Your Prep Sports

Top-ranked West Branch remained unbeaten with a 27-14 win over Waterloo Columbus on Friday and in the process moved one win away from a trip to the UNI-Dome.

Andy Henson rushed for 131 yards and two touchdowns and Tye Hughes passed for 136 yards and a touchdown as West Branch down the Sailors for the second time this season in a Class 1A Round of 16 matchup at the Little Rose Bowl in Solon.

West Branch (10-0) won a regular season matchup 34-14 over Waterloo Columbus on September 2 in Waterloo.

On Friday the Bears used a trio of second-half touchdown to break own a six-point game at the half while advancing to the 1A quarterfinals.

West Branch will host eighth-ranked MFL Mar-Mac (9-1) in a 1A quarterfinal on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Little Rose Bowl.

MFL Mar-Mac defeated ninth-ranked Dike-New Hartford 28-6 on Friday.

West Branch received the opening kickoff and marched 73 yard for a touchdown with Henson give the Bears a 7-0 with a 6-yard run with 8:53 left in the opening quarter.

Waterloo Columbus answered with an 6-play, 80-yard march of its own and tied the game at 7-7 on an 8-yard touchdown run by Carson Hartz.

West Branch took a 13-7 lead when Hughes connected with Carver Boelk for a 32-yard touchdown strike with 50 seconds left in the opening quarter.

It remained 13-7 until the third quarter when Kinnick Boelk scored on a 7-yard run with 3:49 left to put the Bears up 20-7.

Henson put the game out of reach when he scored on a 4-yard run with 10:17 left to give West Branch a 27-7 lead.

Henson ran for 131 yards on 32 carries while Hughes added 55 yards on the ground and Kinnick Boelk had 29 rushing yards as West Branch rolled up 212 yards on the ground.

Hughes completed 10-of-18 passes for 136 yards with Carver Boelk catching five passes for 99 yards and a touchdown.

Henson led the West Branch defensive effort with nine tackles while Carver Boelk had six stops and Kinnick Boelk had 4.5 tackles.

Quintyn Rocha recovered a fumble for West Branch.

WB                 WC

First Downs                           20                    11

Rushes-yards                         46-212             31-99

Comp-Att-Int                        10-18-0           10-17-0

Passing yards                        136                  137

Total yards                            348                  236

Punts-Avg.                             6-32.6              7-32.3

Fumbles-lost                          2-0                   1-1

Penalties-yards                      5-47                 5-34

Waterloo Columbus             7   0   7  7  –  14

West Branch                          13  0   7  7  –  27

WB – Andy Henson 6 run (Wyatt Fiederlein kick)

WC – Carson Hartz 8 run (Gavin Reed kick)

WB – Carver Boelk 32 pass from Tye Hughes (Kick blocked)

WB – Kinnick Boelk 7 run (Fiderlein kick)

WB – Henson 4 run (Fiderlein kick)

WC – 8 pass from Carter Lockert (Reed kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – WB: Andy Henson 32-131, Tye Hughes 8-55, Kinnick Boelk 4-29.

PASSING – WB: Tye Hughes 10-18-0 136.

RECEIVING – WB: Carver Boelk 5-99, Jack McCullough 2-19, Wyatt Fiderlein 1-10, Trenton Schutte 1-5, Kinnick Boelk 1-3.