Your Prep Sports

In a season where a new-look West Branch offense has set single season records for completions and passing yards the Bears went old school on Friday to finish off the 14th perfect regular season in program history.

Class 1A No. 6 West Branch (9-0) used an efficient running game and stout defense to down Clayton Ridge 38-12 on Friday in the regular season finale for both teams in Guttenberg.

Jacob Graves rushed for 170 yards and four touchdowns on 30 carries and West Branch held Clayton Ridge to 125 yards of total offense while finishing the regular season 9-0 for the third time in four seasons.

“It means a lot to all of us, especially the seniors we couldn’t ask for anything more,” West Branch senior linebacker Andrew Black said. “Preseason we weren’t predicted to have a winning season and to go 9-0 it means a lot to all of us.”

Black led a West Branch defensive effort that held Clayton Ridge (3-6) to eight first downs and 75 rushing yards.

The senior linebacker had four of his team-high six tackles behind the line of scrimmage including 2.5 sacks as West Branch held allowed 12 points or fewer for the second time in its last six games.

“There have been a couple games that our defense could have performed a little better but we have just been grinding in practice and working on our defense,” Black said. “I think tonight really showed our defense is back to where we need it to be.”

Graves provided all the offense West Branch would need scoring on touchdown runs of 4, 1, 29 and 6 yards.

The senior has rushed for 437 yards and six touchdowns in three games filling in for Tanner Lukavsky at running back.

Junior quarterback Beau Cornwell completed 12-of-21 passes for 167 yards and also ran for 20 yards and a touchdown as West Branch finished with 370 yards of total offense.

West Branch took an early lead a Brady Lukavsky blocked punt set up a 4-yard touchdown by Graves that put the Bears up 7-0 just more than two minutes into the game.

Clayton Ridge cut the lead to 7-6 with a touchdown with 30 seconds left in the opening quarter but West Branch responded with a 3-play, 76-yard drive that started with a 55-yard pass from Cornwell to Brett Schiele.

Graves scored on a 1-yard run on the final play of the first quarter to start a string of 31 unanswered points for West Branch.

Following the eight-play, 94-yard touchdown drive by Clayton Ridge that cut the lead to 7-6 the next seven drives for the Eagles netted a total of -13 yards and all ended in punts as West Branch built a 38-7 lead.

“As a team I think our defense preformed really well,” Black said. “It felt great, we went in planning to shut them down and we gave a perfect effort and came out with a good score.”

John Hatfield matched Black with six tackles while freshman Jeff Bowie had four tackles and a pair of sacks.

Schiele finished with seven receptions for 106 yards to lead West Branch.

West Branch turns its attention to the playoffs where it will host an opening round game at the Little Rose Bowl on Friday at 7 p.m.

“I’m excited to get to the playoffs,” Black said. “That is when teams really get their grind on and that’s when wins really count.”

                                 WB                 CR

First Downs               19                    8

Rushes-Yards            37-203             29-75

Comp-Att-Int             12-22-1            8-21-0

Passing Yards            167                  50

Punts-Avg.                 4-37.8              10-32.4

Fumbles-Lost             3-1                   1-0

Penalties-Yards         11-120             6-52

West Branch   14  7  7  10  –  38

Clayton Ridge   6   0  0   6   –  12

WB – Jacob Graves 4 run (Beau Cornwell kick)

CR –  11 run (run failed)

WB – Graves 1 run (Cornwell kick)

WB – Cornwell 7 run (Cornwell kick)

WB – Graves 29 run (Cornwell kick)

WB – Cornwell 35 field goal

WB – Graves 6 run (Kick failed)

CR – 59 run (run failed)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – WB: Jacob Graves 30-170, Beau Cornwell 6-20, Dakota Kaalberg 2-16, Morgan Hartz 4-1.

PASSING – WB: Beau Cornwell 12-21-1 167, Trey Eagle 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING – WB: Brett Schiele 7-106, Dakota Kaalberg 2-28, Peter Espensen 1-15, Brady Lukavsky 1-11, Ben Thompson 1-7.