Tye Hughes’ first season at West Branch has been a real good one

CEDAR RAPIDS — It could have been divisive, but it wasn’t.

Tye Hughes transferred in to West Branch from Iowa City Liberty and became the Bears’ starting quarterback. Carver Boelk, last year’s QB, moved to receiver.

Hughes has helped West Branch to an 11-0 record and a spot in the Class 1A state playoff semifinals. Boelk is West Branch’s second-leading pass catcher and has the most receiving touchdowns on the team.

That’s called win-win.

“Tye came in this season and what could have been an awkward situation with last year’s QB became one where they’re great friends, and Carver Boelk moved to receiver and became one of Tye’s prime targets,” said West Branch acting head coach John Hierseman. “We’re very happy to have Tye at West Branch, and I know he is glad to be here, too.”

That’s the truth.

“Everyone welcomed me with open arms,” Hughes said. “All the coaches, all my teammates, it was really smooth coming here. I came around the same time as (teammate) Jack McCullough did from Liberty, and it made everything even more smooth.

“I mean, this season has been really fun. We have worked really hard, we’ve had a goal since the beginning of the year to get to the Dome. We have worked every week to get there, we’re not going to stop now. We want to go win it all.”

Third-ranked West Branch knows it has a steep hill to climb when it faces No. 1 Van Meter (10-1) in a 10 a.m. semifinal at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. The Bulldogs have dominated everyone sans 2A second-ranked Williamsburg, which edged it early in the regular season, 18-13.

But this is a West Branch group that rallied from 11 points down midway through the fourth quarter to beat MFL MarMac in last week’s quarterfinals. It’s a group that is still playing, even though its beloved head coach, Butch Pedersen, is mostly away from the team while going through chemotherapy to treat cancer.

These Bears have been resilient, to say the least. Hughes led the quarterfinal comeback with a team-best 112 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

He’s known more as a passer, throwing for 1,168 yards and eight touchdowns last season as Liberty’s starting quarterback as a sophomore. The son of former Iowa Hawkeyes linebacker and Clear Creek Amana head coach Matt Hughes decided to make a change, even though West Branch has more of a run-oriented offense.

He said his father and grandfather, Ronnie Hughes, knew Pedersen well, which factored into his decision.

“They thought it would be a good fit for me, so I just decided to go for it,” he said.

Matt and Ronnie Hughes were assistant coaches last season at Liberty. Ronnie has joined the West Branch staff this season.

“I didn’t even know he was going to be coaching,” Tye said. “I was already about two weeks here when I found out. It wasn’t planned out or anything. But when they approached him about coaching, he was all in.”

Hughes has completed 66 percent of his passes this season for 1,318 yards and has a TD-to-interception ratio of 12-to-2. He has been a perfect fit.

“Tye is a fantastic quarterback, but what makes him special is that he’s such a team player,” Hierseman said. “He’s a great passer, but we like to run the ball, and he’s completely fine with that. Then when we need him to run the ball, like we did Friday, he does it and does it well.”

“(The difference between 4A and 1A) really hasn’t been as big as I thought it’d be,” Hughes said. “The teams we play, they bring it just as much as the 4A teams. I haven’t really noticed too much of a difference in the competition. It’s been the same for me. I just love how in a small town like West Branch, everyone just rallies around the football team. The whole town shuts down on Friday nights. That’s just a really cool feeling.”

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