Prep Football Rewind: Alburnett is for real

ALBURNETT - They're legit.

The Alburnett Pirates proved that Friday night, scoring a touchdown with about five minutes left for a 42-35 win over West Branch in a beauty of a Class 1A, District 6 opener at Alburnett. The Pirates improved to 3-0 overall, taking a 28-7 halftime lead and then having to rally.

No matter how they got it, the bottom line is this was a terrific, proving-ground victory for a team that lost to West Branch last season, 50-8. Alburnett finished 4-5 last season, including a first-round postseason loss to Starmont.

“We've got a lot of things we've got to work on,” cautioned Coach Chris Evers. “But we've made progress. West Branch has such great tradition. This gives the kids the belief that they can beat anyone.”

Hard to believe it was just two years ago that Alburnett went 0-9. Evers remembered a road trip to Clayton Ridge that ended with his team having just 11 players available by game's end.

How that has changed. Alburnett returned 21 of 22 starters this season, including 1,200-yard rusher Mitchell Harger.

He had a huge 280-yard, four-TD game against West Branch. Evers credited his blockers for Harger's success, guys like Dalton Kramer, Dylan Liebe, Alex Stepanek, Miles Porter and Kyle Frederick.

“The kids really worked hard in the off-season,” said Evers, who took over the program from legendary Jim Carver. “Two years ago, we were 0-9 and were not even in ballgames. We just had to have patience.”

Evers said he will stress this week in practice that the West Branch win should be just a beginning for his ballclub. Alburnett makes a long trip to Van Buren this week.

“We've got a long way to go,” Evers said. “It's not like this should be a huge celebration or anything. We've got to continue to get better.”

Red-zone ramblings

- Cedar Rapids Washington wide receiver Flynn Heald's performance in a 41-28 loss Friday night to Cedar Rapids Kennedy smashed a pair of Mississippi Valley Conference records but came up just shy of state marks.

Heald caught 21 passes from quarterback Braedon Tovey for 293 yards, breaking the MVC mark in both categories. The previous long-standing yardage mark of 220 was set by Mark Lumpa of Iowa City High in 1983.

Joe Audlehelm of Central Decatur has the state record for catches in a game (22), set in 2006. The yardage record belongs to Brock Campbell of Cherokee (318 in 2003).

-We're down to 17 unbeaten teams in The Gazette area, led by Midland's 4-0 record in 8-Man.

Iowa City High, Linn-Mar, Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids Xavier are all 3-0 in Class 4A. Williamsburg, La Porte City Union are the 3A unbeatens, with South Winneshiek and Iowa City Regina both 3-0 in 2A.

Starmont, Maquoketa Valley, North Cedar and Alburnett are your 1A unbeatens. Postville, North Tama (three consecutive shutouts), Lone Tree and Lisbon are undefeated in Class A.

Lone Tree had a particularly big win Friday night, blasting traditional power WACO, 42-6, in a District 5 opener featuring the ninth-ranked (LT) and fifth-ranked (WACO) teams. Lone Tree rushed for 388 yards, getting two touchdowns each from Levi Reitzler and Bryan Forbes. Quarterback Gabe Lorack threw two TD passes and ran in another.