North Tama whacks WACO, 28-0, to reach A finals

CEDAR FALLS - There are hook and ladders, then there are HOOK AND LADDERS.North Tama pulled off a pretty incredible version of the trick play in the third quarter of its 28-0 win Friday morning over WACO in a Class A prep football playoff semifinal at the UNI-Dome. Here's how it went down.Out of the shotgun, quarterback Brendon Boerm threw a quick pass to the left at the line of scrimmage to Lucas Hefty. The wide receiver caught the ball, hesitated for a quick second, turned and pitched it to a teammate sprinting behind him.Just another hook and ladder, right? Not exactly, since that teammate was Boerm.He broke free down the left sideline for a 77-yard touchdown that broke open a close game and literally broke fourth-ranked WACO (12-1)."When you give up a play like that ...," said WACO Coach Chad Edeker. "It really did deflate us.""It took us a little time to draw it up, how to make it right," Boerm said. "You've got to get me over there quick enough. Lucas made a nice catch, just kind of delayed them a little bit, drew them in. That's just how we've done it in practice every day. It turned out all right."More than all right. No. 3 North Tama (13-0) scored a TD in each quarter and pitched a shutout for the seventh time this season to advance to the Class A championship game for the second time in three years.The opponent will be Madrid (13-0) next Friday here at 2:05."This is exactly where we want to be," Boerm said. "We just want a shot."The Redhawks are getting one thanks in very large part to him. The versatile lefty ran for 206 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 86 more and two scores.Do the math there and you'll figure out he accounted for 292 of his team's 331 yards. A large chunk of it on one nifty gadget play."We're very creative with Brendon," said North Tama Coach Brent Thoren. "How we're going to distribute the ball to him. The nice thing is we've still got some things that are in the bag."Boerm and Hefty hooked up, pun intended, for an 18-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and a 13-yard Boerm run on fourth down made it 14-0 at halftime. Boerm threw a 4-yard TD pass to a diving Tyler Cizek early in the fourth.WACO had its chances but was done in by its own hand. The Warriors reached the red zone twice only to be done in by errant shotgun snaps. Two other drives were stopped inside the NT 35.All but eight of WACO's 220 yards came on the ground, 124 of them by tough-running back Spencer Shepherd. Warriors quarterback Brady Stauffer completed only 1 of 12 passes and was intercepted once.Here's the game boxscore and a video interview with Boerm:

North Tama 28 WACO 0

AT UNI-DOME

NT WACOFirst downs 13 14 Rushes-yards 27-242 61-212 Passing yards 89 8 Comp-att-int. 12-22-2 1-12-1 Punts-avg. 1-40.0 3-33.7 Penalties-yards 3-20 4-20 Fumbles-lost 1-0 3-0

North Tama 7 7 7 7-28 WACO 0 0 0 0- 0 NT-Lucas Hefty 18 pass from Brendon Boerm (Nolan Hefty kick) NT-B. Boerm 13 run (N. Hefty kick) NT-B. Boerm 77 run (N. Hefty kick) NT-Tyler Cizek 4 pass from B. Boerm (N. Hefty kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING - North Tama: Brendon Boerm 17-206, Justin Jacobs 4-15, Jacob Wrage 2-11, Cade Isenhower 2-4, Tyler Zook 1-4, Brent Billerbeck 1-2.

WACO: Spencer Shepherd 26-124, Tyler Ayers 4-33, Steven Reitz 8-32, Justin Freyenberger 5-13, Austin Coakley 1-8, Alan Hesseltine 2-7, Dylan Carlson 1-4, Brady Stauffer 8-0, Jordan Vradenburg 3-(minus) 4, Team 1-(minus) 5.

PASSING - North Tama: Brendon Boerm 10-19-2-86, Dalton Hulme 2-2-0-3, Jacob Wrage 0-1-0-0.

WACO: Brady Stauffer 1-12-1-8.

RECEIVING - North Tama: Lucas Hefty 6-52, Jacob Wrage 1-12, Mitchell Boerm 1-6, Tyler Cizek 1-4, Brent Billerbeck 1-2, Cade Isenhower 1-1, Clayton Blocker 1-1.

WACO: Bodhi Eagle 1-8.