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On a night where the conditions were less than ideal West Branch went old school, relying on a balanced running game and a stingy defense to stretch its winning streak to three.

West Branch rushed for a season-high 279 yards and held Dyersville Beckman under 150 yards of total offense in a 28-3 win over the Blazers on a rainy night in Dyersville.

The win was the third straight for West Branch and improved the Bears to 3-2 on the season and 2-0 in Class 1A, District 5 play.

Dyersville Beckman dropped to 0-5 and 0-2 in district games.

Senior Zach Capper ran for 72 yards and two touchdowns to lead four West Branch players that rushed for at least 60 yards as the Bears bested their previous season-best rushing total by 136 yards.

Sophomore quarterback Brennen Dale rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown and passed for 95 yards and a score as West Branch finished with a season-best 374 yards of total offense.

West Branch snapped a scoreless tie on a 5-yard touchdown run by Capper with 10:27 remaining in the second quarter.

Cascade cut the lead to 7-3 with a 21-yard field goal by Julien Kramer with 4:32 left in the second quarter and the score remained 7-3 into halftime.

West Branch put the game away with three consecutive touchdown drives in the second half.

Capper capped a 15-play, 75-yard scoring march with a 3-yard touchdown run with 4:55 remaining in the third quarter.

Trenton Schutte caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Dale to end a 5-play, 24-yard drive that was set up by Cale Seydel interception.

The Bears capped the scoring when Dale scored on a 1-yard plunge with 8:23 left in the game that put the finishing touches on a seven-play, 56-yard march.

Dale finished 13-of-19 passing for 95 yards and a touchdown, completing passes to eight different players.

Seydel had three receptions for 35 yards and Holden Arnaman caught three passes for 18 yards.

Cooper Gates rushed for 63 yards and senior Auron Marsh ran for 67 yards on seven carries for the Bears.

Reese Trepanier led a strong West Branch defensive effort with 5.5 tackles and a sack and Shae Farmer had a team-high seven tackles with half a tackle for loss.

Logan Wright had 5.5 tackles, with 2.5 for loss and a sack.

West Branch will host second-ranked Regina (5-0) next week while Dyersville Beckman will host Durant (0-5).

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