Iowa high school football playoff roundup: State quarterfinal scores, stats and more

Here’s our state playoff quarterfinal roundup with Iowa high school football scores, stats and complete Gazette-area coverage from Friday night’s games.

Winners advance to next week’s state semifinals at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

Rankings are via The Gazette’s poll.

Class 5A

No. 6 Ankeny 14, No. 2 West Des Moines Dowling 7

No. 7 Ankeny Centennial 41, No. 10 Bettendorf 14

No. 1 Southeast Polk 21, No. 9 Cedar Falls 20

West Des Moines Valley 20, No. 5 Waukee 7

Class 4A

No. 6 Bondurant-Farrar 31, No. 7 Glenwood 21

No. 3 Council Bluffs Lewis Central 32, No. 10 Adel ADM 21

No. 4 North Polk 17, No. 2 Cedar Rapids Xavier 14

The Saints (8-3) saw a seven-game win streak snapped and played from behind the entire game. A muffed punt gave North Polk (9-2) a short field and placekicker Noah Bloomquist converted on a 34-yard field goal to make the score 3-0 late in the first quarter. A blocked punt deep in Xavier territory set up North Polk’s first touchdown — a 6-yard run by Nathan Feldman midway through the second quarter — and the Saints were suddenly down two scores.

Xavier senior quarterback Ronan Thomas then engineered an 80-play touchdown drive that ended in Carter Hoffman’s leaping 8-yard touchdown grab with less than a minute remaining in the first half, but there would ultimately be no stirring comeback for the Saints for a second straight week.

North Polk ran the ball successfully throughout the second half and took a 17-7 lead on Feldman’s second rushing touchdown midway through the third quarter. Thomas made a number of plays with his legs to help Xavier pull within three, at 17-14, in Adam Cook’s 3-yard touchdown run with 10:47 remaining, but the Comets were able to get a stop and then control the clock for nearly seven minutes to ice the win.

“I think the difference tonight was a couple of plays on special teams where we gave them a short field and they got 10 points off of it,” said veteran Xavier head coach Duane Schulte, who has guided his team to four state titles and three runner-up finishes since 2006. “If that didn’t occur, maybe it’s a different ballgame, but that’s football.”

» Read the game story from Gazette correspondent Rob Gray

No. 1 Western Dubuque 21, No. 5 North Scott 7

Tanner Anderson threw a pair of touchdown passes to break a 7-7 tie and send the top-ranked Bobcats to the state semifinals for the first time since they won the Class 3A championship in 2019.

Anderson’s 35-yard toss to Grant Glausser gave Western Dubuque (10-1) a 14-7 lead at the break. He connected with Will McDermott to make it a two-score game in the fourth.

Glausser, Class 4A’s leading rusher, ran for a 19-yard touchdown to tie the score with 9:35 left in the second quarter after No. 5 North Scott (8-3) grabbed a 7-0 lead earlier in the second.

Class 3A

No. 1 Creston 50, Webster City 27

No. 8 Sioux City Heelan 27, No. 5 Sioux Center 26 (3OT)

No. 2 Solon 36, West Delaware 35

With a trip to the UNI-Dome on the line, second-ranked Solon and West Delaware emptied their playbooks and delivered a classic Class 3A quarterfinal. For the third year running, the second-ranked Spartans ended West Delaware’s season, booking their 17th trip to the state semifinals with a wild 36-35 victory Friday night at Solon.

Sophomore special teams player Kyler Jensen had been flagged for an offside penalty on a previous kickoff. He redeemed himself with the Spartans trailing 35-30 in the fourth quarter. Jensen hit the returner and forced a fumble. The Spartans pounced on it at the West Delaware 36.

“I was just coming back from making a mistake,” Jensen said. “I just wanted to make a play and be a difference in the game. It’s just awesome. I just really wanted to play in the dome.”

On third-and-8 from the 34, Solon quarterback Tyler Bell found Brett White for a 20-yard gain. On fourth-and-6 from the 10, Bell found White streaking across the middle for an 8-yard gain and an enormous first down.

Conlan Poynton scored from a yard out to put the Spartans ahead 36-35.

“Just go be a dog,” White said. “I always think I’m open. I don’t think anyone can guard me. I was really gassed tonight, honestly. Receiver really takes it out of me. I’m used to running back, not running wind sprints. It’s awesome though.”

» Read the game story from Gazette correspondent Culley Kline

No. 3 Williamsburg 38, No. 4 Mount Vernon 35

Simeon Armbrecht might be down a ways on that depth chart. But the defensive lineman’s deflection and interception was as big a play as any.

“I jumped, got a hand on it and came down with it,” he said.

In a game with few defensive stops, Armbrecht’s third-quarter play helped No. 3 Williamsburg edge No. 4 Mount Vernon, 38-35, in a Class 3A quarterfinal dandy Friday at Bob Murphy Stadium.

“I’m blessed that I got to make it through the season fully healthy,” said Ambrecht, who suffered a torn ACL in the Raiders’ first playoff game last year.

Rayce Heitman scored three touchdowns for the Raiders, including the go-ahead score — a 55-yard pass from Derek Weisskopf, which put the Raiders in front, 31-28, with 4:16 left in the third quarter.

Mount Vernon (9-2) began its next drive at its own 29. On the first play, Armbrecht got his mitts on Joey Rhomberg’s pass, which sailed straight up, then straight down into Armbrecht’s hands.

Six plays later, Heitman scored on a 1-yard run to make it 38-28, and the Raiders held on.

» Read the game story from The Gazette’s Jeff Linder

Class 2A

No. 1 Central Lyon/George-Little Rock 48, No. 6 Carroll Kuemper 27

No. 4 Monticello 34, Mediapolis 28

In the end, it was just too much Preston Ries for host Mediapolis, as the Panthers (10-1) earned their first trip to the UNI-Dome.

The University of Iowa recruit rushed 39 times for 232 yards and four touchdowns, and passed for 319 yards and another score. Ty Tallman was the main recipient, catching eight passes for 235 yards.

Mediapolis (8-3) rallied from a 21-7 halftime deficit to tie the game twice, but an 8-yard pass from Ries to Peyton Schilling with 6:20 to play was the difference.

For the Bulldogs, Drew Miller completed 8 of 12 passes for 167 yards, and rushed for two touchdowns. Aedin Nelson caught four passes for 142 yards and a score.

— Pete Temple

No. 5 Spirit Lake 20, No. 3 West Lyon 19

No. 2 Van Meter 31, No. 8 Monroe PCM 21

Class 1A

No. 1 Grundy Center 40, No. 7 Dike-New Hartford 0

No. 4 MFL MarMac 22, No. 5 Iowa City Regina 7

Wyatt Powell rushed for 160 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and the Bulldogs did their usual physical football thing to beat Iowa City Regina, 22-7, in a Class 1A quarter Friday night. MFL MarMac (10-1) came in ranked No. 4 by The Gazette and Regina (9-2) fifth.

This game was MFL MarMac football to a tee. Lots of ball possession under a Wing-T offensive formation, with Powell, Blietz-Bentien, Quinn McGeough and Bryce Radloff sharing carries.

Powell’s 63-yard touchdown run over the middle on the first play of the second quarter provided the game’s first points, with him adding a 2-point run after Regina was offside on the initial extra-point kick try. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound back has good feet and runs with a vengeance, rarely going down on first contact.

Regina came in averaging over 40 points per game but finished with just 188 total yards.

» Read the game story from The Gazette’s Jeff Johnson

No. 2 Underwood 43, Ida Grove OABCIG 8

Waterloo Columbus 35, No. 3 Sumner-Fredericksburg 14

Class A

East Buchanan 30, No. 1 Saint Ansgar 16

Tanner Thurn rushed for 183 yards and three touchdowns and Hunter Bowers returned an interception for a late score, powering East Buchanan to a 30-16 victory over No. 1 Saint Ansgar in a Class A state football quarterfinal Friday night at Saint Ansgar. The Buccaneers (9-2) handed the Saints (10-1) their first loss of the season and advanced to next week’s semifinals for the fourth time in school history and second in the last three seasons.

The first half was all East Buchanan, converting two long drives into Thurn TD runs. He put the Buccaneers on the board with about 1:20 left in the opening quarter. He added an 8-yard run and 2-point conversion to make it 16-0 with 4:35 left before the half. Thurn had 132 yards rushing before the break.

The Saints cut the deficit in half with a Jayce Schwiesow 1-yard run with 4:26 left in the third. Saint Ansgar threatened in the final six minutes, driving to the East Buchanan 36. Bowers plucked a desperation pass on fourth-and-12 out of the air and raced 78 yards for a TD for a 22-8 lead with 5:45 left.

Thurn added a 15-yard TD with 1:53 remaining to make it 30-8. East Buchanan ran the ball 50 times for 247 yards.

“With Cody Fox up there, we’re going to run behind him and live behind him and we did tonight,” East Buchanan Coach Jerry Alden said. “We got the ball in our playmakers’ hands. You get the ball to Tanner Thurn you’re going to get 3 and 4 yards and hopefully pop one. He played big tonight. He had a tough 183 yards. Those yards didn’t come easy. There were a lot of YAC (yards after contact) yards when he got the football.”

Despite allowing a touchdown in the final minute, the Buccaneers limited a Saints offense that was averaging 263 rushing yards and 39.7 points per game. Saint Ansgar ran for only 10 yards in the first half.

— K.J. Pilcher

No. 4 Madrid 21, No. 6 Guthrie Center ACGC 14

No. 3 West Hancock 44, No. 8 Wapsie Valley 22

No. 2 Woodbury Central 35, No. 10 Logan-Magnolia 0

8-Player (Thursday)

Algona Garrigan 26, No. 2 Anita CAM 16

No. 3 Bedford 36, No. 8 Lenox 24

No. 7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck 32, No. 5 Clarksville 20

No. 1 Winfield-Mount Union 34, No. 8 Don Bosco 29