Alburnett advances to 1A quarterfinal

ALBURNETT – Alburnett started the postseason without ever notching a playoff win.

Now, the Pirates have two and are one more away from reaching the coveted UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

Seventh-ranked Alburnett scored twice in the final 17 minutes of the game, overcoming a 10-0 deficit, to beat Wapsie Valley, 13-10, in a Class 1A second round playoff game Monday night at Alburnett.

The Pirates (11-0) find themselves in the state quarterfinals for the first tiome in school history.

“It's beyond words what we have just done,” running back Mitch Harger said. “We have never done this at Alburnett. Never. We're doing it right now and it doesn't feel real. I don't know how to explain it. It's just phenomenal.”

The quarterfinal berth didn't come easy. Wapsie Valley tested the Pirates resolve, containing a vaunted offense and forcing three turnovers for a double-digit lead. Alburnett answered the call for a gut check with two straight long scoring drives and two late fumble recoveries.

The first score came when Mitch Harger capped a six-play, 74-yard drive with an impressive 45-yard run. He ran around left end, made a cut to the center and split two defenders, who he drug the final three yards into the end zone. Harger doubled his rushing total on the scoring run.

Harger finished with 139 rushing yards, increasing his season total to 2,562. He said the team wasn't frustrated and were surprisingly confident after he was held to 19 yards on the ground in the first half.

“We were trying to do too much cute stuff and then we realized we were tougher than them let's just run it down their throat,” Harger said. “They were tough, believe me. I respect them beyond recognition. We just knew we could get them up the middle and that's what we did. We pounded it at them.”

Wapsie Valley responded, driving the ball down to the Alburnett 10, but the defense held, forcing a fumble recovered by Harger with less than nine minutes left.

Pirates quarterback Jacob Sevening guided the offense down the field, overing 90 yards on 14 plays and burning 6 minutes, 28 seconds off the the clock. Alburnett converted two key third downs during the drive. Both on Sevening pass plays, hitting Colton Shadden on a big 25-yard play and Tyler Shulista for a 13-yard gain on third-and-10.

“I think that really got us going,” Sevening said. “It got us some swagger going into the last 50 yards or so of that drive.”

Alburnett took a 13-10 lead with 2:23 remaining on Sevening's two-yard TD. Sevening said the play was a dive to fullback Colton Martin, but Martin told him to keep it when he saw the defensive alignment as they approached the line of scrimmage. Sevening found his way in for the go-ahead score.

“We just had to make plays,” said Sevening, who finished with 127 passing yards. “Fortunately, we were able to do that on the last drive and come up with a touchdown.”

Alburnett Coach Chris Evers said the game was indicative of the players' spirit and their “it” factor.

“We have a great group of kids,” said Evers, in his third season leading then Pirates. “They have the intangibles.”

Wapsie Valley (9-2) broke a scoreless tie on Mitch Boevers four-yard quarterback keeper with 10 seconds to go in the first half. The Warriors marched 70 yards after a Sevening interception. Boevers threw for 40 yards and ran for 10 more during that series, and finished with 109 passing.

Alburnett will travel to West Branch (9-2) in the quarterfinals next Monday. They still haven't reached their final goal.

“We have had a lot of success this season, but we haven't achieved our goal,” Sevening said. “We knew we had our whole team coming back this year. We really wanted to accomplish something big and make it to the Dome and we're still not there yet.”

TEAM STATISTICS

Wapsie Vall.

Alburnett

First downs

12

15

Rushes-yards

37 - 96

37 - 166

Passing yards

109

127

Comp-Att-Int

11 - 16 - 0

11 - 14 - 1

Total yards

205

293

Fumbles-lost

3 - 3

2 - 2

Punts-average

3 - 34.0

2 - 33.5

Penalties-yards

2 - 20

7 - 50

Rushing:

 Wapsie Vall. –

Brian Gaul 15-50 ,

Tyler Odneal 14-30 ,

Mitch Boevers 4-6 ,

Adam Bachmann 3-6 ,

Kenny Saulsberry 1-4

 Alburnett –

Mitch Harger 27-139 ,

Colton Martin 6-23 ,

Jacob Sevening 3-5 ,

Team 1--1

Passing:

 Wapsie Vall. –

Boevers 11-16-0-109

 Alburnett –

Sevening 11-14-1-127

Receiving:

 Wapsie Vall. –

Justin Kuethe 5-51 ,

Zach Kuhlmann 2-27 ,

Odneal 2-12 ,

Bachmann 1-12 ,

Quinton Wehling 1-7

 Alburnett –

Colton Shadden 3-62 ,

Tyler Shulista 4-40 ,

Harger 1-14 ,

Martin 3-11

Wapsie Vall.

7

3

–

10

Alburnett

6

7

–

13

WV - Boevers 4 run (Gaul kick)

WV - FG Gaul 32

ALB - Harger 45 run (kick failed)

ALB - Sevening 2 run (Chaz Sorensen kick)