Cook’s passing propels Regina

IOWA CITY - Central Decatur dared Drew Cook to pass by jamming the line. The Iowa City Regina senior took advantage.

Cook threw for a career-high 407 yards and four touchdowns - including 215 yards and three scores to Nathan Stenger - in Regina's 56-14 victory over Central Decatur last night in a Class 1A quarterfinal at Regina Stadium.

'They stacked the box tonight and that allowed us to throw the ball around a little bit,” an emotional Cook said after his final home game. 'We just took what they gave us.”

The Regals (11-1) scored 42 straight points to end the game to advance to next Saturday's semifinals against South Winneshiek. Regina is two wins from a record fifth straight championship.

Central Decatur (9-3) so clearly wanted to stop the run early, holding Regina to one yard on six attempts in the first quarter. The Regals even called a timeout after a sack on their second drive. Cook connected with Stenger for a 73-yard touchdown the next play.

Everything opened up after that.

Cook hit Conner Brown for a 43-yard score in the first quarter, then Stenger caught TD passes of 41 and 23 yards in the second.

Cook had 195 passing yards after the first quarter and 351 at halftime - better than any other full game this season. He finished 19 of 28 for 407 yards.

'They're bringing more in the box than we can block, but now they're one-on-one on the outside,” Regina Coach Marv Cook said. 'That's going to leave them exposed to a missed tackle and that's what we were able to have success with early.”

Central Decatur forced two turnovers in the first quarter to stay close.

Regina led 7-0 when the Cardinals picked off Cook. Two plays later, quarterback Trenton Wells ran for a 20-yard touchdown.

After Regina scored again, Central Decatur's Rayden Boswell ran 43 yards for a TD.

That made it 14-14 with 1:49 left in the first quarter. But Jake Brinkman ran for a 3-yard touchdown before the quarter could end and it was all Regals after that.

Wells, the Central Decatur quarterback, was ejected in the final two minutes after a post-play skirmish. The Cardinals called a timeout so the senior could run across the Regina sideline to apologize to Marv Cook.

'I told him don't apologize for being competitive and playing hard,” Cook said.