Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – West High returns 13 starters from a team that reached the Class 5A quarterfinals last season.

The most noticeable absence for the Trojans is at quarterback.

West High will be breaking in a new quarterback for the first time since 2021 with the graduation of four-year starter and all-time leading passer Jack Wallace.

The plan to make this easy for the new starter under center?

Let the big guys up front do the work.

“That’s our goal is to make sure we play our best to make it easier on everybody else,” West High senior offensive lineman Lowden Van Daele said. “If we are doing our job we can make everyone else look better.”

Van Daele (6-1, 195) joins all-state Iowa commit Colin Whitters (6-4, 310) as returners on a West High offensive line that expects to be a major strength for the Trojans this fall.

Sophomore James Barnett (6-0, 225) joins Whitters and Van Daele as returners on a talented West High offensive line.

“We have a lot of guys coming back with a lot of experience number one and number two they are pretty talented,” West High coach Garrett Hartwig said. “When you have guys that have played the position and understand the intensity of the game it makes a huge difference.”

Last year the offensive line paved the way for a West High offense that was among the most productive in 4A averaging 36.6 points and 409 total yards per game on 7.6 yards per play.

Led by Whitters the expectation is for that group to be even better this season.

“We can make a huge jump,” Whitters said. “We bring back guys that have played a lot of football and we have guys coming up that are going to be very good players.”

West High averaged 151 rushing yards per game last season a number the Trojans would like to see rise this fall.

The bigger goal for West High is to make things easier for first-year quarterbacks Reece Wheeler (5-11, 170) and Mikey Moody (6-0, 200).

“Honestly I think we can make a really big jump as a line and that’s what we want to do to help our team,” Van Daele said. “We have a lot of good sophomores and juniors coming up that were second string or backups to us last year that are going to play a huge role on our o-line this year.”

Van Daele and Whitters will be the anchors but there is talent across the offensive front.

Sophomores Lucas Whitters (6-1, 225) and Ashten Holmes (6-0, 200) and juniors Jordi Zioka (6-1, 300) and Lucas Leiva Benitez (5-9, 230) should all be in the mix.

“We feel really good about our first eight or nine and we have about 15 that have all put in the work and have been in the offense for two years and have a good understanding of what needs to be done,” Hartwig said. “We have a good leader in that group with Colin (Whitters).”

Wheeler and Moody will have weapons around them on offense.

West High returns two of its top three pass catchers from last season in all-stater Julian Manson (6-3, 220) and Henry Elser (6-1, 175) who caught 25 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns.

Senior Campbell Janis (5-9, 175) returns at running back after rushing for 261 yards and two touchdowns last season.

“Jack was a great quarterback, a four-year starter but it’s also not one versus 11 out there,” Hartwig said. “What we are looking at from the quarterback position is for them to do their job within the play and not do too much. We have two guys that are really doing a good job of that.”

Led by Manson who had a team-high 86.5 tackles last season West High returns five of its top five tacklers from a year ago.

Senior defensive back Ethan Headings (6-2, 205) had 59 tackles last season while senior defensive end Jackson Law (6-3, 185) returns after ranking fifth on the team with 38 tackles and leading the Trojans with 5.5 tackles for loss and four sacks.

“Just getting back to playoffs and back to where we should be is a confidence booster,” Manson said. “Now it’s just on us to keep it going and keep pushing.”

West High snapped a three-year playoff drought last season, winning three consecutive games in October to reach the postseason for the first time since 2020.

The Trojans defeated Bettendorf 21-16 in the opening round of the 5A playoffs before a 42-15 loss at eventual state champion Southeast Polk.

West High wants to build on that late season run from a year ago this season.

“It’s a confidence booster to be able to play with those teams,” Whitters said. “We have good teams on our schedule and we are excited to play those teams because we know we can play with those teams.”

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