Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Defending Class 1A runner-up Regina made quite an opening-night statement on Friday.

It was the Regal defense that spoke the loudest.

Regina limited 2025 2A semifinalist Wilton to 19 rushing yards and surrendered just 144 total yards in a 36-0 shutout of the Beavers at Regal Field in Iowa City.

“I thought we proved something tonight that our defense can play with anybody,” Regina senior linebacker Tate Wallace said. “I thought our front seven did a great job and then our secondary, we are young in the secondary, a lot of people questioned us in the secondary but they played well.”

Wilton (0-1) averaged better than 28 points per game during a 9-3 season a year ago and scored at least 20 points in every game, including 20 against Regina in a season-opening loss.

On Friday the Beavers found little success against a stout Regina defense that allowed just 3.3 yards per play.

“The defense is solid,” Regina senior defensive end Roan Eckhoff said. “We are really good up front and the DBs kept it a lid on it all game really good, being able to play like that and get after the quarterback we didn’t let them throw.”

Regina got 126 rushing yards and a touchdown from junior tailback Gabe Hegelheimer who also caught three passes for 50 yards and a touchdown.

Junior quarterbacks Zach Poe and Aiden Gaffey combined to throw for 212 yards as Regina rolled up 416 yards of offense.

“I think our quarterbacks got more comfortable as the game went on, there were some first-game jitters and it took them a little time to settle in but they just started building confidence as the game went on,” Regina coach Dustin Elsbury said. “It helps when you do have a guy like (Gabe) and an offensive line that can create movement it creates a lot more confidence and trust but I am excited for both of those guys.”

After a scoreless first quarter Hegelheimer got Regina on the board in early in the second quarter when he took a short pass from Poe and raced 21 yards to the end zone.

The touchdown capped a 14-play, 99-yard drive for Regina and gave the Regals a 7-0 lead with 10:24 remaining in the first half.

Following a Wilton punt Wallace scored the first of his two 1-yard touchdown runs with 3:15 remaining in the first half to give Regina a 14-0 lead.

The touchdown run by Wallace was set up by a 56-yard burst by Hegelheimer, the longest play of the game.

“I think for me honestly it’s just about trusting the offensive line’s work,” Hegelheimer said. “I know that they are the best o-line in the state and as soon as I see that little crease I just need to take it and trust them all the way.”

Regina led 14-0 at the half but it was all Regals after halftime.

After forcing a Wilton three-and-out on the opening possession of the second half Wallace capped a eight-play, 61-yard Regal touchdown drive with a 1-yard plunge and Poe’s two-point conversion run stretched the lead to 22-0.

The Regina defense took care of the rest, holding the Beavers to 32 yards and one first down in the second half.

“Our defense is stout, that was impressive,” Regina coach Dustin Elsbury said. “I knew we had a chance to be really, really good just returning our core defensive line and or linebackers and a couple DBs. Obviously, we graduated some good DBs last year so there were some guys that needed to step up but we knew we had the guys in the room that would arrive on the scene. If we can do that defensively it’s going to be hard to beat us.”

Wilton had just four second-half rushing yards on five carries.

“We were heavy on stopping the run and making them throw the ball,” Eckhoff said. “They threw the ball a lot more than we thought but we got after the quarterback and didn’t give him time.”

Ryan Tracy caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Gaffey and Hegelheimer scored on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.

Poe finished 12-of-16 for 124 yards and rushed for 44 yards and Gaffey completed 7-of-9 passes for 88 yards.

Wallace caught five passes for 23 yards and Holt Hinkel had three receptions for 51 yards.

“Aiden Gaffey was throwing some great balls down the stretch and Poe is a tough runner and threw some great balls,” Elsbury said. “We will probably keep rolling with both of them and see what happens.”

                                     ICR                 WIL

First downs                21                    10

Rushes-yards             34–204             17-19

Comp-Att-Int            19-25-0           14-27-0

Passing yards             212                  125

Total yards                416                  144

Punts-Avg.                 1-31                 7-39.3

Fumbles-lost              2-0                   1-0

Penalties-yards          5-25                 1-10

Wilton            0   0    0   0  –  0

Regina            0  14  15  7  –  36

ICR – Gabe Hegelheimer 21 pass from Zach Poe (Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – Tate Wallace 1 run (Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – Tate Wallace 1 run (Poe run)

ICR – Ryan Tracy 24 pass from Aiden Gaffey (Hegelheimer kick)

ICR – Hegelheimer 1 run (Thermtem Meyer kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – ICR: Gabe Hegelheimer 17-126, Zach Poe 6-44, Tate Wallace 6-24, Kevin Garcia Castro 1-6, Colin Tierney 1-4, Jarrett Naeve 2-0, Team 1-0. WIL: Noah Gray 6-9, Gunner Edwards 7-6, Caleb Burford 4-4.

PASSING – ICR: Zach Poe 12-16-0 124, Aiden Gaffey 7-9-0 88. WIL: Gunner Edwards 14-27-0 125.

RECEIVING – ICR: Tate Wallce 5-23, Gabe Hegelheimer 3-50, Holt Hinkel 3-51, Ryan Tracy 3-39, Max Long 2-24, Kaleb Moeller 2-10, Trey Streb 1-15. WIL: Noah Gray 7-28, Bryer Putman 3-42, Collin Keith 2-13, Nathan Hook 1-36, Thatcher Murguia 1-2.

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