Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

West Branch narrowly missed out on a big-time district road win last Friday falling to fourth-ranked Alburnett 20-17.

The Bears cashed in on their opportunity on Friday.

West Branch bounced back from last week’s loss with an impressive 43-16 win over Tipton on Friday in a Class 2A, District 5 matchup at Diedrichsen Field in Tipton.

Keaton Gates rushed for 214 yards and five touchdowns as West Branch improved to 4-2 on the season and 2-1 in district play.

Tipton dropped to 0-6 and 0-3 in district action with the loss.

Gates scored on touchdown runs of 17, 1, 10, 4 and 5 yards and older brother Cooper Gates added a 16-yard touchdown run as West Branch built a 40-0 lead.

Cooper Gates rushed for 25 yards as West Branch rolled up 240 yards on the ground in the win.

Brandon Pedersen caught a pair of passes for 56 yards.

West Branch stymied Tipton for the first three quarters holding the Tigers to 173 total yards including just 16 rushing yards.

Lincoln Naber had a pair of sacks for West Branch and senior Griffin Seydel had an interception. Senior linebacker Conner Capper led West Branch with six tackles including 3.5 for loss and a sack and Cooper Gates had five tackles and a sack.

Olivier Trepanier, Michael Montgomery and Garrett Tisinger all added tackle for loss.

West Branch          14  6  20  3  –  43

Tipton                        0   0   0  16 –  16

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