Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – After five years of waiting and a couple of quarterfinal heartbreaks Regina is headed back to the UNI-Dome.

Senior quarterback Kyle Tracy passed for three touchdowns and rushed for two more as third-ranked Regina rolled to a 49-7 win over sixth-ranked Pleasantville (9-2) on Friday in a Class 1A quarterfinal on a cool and clear night at Regal Field in Iowa City.

The win sends Regina (11-0) to the state semifinals for the first time since in won the 2020 Class A title and comes after back-to-back quarterfinal losses the past two seasons.

“The last two year’s we’ve lost in the quarterfinals and it’s been a long time coming,” Tracy said. “We’ve played here together since we were in seventh grade and we’ve seen the work that we’ve put in and it’s great that it’s come to fruition and showing on the biggest stage.”

Tracy tossed two touchdown passes to junior tight end Tate Wallace and another to junior running back Savion Miller while throwing for 270 yards.

The senior signal caller also rushed for 83 yards and two touchdowns as Regina rolled up 469 yards of total offense.

“There are just so many weapons, the ball can go anywhere,” Wallace said. “If you are game planning against us you can’t game plan for one guy and credit the offensive line, they played hearts out.”

Regina will face three-time defending 1A champion Grundy Center in a Class 1A state semifinal on Friday at 10 a.m. at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

Grundy Center extended its winning streak to 50 with a 21-0 win over Beckman on Friday.

“It’s a new experience for all of us, none of the seniors have gotten to play in the Dome so we are super excited,” Regina senior Drew Greve said. “It’s another week with this team.”

A year after falling to Wilton 21-14 at home in the quarterfinals Regina left no doubt on Friday.

Regina covered a fumble on the game’s opening kickoff and three plays later Miller scored on a 4 yard touchdown run to give the Regals a 7-0 less than 90 seconds into the game.

“We take time every single week, every day to work on special teams and we have great depth and a key for us is to make a difference on special teams and it was kind of fitting on the first play we force a fumble, get the ball and punch it in and steal a possession really,” Elsbury said. “It was a great way to start the game.”

The game swung completely in the Regals favor late in the first quarter.

Pleasantville marched 18 plays to the Regina 2 yard line and appeared poised to tie the score but fumbled just short of the goal line and Luke Hamilton recovered.

Regina marched 98 yards in 12 plays and took a 14-0 lead when Tracy scored on a 37 yard scamper with 10:53 remaining in the first half.

“Losing in the quarterfinals two years in a row, it takes on a toll on you and you think about that in offseason so it felt so great tonight to go out tonight in the quarterfinals and finally come out on top,” Wallace said. “It meant the world.”

Regina took a 21-0 lead on 1-yard touchdown run by Tracy with 7:13 remaining in the first half.

Pleasantville cut the lead to 21-7 with a 16-yard touchdown run by standout junior quarterback Braylon Bringham on a fourth-and-12 play with 56 seconds remaining in the first half.

Regina needed just 17 seconds to respond.

On the first play of its ensuing possession Tracy found Miller for a 62-yard touchdown pass that gave Regina a 28-7 halftime advantage.

“We just have too many guys to guard out there,” Miller said. “Our offense is just that explosive.”

Regina opened the second half with a 10-play, 64-yard touchdown drive capped by a 11-yard strike from Tracy to Wallace and the rout was on.

Sophomore Gabriel Hegelheimer added a 10-yard touchdown run and Tracy hit Wallace for an 11-yard touchdown on a shovel pass as Regina outscored Pleasantville 21-0 in the second half.

“We have a lot of chemistry, we love football and we got out there and have fun,” Tracy said. “I trust all the guys next to me and they trust me and it’s just the chemistry we have from putting in so much hard work.”

Bingham rushed for 112 yards on 30 carries to lead Pleasantville which entered averaging 36.1 points per game.

Regina heled Bingham to -5 rushing yards in the second half.

“Our line and linebackers did a great job on Bingham and I couldn’t be happier with how we played,” Greve said. “Seven points to that team is a pretty great game.”

Tracy finished 14-of-16 passes for 270 yards and three touchdowns.

Greve caught four passes for 82 yards and Wallace had four receptions for 69 yards and two touchdowns.

Miller rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for 76 yards and a touchdown.

“Of course it feels amazing after the heartbreak we had last year,” Miller said. “This year we have definitely been focused on getting back to this game and winning it.”

ICR                 PVille

First downs                20                    13

Rushes-yards             23-199             39-124

Comp-Att-Int            14-16-0           8-19-1

Passing yards             270                  126

Total yards                469                  250

Punts-Avg.                 0-0                   2-37.5

Fumbles-lost              1-0                   3-2

Penalties-yards          7-60                 4-28

Pleasantville            0   7    0   0  –   7

Regina                        7  21  14  7  –  49

ICR – Savion Miller 4 run (Gabriel Hegelheimer kick)  

ICR – Kyle Tracy 37 run (Hegelheimer kick)  

ICR – Tracy 1 run (Hegelheimer kick)  

PLE – Braylon Bingham 16 run (Trindon Phipps kick)

ICR – Miller 62 pass from Tracy (Hegelheimer kick)  

ICR – Tate Wallace 11 pass from Tracy (Hegelheimer kick)  

ICR – Hegelheimer 10 run (Hegelheimer kick)  

ICR – Tate Wallace 10 pass from Tracy (Hegelheimer kick)  

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICR: Kyle Tracy 8-83, Savion Miller 10-65, Gabriel Hegelheimer 3-26, Edwin Gangba 1-2, Aaron Honore 1-23. PLE: Braylon Bingham 30-112, Owen Rule 7-16, Logan Roff 2-(-4).

PASSING – ICR: Kyle Tracy 14-16-0 270. PLE: Braylon Bingham 8-19-1 126.

RECEIVING – ICR: Drew Greve 4-82, Tate Wallace 4-69, Savion Miller 2-76, Carter Slager 2-39, Hudson Koch 1-10, Gabriel Hegelheimer 1-(-6). PLE: Brayden Kennedy 5-52, Ethan King 1-48, Owen Rule 1-16, Logan Roff 1-10.

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