Iowa high school football roundup: Gazette area Week 4 scores, stats and more

Week 4 of the Iowa high school football season was a wild one.

Two No. 1-ranked teams fell — Southeast Polk in 5A and Ida Grove OABCIG in 2A (here’s how all the ranked teams fared).

Meanwhile, Iowa City High moved to 4-0 after knocking off West Des Moines Dowling on a trick play, and Class 4A featured a pair of top-four matchups.

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Iowa City High 21, 5A No. 6 West Des Moines Dowling 17

You wondered all week if this Iowa City High football team was for real. Could the Little Hawks play with the behemoth known as West Des Moines Dowling?

Simpy put … yeah and yeah.

Ben Kueter’s 20-yard touchdown reception off a fourth-down, double flea-flicker play with 1:09 left provided the winning points as City High beat Class 5A’s sixth-ranked team and the state’s best big-school program, 21-17, Friday night at Bates Field.

Full story from Jeff Johnson: Iowa City High proves it’s for real with win over Dowling

Linn-Mar 36, Cedar Rapids Washington 7

Linn-Mar feasted on a chain of Washington mistakes in the first half. Four interceptions, and a lost fumble, those were the five turnovers.

Plus, there was a muffed punt, and there was a bad exchange on a Washington punt that put the Lions deep in Warriors territory on the first drive of the game.

“This is the best football team I’ve ever been a part of,” said cornerback Cam Guenther, who collected two of the Lions’ four interceptions. “Coach Lovell is great with the connections he makes with the players. It’s how he approaches every single day.”

Full story from Jeff Linder: Linn-Mar blitzes Cedar Rapids Washington, moves to 4-0

5A No. 9 Cedar Rapids Prairie 54, Bettendorf 20

It won’t completely erase the sting of last week’s heartbreaking setback.

But it will definitely help.

Cedar Rapids Prairie powered past perennial power Bettendorf, 54-20, on Friday night for a decisive homecoming football victory at John Wall Field.

It was a much-needed bounceback win for the Hawks following a crushing last-second home loss to Cedar Falls the previous week.

Following the defeat, Prairie Coach Mark Bliss said “we are going to find out what we are made of.”

Bliss received an emphatic answer as his Hawks came back to turn in a dominant performance. The 54 points was the most scored against the Bulldogs in program history. The previous high was 52, set in 1952.

Full story from Craig Sesker: Cedar Rapids Prairie bounces back big-time against Bettendorf

4A No. 1 North Scott 20, 4A No. 4 Cedar Rapids Xavier 8

North Scott’s Oliver Hughes did a little bit of everything.

He caught passes, made runs, tackles, punts and kicks. The senior wideout had his hands on a lot of the Lancers’ positive plays and seemed to always be around the ball.

Hughes reeled in seven passes for 67 yards and one of Grayson Juel’s three scoring throws in Class 4A top-ranked North Scott’s 20-8 victory over No. 4 Cedar Rapids Xavier on Friday night at Saints Field. Jakob Nelson added two TD catches for the Lancers.

Hughes’ big night also included two extra points as North Scott snapped Xavier’s 32-game home win streak.

Full story from K.J. Pilcher: North Scott handles Xavier in Class 4A ranked showdown

Clear Creek Amana 31, Iowa City Liberty 30

It was one of those football games that came down to the wire.

Clear Creek Amana rallied to take down Iowa City Liberty, 31-30, Friday night, handing the Lightning their fourth straight loss this season.

The Clippers took advantage of their final chance, scoring on a 60-yard touchdown pass from senior Ben Swails to senior wide receiver Gage Freeman. This TD came with 2:14 left in the fourth quarter.

Full story from Mahlon Steepleton: Clear Creek Amana rallies past Iowa City Liberty

1A No. 3 Iowa City Regina 34, Mediapolis 0

Rusty? More like refreshed.

Following a week off with a forfeit win over Mid-Prairie, Iowa City Regina (4-0) showed no flaws Friday night at Regal Field.

Celebrating Homecoming, the third-ranked Regals began Class 1A District 5 play with a statement win over Mediapolis (3-1), 34-0.

Full story from Ryan Pleggenkuhle: Refreshed Iowa City Regina dominates Mediapolis

Mount Vernon 33, Center Point-Urbana 14

Owen Brase passed for 168 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 89 yards and two more scores as the Mustangs rolled at home.

Brase completed 16 of 21 passes, including a 40-yard TD pass to Trenton Pitlik. Pitlik also scored two rushing TDs and totaled 180 yards on 16 rushes.

Mount Vernon had 437 yards of offense.

3A No. 4 West Delaware 14, 4A No. 5 Waverly-Shell Rock 6

Will Ward and Jayden Peyton rushed for touchdowns as the Hawks won a defensive battle in Waverly.

West Delaware totaled 229 yards of offense, WSR 233.

Ward scored on a 42-yard run in the second quarter to put the Hawks up 7-6, and Peyton added a 26-yard run in the third.

— Bill Logan, correspondent

Western Dubuque 65, Dubuque Hempstead 35

The Bobcats dropped 52 points and accumulated 465 yards of offense in the first half en route to a school-record total at home.

Spencer Zinn ran for 147 yards and four touchdowns in the first half and finished with 165 yards and four touchdowns. Grant Glausser added 66 yards and a touchdown and Kaleb Reed ran for 68 yards in mop-up duty as the Bobcats totaled 317 rushing yards on 46 attempts — an average of 6.9 yards per carry.

— Tim O’Neill, Dubuque Telegraph-Herald

West Branch 51, Louisa-Muscatine 6

Andy Henson rushed for 100 yards and four touchdowns to lift the Bears at home.

Henson rushed the ball just seven times, scoring on runs of 6, 7, 8 and 39 yards.

Evan Striegel returned an interception 34 yards to close out the Bears’ scoring.

The Falcons were limited to minus-49 first-half yards.

West Branch moves to 3-1 (1-0 in Class 1A-5).

— Jason Miller, correspondent

1A No. 9 Dyersville Beckman 38, Cascade 7

The Trailblazers scored three touchdowns in an explosive first quarter, and displayed their dominance early in a rout of their rival at Beckman.

The crushing Beckman defense held Cascade to just 46 total yards in the first half along with two key interceptions that set up scoring drives.

“I told our guys the biggest headline for us was what we bring up front offensively and how we play defense,” Beckman Coach Mark Atwater said. “Those are two things that really complement each other all the time. If you can run the ball and play defense, you’re gonna be in a lot of games.”

Beckman’s defense forced a three-and-out on the opening drive that set up a seven-play possession capped off by Cayden Gassmann’s 18-yard keeper for an early 7-0 lead.

Just two plays later, Lane Kramer intercepted Cascade quarterback Justin Roling and took it to the house for a 25-yard interception return. In the blink of an eye, it was a 14-0 not even halfway through the opening quarter.

— Danny Miller, Dubuque Telegraph-Herald

3A No. 3 Independence 20, Vinton-Shellsburg 13

Marcus Beatty rushed for 243 yards and two touchdowns as the Mustangs won in Vinton.

Beatty averaged 11 yards per carry, scoring on runs of 74 and 70 yards.

Jacob Sidles scored the Mustangs’ other TD on a 2-yard pass from Mitchell Johnson.

Kaden Kingsbury passed for a touchdown and Maximo Vasquez rushed for one for the Vikings.

A No. 6 North Linn 47, Clayton Ridge 0

Tate Haughenbury completed 18 of 22 passes for 252 yards and four touchdowns as the Lynx rolled.

He also rushed for 46 yards and a TD. Austin Hilmer had 11 catches for 130 yards and three TDs, Cale Bridgewater four catches for 43 yards and a TD.

Decorah 35, Charles City 6

The Vikings scored touchdowns on every possession in the first half en route to a road win.

Keenan Tyler scored on runs of 4 and 1 yards in the first quarter and tossed three touchdown passes in the second quarter — a 5-yarder to Zach Jermeir, a 3-yarder to Joe Bockman and 40-yard strike to Jacob Pipho.

— Randy Iverson, correspondent

Monticello 44, Tipton 0

Sophomore quarterback Preston Ries rushed for four touchdowns, Gage Guilford blocked two Tipton punts and the Panthers (3-1, 1-0) overcame three of their own turnovers to win at home.

The Monticello defense held the Tigers (0-4, 0-1) to 47 yards of total offense.

— Pete Temple, correspondent

Northeast 42, Anamosa 41 (OT)

Gavin Kramer’s two-point conversion pass to Ty Hudson in overtime sent the Rebels to victory.

Kramer had tied the game with a 6-yard TD run.

Anamosa had taken a 41-34 lead after Grahm Humpal’s 6-yard TD run in overtime. Humpal rushed 29 times for 219 yards and two TDs and passed for another score. Jake Jess had 62 yards and three TDs for the Raiders.

— Daryl Schepanksi, correspondent

3A No. 6 Solon 38, 3A No. 4 Davenport Assumption 10

Solon kicked off Week 4 Thursday with a big win in Davenport.

The Spartans (4-0) compiled 483 yards of offense, including 234 from Blake Timmons on 13-of-18 passing with three touchdowns. He also rushed for 92 yards.

Solon led 24-3 at halftime.

Live Gazette area Iowa high school football scoreboard