Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

When Regina offensive coordinator Ed Hinkel introduced the ‘sprawl’ play to the Regal playbook at practice last week senior Will Aitchison smiled.

Like many of his teammates Aitchison figured the newly implemented trick play would be used only if Regina had a big lead in Friday’s key Class 1A, District 5 matchup with West Branch.

Instead, the play was called with Regina trailing by three points in the final minute of the first half.

“I think that was the biggest play we’ve had all year,” Tracy said.

Regina executed perfectly resulting in a 43-yard touchdown pass from Drew Greve to Kyle Tracy that gave Regina a 14-10 halftime lead.

The touchdown was part of 21 unanswered points for Regina to close out a 28-10 win over the Bears at Regal Field.

“We ran that once in practice and we thought maybe we would run it if we got up,” Aitchison said. “Who would have thought all the linemen getting on their hands and knees would work?”

‘Sprawl’ was added to the playbook on Wednesday.

On the snap all five Regina lineup dove to the ground as Tracy fired a backward pass to Greve.

The lineman jumped up and got down field as Greve lofted a pass back to Tracy along the Regina sideline.

The junior quarterback caught the pass and went 43 yards untouched behind a wall of blockers for the go-ahead touchdown with 13 seconds left in the half.

A play that was practiced only a few times turned the momentum in a tight game.

“I caught it and I saw everyone running at me and I saw Kyle was wide open,” Greve said. “The momentum after that was huge.”

The trick play gave Regina a 14-10 halftime lead and the Regal defense took care of the rest.

Regina limited West Branch to 47 yards of total offense while holding the Bears scoreless in the second half.

The Regals outscored West Branch 14-0 in the second half.

“It took us a while, it took us the whole first half to realize what they were doing defensively on us, hats off to those guys, they play hard, Cooper Gates is a stud, (Michael) Montgomery, they were giving us fits,” Regina coach Dustin Elsbury said. “They were blitzing a lot but we realized they were playing a little differently than what we planned for up front and we made some adjustments at half and we were able to crease them a few different ways.”

News and Notes

Wallace Sets Another Record: West High senior quarterback Jack Wallace continued his assault on the West High record book on Friday.

Already the all-time passing leader at West High, Wallace set a single-game mark with six touchdown passes in a 48-6 win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

Wallace completed 11-of-15 passes for 272 yards and six touchdowns in the win over the J-Hawks.

A Minnesota State recruit, Wallace ranks third in the state in passing yards (1,579) and passing touchdowns (21).

Early RPI: The first RPI ratings were released by the Iowa High School Athletic Union on Monday and a pair of area teams were in the top 16 in Class 5A.

Liberty High (5-1) was second in the 5A RPI, City High (4-2) was ninth and West High (3-3) was 18^th.

Clear Creek Amana (4-2) was 10^th in the 4A RPI and Solon (5-1) was seventh in Class 3A.

Unbeatens: The number of unbeaten teams in the state is down to 31 and Regina remains one of those undefeated teams.

Regina (6-0) is one of only four remaining undefeated teams in Class 1A.

Of the 31 unbeaten teams in Iowa, 10 are in 8-player while Class 4A has five unbeaten teams.

Poynton Scoring Points: Clear Creek Amana has won three straight games and junior quarterback Conlan Poynton has been a big part of the Clippers’ surge.

Poynton has accounted for five touchdowns in each of the last two games and has 13 touchdowns during the current three-game winning streak.

In a 56-0 win over Burlington on Friday Poynton rushed for four touchdowns and threw a touchdown pass, the second consecutive game Poynton had four touchdowns.

Poynton ranks third in Class 4A with 19 touchdowns and is second with 13 rushing touchdowns.

Players of the Week

Offensive player of the week: Liberty High junior quarterback Reece Rettig just keeps coming up with big games.

Rettig completed 19-of-29 passes for 264 and four touchdowns and rushed for 15 yards in a 27-22 win at Cedar Rapids Washington.

Defensive player of the week: West Branch junior linebacker Cooper Gates was all over the field in the Bears district showdown with Regina.

Gates had a team-high 9.5 tackles including six solo stops and five tackles for loss in the 28-10 loss to the Regals while racking up 3.5 sacks.

Gates also rushed for 50 yards and caught two passes.

Special teams player of the week: West Branch junior punter Nolan Staker was outstanding in a 28-10 loss to Regina averaging 44.8 yards per punt on six attempts.

Staker had punts of 65, 50 and 51 yards and had four punts downed inside the 20 yard line including one at the Regal 1 yard line.

Helmet Stickers

Offense: City High sophomore running back Dawson Kahl rushed for 157 yards and three touchdowns and averaged 12.1 yards per carry in a 49-7 win over Davenport Central.

Offense: West High junior receiver Julian Manson had three receptions for 113 yards and two touchdowns in a 48-6 win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

Offense: Solon senior quarterback Ty Bell completed 19-of-33 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown and also rushed for 15 yards and a touchdown in a 21-20 loss at Benton Community.

Offense: Liberty High senior receiver Dallas Miller had eight receptions for 132 and two touchdowns and also had an interception in a 27-22 win at Cedar Rapids Washington.

Defense: West High junior Jackson Law had 4.5 tackles, including three solo stops, 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks in a 48-6 win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

Defense: Clear Creek Amana senior Trace Robertson had 5.5 tackles, three solo stops, 2.5 tackles for loss and returned a blocked punt 36 yards for a touchdown in a 56-0 win over Burlington.

Defense: Liberty High junior Landon Bell had a team-high 5.5 tackles in a 27-22 win at Cedar Rapids Washington.

Defense: Solon junior Tripp Johnson had a team-high 10 tackles, all solo stops, and two tackles for loss in a 21-20 loss at Benton Community.

Defense: Regina senior Will Aitchison had 10 tackles, including nine solos, two tackles for loss and a sack and also had four receptions for 74 and a touchdown in a 28-10 win over West Branch.

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