Linn-Mar falls at Pleasant Valley

Pleasant Valley's offense scuffled in the opening week. Its timing was off and it never could establish any consistency.

The Spartans found their rhythm Friday night.

Sophomore Arthur Braden rushed for 190 yards and two touchdowns as the Class 4A 10th-ranked Spartans upended Linn-Mar 27-13 in a non-district football game at a steamy Spartan Stadium.

'We were hungry in Week 2,” junior CJ Carter said. 'We were popping on all cylinders today.”

Coach Rusty VanWetzinga's team generated only one offensive score and 211 yards in last week's 14-7 triumph over North Scott. In its home opener, PV recorded 329 yards on the ground and feasted on the big play.

Carter scored on a 71-yard jet sweep on the first play of the third quarter.

Then after PV's defense came up with a goal-line stand early in the fourth quarter, Braden went 55 yards on a sweep several plays later to all but seal the Spartans' first win over Linn-Mar in last 25 years.

'We made some big strides offensively, Week 1 to Week 2,” VanWetzinga said. 'The kids worked hard at it, the coaches worked hard. We got a little bit more of a rhythm offensively.”

PV's speed at the skilled positions was noticeable. In addition to Braden, Carter had 80 yards rushing and quarterback Terry Saul had 66 yards on the ground and a score.

'Once we get in the open field, we know we can out-man teams with our speed,” Carter said. 'We've got playmakers in the open field and we just took off.”

Braden carried the ball 24 times – half of them went for 7 yards or more.

'It's amazing how far we came in a week offensively,” Braden said. 'Our offensive line executed, we played physical and gave 100 percent on every play. We really wanted to come out and show offensively we could score.”

The Spartans' defense was equally impressive.

After holding Linn-Mar to a pair of first-half field goals, the Lions only touchdown came on a 23-yard pass play from Reese Phillips to Daniel Gorsich.

But PV didn't budge after that. The big sequence came early in the fourth quarter.

The Spartans held a 21-13 edge and the Lions (0-2) had fourth and 1 from the Spartan 3. PV, though, stuffed Phillips on a keeper. Phillips passed for 104 yards, and Zach Luehring led the ground attack with 103 yards on 22 carries.

'We've done a really good job so far, particularly in the red zone,” defensive end David Carr said. 'We can still get a lot better, but not a lot of teams have scored on us.”

It was a pivotal win for the Spartans heading into back-to-back games against ranked opponents in Bettendorf and Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

It also had extra meaning for VanWetzinga, who had been on the losing end against Linn-Mar on three previous occasions since 1990.

'Personally,” he said, 'this feels pretty good.”