Lance McShane did it all in opener for Maquoketa Valley football team

CEDAR RAPIDS — Yeah, but he missed an extra point.

“I know I did,” Lance McShane said.

You could almost sense the Maquoketa Valley senior smiling at the thought as you talked to him over the phone. One missed extra point is zero big deal when you consider every other thing McShane did this past Friday night in his football team’s 33-12 season-opening win over Cascade.

Let’s go through the checklist.

As a running back, McShane had 38 carries for 278 yards and four touchdowns, catching one pass out of the backfield. He even played some quarterback because of an injury.

He led Maquoketa Valley with 6 1/2 tackles from his linebacker position, intercepting two passes. He had a two-point conversion run.

He was 1 for 2 on one-point conversions.

“I just started doing those about three weeks ago. I’ve never kicked before,” McShane said. “Coach just started grabbing players to see if they could kick, and I guess I was pretty good at it. Just straight on. Back up three steps and kick it.”

“Anything he does, it doesn’t surprise me. Because everything he does, he does it at 100 percent,” said first-year Maquoketa Valley head coach Scot Moenck. “That’s how he works in the weight room, that’s how he goes about his day at school, that’s how he works on the track, that’s how he works on the football field.

“Whatever you ask him to do, Lance does. He’s a ‘Yes sir’ type of kid, a hard-working farm kid who just goes to work every day. He brings his hard hat and lunch pail to work every day.”

And some considerable talent.

McShane got some starts at linebacker as a freshman for the Wildcats and started both ways as a sophomore, leading them in tackles. He rushed for 1,300 yards and 19 touchdowns last season and is off to a glorious start, obviously, in 2023.

“I thought I played pretty well defensively and offensively, but that was mostly because of my line. They blocked their butts off the whole game,” he said. “When you’ve got three state wrestlers on your line, that helps a lot.”

Modest and deflecting credit to the “big uglies” up front. You gotta love it.

By the way, that line consists of Brady Davis, Aidan Salow and Nathan Beitz (the aforementioned state wrestling tournament qualifiers), as well as Preston Salow and Devin Meeks.

“Just to start off your season that way with a non-district game, playing a bigger team, to get a big win like that gives us a lot of momentum, I feel like,” McShane said. “Before the season, the team leaders, we said we wanted to be district champs, make it to the Dome and win a game in the Dome.”

“He’s just a special talent. He’s 6-foot-3 and probably put on about 25 pounds (to 210), worked really hard in the weight room,” Moenck said. “He’s kind of a late bloomer. He kind of grew up here in the last year and a half, shot up (height wise), put on some good muscle. He’s gotten big.

“I kind of think he’s a hidden gem. I do, I believe it. I know I’m a little biased, but he’s got unbelievable hands, he can dunk a ball with ease. He’s just a skilled athlete. He’s fast, he gets out and goes. And he’s a hitter, an actual hitter.”

McShane said he’s heard from Coe College, Waldorf and Sioux Falls. He will be among several prep players Saturday at Kinnick Stadium, invited by the University of Iowa to watch its season opener against Utah State.

“It’s a cool opportunity. I’m excited to go, for sure,” he said. “I’d like to go play somewhere in college. Hopefully D-I, that’d be cool. But even D-III or D-II. I’d just like to get through this season, then I’ll see what my options are.”

Comments: jeff.johnson@thegazette.com