Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR RAPIDS – Santana Miller does everything on a football field full speed.

So it only makes sense that the West High senior linebacker didn’t hold back when describing the situation the Trojans were in following back-to-back losses the past two weeks.

“I’m not going to lie to you we’ve been a little down,” Miller said. “Our energy was down but we were going to come out tonight and we were going to fight.”

In the nine-round slugfest that is a Class 5A high school football schedule West High endured back-to-back body blows the past two weeks with losses to cross-town rival City High and perennial power Ankeny.

On Thursday night West High came out swinging.

Miller scored touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams as West High snapped its two-game skid with a 44-0 win over Cedar Rapids Jefferson (4-2) in front of a homecoming crowd at Kingston Stadium in Cedar Rapids.

“No matter what our record is we are always going to come out and fight and tonight we knew we had to get the job done to keep the energy going,” Miller said. “This is definitely going to set us up to have a great season and keep doing our best no matter what.”

Miller had a 4-yard touchdown run, blocked a punt that he returned 16 yards for a touchdown and returned an interception 86 yards for a touchdown as West High evened its season record at 3-3.

The 205-pound Miller also scored on a pair of two-point conversion runs on Thursday helping West High put up a season-high point total.

“I don’t think I’ve had a game like that, maybe close but definitely not one like tonight and this is going to be one I’ll have to remember,” Miller said. “At the end of the day it was a team job, all my teammates set me up to be in the right place to make those plays.”

West High scored on all four first-half possessions and added the touchdown by Miller on the blocked punt while building a 37-0 halftime lead.

The Trojans had first-half touchdown drives of 68, 50, 80 and 68 yards while racking up 248 total yards and averaging 9.2 yards per play in the opening half.

“I have a lot of respect for Coach (Ed) Miles, what coach Miles has been able to do at Jeff, 4-1 in 5A football is 4-1 and we were 2-3 so we needed to play well tonight and we did,” West High coach Garrett Hartwig said. “I think we finally answered some questions tonight but it’s one game and we have three more and a long way to go.”

Coming off back-to-back losses West High wasted no time getting rolling on Thursday.

The Trojans took the opening kickoff and went 68 yards in five plays, taking an 8-0 lead when Jack Wallace connected with Mason Woods on a 37-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-8 play.

“We felt like the last two weeks we’ve left a lot on the table and we just wanted to get out there right away and dominate from the jump,” Wallace said. “I think that’s what we did.”

West High forced a punt on the ensuing Cedar Rapids Jefferson possession and quickly marched 50 yards in eight plays going up 15-0 on a 13-yard Ashton Honore touchdown run.

Miller made it 22-0 when he scored on a 4-yard run to cape a 7-play, 80-yard drive that started with a 39-yard strike from Wallace to Izaiah Loveless.

“Coming in we knew they were 4-1 and a much better team than the previous year,” Wallace said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game so we had to be ready from the start.”

Miller gave West High a 30-0 lead with 7:42 remaining in the first half when he returned a blocked punt 16 yards for a burst through the middle of the Jefferson line and blocked the punt before locating the ball, scooping it up and going 16-yard untouched to the end zone.

“All week we were working on having everybody spread out so I’d be able to come down the middle and we just executed it perfectly,” Miller said. “It went exactly how we practiced it.”

Miller capped the scoring when he intercepted a Thierry Boyd pass and raced 86 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“He’s a talented football player all the way around,” Hartwig said of Miller. “He hits harder than anybody at the linebacker spot than we’ve had in a long time so that’s his primary role. He’s always played some running back and we know he can do some things for us offensively but when you have a weapon like him on defense I’d be a fool not to try to utilize him on special teams. He made plays on both spots tonight.”

Wallace completed 9-of-11 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 20 yards and a score.

Honore ran for 34 yards and Marquise Rose added 16 yards for the Trojans which rushed for 85 yards in the opening half.

“I felt like our line did a great job and took a big step up,” Wallace said. “It really helps the pass game when we can run the ball.”

                                       CRJ                ICW

First downs                10                    10

Rushes-yards             28-115             22-75

Comp-Att-Int             10-21-3           9-11-0

Passing yards            84                    163

Total yards                199                  238

Punts-avg.                  3-23.7              2-31.5

Fumbles-lost              2-0                   0-0

Penalties-yards         5-49                 3-30

West High                  15  22  0   7  –  44

CR Jefferson              0    0   0   0  –   0

ICW – Mason Woods 37 pass from Jack Wallace (Santana Miller run)

ICW – Ashton Honore 13 run (Evan Anderson kick)

ICW – Miller 4 run (Anderson kick)

ICW – Miller 16 blocked punt return (Miller run)

ICW – Wallace 2 run (Anderson kick)

ICW – Miller 86 interception return (Anderson kick)

Individual statistics

RUSHING – CR Jefferson: Ishara Kalolero 13-43, Bertin Gisubizo 1-54, Daunte Washington 5-18, Thierry Boyd 2-4, Vernon Benda 7-(-4). West High: Ashton Honore 3-34, Jack Wallace 2-20, Marquise Rose 4-16, Butali Butali 7-11, Santana Miller 2-4, Jacob Gilliam 1-1, Campbell Janis 1-(-3), Aaron Honore 2-(-8).

PASSING – CR Jefferson: Vernon Benda 8-17-1 62, Thierry Boyd 1-4-2 22. West High: Jack Wallace 9-11-0 163

RECEIVING – CR Jefferson: LJ Nyenow 3-21, Carter Bronson 2-38, Thierry Boyd 2-18, Aidan O’Connor 2-6, Duante Washington 1-1. West High: Mason Woods 3-60, Izaiah Loveless 3-42, Jacob Gilliam 1-19, Erik Caperon 2-43.

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