Iowa high school football playoffs: Scores, stats and more from quarterfinals

The Iowa high school football playoffs have reached the quarterfinal round, with 24 games Friday night determining which teams advance to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls for next week’s semifinals.

Four teams already earned Dome bids Thurday night in the 8-Player quarterfinals were Thursday night — Anita CAM, Audubon, Easton Valley and Remsen St. Mary’s

Find Gazette area highlights and the complete statewide scorelist here.

Class 5A

No. 2 Southeast Polk 38, No. 5 West Des Moines Dowling 28

No. 6 West Des Moines Valley 40, No. 8 Pleasant Valley 14

No. 7 Iowa City High 32, No. 1 Cedar Rapids Kennedy 13

It wasn’t a Gatorade shower, more like a Gatorade sprinkle.

As Mitch Moore answered postgame questions, his son Carter doused him from behind with whatever was left from a 20-ounce bottle.

You earned it, Dad. You too, Little Hawks.

Darren Richardson rushed for 227 yards and three touchdowns, and seventh-ranked Iowa City High took it to No. 1 Cedar Rapids Kennedy, 32-13, in a Class 5A football quarterfinal game Friday night at Kingston Stadium.

“I’m not really satisfied,” Richardson said. “We still have more work to do.”

The Little Hawks (10-1) advance to face No. 2 Southeast Polk (10-1) in the semifinal round at 4 p.m. or 7 p.m. next Friday at the UNI-Dome, Cedar Falls.

It is City High’s first trip to the Dome since 2010.

“I’m proud of this community, this coaching staff and this team,” said Moore, in his first year as City head coach. “These kids believe in themselves, in the process and in each other.

“They’re not afraid of adversity. They can handle it.”

They handled it when Kennedy (10-1) cut a 20-0 deficit to 20-13. They handled it when they drove to the Cougars’ 1-yard line early in the fourth quarter and were stopped short.

Instead of letting the momentum swing further in Kennedy’s direction, City forced a three-and-out, got the ball back at the Cougars 27 and scored four plays later on Richardson’s 2-yard run to make it 26-13.

Mini-crisis averted.

» Read the full story from Jeff Linder

No. 3 Ankeny 37, No. 4 Cedar Rapids Prairie 7

The defending champs? Yep, they are still very much doing that defending thing.

Ankeny scored three consecutive touchdowns in the third quarter and got a relentless defensive effort overall to topple Cedar Rapids Prairie, 37-7, Friday night in a surprisingly lopsided Class 5A playoff quarterfinal at John Wall Field.

The Hawks (10-2) won the 4A state title last season and are still in Iowa’s largest class after the state added an 11-player class this season. They incurred a pair of tight regular-season losses but looked every bit the part of a championship team here, reaching next week’s semifinals at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

Ankeny came into this game ranked third, Prairie fourth. Their RPIs also were virtually identical: Ankeny fifth and Prairie fourth.

But this was not a close ballgame. Not at all.

“I know it’s something crazy, man,” said Ankeny linebacker Nick Eaton. “We’ve got an opportunity to do something that no Ankeny school has ever done. This was the (win) we needed to pull us to those next games and play in the Dome, baby. Go get another one.”

» Read the full story from Jeff Johnson

Class 4A

No. 5 Waverly-Shell Rock 36, No. 6 Bondurant-Farrar 25

No. 3 Lewis Central 35, No. 3 Indianola 21

No. 7 Winterset 28, No. 10 Decorah 19

Dawson Forgy scored four touchdowns, two in the fourth quarter, as the Huskies won a Class 4A quarterfinal at home.

Decorah, which retires 7-4, struck first after a scoreless first quarter. On the first play of the second quarter, Vikings quarterback Keenen Tyler hit Jacob Pipho on a 46-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-0. Decorah added a Brody Young 19-yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead.

Winterset intercepted a Viking pass with 1:41 in the half, however, and marched 46 yards and scored with three seconds left on a Forgy run.

Young added a 32-yard field goal in the third, but Forgy answered with a 78-yard TD run as Winterset (9-2) took a 14-13 lead.

Tyler hit Noah Storts from 5 yards out with 50 seconds left in the third and put the Vikings back in front, 19-14.

Butt Forgy’s two fourth-quarter TD runs were the difference.

— Randy Iverson, correspondent

No. 2 Cedar Rapids Xavier 24, No. 8 Webster City 13

Cedar Rapids Xavier opened the game throwing the ball.

The result was one of just two punts in the entire game. Once the Saints got the ball back, they resorted to the run game. The production was much better.

Second-ranked Xavier scored on four straight possessions, defeating No. 8 Webster City, 24-13, in a Class 4A state football quarterfinal Friday night at Saints Field.

“They were a tough team,” Xavier Coach Duane Schulte said. “They have a different style that you don’t see all the time. It’s a little funky. It’s hard to prepare for and to play against. What they do, they do really well.

“I have to give our kids credit. They kept hanging in there and plugging away. They tried to be resilient – bend don’t break – and that’s what they ended up doing.”

The Saints will make their 10th semifinal appearance and eighth in the last 10 seasons.

“It’s a great feeling,” Senior offensive lineman Jake Dougherty said. “I just hope we can keep going.”

Xavier clocked with the rush attack, amassing 239 yards with two touchdowns from Christian Stanek.

“The line did good,” said Stanek, who made sure to praise the scout team’s effort in practice. “Good blocking. The quarterback made good reads. A team effort on those scores.”

» Read the full story from K.J. Pilcher

Class 3A

No. 2 Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley 50, No. 9 Sergeant Bluff-Luton 14

No. 1 Harlan 38, No. 8 Nevada 0

No. 3 Solon 23, No. 3 West Delaware 19

The Solon Spartans looked dead in the water, unable to get their running game going, sitting at the West Delaware 13 down 10 points with the clock winding down.

But a quick burst of offense and a herculean play from a seldom-used special teams player has Solon heading back to the UNI-Dome.

The Spartans completed an improbable comeback in frantic fashion, slipping by West Delaware, 23-19, in a Class 3A quarterfinal football game Friday night.

“There’s nothing like it,” Solon quarterback Blake Timmons said. “People say that playing on Friday nights is special, but going to the Dome is even better.”

“It’s disappointing,” West Delaware head coach Doug Winkowitsch said. “We’ve been through a lot of adversity all year and tonight we got a little more. We lost our big tackle. We lost our quarterback. I’m disappointed for our guys. This is a good football team. It’s unfortunate that either of these teams had to lose.”

Down 19-9, Solon (11-0) spent most of the night struggling to push the right buttons on offense. From their own 13, Timmons dropped back to pass, scanned the field and took off. Weaving up and down the field, Timmons was finally dropped at the Hawks 30 after ripping off a 57-yard gain. On the next snap, Timmons found Sean Stahle all alone on a screen pass. Stahle found the end zone untouched as Solon closed the gap to 19-16 with 4:58 to play.

West Delaware (9-2) dealt with star quarterback Kyle Cole missing the second half with an injury. Backup Conner Funk picked up a first down with his legs on third-and-8, taking precious seconds off the clock. As the clock ticked down to two minutes remaining, the Spartans forced a punt.

Funk rolled right in an attempt to get the punt off, but Zeb Kleinsmith blocked the kick. As it rolled backward, Kleinsmith found it, scooped it up and made it 11 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

» Read the full story from Culley Kline

No. 5 Humboldt 42, No. 7 Independence 21

Caden Matson was too much for the Mustangs in a Class 3A quarterfinal.

Matson completed 6 of 10 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 233 yards and two TDs as the Wildcats (11-0) outscored the Mustangs, 21-0, in the seond half.

The score was tied at 21 at halftime.

Mitchell Johnson completed 21 of 35 passes for Independence (9-2), including 13 to Keegan Johnson. Johnson scored two TDs and totaled 210 receiving yards.

Marcus Beatty rushed for 84 yards and a TD on 31 carries and completed 2 of 3 passes for 57 yards and a TD.

Class 2A

No. 6 West Lyon 24, No. 8 Central Lyon/George-Little Rock 7

No. 3 Southeast Valley 34, No. 2 Ida Grove OABCIG 28

Williamsburg 32, No. 1 West Marshall 6

No. 3 Waukon 28, No. 10 North Fayette Valley 14

Class 1A

No. 7 West Sioux 31, No. 2 Underwood 14

No. 1 Van Meter 31, No. 9 Guthrie Center ACGC 13

No. 4 Dike-New Hartford 38, No. 5 Sigourney-Keota 14

No. 6 Dyersville Beckman 35, MFL MarMac 6

March on, Trailblazers.

Dyersville Beckman advanced to the Class 1A state football semifinals and will play in the UNI-Dome for the first time since 2014 following a 35-6 win over MFL MarMac Friday night at home.

Friday’s contest was the second meeting between the two teams this season. Beckman (11-0) defeated MFL MarMac in Week 8, 41-7. Despite the margin of victory in the first meeting, the Trailblazers knew they were in for a battle.

“Our kids were ready to play,” said Beckman Coach Mark Atwater. “I think you saw it with our defense. You play an offense like that, with the Wing-T, there’s only so much you can do, there’s so many wrinkles you can put in.

“The more we see it, the more we rep it defensively, the better we got. I think it showed tonight.”

Junior quarterback Cayden Gassmann accounted for four touchdowns (two passing, two rushing), completed 14 of 18 passes for 143 yards and rushed 14 times for 157 yards.

Owen Huehnergarth added 109 rushing yards and a TD on 27 carries.

» Read the full story from Ryan Pleggenkuhle

Class A

No. 1 West Hancock 27, No. 9 Hartley HMS 0

No. 6 Woodbury Central 26, No. 4 Logan-Magnolia 7

No. 2 Grundy Center 28, North Tama 7

No. 7 East Buchanan 12, Wapsie Valley 0

8-Player

Here are Thursday’s 8-Player finals.

No. 3 Remsen St. Mary’s 64, No. 10 Don Bosco 42

No. 4 Easton Valley 67, No. 9 Lansing Kee 22

No. 5 Audubon 34, No. 7 WACO 30

No. 1 Anita CAM 64, Newell-Fonda 13

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Friday’s Iowa high school football scoreboard