Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Regina controlled the second half in its Class 1A, District 5 showdown with West Branch on Friday holding the Bears scoreless over the final two quarters.

However, it was the final minute of the first half that changed the game.

Regina raced 91 yards for a touchdown in less than a minute late in the second quarter to take a 14-10 halftime lead and never looked back on its way to a 28-10 win over West Branch at Regal Field in Iowa City.

Junior quarterback Kyle Tracy hauled in a 43-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Drew Greve on a throw back screen with 13 seconds left in the first half that put Regina in front for good.

“That flipped the momentum completely,” Tracy said. “They had all the momentum, they were beating us down, we couldn’t move the ball on offense and we go out and run a trick play we just put in and flipped the whole momentum.”

Tracy passed for 180 yards and threw touchdown passes to Greve and Will Aitchison as Regina snapped a two-game losing skid to West Branch.

Regina improved to 6-0 with the win and moved to 3-0 in District 5 play while West Branch dropped to 2-4 and 1-2 in district games.

“This game was a gritty victory,” Tracy said. “Rivalry wins always mean a little bit more.”

Regina took a 7-0 lead on a 7-yard strike from Tracy to Greve with 5:38 remaining in the opening quarter.

West Branch punched back, scoring the next 10 points on a safety on a Regina snap through the end zone on a punt and a 12-yard touchdown pass from Connor Rios to Brandon Pedersen.

It was 10-7 West Branch when Regina took over at its own 14 with just 95 seconds to play in the first half.

After a penalty on first down backed the ball back to the 9 yard line Regina sped 91 yards in just four plays to take a 14-10 lead and completely flip the momentum just before the half.

“The energy that gave us going into half gave us all the confidence,” Regina coach Dustin Elsbury said. “The guys being able to execute that trick play really loosened everyone up going into halftime.”

After a pair of runs moved the ball to the 25 yard line Tracy hit sophomore tight end Tate Wallace for a 32 yard gain to the West Branch 43.

Wallace out jumped a West Branch defensive back from the deep ball from Tracy.

“Those two have great chemistry and if we need to take a shot we have all the confidence in Kyle and Tate to go up and get it,” Elsbury said. “He’s a big-bodied kid and he went up and got it.”

On the next play Regina completely changed the game with a play that offensive coordinator Ed Hinkel added to the play book just 48 hours before the game.

“That really flipped the game,” Greve said. “We put that play in on Wednesday and we thought maybe we’d use it if we went up and we ran it perfect.’

Tracy threw a backwards pass to Greve who turned as if to run before turning back and lofting a pass to a wide open Tracy who had a wall of blockers down the sideline.

“Coach Hinkle, that’s the gutsiest play call I’ve ever seen,” Aitchison said. “We ran that once in practice and we thought it was going to be a joke play. We didn’t even know we were going to run it and it worked.”

Tracy caught the pass and went the final 30 yards for a touchdown that gave Regina a 14-10 lead and a surge of momentum before the half.

“We knew the momentum was on our side we just had to go finish it,” Aitchison said. “The second half we finished it.”

Regina shutout West Branch over the final two quarters and added a pair of touchdowns on a 43-yard run by sophomore running back Savion Miller and a 15-yard strike from Tracy to Aitchison.

The Regina defense held West Branch to 153 yards of total offense and just 76 rushing yards.

Cooper Gates led West Branch with 51 hard-earned yards on 13 carries.

“Our entire plan coming in was stop Gates, he’s a great runner, a great player,” Greve said. “They beat us in the first half on a few throws but the second half we made a few adjustments and everyone played lights out.”

                                          WB                 ICR

First downs                12                    14

Rushes-yards             27-76               36-63

Comp-Att-Int            15-29-1           14-18-0

Passing yards             77                    223

Total yards                153                  254

Punts-Avg.                 6-45.2              4-33.8

Fumbles-lost              0-0                   1-0

Penalties yards          7-75                 8-69

West Branch          2  8  0  0  –  10

Regina                        7  7  7  7  –  28

ICR – Drew Greve 7 pass from Kyle Tracy (Gabriel Hegelheimer kick)

WB – Safety snap through end zone

WB – Brandon Pedersen 12 pass from Connor Rios (Lincoln Naber pass from Rios)

ICR – Tracy 43 pass from Greve (Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – Savion Miller 29 run (Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – Will Aitchison 15 pass from Kyle Tracy (Hegelheimer kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICR: Savion Miller 17-56, Kyle Tracy 18-6, Edwin Gangba 1-1. WB: Cooper Gates 13-51, Connor Rios 13-30, Keaton Gates 1-(-5).

PASSING – ICR: Kyle Tracy 13-17-0 180, Drew Greve 1-1-0 43. WB: Connor Rios 15-29-1 77.

RECEVING – ICR: Will Aitchison 4-74, Tate Wallace 4-53, Savion Miller 4-46, Kyle Tracy 1-43, Drew Greve 1-13. WB: Brandon Pedersen 3-25, Olivier Trepanier 3-24, Conner Capper 3-18, Cooper Gates 3-2, Jarrett Ellyson 1-12, Ethan Miller 1-5, Connor Rios 1-(-9).

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.