Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Jack Wallace and Julian Manson have formed a terrific tandem.

West High’s senior quarterback and junior receiver put in a lot of work away from the practice field to learn each other’s timing and tendencies, which quickly become second nature on game day.

Friday night against Urbandale that exceptional chemistry was on full display.

“We work a ton together as a team, but those guys, they will put in hours that nobody knows about,” West High coach Garrett Hartwig said after the Trojans defeated Urbandale, 34-28, in a non-district prep football game at Trojan Field. “It shows up and you have to do that if you want to separate yourself. I was excited to see them have success.”

Wallace and Manson connected seven times for 135 yards and touchdowns of 39, 21 and 50 yards. Wallace finished with 320 passing yards and gave his team the lead for good with a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

“We have great chemistry between all the receivers and the quarterback,” Manson said. “He’s just a great guy. He’s such a leader.”

Manson – the son of former University of Iowa player Jason Manson – holds scholarship offers from Iowa, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Minnesota and North Dakota State.

“He’s a great athlete and great person,” Wallace said of Manson, “We have that connection on and off the field. Any time I have a smaller guy (defending Manson), I’m throwing to Ju.”

West High senior Mason Woods caught 10 passes for 100 yards.

A week after yielding 565 yards and 56 points to Liberty High, the West High defense forced two turnovers, registered two fourth down stops and blocked a field goal.

“The defense was getting harped on the whole week,” said Wallace, a Minnesota State recruit said. “That was our point of emphasis, really. I am so happy for them that they came back this week and got stops when it mattered.”

West (1-1) trailed after three quarters, 28-24, but blanked the J-Hawks over the final frame. Quarterback Landon Rinnan ran for 104 yards and two scores and also threw for 150 for Urbandale (0-2).

Junior Adam Salem converted two field goals for the Trojans, which visit Muscatine next week.

“It’s great, because when you win you can coach them that much harder,” Hartwig said. “And we will. The season is nine games, so you break it into thirds. The first third of the season, you’re trying to figure out kind of who you are and what your identity is. The middle third, you start to hit your groove and hopefully that last third, you’re in the playoffs or fighting for the playoffs. Everything is in front of every team.”

                                      URB                ICW

First Downs               15                    22

Rushes-yards             43-261             31-62

Comp-Att-Int             8-19-1             28-38-1

Passing yards            150                  328

Total yards                411                  390

Punts-avg.                  2-24.5              2-41

Fumbles-lost              3-1                   1-0

Penalties-yards         3-25                 7-40

Urbandale                  14  0  14  0   –  28

West High                  10  7   7  10  –  34

ICW – Julian Manson 39 pass from Jack Wallace (Adam Salem kick)

URB – Landon Rinnan 2 run (Logan Sutter kick)

URB – Maxwell Hartzell 59 run (Sutter kick)

ICW – Salem 24 field goal

ICW – Manson 21 pass from Wallace (Salem kick)

URB – Jaylon Brooks 12 run (Sutter kick)

ICW – Manson 50 pass from Jack Wallace (Salem kick)

URB – Rinnan 1 run (Sutter kick)

ICW – Wallace 1 run (Salem kick)

ICW – Salem 31 field goal

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – Urbandale: Jaylon Brooks 18-86, Maxwell Hartzell 3-61, Landon Rinnan 20-104, Elijah Hoyt 1-9, Josh Tarpeh 1-1. West High: Butali Butali 12-43, Campbell Janis 6-15, Jack Wallace 13-4.

PASSING – Urbandale: Landon Rinnan 8-19-1 150. West High: Jack Wallace 28-38-1 320, Evan Anderson 1-1-0 8.

RECEIVING – Urbandale: Hayden Moser 3-30, Turner Brown 2-50, Trey Dahlgren 2-63, Jaylon Brooks 1-7. West High: Chase Bopp 2-26, Julian Manson 7-135, Mason Woods 10-100, Nick Caylor 1-4, Butali Butali 3-13, Henry Elser 5-42, Declan Bunn 1-8.

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