Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR RAPIDS – West High couldn’t quite do enough to get a win in its regular season finale on Friday.

The Trojans did enough the previous eight weeks to prevent Friday from being its last opportunity at a victory.

West High fell to Cedar Rapids Prairie 28-21 on Friday at John Wall Field in Cedar Rapids but still earned a spot in the Class 5A playoffs that begin next Friday.

The Trojans will learn their postseason path on Saturday at 10 a.m. when the Iowa High School Athletic Union announces postseason pairings.

“We did not have a good week of practice and that’s what the message was at the end of our game,” West High coach Garrett Hartwig said. “It’s a new season, it’s the tournament, everybody is 0-0 and we know we can play with anybody but if we don’t practice at high levels we can be beaten by anybody.”

West High (5-4) cut a 21-0 deficit to 28-21 in the fourth quarter but couldn’t get a late defensive stop to get the ball back as Cedar Rapids Prairie (4-5) ground out three first downs while taking the final 3:15 off the clock.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for West High which was coming off a 49-35 win over Pleasant Valley (7-2) last week.

“Going into the week of the Pleasant Valley game we had a great week of prep, guys were dialed in and it showed on the field,” Hartwig said. “This week I flat out told them we were too loose and we played like it.”

Cedar Rapids Prairie had three players with at least 75 rushing yards and rolled up 327 yards on the ground.

Bjay Bush Jr. rushed for 115 yards and Quinton Alexander ran for 85 yards and a pair of touchdowns as Prairie defeated West High for the third consecutive season.

West High had seven penalties for 70 yards and lost a fumble in the loss.

“It was the penalties, the turnovers, the lack of execution,” Hartwig said. “Every team in 5A has players, and you get this point of the season everybody can play and if we you aren’t doing the things you can control and putting the time in on them you are going to get beat.”

After a scoreless opening quarter Cedar Rapids Prairie scored three second-quarter touchdowns in a little more than 11 minutes to take a 21-0 halftime lead.

Fullback Brandon Brune and Alexander had touchdown runs and junior David Fason made a spectacular one-handed grab on a 37-yard touchdown snag with 39 seconds remaining in the opening half to give the Hawks a 21-0 cushion.

It took a little more than four minutes for West High to get back into the game in the second half.

The Trojans marched 67 yards in six plays on the opening drive of the second half cutting the lead to 21-6 on a 10-yard touchdown run by Butali Butali.

West High blocked a punt on the ensuing Prairie drive and sophomore Moses Dewaard grabbed the loose ball and raced 22 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 21-13.

“I challenged them I told them we were either going to fight or we were going to fold,” Hartwig said. “They have the fight and I know they do. I love these boys, I push them hard so I knew they would fight back but I am disappointed with the penalties. We can be 15 yards behind the sticks and expect things to happen.”

Prairie responded with a 12-play, 65-yard touchdown drive but West High again answered, cutting the lead to 28-21 on a 4-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Jack Wallace.

The Trojans had the ball trailing 28-21 in the fourth quarter but the drive was pushed back by a pair of penalties and West High had to punt.

West High never got the ball back.

Despite the disappointing finish West High returns to the postseason for the first time since 2020.

The Trojans were 14^th in the final 5A Ratings Percentage Index ratings and will play a road game in the opening round next Friday.

“It’s frustrating when you know it’s all there for the taking for the teams that are ready for it,” Hartwig said. “We have the ability, it’s whether or not we can prepare ourselves well enough to beat anybody because the flip side of that coin is we can be beat by anybody.

                                      ICW                CRP

First downs                19                    21

Rushes-yards             25-143             56-327

Comp-Att-Int            16-22-0           5-7-1

Passing yards             146                  74

Total yards                289                  401

Punts-Avg.                 4-35.3              3-27

Fumbles-lost              1-1                   1-0

Penalties yards          6-70                 8-81

West High                  0   0  13  8  –  21

CR Prairie                 0  21  7   0  –  28

CRP – Brandon Brune 4 run (Junior Boxa kick)

CRP – Quinton Alexander 14 run (Boxa kick)

CRP – David Fason 37 pass from Wyatt Eash (Boxa kick)

ICW – Butali Butali 10 run (Run failed)

ICW – Moses Dewaard 22 punt return (Adam Salem kick)

CRP – Quinton Alexander 10 run (Boxa kick)

ICW – Jack Wallace 4 run (Butali run)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – West High: Butali Butali 18-124, Jack Wallace 7-19. CR Prairie: Bjay Bush Jr. 14-115, Talan Jackson 14-78, Quinton Alexander 12-85, Brandon Brune 8-37, Wyatt Eash 6-12, David Fason 1-2, Team 1-(-2).

PASSING – West High: Jack Wallace 16-22-0 146. CR Prairie: Wyatt Eash 5-7-1 74.

RECEVING – West High: Julian Manson 7-71, Henry Elser 4-28, Ethan Headings 2-30, Chase Bopp 2-6, Butali Butali 1-11. CR Prairie: David Fason 2-52, Denzil Green 2-19, Bjay Bush Jr. 1-3.

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