Pleasant Valley’s option silences Iowa City West in battle for district title

BETTENDORF - A fumbled punt and an inability to solve Pleasant Valley's option running attack doomed Iowa City West to a 35-20 defeat in a battle for the Class 4A District 7 championship Friday night.

The Spartans (7-2, 4-0) take the top seed as the district champs, while West (3-6, 3-1) will be the second seed. The IHSAA will release first-round pairings early Saturday morning.

West narrowed the deficit to 21-14 early in the fourth quarter, and its defense forced a punt. But Oliver Martin, who was otherwise brilliant, fumbled the punt and PV's Carter Christisen recovered on the Trojans' 34-yard line. Six runs later the Spartans had a two-touchdown lead again and only 7:42 was left in the game.

'That was huge for us,” Spartan quarterback Terry Saul said. 'It was a big momentum swing. We knew as an offense we had to put it in the end zone, keep rolling.”

The game was one of contrasting offensive styles. Pleasant Valley ran for almost 200 yards in the first half alone, 159 coming from Saul. Saul carved up the Trojan defense with the read option, finishing the game with 228 yards on 31 carries.

The Trojans seemed baffled by the sleight-of-hand demonstrated by the 5-foot-10, 175-pound quarterback as he slipped the ball into the stomach of would-be carriers only to remove it a split second later and dance into the secondary.

'It's a triple option,” Saul explained. 'If they take away the other two options one person can get it done. You can't take away everything. It's hard. Our coaches spend a lot of time drawing up plays.”

The Spartans completed only one pass in 10 attempts.

West moved the ball best through the air with Alex Henderson completing 19 of 31 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns. Martin caught 11 passes for 127 yards. West scored a TD as time expired and wasn't permitted to kick the extra point.