Koenig throws for school-record five TD passes as West Branch rolls

WEST BRANCH – For much of the past two seasons, West Branch football has leaned heavily on star tailback Luke Lenoch to power the offense.

In a Class 1A District 5 game Friday night at The Little Rose Bowl, the Bears flipped the script.

Quarterback Cooper Koenig broke the school record for touchdown passes in a single game by halftime, and third-ranked West Branch steamrolled Wilton, 55-14.

'It makes it tough for teams to prepare for us,” said Koenig, who finished the game 8-of-11 passing for 151 yards and five touchdowns. 'If you're going to try to take Luke away, then we have good enough skill guys to put the game in the air.”

Wilton stacked defenders up to the line of scrimmage early and forced Koenig to hurt them with the pass. The West Branch senior did, tossing four TD passes alone in the second quarter, including an eight-yard strike to Matt Shawver on the final play of the first half for a 35-7 lead.

'They play a man defense,” Koenig said. 'It's tough to cover our guys with man because of how quick we've got guys.”

Shawver and Aaron Barnes each finished with a pair of touchdown receptions. Lenoch added two rushing scores in the second half and finished with a season-high 211 yards on the ground with 23 carries. The junior now has 1,336 yards this season and is tied for the Class 1A lead with 20 TDs.

The victory clinches at least a share of the district crown for West Branch (8-0, 5-0 District 5).

'I think we had an idea of what they were going to do offensively and defensively,” West Branch Coach Butch Pedersen said. 'Our game plan kind of played out that way and we're extremely happy for these kids to win this championship.”

West Branch 55, Wilton 14

AT WEST BRANCH

WIL WB

First downs 8 16

Rushes-yards 24-67 40 - 262

Passing-yards 99 192

Comp-att-int 9-16-0 10-13-1

Punts-avg. 4-38.5 1-49.0

Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 0-0 2-10

Wilton 0 7 7 0-14

West Branch 7 28 14 6-55

WB - Aaron Barnes 13 pass from Cooper Koenig (Devin Kindon kick)

WB - Kindon 20 pass from Koenig (Kindon kick)

WB - Barnes 51 pass from Koenig (Kindon kick)

WIL - Javin Drake 30 run (Caleb Timmsen kick)

WB - Hunter Wargo 13 pass from Koenig (kick failed)

WB - Matt Shawver 8 pass from Koenig (Lenoch run)

WB - Luke Lenoch 1 run (Kindon kick)

WIL - Trey Brisker 18 pass from Drake (Timmsen kick)

WB - Luke Lenoch 17 run (Kindon kick)

WB - Matt Shawver 34 pass from Brandon Rummelhart (kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing-Wilton: Javin Drake 10-29, Bryce Oveson 9-20, Trey Brisker 3-13, Jerome Mays 1-8, Team 1-(-3). West Branch:

Luke Lenoch 23-211, Devin Kindon 10-55, Sam Martens 2-7, Cooper Koenig 1-(-2), Jacob Graves 1-(-3), Team 3-(-6).

Passing-Wilton: Javin Drake 9-15-0-99, Luke Lenoch 0-1-0-0. West Branch:

Cooper Koenig 8-11-1-151, Brandon Rummelhart 2-2-0-41.

Receiving-Wilton: Caleb Timmsen 2-29, Evan Reifert 2-19, Trey Brisker 1-18, Cody Navarro 3-18, Bryce Oveson 1-10. West Branch:

Matt Shawver 4-73, Aaron Barnes 2-64, Devin Kindon 1-20, Luke Lenoch 1-15, Hunter Wargo 1-13.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com