Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

As the regular season winds down the stakes begin to get a little bit higher.

Both Solon and West Branch set up huge games this week with wins on Friday.

With a 23-3 win over Anamosa on Friday at the Little Rose Bowl West Branch set up district title matchup with Bellevue on Friday.

West Branch (5-2, 3-1) will travel to Bellevue (7-0, 4-0) on Friday with the Class 2A, District 5 title on the line.

“It’s definitely going to be a big game next week,” West Branch senior Cooper Gates said. “It’s going to be a battle but I think we can do it we are going to go out there and try our hardest.”

A West Branch win at Bellevue and an Alburnett win over Anamosa (3-4, 2-2) would create a three-way tie atop District 5.

West Branch would win the tiebreaker and the district title in that scenario.

The Bears set themselves up for a district title shot by outscoring Anamosa 23-0 after halftime on Friday at the Little Rose Bowl.

West Branch has outscored District 5 opponents 131-46 with its lone district loss at 20-17 setback at Alburnett.

“We are getting late in the season and we are getting better and better as the weeks go on,” West Branch junior Keaton Gates said. “That’s a great feeling because I think we are a pretty good team and we keep getting better.”

Solon (7-0) set up its down defacto district title game next week with a 42-0 win over Washington.

The Spartans can clinch the Class 3A, District 4 title with a road win at Mount Pleasant (6-1, 3-0) on Friday.

Solon travels to Fort Madison (0-7, 0-3) in its regular season finale.

Regina locked up the Class 1A, District 6 title with its 49-8 win over Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on Friday.

News and Notes

Updated Unbeatens: The list of undefeated teams across the state is down to 29 after seven weeks with two Your Prep Sports area teams still among the unbeaten.

Solon (7-0) is one of only three remaining undefeated teams in Class 3A along with Clear Lake and West Delaware while Regina (7-0) joins West Lyon and Grundy Center as the remaining unbeaten teams in Class 1A.

Of the 29 undefeated teams more than half are in Class A and 8-player.

Class A has eight undefeated teams while 8-player has seven undefeated teams.

Class 5A has the fewest unbeaten teams with Waukee Northwest the lone 5A team without a loss.

Tracy Perfect Part 3: For the third time in the past four games Regina senior quarterback Kyle Track had a perfect passing performance.

The latest effort from Tracy was the most impressive yet.

Tracy completed all seven of his pass attempts while throwing for 372 yards and six touchdowns in a 49-8 win over Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.

Tracy had touchdown passes to five different players connecting with Savion Miller for two touchdowns and adding touchdown tosses to Edwin Gangba, Drew Greve, Carter Slager and Kaleb Moeller.

Players of the Week

Offensive player of the week: City High sophomore quarterback Chris Kabaiza completed 29-of-33 passes for 323 yards and five touchdowns in a 59-14 win at Des Moines East.

Defensive player of the week: Liberty High junior Alex Strunk had a team-high 10 tackles including 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack in a 28-14 win at Pleasant Valley.

Special teams player of the week: West High senior Ethan Headings returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown in a 63-7 win over Davenport Central on Thursday.

Helmet stickers

Offense: City High junior receiver Chayse Newton had 14 receptions for 145 yards and two touchdowns in a 59-14 win at Des Moines East.

Offense: West High senior Campbell Janis had 10 carries for 95 yards and four touchdowns in a 63-7 win at Davenport Central.

Offense: Clear Creek Amana senior Aren Schlemme caught two passes for 99 yards and a touchdown and also had eight tackles in a 31-19 loss to Newton.

Offense: Solon senior quarterback Eli Kampman passed for 186 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 48 yards and a touchdown in a 42-0 win over Washington.

Defense: City High sophomore linebacker Marshall Sheldon had 14 tackles including eight solo stops and three tackles for loss in a 59-14 win at Des Moines East.

Defense: Regina junior linebacker Gabriel Hegelheimer had four tackles including 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack in a 49-8 win over Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.

Defense: West Branch junior Shay Kinsinger had seven tackles including two for loss and half a sack in a 23-3 win over Anamosa.

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