Down 14 early, Western Dubuque recovers to beat Bondurant-Farrar in state football semifinals, 28-21

CEDAR FALLS — Two-touchdown deficit? Shrug it off.

Costly fumble? Shake it off.

Grant Glausser and Western Dubuque did all of that. And as a reward, they have one more game to play.

A title game.

Glausser rushed for 204 yards and a pair of second-half touchdowns, and top-ranked Western Dubuque fought past No. 6 Bondurant-Farrar, 28-21, in a Class 4A state football semifinal Thursday night at the UNI-Dome.

“I’m ecstatic,” Bobcats lineman Garret Kluesner said. “I love seeing the back of No. 10 (Glausser) when he’s running away from everybody. It’s the best feeling in the world, man.”

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Photos: Western Dubuque vs. Bondurant-Farrar in Class 4A semifinals

Here’s another good feeling for the Bobcats (11-1). They’ll face No. 3 Lewis Central (10-2) for the 4A championship at 7 p.m. next Thursday.

Lewis Central was a 31-5 winner over No. 4 North Polk.

Western Dubuque got down 14-0, then recovered to get even at 14-14 by halftime.

“I like to think this staff is incredible at making adjustments,” Bobcats Coach Justin Penner said.

The Bobcats were on the verge of scoring the go-ahead touchdown on their first possession of the second half, but Glausser coughed it up at the Bondurant-Farrar 10.

“It made me mad,” Glausser said. “I definitely wanted the ball back.”

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He got it back, a lot, carrying it 22 times for 142 yards in the second half.

His 2-yard TD run put the Bobcats in front, 20-14, but the PAT kick was blocked, and Bondurant-Farrar (9-3) answered to reclaim the lead.

Bluejays quarterback Jordan Rial, who finished with 264 passing yards, found a wide-open Caleb Moore in the left flat, and Moore finished a 34-yard TD scoring play. The extra-point kick gave the Bluejays a 21-20 lead with 2:05 left in the third quarter.

A balanced drive (eight runs, six passes) resulted in a 70-yard scoring drive that put the Bobcats back in front, this time for good.

Glausser’s 11-yard TD, on a draw, made it 26-21 with 9:25 left. The Bluejays denied the Bobcats’ original two-point try, but an illegal-substitution penalty gave them another.

Glausser found the end zone again, and it was 28-21.

“We got that two-point conversion, and they didn’t stand a chance,” Kluesner said. “Our defense was going to stop them.

Bondurant-Farrar drove into the red zone before the Bobcats stiffened and — after a missed field goal — got the ball at the the 20 with 4:45 remaining.

The Bluejays didn’t get the ball back.

Instead, Glausser got it eight straight times and the Bobcats drove to the Bondurant-Farrar 7 before taking a knee twice to kill the clock.

“Every carry, I was thinking, ‘Hang onto the ball,’” said Glausser, who upped his season rushing totals to 2,657 yards and 30 touchdowns. “No more fumbles for me.”

Bondurant-Farrar jumped to a 14-0 lead thanks to explosive pass plays. Tanner Anderson and Brandon Decker connected on TD passes of 5 and 27 yards to get the Bobcats even at 14-all by intermission.

Anderson completed 11 of 19 passes for 109 yards.

Western Dubuque 28, Bondurant-Farrar 21

Class 4A Semifinal, at Cedar Falls

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: BF 15, WD 22

Rushes-yards: BF 24-60, WD 42-205

Passing yards: BF 264, WD 109

Passing: BF 15-24-0, WD 11-19-0

Total yards: BF 324, WD 314

Fumbles-lost: BF 0-0, WD 3-1

Punts-average: BF 5-31.0, WD 2-41.0

Penalties-yards: BF 12-79, WD 3-30

SCORING SUMMARY

Bondurant-Farrar 7 7 7 0 — 21

Western Dubuque 0 14 6 8 — 28

BF — Caleb Moore 2 run (Jase Robinson kick)

BF — Batpiny Riak 50 pass from Jordan Rial (Robinson kick)

WD — Brandon Decker 5 pass from Tanner Anderson (Caden Abresch kick)

WD — Decker 27 pass from Anderson (Caden Abresch kick)

WD — Grant Glausser 2 run (kick blocked)

BF — Caleb Moore 34 pass from Rial (Robinson kick)

WD — Glausser 11 run (Glausser run)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Bondurant-Farrar — Jordan Rial 6-31, Caleb Moore 14-18, Cole Miller 3-9, Batpiny Riak 1-2. Western Dubuque — Grant Glausser 37-204, Derek Hoerner 2-20, Team 2-(minus 4), Tanner Anderson 1-(minus 15).

Passing

Bondurant-Farrar — Rial 15-24-0-264. Western Dubuque — Anderson 11-19-0-109.

Receiving

Bondurant-Farrar — Miller 8-110, Riak 6-120, Moore 1-34. Western Dubuque — Brandon Decker 3-42, Colin McDermott 3-38, Ryan Digmann 2-14, Hunter Quigliano 2-13, Glausser 1-2.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com