Iowa City West airs it out for signature win over No. 4 Pleasant Valley

IOWA CITY — Jack Wallace has produced some special performances.

The Iowa City West quarterback has been a four-year starter and owns the school’s career passing record. He may have saved his best for the last regular-season home game.

Wallace passed for five touchdowns and rushed for two more, powering the Trojans to a mammoth 49-35 upset over Class 5A No. 4 Pleasant Valley Friday night at Trojan Field.

“That felt amazing,” Wallace said. “Coming into this week, we knew we were capable of that but to do it on the field that feels great.”

Wallace sliced and diced the Spartans secondary, completing 22 of 27 passes for 374 yards. He also rushed for 66 yards, giving him 440 total yards of offense.

“He’s one of kind,” West Coach Garrett Hartwig said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to coach a lot of players. Jack has carved his own legacy into our program. Well deserved. I’m just glad I get to keep coaching him for more games.”

The game was a clash of styles, pitting Pleasant Valley’s clock-melting run game and West’s air attack. The Trojans knew an early advantage for either team would be key to success. The start went West’s way, forcing a punt on the opening drive and following with a 77-yard drive on seven plays in just 1:28. Wallace hit Ethan Headings on a 20-yard, wide receiver screen for a 7-0 lead.

“It was huge,” Wallace said. “That first-possession score was a booster for the rest of the game. With their triple option, it takes a little more time to score. We knew if we got up on them by a few touchdowns it would make it harder but they were definitely still in the game.”

Pleasant Valley (6-2) answered with a 59-yard drive on nine plays, tying the game with a Harrison Fierce 1-yard QB sneak with 3:26 left in the first.

The Trojans were able to strike quickly, needing 47 seconds and 1:06 for the next two scoring possessions. Wallace hit Julian Manson for an 8-yard score to reclaim the lead at 14-7. Wallace added a 1-yard TD run to extend the lead.

West slowed its pace with a deliberate scoring drive that spanned 46 yards and burned 3:20 off the clock. Wallace hit Manson for their second scoring strike. The 5-yard score made it 28-7 with just 22 seconds left before halftime.

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On the first play of the third, Woods hauled in a pass on the near sideline, fought off a couple Spartans defenders and then broke free and bolted for an 80-yard TD and a 35-7 lead.

“I honestly don’t have any idea of what happened,” said Woods, noting how he fought off the tacklers, felt like he was going to fumble, was spun around and then took off down an open sideline. “That gave our team so much more confidence, too.”

Woods finished with 10 catches for 213 yards. Manson added 77 of his own. Wallace hit five different receivers, including two TDs to Manson and Headings.

“Having guys like Mason and JuJu is almost like a cheat code sometimes out there,” Wallace said. “You can throw a 5-yard pass and they take it 80 yards.

“It’s all credit to them but we have a few more guys than that. I feel like we’re dangerous.”

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Photos: Pleasant Valley at Iowa City West high school football

The Trojans improved to 5-3 and play at Cedar Rapids Prairie next week. They are in a good position to make the playoffs, but Friday provided a signature win the program has needed for a while. West showed its potential, according to Hartwig.

“It felt like all year we had the ability to play with anybody,” Hartwig said. “We just haven’t been clicking on all cylinders. Tonight, we did. We executed pretty much everything we wanted to.”

IOWA CITY WEST 49

PLEASANT VALLEY 35

AT IOWA CITY

PV ICW

First Downs 20 20

Rushes-yards 46-200 29-192

Passing yards 167 374

Comp-att-int 15-24-1 22-27-0

Total yards 367 566

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Punts-avg. 1-26.0 0-0

Penalties-yards 5-40 7-44

Pleasant Valley 7 0 14 14 -- 35

Iowa City West 14 21 7 7 -- 49

ICW – Ethan Headings 20 pass from Jack Wallace (Adam Salem kick)

PV – Harrison Fierce 1 run (Jack Reiter kick)

ICW – JuJu Manson 8 pass from Wallace (Salem kick)

ICW – Wallace 1 run (Salem kick)

ICW – Manson 5 pass from Wallace (Salem kick)

ICW – Mason Woods 80 pass from Wallace (Salem kick)

PV – Joey VanWetzinga 1 run (Reiter kick)

PV – Camryn LeMoine 39 pass from Fierce (Reiter kick)

ICW – Wallace 1 run (Salem kick)

PV – VanWetzinga 1 run (Salem kick)

ICW – Headings 15 pass from Wallace (Salem kick)

PV – Fierce 5 run (Reiter kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Pleasant Valley: Elijah Rodney 21-103, Fierce 13-41, Evan Barr 3-29, VanWetzinga 6-19, Micah Herlich 1-6, Ben Birkel 1-3, Team 1-(minus 1). I.C. West: Butali Butali 19-119, Wallace 8-66, Woods 1-9, Team 1(minus 2).

PASSING – Pleasant Valley: Fierce 15-24-1-167. I.C. West: Wallace 22-27-0-374.

RECEIVING – Pleasant Valley: LeMoine 7-84, Rodney 3-38, Herlich 1-13, Barr 1-13, Birkel 1-12, Trey Bahnks 1-6, Max Schmeltzer 1-1. I.C. West: Woods 10-213, Manson 6-77, Headings 3-46, Chase Bopp 2-41, Henry Elser 1-(minus 3).

Comments: kj.pilcher@thegazette.com