Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

Liberty High took a few lumps during a 3-6 season in its first year as a varsity program last fall. Behind a powerful running game led by bruising junior Max Tafolla the Lightning plan to be the team handing out the bumps this fall.

Liberty High rolled up 253 rushing yards in a 23-20 season-opening win over City High behind Tafolla who hammered out a career-high 171 yards on the ground.

“Our coaches have been pretty heavy to the book, we don’t do any trick plays we don’t do anything special,” Tafolla said. “It’s the offseason, it’s the strength training, it’s power football.”

Liberty High showed a penchant for power football last season when it average 198 rushing yards per game during its 3-6 debut season.

However, after running for more than 200 yards in each of its first four games the Lightning cracked the 200-yard mark just once in its final five games while going 1-4 down the stretch.

Liberty High had a season-high 445 rushing yards in a season-ending win over Clinton last year and picked up where it left off on Friday averaging better than eight yards per carry in the win over City High.

“I feel like we are definitely one of those power teams,” Liberty High senior quarterback Drake Woody said. “We did that some last year but I feel like we are going to take a step up this year and we are going to be better.”

The 215-pound Tafolla rushed for 171 yards on 15 carries against City High and forms a strong 1-2 backfield punch along with fellow senior Kaleb Williams.

A speedy 180-pound senior Williams added 73 yards on 12 carries against the Little Hawks.

“Last year we didn’t really know what to expect because we were pretty young,” Tafolla said. “This whole offseason we have been wanting to come out and get after it. All that stuff in the preseason just leads up to big victories like this.”

Liberty High travels to Waterloo East (0-1) this Friday, hosts Washington (1-0) on September 13 and closes non-district play at Mid-Prairie (0-1).

The Lightning were 2-1 against those teams last year with home wins over Waterloo East and Mid-Prairie.

“It’s a confidence booster,” Liberty High senior Houselog said of the City High win. “We have to take it one game at a time. We can’t get a head of ourselves. We’ll enjoy this win for a night but we’ll come back tomorrow working.”

Strong Debut for Hierseman: West Branch junior quarterback Gavin Hierseman had big shoes to fill this season replacing the all-time leading passer in school history in graduated senior Beau Cornwell.

Hierseman proved in Friday’s opener he is more than capable of making the quarterback position his own.

The versatile Hierseman threw for 92 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another 77 yards and a score in a 28-6 win over West Liberty.

In his first career start Hierseman completed 14-of-17 passes including a 6-yard touchdown pass to Tanner Lukavsky.

Hierseman added a 6-yard scoring run as the Bears finished with 356 yards of total offense.

Strong debut Part II: Jace Andregg is no stranger to varsity football. The Solon senior was a two-year varsity starter at Cedar Rapids Prairie before transferring to Solon.

Andregg put on a show in his first game in Solon uniform putting up 99 yards from scrimmage while averaging better than 12 yards per touch in a 35-7 win over Mount Vernon.

In his first Solon game Andregg showed the versatility that had Solon coaches raving during the preseason, catching two passes for 31 yards and rushing for 68 yards on six carries and two touchdowns.

Offensive performer of the week: Solon senior quarterback Cam Miller got off to a strong start completing 13-of-21 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown in a 35-7 season-opening win over Mount Vernon.

Miller also rushed for 63 yards on six carries and a touchdown as Solon rolled up 416 yards of total offense.

Best of the rest: Solon senior Jace Andregg had 99 total yards (68 rushing, 31 receiving) and rushed for two touchdowns in a 35-7 win over Mount Vernon.  

City High senior running back Tonka Hickman ran for 137 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-20 loss to Liberty High.

Liberty High junior Max Tafolla rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-20 win over City High.

Defensive performer of the week: West Branch senior linebacker Tanner Lukavsky provided the spark the Bears needed returning an interception 33 yards for a touchdown in a 28-6 win over West Liberty.

Lukavsky added six tackles including a team-high four solo stops as the Bears held West Liberty without an offensive touchdown.

Best of the rest: Regina junior defensive back Alec Wick had a team-high seven solo stops in a 35-0 loss to Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Ben Kruger, Carter Fedeler and Dawson Zimmerman all had eight tackles for Liberty High in a 23-20 win over City High.

West High senior defensive lineman Anu Dokun had a team-high 5.5 tackles including 5 solos, 2.5 for loss and 1.5 sacks in a 14-7 loss to North Scott.

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