opening a 14-point game at the half by scoring the first 23 points of the second half in its second win over City High in as many seasons.
The Spartans spread the ball around in their patented triple option running game while controlling the pace of play and the clock.
Eight different Spartans had carries and seven players ran for at least 35 yards as Pleasant Valley rolled up 336 yards on 54 carries.
Six different Spartans found the end zone on Friday with senior quarterback Caden McDermott running for two scores and throwing for two more.
“I learned something a long time ago when I played at Augustana if you play great defense and you control the clock you are going to be able to win a lot of football games,” Pleasant Valley coach Rusty VanWetzinga said. “We can throw the ball when we need too. That’s kind of been my M.O. since I became the head coach and decided after a couple of years to go to this type of style of play.”
Pleasant Valley scored on seven of eight drives that didn’t end a half but it was the Spartan defense that set the tone early.
The Spartans forced City High to go three-and-out on each of its first two possessions and followed each with scoring drives.
“That’s a fantastic football program,” Moore said. “Their detail and execution and methodical approach to what they do is pretty impressive.”
Pleasant Valley opened with a 7-play, 66-yard march that concluded with a 27-yard pass from McDermott to Ryan Doyle.
The Spartans got good field position on its second drive following a short City High punt and went 43 yards on four consecutive runs by McDermott taking a 14-0 lead on a 1-yard scoring sneak by the senior quarterback.
“Our guys have been real business-like all year long and they’ve shown up every Friday,” Van Wetzinga said. “That speaks to our leaders and our veterans.”
Trailing 21-0 in the second quarter the City High offense got moving behind junior quarterback Quinton Tran who replaced injured starter Drew Larson in the lineup.
Ben Kueter capped a 10-play, 78-yard touchdown drive with a 1-yard run to cut the lead to 21-7 with 3:40 left in the first half.
Pleasant Valley came up with perhaps the play of the game just minutes later as senior Makhi Wilson took the ensuing kickoff and raced 90 yards for a touchdown.
“That was huge and we haven’t busted on all year long and we’ve really been working hard on it all year long,” VanWetzinga said. “Makhi is fast and he got a seam and he split it and he was gone. That was huge for momentum.”
City High got the lead to 28-14 at the half when Tran tossed a 11-yard touchdown pass to Carsen Newton on third-and-goal from the 11.
“Honestly things weren’t working early maybe it was pre-game nerves but we got it working in the second quarter,” Tran said. “We executed well, we ran our plays with detail and were able to score.”
Pleasant Valley put the game away early in the third quarter.
The Spartans started the half with a 9-play, 72-yard touchdown drive and followed it with an 8-play drive that ended with a 40-yard field goal.
“They are a great team and I have a tremendous amount of respect for them, Moore said. “They are a powerhouse eastern side program and they have shown it the last two times they have played us.”
Tran passed for 244 yards and two touchdowns tossing a 42-yard scoring strike to Akili Mattox in the fourth quarter.
Mattox finished with eight receptions for 134 yards while Newton had five receptions for 70 yards.
“We are going to remember this one but we are going to keep our heads up and practice hard,” Tran said. “We will be ready next week for Davenport West.”
ICH PV
First Downs 13 20
Rushes-yards 54-336 27-119
Comp-Att-Int 20-31-1 3-6-0
Passing yards 244 62
Total yards 363 398
Punts-Avg. 3-26 1-34
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 9-75 3-30
Pleasant Valley 14 14 10 13 – 51
City High 0 14 0 7 – 21
PV – Ryan Doyle 27 pass from Caden McDermott (Austin Bullock kick)
PV – McDermott 1 run (Bullock kick)
PV – Rusty VanWetzinga 15 run (Bullock kick)
ICH – Ben Kueter 1 run (Thomas Ksobiech kick)
PV – Wilson 90 kickoff return (Bullock kick)
ICH – Carsen Newton 11 pass from Quinton Tran (Ksobiech kick)
PV – Coy Kipper 18 pass from McDermott (Bullock kick)
PV – Bullock 40 field goal
PV – McDermott 1 run (Kick failed)
PV – Tyge Lyon 18 run (Bullock kick)
ICH – Akili Mattox 42 pass from Tran (Ksobiech kick)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING – ICH: Ronnie Major 6-56, Ben Kueter 8-52, Carsen Newton 2-10, Sam Rew 1-8, Quinton Tran 9-7, Alex Knudtson 1-(-14). PV: Caden McDermott 17-59, Makhi Wilson 4-55, Izaac Harvey 7-47, Tyge Lyon 9-46, Ryan Doyle 6-44, Dakota Drieling 5-42, Rusty VanWetzinga 4-35, David Gorsline 2-8.
PASSING – ICH: Quinton Tran 20-31-1 244. PV: Caden McDermott 3-6-0 62.
RECEIVING – ICH: Akili Mattox 8-134, Carsen Newton 5-70, Ben Kueter 2-19, Oliver Kniss 2-9, Ronnie Major 2-5, Sam Rew 1-7. PV: Ryan Doyle 1-27, Coy Kipper 1-18, James Thiel 1-17.
Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.
