Iowa high school football playoff rewind: MFL MarMac exacts revenge on West Branch

CEDAR RAPIDS — This one meant a lot. Dan Anderson wasn’t going to lie.

“It was probably one of the most rewarding wins of my career,” the MFL MarMac football coach said.

His Bulldogs shut out West Branch, 21-0, Friday night in a Class 1A state playoff second-round game in Monona. MFL MarMac scored a pair of first-quarter touchdowns and limited its opponent to 128 total yards in a performance that Anderson said was the most physical he’s seen from his team.

Call it direct retribution. A year ago, MFL MarMac lost at West Branch, 27-24, in a 1A quarterfinal played in pouring rain, a game the Bulldogs led after three quarters, 24-13.

“Last year hurt,” Anderson said. “I took it hard. It’s a game, I understand that. But we felt we had that game won, were up 11 going into the fourth quarter. They just made some plays.”

The sixth-year head coach said he couldn’t look at video of the game, let alone a football, for quite a while.

“I pretty much shut out football,” Anderson said. “I told the kids I was proud of them, but I just kind of clammed up, didn’t want anything to do with football for about a month.

“Finally I had to watch that game because I had to know ‘Did I make some bad calls there at the end? Were we out of position? Or did West Branch just make some good plays?’ That was a monsoon night.”

And that monsoon and the resulting muddy conditions ultimately were what did in his team, Anderson concluded. A couple of big cutback moves and game-changing runs by West Branch quarterback Tye Hughes were made possible because MFL MarMac defenders, who were in good position, couldn’t cut back with him.

There was no rain, no mud Friday night. Just a big victory.

“I don’t ask much out of my kids,” Anderson said. “But I told them I took it real personal last year. I said ‘I know you’re playing for yourselves, you’re playing for your community. But if you want to do me a favor, go out there and play like your hair is on fire.’ They sure did.”

So MFL MarMac (9-1) finds itself in the playoff quarterfinals for the fifth season in a row. Iowa City Regina (9-1) is the opponent in a game that’ll be played at Monona.

Anderson has done an incredible job turning around a program that had never really done much of anything, had one playoff berth to its credit before he became head coach. The next step is to get to the UNI-Dome and the semifinals.

He knows that.

“Whatever has happened in the past is the past,” Anderson said. “But obviously we know we’ve stumbled at this point four straight years. We’ve got to get over that hump. MFL MarMac, some team had to be that first team to get to the quarterfinals. We had 26 years of losing football, and that 2019 team was the team that broke it out and went from not only having a winning record but to 10-1. Ever since then, it’s been the standard up here, to play great football.

“This is the group that really believes they can do it. These guys want it. I know everybody says they want it, but these seniors, they’ve been to the quarterfinals every single year in their careers.”

He mentioned four-year starter Wyatt Powell at running back and linebacker. Tristen Koehn is another senior and four-year starter at nose guard.

“This senior bunch is really good, really talented and they stick together,” Anderson said. “Whether we win or lose, it’s not going to be for lack or effort or focus this week. They’re going to come after Regina, but, obviously, Regina presents some real challenges.”

This and that

* The Gazette area is down to seven survivors in the playoffs, with all Class 5A and 8-Player schools eliminated.

Top-ranked Western Dubuque (9-1) hosts No. 5 North Scott (8-2) in a Class 4A quarterfinal this coming Friday night, with second-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier traveling to No. 4 North Polk (8-2).

It’s West Delaware (7-3) at No. 2 Solon (9-1) in a 3A quarterfinal, with Mount Vernon and Williamsburg (both 9-1) squaring off at Williamsburg in a matchup of the fourth and third-ranked teams, respectively.

No. 4 Monticello (9-1) is at unranked Mediapolis (8-2) in 2A. In Class A, East Buchanan (8-2) travels to top-ranked Saint Ansgar (10-0).

* The area’s Player of the Night? Had to be West Delaware’s Brent Yonkovic.

The junior quarterback completed 16 of 21 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed 34 times for 288 yards and five TDs in a 58-45 win over No. 6 Davenport Assumption. Just for giggles, he also ran for a pair of 2-point conversions.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com