Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Clear Creek Amana sophomore quarterback Texton Bollers threw his first career touchdown pass on Friday night.

The first career scoring strike for Bollers didn’t come in mop time duty of a blowout instead it came in a clutch moment that sparked Clear Creek Amana in a 35-13 win over Marion.

Clear Creek Amana standout senior Conlan Poynton was injured on a 2-yard run early in the second quarter of a 7-7 game.

Enter Bollers.

Facing third-and-15 Bollers threw an incomplete pass on his first play.

With a sophomore quarterback playing in a tie game facing a fourth-and-long Clear Creek Amana coach Lance Pedersen made it clear how much he trusted his young quarterback.

Rather than punt or try a long field goal from the Marion 35-yard line Pedersen turned to Bollers who threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to junior Tay Seals to give Clear Creek Amana a lead it would never give up.

“Obviously Conlan is our stater, he’s our dude but when Texton went in the first thing I said on the headset is, ‘our playbook doesn’t change’,” Clear Creek Amana coach Lance Pedersen said. “I have complete confidence in Texton and he came out and threw a dime and just did a great job.”

The 6-foot-1, 171-pound Bollers threw a perfect pass on a post pattern to Seals who was open in the middle of the end zone.

“Conlan goes out and you don’t ever want to see your starting quarterback go down and he’s one of my best friends so that that hurt but Texton came in and we’ve given him first team reps in practice all the time so we knew he was ready for this game,” Seals said. “I told him I had him and I was going to make him look good and we were on the same page at the right time and he threw a perfect ball.”

Bollers completed 6-of-12 passes for 112 yards and the touchdown in relief of Poynton who has been the leader of the Clipper offense the past two seasons.

Poynton has rushed for a team-high 508 yards and 10 touchdowns this season and has thrown for 745 yards and seven touchdowns.

“Conlan was hurt but he changed, he went from leading the team as a quarterback to leading the team as a guy on the sideline,” Pedersen said. “He helped Texton off the field, he was keeping everyone engaged and focused and I give him a lot of credit for that.”

Clear Creek Amana (3-3) hosts district leader Newton (5-1) on Friday in a key contest.

News and Notes

Updated Unbeatens: The list of unbeaten teams in Iowa is down to 30.

Solon (6-0) and Regina (6-0) are among the remaining teams in the state without a loss after six weeks.

Regina is one of only three remaining undefeated teams in Class 1A joining Grundy Center and West Lyon and Solon joins Clear Lake and West Delaware as the only undefeated teams left in Class 3A.

Over half of the remaining undefeated teams are in Class A (9) and 8-player (7).

There is one unbeaten team left in Class 5A, two remaining undefeated teams in Class 4A and five remaining unbeaten teams in Class 2A.

Big Man Touchdown: West High senior offensive tackle Colin Whitters is a three-year starter, an Iowa commit and one of the top linemen in the state.

On Friday Whitters had a career first.

The 6-foot-4, 310-pound Whitters scored his first career touchdown on an 8-yard run in a 69-7 win over Muscatine.

Regina Returns: Regina returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the second consecutive game on Friday with sophomore Gabriel Hegelheimer taking a kickoff back 91 yards for a score in a 41-7 win at Sigourney-Keota.

The return for a touchdown for Hegelheimer was the third on the season for Regina all by a different player as Hegelheimer joined Edwin Gangba and Emmett Burke as Regals with kickoff return touchdowns this season.

Another Huge Game For Headings: West High senior wide receivers continued his monster season on Friday hauling in four receptions for 167 yards and two touchdowns in a 69-7 win over Muscatine.

On the season Headings ranks second in the state with 913 receiving yards and seventh with 10 receiving touchdowns while leading the state in yards per catch at 29.5 yards.

A North Dakota commit, Headings leads Class 5A in all three of those categories and also has 20 tackles with five tackles for loss.

Solon Plays Takeaway: The Solon defense provided some offense early in a 58-6 win over Keokuk on Friday.

Solon defensive backs Eli Kampman and Maddox Kelley each returned interceptions for touchdowns in the first quarter as the Spartans bolted to a 42-0 lead in the opening quarter.

The interceptions from Kampman and Kelley were part of a six turnover effort for the Spartan defense on Friday that included five interceptions.

Ethan Ulch, Sawyer Hansel and Connor Dunn all added interceptions in the win and Ty Turner recovered a fumble for Solon.

Players of the Week

Offensive player of the week: West Branch junior running back Keaton Gates rushed for 214 yards and five touchdowns in a 43-16 win over Tipton.

Defensive player of the week: Clear Creek Amana senior linebacker Dylan Schrock had a sack and an interception in a 35-13 win over Marion helping the Clippers limit Marion to 52 yards of total offense.

Special teams player of the week: West Branch senior place kicker Reese Gingerich made all four of his extra point attempts and connected on a 45 yard field goal in a 43-16 win over Tipton.

Helmet stickers

Offense: Liberty High senior quarterback Reece Rettig completed 12-of-14 passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns and also rushed for 32 yards and a touchdown in a 54-7 win over Davenport Central.

Offense: Regina junior running back Savion Miller rushed for 96 yards and two touchdowns on six carries and caught a 21-yard touchdown pass in a 41-7 win over Sigourney-Keota.

Offense: West High senior running back Campbell Janis rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns in a 69-7 win over Muscatine.

Defense: City High sophomore Seth Barnett had a team-high seven tackles including five solo tackles and two tackles for loss in a 56-7 loss to Southeast Polk.

Defense: Liberty High senior defensive back Logan Laubenthal had two interceptions returning one 23 yards for a touchdown in a 54-7 win over Davenport Central.

Defense: Liberty High junior Hank Thompson had four tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in a 54-7 win over Davenport Central.

Special Teams: Clear Creek Amana junior Tay Seals returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and averaged 18 yards per return on two punt returns in a 35-13 win over Marion.

Special Teams: West High senior Adrian DeWaard returned a kick off 87 yards for a touchdown in a 69-7 win over Muscatine.

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