Iowa high school football notebook: Underwood drops unbeaten Kuemper to notch program milestone
By Kevin White
To do something the Underwood football program had never done, it was probably fitting that it needed to produce something special in the second half.
In a matchup with fellow Class 1-A unbeaten Carroll Kuemper, the Eagles trailed 14-7 at the half and 17-14 in the third quarter. But senior quarterback Alex Ravlin and his top receiver, junior brother Josh Ravlin, helped Underwood finish with a flourish in a 28-20 District 8 victory last Friday at Carroll Stadium.
The win gave the Eagles, 19th in the SBLive Iowa Top 25 rankings, back-to-back district titles for the first time in school history. Underwood (8-0) opens 1-A playoff action Friday at home against Interstate 35 (3-5).
“It’s really nice to win back-to-back (district titles),’’ Alex Ravlin told KMA Radio in Shenandoah. “We’ve never done it in Underwood history, so it just makes it a little bit sweeter when we can put our names in the record books.’’
Alex Ravlin hit his brother for a 35-yard touchdown to give Underwood a 21-17 it wouldn’t relinquish. Alex Ravlin found Mason Boothby for a 27-yard score and a 28-17 lead with about five minutes left. Kuemper kicked a field goal, but Underwood recovered the ensuing onside kick to ice it.
Alex Ravlin finished 15-of -3 for 212 yards and three scores, and he also ran for 61 yards. Josh Ravlin caught eight passes for 149 yards and two TDs, while junior Maddox Nelson carried 19 times for 102 yards and a touchdown. Underwood has been eliminated in the state quarterfinals the past two seasons..
For Kuemper, junior DJ Vonnahme completed 15 of 35 for 135 yards and two touchdowns. The Knights (7-1) open playoff action Friday against Emmetsburg (4-4) at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake.
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Waukee moved itself back into the heart of the 5-A playoff chase last week with a resounding 30-7 win over Urbandale.
The Warriors (4-4) rode big plays to the dominant victory. Beckett Bakker threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to Payton Betts. Bakker also threw a 78-yard pass to Lucas Struck and Bryce Hoskinson later ran 54 yards to paydirt for a 24-0 lead. Blake Hauck tipped a pass that teammate Orson Harrop intercepted and returned 30 yards for a touchdown. Kaidan Ivory added two interceptions for the winners.
Waukee, which started the season 1-4, is 15th in the 5-A RPI entering its regular-season finale against top-rated West Des Moines Dowling (7-1). Urbandale (5-3) is 18th in the RPI entering its finale against 24th-rated Waukee Northwest (4-4).
The top 16 teams in the final RPI qualify for the playoffs.
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Columbus High School, based in Columbus Junction, hasn’t won seven games in a football season in a quarter century, since the 1997 Wildcats went 9-1 and were eliminated by Highland-Lone Tree 27-7 in the state quarterfinals.
This season, Columbus took a 7-0 record into last Friday’s showdown with 7-0 Alburnett. The game for the District 5 title in Class A lived up to its billing, with Alburnett winning 32-31 in overtime.
Triston Miller’s 41-yard touchdown run put Columbus up 25-17 with 1:26 left in the game. But the Wildcats couldn’t cash in on the two-point conversion, which turned out to be key. Alburnett’s Mason Neighbor found Braydon Osborn in the corner of the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown with two seconds left in regulation. Neighbor hit Payton Baker for the two-point conversion, sending the game to overtime.
Columbus scored first on a 10-yard run by Kaden Amigon, who rushed for a game-high 232 yards, but it missed the PAT. Alburnett answered, as Neighbor connected with Carson Klostermann for the tying 10-yard score. Sam Severson then booted the district-clinching PAT for the Pirates.
Perhaps a rematch is in the offing. Alburnett opens the postseason at home against Bellevue (4-4), while Columbus hosts Maquoketa Valley (5-3). It will be just the second playoff appearance for Columbus (2015) in the last 25 years.
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It’s unusual for upper-echelon teams in Class 5-A to start sophomores at quarterback, but that was the case for both teams last week in Johnston’s matchup with Cedar Rapids Kennedy.
Will Nuss of Johnston finished with upper hand over counterpart Vincenzo Gianforte of Kennedy. Nuss was 14 of 25 for 201 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in his team’s 28-7 victory. Three of the scoring strikes went to Jacob Simpson, who caught eight passes for 118 yards.
Gianforte went 17 of 38 for 207 yards and a touchdown, with one interception.
Johnston (5-3) moved up to a comfortable sixth in the 5-A RPI entering its regular-season finale against Ames (6-2). Kennedy (6-2) is ninth in the 5-A RPI as its ends the regular season against Dubuque Hempstead (1-7).
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Seniors Michael Turner of Tri-Center and Jackson Dewald of Westwood put on a head-to-head rushing show for their Class A playoff qualifying teams last week.
Turner carried 32 times for 331 yards and three touchdowns, as his team beat Westwood 40-29. Dewald kept his team in contention with 29 rushes for 260 yards and three scores.
Both teams are 4-4. Tri-Center plays at Le Mars Gehlen (7-1) on Friday in the first round, while Westwood is at AHSTW (8-0).
