Iowa City Regina responds to first loss by handing No. 2 Wilton its first setback

IOWA CITY — It was a big win for Iowa City Regina, albeit a touch bittersweet.

The Class 1A ninth-ranked Regals (7-1, 4-1) defeated No. 2 Wilton (7-1, 4-1), 20-8, in a pivotal District 5 regular-season finale in Iowa City Friday.

The bitter — by rule of the IHSAA playoff point system, Regina needed to win by 17 or more to earn a No. 1 seed in the postseason.

The sweet — it was a redeeming and positive momentum-building win over a top team following last week’s loss at Dyersville Beckman.

Regals Coach Dustin Elsbury opted to focus on the sweet.

“I talked about it with the kids at the end, this win should give them the most confidence in the world,” Elsbury said. “Sometimes a loss, like last week, it’s a setback, but it can also be made for a good comeback.

“You win or you learn.”

Friday’s game got off to a bitter start for the Regals.

Wilton scored the first points in the first quarter on a safety after a ball went through the back of the end zone after being snapped over the head of Regina punter Gabriel Hegelheimer.

Savion Miller’s 80-yard touchdown run just over two minutes later swung momentum back in the Regals’ favor.

“Everybody’s energy went up the rest of the game, and I think that was a big point of us winning,” Miller said. “My offensive line, that was probably the best game they’ve had this year. They played amazing and I really want to thank them for that.”

Miller’s TD was the only offensive score in the first half as Regina took a 7-2 lead to intermission.

Wilton’s offense began the second half strong as Owen Hassell capped a 10-play, 67-yard opening drive with a 2-yard score.

Midway through the third, the Regals got tricky as Hegelheimer took a long snap in punt formation, sprinted left and waited for his receiver, Tate Wallace, to get clearance. At the perfect moment, he tossed it to Wallace for a 12-yard pass on fourth-and-5.

“At that point in the game, I don’t think they were really ready for it,” Elsbury said. “They gave us the look defensively that we’ve been preparing for all week, and then we got the penalty before that, too, which scooted us up a little bit. But that’s Gabe just being patient until he (Wallace) got open.”

Shortly after, Kyle Tracy ran to the corner of the end zone and extended his arms to connect with the pylon for a 9-yard touchdown to give the Regals a 13-8 advantage.

Early in the fourth, Tracy found Will Aitchison for a 4-yard TD to put Regina up by two scores.

Needing the 17-plus winning margin to clinch the 1-seed, the Regals made a final march into Wilton territory — but the Beavers defense held strong.

“I think our players knew … you saw some guys probably hanging their heads a little bit,” Elsbury said. “You might have thought just by our body language that maybe they lost. But my message to the kids was, ‘hey, any other team in the state should be afraid to play you because we’re gaining confidence no matter if we’re the 1, 2, 3 or 4-seed. Anything can happen in the playoffs.’”