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Iowa high school football playoff roundup: Round of 16 scores, stats and more
Here’s our Round of 16 playoff roundup with Iowa high school football scores, stats and complete Gazette-area coverage from Friday night’s games.
Winners play the other winner from their assigned pod in the quarterfinals next week. Those games are next Friday in the six 11-player classes and Thursday in 8-Player.
Class 5A first round
POD A
No. 1 Southeast Polk 49, Linn-Mar 9
No. 9 Cedar Falls 30, No. 8 Cedar Rapids Kennedy 26
Drake Gelhaus did a lot of work by land. In the end, it was Gelhaus by air that earned the Tigers a first-round Class 5A win inside the UNI-Dome.
With less than five minutes remaining in the game, the Tigers were facing a third-and-9 from their own 30. Cedar Falls quarterback Tate Hermansen threw a screen pass to Gelhaus, who was able to break one tackle at the line of scrimmage and took off up the sideline for a 70-yard touchdown to give the Tigers their first lead of the game with 4:04 remaining.
Gelhaus was a workhouse for the Cedar Falls, rushing 30 times for 157 yards
Following the Gelhaus touchdown, Tiger captain Drew Gerdes intercepted a Vincenzo Gianforte pass with 2 minutes remaining and Cedar Falls was able to run out the clock.
“At the end of the day, everyone on our team emptied the tank and left everything out on the field,” Cedar Rapids Kennedy Coach Brian White said. “There were two very good football teams out there and one just scored a couple more points than the other.”
Gianforte was 12-of-18 for 168 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Jacob Coyle rushed for 101 yards and Cyrus Courtney caught five passes for 79 yards.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my senior class and my football team,” White said. “The end of the year is always tough. The toughest thing will be not going to practice on Monday.
“I have a son on the team but I have 60 more sons on this team. I don’t get to coach this team again and I don’t get to coach the seniors ever again. We talk about the wins and losses, but as coaches it’s the practices, the bus rides, the team meals. Not getting to do those things anymore is the toughest thing at the end of any season.”
The Cougars end their season 6-4 with two of their losses coming to Cedar Falls.
— Darin Svenson
POD B
No. 2 West Des Moines Dowling 45, Sioux City East 0
No. 6 Ankeny 21, Johnston 9
POD C
West Des Moines Valley 31, No. 4 Pleasant Valley 21
No. 5 Waukee 21, Cedar Rapids Prairie 10
POD D
No. 7 Ankeny Centennial 35, No. 3 Waukee Northwest 7
No. 10 Bettendorf 32, Iowa City High 21
Class 4A first round
POD A
No. 1 Western Dubuque 41, Newton 2
Grant Glausser ran into the record books as the top-ranked Bobcats ran over the Cardinals at Buchman Field.
Glausser’s 25-yard TD burst in the second quarter pushed him over the 2,000-yard mark on the season and past Joe Strief’s single-season school rushing record set 27 years ago.
Glausser finished the night with 297 yards on 36 carries and five touchdowns. He now sits at 2,203 yards and 27 touchdowns.
— Tim O’Neill, Dubuque Telegraph-Herald
No. 5 North Scott 35, Decorah 7
Quarterback Kyle Gerardy rushed for 152 yards on eight carries and completed 7 of 12 passes with one touchdown as the Lancers controlled the game from their first possession.
Gerardy scored on North Scott’s first offensive play, running 59 yards for a touchdown. He scored on a 46-yard scamper and completed a 15-yard TD pass to Kye Smith in the first half.
Decorah’s Dakota Johnson finished the game with 57 yards on 21 carries.
— Randy Iverson
POD B
No. 3 Council Bluffs Lewis Central 42, Le Mars 10
No. 10 Adel ADM 42, Denison-Schleswig 0
POD C
No. 7 Glenwood 21, Norwalk 0
No. 6 Bondurant-Farrar 23, No. 9 Pella 6
POD D
No. 4 North Polk 17, Ballard 14
No. 2 Cedar Rapids Xavier 17, No. 7 Indianola 10
It’s not how you start, but how you finish.
Cedar Rapids Xavier found a way to finish and advance.
Ronan Thomas hit Quinn Oleson with a 3-yard pop pass with 31 seconds remaining and the duo connected again for a 2-point conversion that led the second-ranked Saints to a 17-10 victory over No. 7 Indianola in a Class 4A football playoff game Friday night at Saints Field.
Xavier Coach Duane Schulte conjured up the perfect cliché for the thriller.
“Don’t ever give up,” Schulte said. “They never gave up. That’s all I can say.”
» Read the game story from The Gazette’s K.J. Pilcher
Class 3A first round
POD A
No. 1 Creston 35, No. 10 Harlan 27
Webster City 27, No. 8 Nevada 7
POD B
No. 2 Solon 50, Fort Madison 7
West Delaware 58, No. 6 Davenport Assumption 45
Brent Yonkovic rushed for 288 yards and passed for 199 and was in on seven touchdowns as the Hawks outlasted the Knights.
Yonkovic scored five rushing TDs — three in the second half — and completed 16 of 21 passes with two more TDs as West Delaware totaled 587 yards on offense.
The two teams combined for nearly 1,000 yards.
— Bill Logan
POD C
No. 3 Williamsburg 23, Humboldt 0
No. 4 Mount Vernon 50, Independence 6
A killer opening drive for MV took up almost the entire first quarter but only went 76 yards. And for no points. That was one of few unsuccessful drives as the Mustangs rolled.
Mount Vernon’s defense produced a three-and-out from Independence on its first offensive possession, forcing a punt that was short and set up MV back deep in Indee terrirtory. Joey Rhomberg eventually pushed over from the 1 on a quarterback sneak for the first of his five touchdowns in this game.
A blocked punt then went for a Mustangs TD: Tyler Williams with the actual block and teammate Kael Riniker picking it up and running it to the end zone 15 yards. Mount Vernon went on to pile up 29 points and a 29-0 lead by halftime.
Ballgame over.
“I was really proud of our team effort,” said Rhomberg, who ran for two touchdowns and was 18-for-24 passing for 214 yards and three TDs. “Offensively, defensively, we just really played well. Special teams made some big plays, too, so I’m just really proud of our guys. Our coaches set us up for success.”
» Read the game story from The Gazette’s Jeff Johnson
POD D
No. 5 Sioux Center 28, Algona 21
No. 8 Sioux City Heelan 22, No. 7 Clear Lake 19
Class 2A second round
POD A
No. 1 Central Lyon/George-Little Rock 49, No. 9 Roland-Story 0
No. 6 Carroll Kuemper 43, No. 10 Clarinda 8
POD B
No. 2 Van Meter 56, Union Community 0
No. 8 Monroe PCM 36, Mid-Prairie 0
POD C
No. 3 West Lyon 29, No. 7 Western Christian 20
No. 5 Spirit Lake 48, New Hampton 6
POD D
No. 4 Monticello 45, Jesup 0
Preston Ries rushed for the first three touchdowns, passed for two and the Panthers benefited from a pick-6 by Easton Prull as they overwhelmed the J-Hawks in Monticello.
Ries rushed for scores of 13, 2 and 20 yards, and completed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Peyton Schilling.
Just before halftime, Jonah Luensman deflected a Jesup pass into the arms of Prull, who ran 26 yards into the end zone as Monticello (9-1) built a 35-0 lead.
Ty Tallman caught a pass for a 37-yard score early in the third quarter. A.J. Phelps later kicked a 40-yard field goal to round out the Panthers’ scoring.
Ries finished with 141 yards on the ground and 113 through the air.
Jesup (6-4) was held to 24 total yards in the first half.
— Pete Temple
Mediapolis 27, Camanche 0
Class 1A second round
POD A
No. 1 Grundy Center 35, Pella Christian 12
No. 7 Dike-New Hartford 28, No. 6 Sigourney-Keota 18
POD B
No. 2 Underwood 42, Avoca AHSTW 0
Ida Grove OABCIG 35, No. 10 Treynor 14
POD C
No. 3 Sumner-Fredericksburg 9, Emmetsburg 7
Waterloo Columbus 35, South Hamilton 24
POD D
No. 4 MFL MarMac 21, No. 9 West Branch 0
Carver Blietz-Bentien rushed for one touchdown and passed for another as the Bulldogs won at home.
West Branch (6-4) couldn't get anything going on offense, amassing just 128 yards against the MFL MarMac (9-1) defense.
— Jason Miller
No. 5 Iowa City Regina 33, No. 8 Wilton 18
The final score may suggest a competitive game, and for stretches, it was.
But make no mistake. Iowa City Regina took care of business.
Two weeks after blanking Wilton, 35-0, in the regular-season finale, the first three quarters were more of the same. Whatever adjustments the eighth-ranked Beavers (8-2) tried were ineffective as the fifth-ranked Regals started quick, breezing past Wilton again, 33-18, in a Class 1A state playoff Friday night at Regina.
“It’s survive and advance right now,” Regina Coach Jason Dumont said. “We didn’t play particularly good in the fourth quarter, but I’m going to take that. I thought we had something there offensively and I told Genrty (Dumont) to throw the ball and of course it ends up getting picked off, so that one’s on me.
“I thought we played extremely well for three quarters.”
» Read the game story from Gazette correspondent Culley Kline
Class A second round
POD A
No. 1 Saint Ansgar 33, Lake Mills 0
East Buchanan 38, No. 5 Lisbon 7
If it isn’t broken, don’t pass it.
That’s the approach East Buchanan (8-2) took in its 38-7 rout of the fifth-ranked Lions (9-1) Friday night in a Class A second round prep football matchup.
The Buccaneers, led by “thunder and lightning” backs Tanner Thurn and Hunter Bowers, rushed for 379 yard. All their offensive yards came on the ground.
Thurn, who became East Buchanan’s all-time leading rusher this season, carried the ball 30 times for 227 yards. Bowers rushed 21 times for 149 yards. Both backs had two touchdowns.
“They’re thunder and lightning for us,” East Buchanan Coach Jerry Alden said. “Tanner is just a power guy who is going to come after you. And Hunter is just a break away guy.
“The best thing about those two, they’re going to say that they wouldn’t get a yard without those guys upfront.”
» Read the game story from Gazette correspondent Ryan Pleggenkuhle
POD B
No. 2 Woodbury Central 35, Marcus MMCRU 28
No. 10 Logan-Magnolia 22, Akron-Westfield 16
POD C
No. 3 West Hancock 49, No. 9 Starmont 10
No. 8 Wapsie Valley 26, Maquoketa Valley 0
POD D
No. 4 Madrid 42, Central Decatur 0
No. 6 Guthrie Center ACGC 28, No. 7 Lynnville-Sully 8
8-Player second round
POD A
No. 1 Winfield-Mount Union 34, Moravia 6
No. 8 Don Bosco 28, No. 10 WACO 20
POD B
No. 3 Bedford 44, Exira-EHK 28
No. 8 Lenox 33, Audubon 8
POD C
No. 2 Anita CAM 36, West Bend-Mallard 34
Algona Garrigan 21, No. 4 Remsen St. Mary’s 18
POD D
No. 5 Clarksville 50, Iowa Valley 8
No. 7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck 36, No. 6 Central City 12
Isaac Clark threw four touchdown passes, two to Drew Eilers and Gladbrook-Reinbeck's defense held Central City to advance.
Clark completed 13 of 23 passes for 172 yards. Austin Vaverka scored a pair of touchdowns for the Rebels (9-1).
Jaydon Hanson scored both touchdowns for the Wildcats (8-2) on a 4-yard run and a 20-yard reception from Aiden Klostermann.
» Read the game story from Gazette correspondent Mike Condon
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