Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – West High coach Garrett Hartwig graciously said it was an evenly played game in the season opener.

“We either just got lucky or had the ball at the end,” he quipped. “It was a back-and-forth game for both teams.”

Nothing was even about West High’s 35-28 victory over Liberty High, certainly not the statistics or the manner of scoring.

But the Trojans managed to make enough big plays on defense, offense and special teams to make up for being unable to sustain drives.

“The game was amazing,” senior receiver Izaiah Loveless said. “Making the plays, feeling the vibes. The first half wasn’t so good for us, but the second half we just came out and changed our whole mindset. I was blown away by the way we played in the second half.”

You want big plays?

*West High quarterback Jack Wallace hit Loveless with a 51-yard post for a TD to tie the game at 7-all late in the first quarter;

*West High linebacker Santana Miller picked off Graham Beckman on a sideline route and ran 48 yards for a TD to take a 14-7 lead.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Miller said. “I saw an open lane, and I had to get going. They were trying to run an out (pattern) and I was playing slot.”

Liberty High said, ‘Hold my beer,’ and answered with a 96-yard kickoff return down the left sideline by Cody Nichols for a touchdown to get within 14-13.

Miller blocked the PAT, so West High still held the lead.

*Mason Woods’ interception of Beckman halted a Lightning drive deep in West High territory, but West High returned the favor on the next play when the Bolts’ Charlie Keenan intercepted Wallace. No points came of the turnovers.

*With Liberty High ahead 21-14 to start the second half, West High’s Ahmed Almakin returned the kickoff 87 yards for the tying TD.

It appeared that any number of Bolts could have tackled him early, but once he got past midfield he was gone.

Hello momentum.

“One of our players got hurt and they put me in, so I had the opportunity,” Almakin said. “I kept cramping, and they kept catching up to me, but I just finished. It was big; it’s one of the reasons it changed the game.”

“That’s huge man, that’s huge. That’s how we got it started,” Miller said. “That’s what we needed.”

*Wallace to Loveless for 44 yards over the top gave West High a 28-21 lead with 8:41 left in the game.

After Liberty Hig impressively drove 72 yards for a tying score, West High had one last big play to deploy on third-and-five from the Bolts’ 37, and it was Wallace to Loveless again for 32 yards to set the Trojans up at the Bolts’ 5-yard line.

After a bobbled snap Ashton Honore took the handoff and ran up the middle for the winning score.

“When it was third and long I said, ‘We can get this,’” Loveless said. “It was an amazing throw and I made the catch, and it was beautiful.”

Loveless contended that Liberty’s scores really didn’t affect the Trojans.

“Every time that they scored it gave us motivation that we’ve got to keep going,” he said.

He and Wallace were able to take advantage of man-to-man coverage in completing four passes of at least 32 yards.

Overall Loveless caught seven passes for 191 yards and two TDs.

Miller said that his team has been waiting a year to put things together.

“We’re coming for the whole Iowa City; we’re coming for the whole state. We’re not playing around this year,” he said.

It was a quintessential opening high school game with multiple turnovers and penalties, heat-induced cramping and multiple substitutions.

Liberty High was there until the end.

It looked terrific early in taking a 7-0 lead, but then four interceptions, one fumble and nine penalties took their toll.

Defensively the Bolts held West High to just 38 rushing yards and eight first downs.

But the game came down to those big plays, and it was West High which made one more than did Liberty.

                                                   ICL                 ICW

First downs                             16                    8

Rushing-yards                         38-151             31-38

Comp-att-int                           23-45-4           13-20-1

Passing-yards                          257                  222

Punts-avg.                               3-37                 6-37

Fumbles-lost                           1-1                   3-2

Penalties-yards                       9-55                 3-25

Liberty High      7  14  0   7   –  28

West High           7   7   7  14  –  35

ICL – Dallas Miller 8 pass from Graham Beckman (Conley Sunblad kick)

ICW – Izaiah Loveless 51 pass from Jack Wallace (Adam Salem kick)

ICW – Santana Miller 50 interception return (Salem kick)

ICL – Cody Nichols 96 kickoff return (Kick blocked)

ICL – Sutton Koller 2 run (Koller run)

ICW – Ahmed Almaki 87 kickoff return (Salem kick)

ICW – Loveless 44 pass from Wallace (Salem kick)

ICL – Miller 26 pass from Beckman (Sunblad kick)

ICW – Ashton Honore 5 run (Salem kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – Liberty High: Graham Beckman 16-78, Owen Drapeaux 13-42, Sutton Kolder 7-32, Cael Schramm 1-(-8), Dallas Miller 1-7. West High: Butali Butali 5-10, Todd Rent 10-18, Izaiah Loveless 1-8, Ashton Honore 2-5, Marquise Rose 1-3, Santana Miller 1-1, Jack Wallace 8-2, Erik Caperon 1-(-2), team 2-(-13).

PASSING – Liberty High: Graham Beckman 23-45-4 257. West High: Jack Wallace 13-20-1 222.

RECEIVING – Liberty High: Owen Drapeaux 4-93, Dallas Miller 6-84, Sutton Koller 6-47, Collin Decker 5-42, Gabe Clark 3-12. West High: Loveless 7-191, Mason Woods 2-15, Caperon 1-9, Mason Goering 1-9, Jesus Marungo-Murillo 1-2, Daniel Robinson 1-(-4).

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.