SBLive Iowa high school football notebook: In first playoff game, West Harrison notches first playoff win
By Kevin White
In the first 50 years of the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s football playoffs, West Harrison players and coaches needed a ticket to get in.
But in this, the 51st year, the Hawkeyes finally gained entry into the postseason. And in the first round of the 8-Player playoffs last Friday, they scored an emotional 29-27 victory over Bedford.
“Holy cow. Friday night was a lot of fun,’’ fourth-year West Harrison coach Andrew Stevenson said. “It didn’t really sink in until like Sunday. … After all the excitement kind of wore off, it was just a feeling of hey, we’re really doing this thing and it’s a lot of fun.’’
West Harrison (9-0) advances to the round of 16 on Friday with another home game against Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire (8-1).
Tied at 13 at the half with Bedford, West Harrison opened some breathing room with a strong third quarter. Walker Rife ran 33 yards for a touchdown and then Mason McIntosh hit Mason King for the 2-point conversion and a 21-13 lead.
Conner Nally’s 34-yard touchdown run cut it back to two, but the Bulldogs’ two-point conversion failed.
Rife then made a spectacular, one-handed 24-yard TD catch, and Koleson Evans caught the 2-point pass in traffic, giving the Hawkeyes a 29-19 advantage. The Bulldogs answered with Brayden Daly’s 5-yard TD run, and Nally’s 2-point pass to Shay Purdy trimmed the deficit to two with 3:25 remaining.
But Rife – who also rushed for 115 yards, made 8½ tackles and intercepted a pass -- rushed for the first down that allowed West Harrison to run out the clock and give the Hawkeyes their first playoff win in their first playoff game.
Many of the top players on the 17-man roster also helped the school to its first boys state basketball appearance last March.
“They just want to win,’’ Stevenson said. “They don’t really care about the individual accolades. They want to win as a collective group.’’
West Harrison’s last unbeaten football season came in 1967, before a playoff system was established five years later. Those gentlemen are now in their early 70s.
“There was like six or seven of them sitting in the stands Friday, watching the game together,’’ Stevenson said. “We’ve invited them to our team dinner Thursday night so they can share their story, sit with the guys and mingle.’’
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There was plenty of wild action elsewhere in the first round of the 8-Player playoffs.
At Montezuma, Owen Cook kicked a 46-yard field goal with 26 seconds remaining to give the Braves a thrilling 44-42 win over visiting Iowa Valley.
Leading 41-34, Montezuma appeared to have a first down that would end the game, but it fumbled on the play with just more than a minute left. Evan Kearney recovered and ran 53 yards to paydirt to pull Iowa Valley within 41-40 with 1:06 remaining. The 2-point conversion was good to push the Tigers ahead 42-41.
But Cook, also the quarterback, got his team into field-goal range and booted his third field goal of the night to win it. The senior threw for 224 yards and a score, and rushed for 129 yards and four TDs,
For Iowa Valley, Kearney also passed for 161 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown, and made 6½ tackles.
Montezuma (8-2) will host Easton Valley (7-1) Friday in the round of 16.
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Speaking of Easton Valley, it used a big night from Charlie Simpson and overcame a remarkable individual effort by BGM’s Jacob Maurer in a 40-34 first-round win.
BGM led 28-14 in the third quarter, before a pair of scores pulled the River Hawks within 28-26 entering the fourth.
Maurer’s 1-yard TD run on fourth-and-goal put BGM up 34-26 with 8:06 left in the game. On its next play from scrimmage, Simpson raced 54 yards for a touchdown. The 6-foot, 220-pounder caught the 2-point pass from freshman Keagan Lee to tie it.
BGM had fourth-and-4 at the Easton Valley 26, but freshman Callan Messerich tackled Shamus Keller short of the first down after he caught a short pass, giving Easton Valley possession with 2:12 left.
Simpson carried for 23, 7, 5 and 13 yards for the touchdown with 42 seconds left to put Easton Valley up 40-34.
BGM marched down to the Easton Valley 22 with three seconds left. Maurer handed to Keller, who lateraled back to Maurer, who passed to Dominic Coleman on the 14. Coleman lateraled back to Maurer, who was tackled by Messerich to end it.
Simpson finished with 23 carries for 278 yards and five touchdowns, and added nine solo tackles for the winners.
Maurer completed 22 of 37 for 276 yards and three scores, and rushed 44 times for 275 yards and two TDs, giving him 551 total yards in defeat.
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Finally in 8-Player, CAM, which beat Easton Valley 42-40 in last year’s championship game, stayed alive with a 58-38 win over Baxter.
The Cougars trailed 30-18 with 24 seconds left in the first half. However, Chase Spieker hit Jack Follmann for a 61-yard score with 11 ticks remaining, and Austin Williams’ 2-point run cut it to 30-26 at the intermission.
Spieker found Sam Foreman for a 65-yard touchdown in the third quarter to give CAM its first lead, and Follmann’s 67-yard scoring burst early in the fourth gave the Cougars the lead for good.
Spieker, a sophomore, passed for 293 yards and three TDs. Follmann rushed for 113 yards and four scores and added 98 receiving yards and a touchdown, while Foreman caught seven passes for 177 yards and two TDs.
