Lewis Central too much for Western Dubuque in Class 4A state football championship game

CEDAR FALLS — First they didn’t get a break. Then they didn’t get a stop.

So the Western Dubuque Bobcats didn’t get a championship.

Junior quarterback Brady Hetzel threw for 325 yards and four touchdowns to help lift Council Bluffs Lewis Central to a 40-21 win over Western Dubuque in Thursday night’s Class 4A title game at the UNI-Dome.

It’s the second 4A championship in three years for the third-ranked Titans (10-2), who ran the table after a 2-2 start to the season. Top-ranked Western Dubuque (10-2) was trying to capture its first 4A title since 2019.

“I’m just thankful to be able to go through it one more time with all my guys,” said Western Dubuque tight end/linebacker Hunter Quagliano. “I’m so proud of everybody on this team. They stepped up through everything, everybody left their hearts on the field tonight.”

The Bobcats lost despite a super-human performance in a super-human season from senior running back Grant Glausser. He rushed 33 times for 263 yards and all three WD touchdowns, setting a 4A championship-game record in that second category.

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Photos: Western Dubuque vs. Lewis Central in Class 4A state football championship game

Former Bettendorf all-stater, University of Iowa standout and NFL running back Tavian Banks had the previous record of 250 in 1992. Glausser led the state with 2,909 yards rushing this season on 334 carries, including nine games of 200 plus.

“We did leave it all out there, but I wish we could have executed better,” he said. “I thought we could run the ball very well against them. A lot of tosses were working, and our offensive line was just better than their defensive line.”

Glausser had to leave the game in the second quarter for a couple of plays after taking a vicious hit while trying to make a catch of a deep ball over the middle. The hit was ruled a personal foul penalty on Lewis Central.

“This is his vomit on my shoe,” Western Dubuque Coach Justin Penner said, pointing to his right sneaker. “He left it all out there, right? Cramps, injuries, he’s got a bright future ahead of him. He left it all out there for us. Obviously he’s going to be remembered at Western Dubuque for a long time for all the things he did. We have not seen anything like this statistically, but it was so much more than that with him. You think of some of the spectacular things he did, our offensive line and what they were able to accomplish. What a fun ride that was.”

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Speaking of records, Hetzel tied the 4A championship-game record for touchdowns with a brilliant performance in which he completed 19 of 24 passes. He dropped serious dimes all night, especially in clutch situations, including a 30-yard touchdown on fourth down to Curtis Witte in the final minute for the coup de grace.

His other TDs included a perfectly thrown 51-yard bomb down the sideline to Lual Maker. Witte caught three touchdown passes to tie a 4A championship-game record set by Linn-Mar’s Rory Fedderson in 1985.

Witte caught eight passes for 157 yards in the game, Maker four for 133.

“They’ve been developing some quarterbacks over the years there,” Penner said. “This one’s no different. I thought they had two really talented receivers, and they made plays.”

Lewis Central caught a huge break midway through the second quarter in a 7-7 game. A dome-scraping punt by Western Dubuque’s Caden Abresch went through the arms of the Lewis Central punt return and was recovered by a WD player inside the Lewis Central 20, but the turnover was negated by a fair catch interference penalty, though replays showed the nearest Western Dubuque defender was a bit more than a yard away from the returner.

Four plays later, Hetzel and Maker connected for their long touchdown. Lewis Central never trailed again.

“I didn’t agree with it, and I expressed that to (the officials),” Penner said. “I thought there were some of those things that were tough. I’d have liked to seen that defenseless player (hit) result in an ejection, obviously. That’s tough. But credit Lewis Central. They did a phenomenal job, and we couldn’t stop them there at the end.”

A 4-yard Glausser touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter brought WD within 27-21, then the Bobcats got an apparent stop when a third-and-2 Hetzel pass fell incomplete. But Western Dubuque was called for too many men on the field on the ensuing punt, giving Lewis Central a first down.

Council Bluffs Lewis Central 40, Western Dubuque 21

(At UNI-Dome)

Council Bluffs Lewis Central 7 10 10 13-40

Western Dubuque 0 7 7 7-21

CBLC-Curtis Witte 6 pass from Brady Hetzel (Daniel Espinoza kick)

WD-Grant Glausser 2 run (Caden Abresch kick)

CBLC-Lual Maker 51 pass from Hetzel (Espinoza kick)

CBLC-Espinoza 23 FG

CBLC-Hetzel 1 run (Espinoza kick)

WD-Glausser 62 run (Abresch kick)

CBLC-Espinoza 31 FG

WD-Glausser 4 run (Abresch kick)

CBLC-Witte 55 pass from Hetzel (pass failed)

CBLC-Witte 30 pass from Hetzel (Espinoza kick)

Team Statistics

First Downs - Lewis Central 22, Western Dubuque 20. Rushes-Yards - Lewis Central 39-162, Western Dubuque 37-302. Completions-Attempts-Yards-Interceptions - Lewis Central 19-24-1-325, Western Dubuque 8-20-2-97. Total Yards - Lewis Central 487, Western Dubuque 399. Punts-Average - Lewis Central 1-35.0, Western Dubuque 3-40.3. Penalties-Yards - Lewis Central 5-60, Western Dubuque 4-40. Fumbles-Lost - Lewis Central 0-0, Western Dubuque 0-0.

Individual Statistics

Rushing - Lewis Central: Kamdyn Cross 24-137, Jacob Jefferis 11-20, Brady Hetzel 3-7, Team 1-(minus) 2. Western Dubuque: Grant Glausser 33-263, Colin McDermott 1-26, Derek Hoerner 3-13.

Passing - Lewis Central: Brady Hetzel 19-24-1-325. Western Dubuque: Tanner Anderson 8-20-2-97.

Receiving - Lewis Central: Curtis Witte 8-157, Lual Maker 4-133, Kamdyn Cross 3-3, Jacob Jefferis 1-24, Bryce Juon 1-5, Parker Stessman 1-2, Owen Thomas 1-1. Western Dubuque: Brandon Decker 4-48, Colin McDermott 2-22, Ryan Digmann 1-14, Grant Glausser 1-13.

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

Comments: jeff.johnson@thegazette.com