Regina wins battle of champions

IOWA CITY – A huge matchup turned into just as big of a mismatch.

Iowa City Regina took on and then took down rival Solon to win a battle of defending state championship football teams. The Class 2A second-ranked Regals used big plays from a potent rush offense to handle 3A second-ranked Solon, 35-9, Friday night at Regina High School.

Regina (2-0) extended its winning streak to 16 games, which included wins over Solon, snapping its 42-game win streak, and one in the 2A state title game. Solon, who won the 3A title in 2010 after winning three straight 2A titles, has lost twice since the 2006 2A state championship with both at the hands from the Regals.

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"Our team effort was superb," running back Jacob Vollstedt said. "I've never seen a team more dedicated to winning than this team."

Regina showed big-play ability, scoring at light speed. The Regals built a 21-3 halftime lead on three scoring drives of four plays or less.

Their opening driving benefitted from good field position thanks to a kickoff return into Solon territory and their final drive of the half was set up by a George Sehl interception when he lept into the air to grab an overthrown pass downfield from Spartan quarterback J.J. Hanus.

The Regals rolled 46 yards in four plays with bookend Vollstedt runs. Vollstedt scored on a six-yard run after quarterback Nate Streb scurried for a 30-yard run to create first-and-goal from the eight. Regina seemed in control after the early lead.

"That got everyone going," Vollstedt said. "The crowd was fired up. ... It got a train going and we weren't stopping."

Vollstedt also ignited the Regals with 1:51 left before halftime. After the turnover, Vollstedt rumbled 39 yards on the first play from scrimmage. After two Joe McCaffery runs, Streb capped the drive with a nifty fake, keeping the ball around right end and sprinting to the end zone in the final minute.

Vollstedt and Streb would put the nails in Solon's proverbial coffin in the fourth quarter. On consecutive possessions, Vollstedt scored from a yard out and Streb added a 3-yard TD run, expanding the lead to 35-9.

Vollstedt had a 62-yard jaunt that highlighted a six-play, 91-yard drive resulting in his second touchdown. Vollstedt powered the big-play rushing attack with 154 yards on 15 carries. McCaffery finished with 87 and Streb had 67 rushing yards. Streb also completed 6 of 8 passes for 85 yards.

"We just try chipping away and chipping away," said Vollstedt, who praised the linemen for winning the battle up front and wide receivers for blocking down field. "We try to take advantage of our conditioning and hopefully the big play breaks out after wearing them down."

McCaffery also contributed with the quick-strike offense, finding the end zone faster than anyone. Solon's Josh Proehl connected on a 34-yard field goal to close Regina's lead to 7-3 in the first quarter. On the opening play of the ensuing series, McCaffery took his first hand-off, burst through the line, broke away, and when he was caught by Solon defenders made a couple impressive cutbacks for a 72-yard touchdown.

Solon (1-1) answered immediately in the second half. The Spartans drove 76 yards capped by a 5-yard pass from Hanus to Cody Fritz on a 4th-and-2, making it 21-9 with 6:19 left in the third after Solon's two-point conversion failed.

Regina rebounded from the brief threat.

"We work on that actually," Regina Coach Marv Cook said. "A sudden change, turnovers, bad breaks, you have to come in and slam the door, and our defense works on that in practice where you have to get off the field and get back on the field and get your mentality back to lock it down."

That was the closest the Spartans would get. They only had three more possessions with Regina forcing a punt and stopping them on downs before their final series as time expired. They rebounded well after allowing the touchdown

The Regal defense bent but didn't break, allowing 164 yards rushing but just 83 yards passing. Hanus finished 10-of-16 passing and a team high 77 yards rushing.

"Tonight was our night," Cook said. "Solon is a great program and we felt like we had some good things in place. the opening drive was refreshing because we really felt like we could make some hay in some of those things we were putting in there. To actually be able to do it was reassuring."

TEAM STATISTICS

Solon

IC Regina

First downs

12

15

Rushes-yards

47 - 164

33 - 318

Passing yards

83

85

Comp-Att-Int

10 - 16 - 1

6 - 8 - 0

Total yards

247

403

Fumbles-lost

3 - 1

2 - 1

Punts-average

3 - 40.7

2 - 27.0

Penalties-yards

5 - 35

1 - 10

Rushing:

 Solon –

J.J. Hanus 13-77 ,

Cody Fritz 9-22 ,

Jordan Wymer 8-26 ,

Austin Dall 7-20 ,

Andy Klouda 2-12 ,

Riley Takes 2-4 ,

Aaron Shulista 2-1 ,

Skyler Rath 3-0 ,

Team 1-2

 IC Regina –

Jacob Vollstedt 15-154 ,

Joe McCaffery 5-87 ,

Nate Streb 9-67 ,

Ross Westemeyer 3-14 ,

Team 1-0

Passing:

 Solon –

Hanus 10-16-1-83

 IC Regina –

Streb 6-8-0-85

Receiving:

 Solon –

Rory Siddell 3-31 ,

Fritz 3-20 ,

Colton Dall 3-17 ,

Wymer 1-15

 IC Regina –

Alex Balke 2-41 ,

George Sehl 2-31 ,

Chris Nepola 2-13

Solon

3

6

–

9

IC Regina

14

7

14

–

35

ICR - Vollstedt 6 run (Mike Donovan kick)

SOL - FG Josh Proehl 34

ICR - McCaffery 72 run (Donovan kick)

ICR - Streb 18 run (Donovan kick)

SOL - Fritz 5 pass from Hanus (rush failed)

ICR - Vollstedt 1 run (Donovan kick)

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ICR - Streb 3 run (Donovan kick)