Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR FALLS – There is one thing Dustin Elsbury asks of his Regina football team above just about anything else.

Fight to the finish.

Second-ranked Regina slugged it out with top-ranked West Lyon for all 48 minutes in Thursday’s Class 1A state title game.

And then the Regals fought even more.

In the end it was the defending champ that was the one left standing.

West Lyon held Regina out of the endzone on fourth down from inside the one yard line in overtime to secure a 34-27 win and a second consecutive state title Thursday at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

“One thing I ask of our guys is fight to the end,” Elsbury said. “They did that. They stayed in the fight all the way to the end. That game had a of ups and downs, a lot of swings and they left it all out there.”

Last year’s Class 2A state champion, West Lyon capped a second consecutive unbeaten 13-0 with its seventh state title in program history.

West Lyon trailed 27-13 with 11 minutes remaining but scored two touchdowns in a span of less than six minutes to force overtime.

Senior tailback Evan Wildring scored a touchdown on a 10-yard run on the first play of overtime setting the stage for a dramatic finish.

“It’s really satisfying,” Hildring said. “It’s the second year in a row but it never gets old.”

On Regina’s first offensive play of overtime senior quarterback Kyle Tracy scrambled to the one yard line.

Two runs by Tracy pushed the ball just a foot shy of the goal line.

On fourth down the snap sailed over the head of Regina junior Tate Wallace who was lined up to take a direct snap and West Lyon recovered to secure the title.

“We said ‘let’s win that line of scrimmage’,” West Lyon coach Jay Rozeboom said of the overtime goal line stand. “Let’s come off the ball, we had a good feeling about what they were going to do and we just had execute it.”

West Lyon bolted to a 13-0 lead less than 15 minutes into the game but Regina responded with 27 unanswered points.

Tracy hit Carter Slager with a perfectly thrown 58-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 13-7.

A Gabriel Hegelheimer 38 yard field goal made it 13-10 and Regina took a 17-13 halftime lead when Tracy hit Savion Miller for a 21-yard touchdown pass with 40 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

“At the start of the game the run wasn’t working the best and so we started passing the ball,” Miller said. “When they started to play the pass we went to the run late and it was working well.

Regina led 27-13 when Tracy found a wide open Tate Wallace for a 36-yard touchdown pass with 11 minutes left in the game.

“I think we just settled in,” Wallace said. “At the start everybody was a little shaky but we settled in the right way and we really bonded together and came out and made plays.”

It was all West Lyon the rest of the way.

The Wildcats got back in the game with some trickery on the ensuing kickoff.

Jaxton DeJong fielded the kick and threw back across the field to River Kramer who raced 97 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 27-20.

“We had that in our back pocket and we had to wait for the right time and we executed it just right,” Rozeboom said. “Jax DeJong did a nice job of setting it up and throwing and River is just a dude when he runs the ball in space.”

On the next Regina drive Kramer recovered a fumble to get the ball back for the Wildcats.

The sophomore standout had a 19-yard run and threw a 33-yard pass to Jared Ciesielski on a 7-play, 75-yard West Lyon touchdown drive capped by a 1-yard run by Jacob Snyders that tied the game at 27-27.

West Lyon had a chance to win in regulation but a 36-yard field goal attempt was blocked at the buzzer.

In overtime it was West Lyon that survived.

“Right now, there is not a lot you can really say to the guys to make that loss feel any better,” Elsbury said. “It’s going to sting, it’s going to hurt but at the end of the day the sun still comes up tomorrow.”

Tracy passed for 203 yards and three touchdowns and Miller rushed for 82 yards and caught seven passes for 57 yards and a touchdown.

Wallace had three receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown.

Aaron Honore led Regina with 11 tackles including a tackle for loss and broke up a pass while Luke Hamilton had 11 tackles and a tackle for loss.

“This wasn’t our end goal,” Elsbury said. “I know that’s not where anybody in our program wanted to end up tonight but sometimes it doesn’t work out your way.”

ICR                 WL

First downs                14                    19

Rushes-yards             32-121             38-145

Comp-Att-Int            13-17-0           12-18-0

Passing yards             203                  188

Total yards                324                  333

Punts-Avg.                 3-34.3              4-32.5

Fumbles-lost              4-1                   0-0

Penalties-yards          2-20                 5-35

Regina                        0  17  3   7   0  –  27

West Lyon                 7   6   0  14  7  –  34

WL – Evan Hildring 2 run (Greeley Kerkvliet kick)

WL – Easton DeJong 15 pass from Jaxton DeJong (Kick failed)

ICR – Carter Slager 58 pass from Kyle Tracy (Gabriel Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – Hegelheimer 38 field goal

ICR – Savion Miller 21 pass from Tracy (Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – Hegelheimer 29 field goal

ICR – Tate Wallace 36 pass from Tracy (Hegelheimer kick)

WL – River Kramer 97 kickoff return (Kerkvliet kick)

WL – Jacob Snyders 1 run (Kerkvliet kick)

WL – Hildring 10 run (Kerkvliet kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICR: Savion Miller 13-82, Kyle Tracy 18-59, Team 1-(-20). WL: Evan Hildring 26-112, Easton DeJong 8-18, River Kramer 3-14, Jacob Snyders 1-1.

PASSING – ICR: Kyle Tracy 13-17-0 203. WL: Jaxton DeJong 1-1-0 15, Easton DeJong 10-16-0 140, River Kramer 1-1-0 33.

RECEIVING – ICR: Tate Wallace 3-71, Savion Miller 7-57, Carter Slager 1-58, Drew Greve 2-17. WL: Evan Hildring 3-21, Ben Meyer 2-17, River Kramer 2-40, Jared Ciesielski 2-60, Jaxton DeJong 1-18, Mason McCarty 1-17, Easton DeJong 1-15.

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