West Branch – Regina Photo Gallery

Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

It felt like football on Friday.

With temperatures dropping and leaves fall it means that postseason football is right around the corner.

Just one regular season game remains for a pair of Your Prep Sports area teams and the rest of the area teams have just two weeks left in the regular season.

Before we look at what lies ahead we dig into what stood out from week seven of the prep season in the Your Prep Sports area.

What Stood Out?

West Branch Locks it Up

West Branch has won district titles in recent years.

The Bears went unbeaten in the regular season as recently as 2019 and have ended four of the previous eight seasons with a single loss.

What West Branch hadn’t done in nearly two decades was take down Regina.

That changed on Friday.

West Branch locked up the Class 1A, District 5 title and moved a win away from an unbeaten regular season with a 23-0 shutout of the Regals at the Little Rose Bowl.

Just as it has all season West Branch impressed on Friday.

The Bears controlled the ball behind the running of standout Andy Henson who rushed for 149 yards on 25 carries and the game with a stout defense that bottled up Regina for most of the night.

There is a lot of important football remaining for West Branch but this feels like a special season in the making for the Bears.

Beckman, Lightning Keep Rolling

At this point what more can be said about Liberty High junior quarterback Graham Beckman?

Beckman posted another stellar stat line on Friday completing 9-of-16 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns in a 49-0 rout of ninth-ranked and previously unbeaten Fort Madison.

Liberty High improved to 6-1 with its fourth consecutive win as Beckman threw touchdown passes to four different receivers and also ran for a score.

On the season Beckman has now passed for 1,785 yards and 22 touchdowns and run for four more touchdowns.

Solon Runs on the Road

Solon ran away from Fairfield in a 45-25 win that moved the Spartans to 5-2 on the season and alone in first place in Class 3A, District 5 at 3-0.

The Spartans rushed for a season-high 315 yards in the road win at Fairfield as junior tailback Brett White (123 yards, two touchdowns) and senior quarterback Blake Timmons (118 yards, three touchdowns) each cracked the century mark.

Solon was solid running the ball during a 1-2 start averaging 174 yards per game during that stretch.

Not surprisingly the Spartans have bumped up the run game production of late averaging 265 rushing yards per game during its current four-game winning streak.

It’s playoff time

A number of Your Prep Sports area teams faced stiff challenges on Friday.

City High fell to 5A top-ranked Pleasant Valley 51-21, West High lost at Bettendorf 42-6 and Clear Creek Amana dropped a 49-0 decision to 4A second-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier.

For all of those teams and Regina the postseason affectively begins next week.

With losses on Friday all four of those teams need wins next week to help their postseason chances.

Who Stepped up?

Andy Henson

Is there a better player in Class 1A right now than Henson?

The senior running back/linebacker rushed for 149 yards and a touchdown in a 23-0 win over Regina on Friday.

Henson also completed a pass for 19 yards, caught two passes for 27 yards made four tackles including one behind the line of scrimmage and averaged 30.5 yards on four punts.

That’s a full days work and a good one at that.

What’s Next

Three Games to Watch Next Week

Regina (4-3) at Durant (5-2) – Regina looks to get back on track in regular season finale road test against Durant and standout tailback Nolan DeLong.

City High (4-3) at Davenport West (6-1) – City High will attempt to get back on track when it travels to Brady Street Stadium to face one of the biggest surprise teams in Class 5A in Davenport West.

Clear Creek Amana (3-4) at Pella (1-6) – The Clippers need a road win over traditional power Pella to keep its playoff hopes alive.

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