No. 1 Waukee Northwest plays the part in 45-10 win over Cedar Rapids Prairie

CEDAR RAPIDS - After going through a verbal autopsy of the game, Kyle Knock finished with one thought.

“Don’t give up on us,” the Cedar Rapids Prairie football coach said.

The Hawks found out why Waukee Northwest is the top-ranked football team in Class 5A, losing Friday night, 45-10. It was the second straight setback for Prairie (2-2), which was upset last week by Bettendorf.

Two home games, two losses, which is unusual.

“They’re talented, and they’ve got athletic kids everywhere,” Knock said of Northwest. “But for four weeks now, we can’t get out of our own way on offense. That falls on me. I don’t know what the answer is. We’re going to work to fix it. I just told the kids that tonight was a tough night, but tough times don’t last, tough people do. We’re going to find out what we’re made of.”

Northwest (4-0) picked up close wins over ranked teams Ankeny and West Des Moines Valley in its first two games but has beaten up on Eastern Iowa clubs the last two weeks. Last week was a 49-13 rout of Iowa City High.

The Wolves appear to have it all, especially offensively. That’d be a really good junior quarterback in Mack Heitland, athletic receivers on the outside, including Isaiah Oliver, who has committed to Iowa, and a big offensive line, one that helped sophomore running back Paulo Tobongye rush for 198 yards and two touchdowns here.

Tobongye has mostly been a sub-varsity player but was elevated to the varsity last week because of an injury to leading rusher Ryan Woodruff. He carried the football five times for seven yards a week ago but continually ripped off big runs against Prairie, with the first of his touchdowns coming up the middle from 61 yards out.

“He played great,” said Northwest Coach Corey Kopatich. “We’ve kind of seen it in practice. He’s a young kid, so it’s just waiting for that time.“

Heitland, meanwhile, completed 13 of 17 passes for 180 yards and four touchdowns. The first of those was a 62-yarder on the opening possession of the game to the aforementioned Oliver, a deep sideline ball in which the receiver caught it one handed (one-armed, actually).

Prairie went three and out offensively on its first possession, with Northwest getting good field position after a punt it cashed in with a 28-yard Heitland-to-Elliot Combe TD. Combe came out of the backfield on the route, took a pass in the flat and had no defender around him.

“Last week against City High we came out a little slow,” Heitland said. “So this week we harped on getting out quick, play fast, and you saw it tonight. We came out hard, the O-line played great, the receivers played great, the running backs stepped in after an injury. Defense played really well, too. Everything just came together.”

Prairie, meanwhile, continued to make mistakes that sabotaged its offense. The Hawks would seem to get some momentum, only to have a key false-start penalty or a fumbled shotgun exchange.

Dawson Kahl had an 8-yard TD run on the opening possession of the second half for Prairie. Its other points came on a Junior Boxa 38-yard field goal.

Kahl rushed for 108 yards on 20 carries. Quarterback Cael Kongshaug completed 16 of 20 passes for 205 yards and was intercepted once.

Drew Bennis was his main target, as he caught seven passes for 124 yards before injuring his ankle after a long play in the second half. Tae Alexander, Prairie’s other main pass catcher, missed the final three quarters with an apparent concussion.

Prairie opens district play this coming Thursday night at Kingston Stadium against Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

“I told them that we’ve got five games left, and we’ve got to win four to guarantee a spot in the postseason,” Knock said. “To be honest, it doesn’t matter once you’re in. If you get in, and you’re playing well, you’ve got a chance. We’re way more talented than we’ve showed tonight and last week. There is just some sort of misunderstanding in the middle that I’ve got to figure out. That’s my job.”

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Waukee Northwest 45, Cedar Rapids Prairie 10

(At John Wall Field)

Waukee Northwest 14 14 10 7-45

Cedar Rapids Prairie 3 0 7 0-7

Team Statistics

First Downs - Waukee Northwest 17, Cedar Rapids Prairie 15. Rushes-Yards - Waukee Northwest 23-196, Cedar Rapids Prairie 32-91. Passing Yards - Waukee Northwest 205, Cedar Rapids Prairie 180. Completions-Attempts-Interceptions - Waukee Northwest 13-17-0, Cedar Rapids Prairie 16-21-1. Total Yards - Waukee Northwest 376, Cedar Rapids Prairie 296. Punts-Average - Waukee Northwest 1-31.0, Cedar Rapids Prairie 3-33.3. Penalties-Yards - Waukee Northwest 3-25, Cedar Rapids Prairie 5-36. Fumbles-Lost - Waukee Northwest 0-0, Cedar Rapids Prairie 2-0.

Individual Statistics

Waukee Northwest - Rushing: Paulo Tobongye 16-198, Korbin Smith-Fitzpatrick 3-11, Bryce Parker 1-1, Dean Vera 2-(minus) 2, Mack Heitland 1-(minus) 12. Passing - Mack Heitland 13-17-0-180. Receiving - Isaiah Oliver 3-76, Jordon Green 4-43, Elliot Combe 2-23, Joe Vinyard 2-21, Michael Dunagan 2-17.

Cedar Rapids Prairie - Rushing: Dawson Kahl 20-108, Carson Hand 1-17, BJay Bush Jr. 2-3, Cael Kongshaug 9-(minus) 37. Passing - Cael Kongshaug 16-20-1-205, Team 0-1-0-0. Receiving - Drew Bennis 7-124, David Fason 3-47, Tae Alexander 2-16, Max Schwieger 2-11, BJay Bush Jr. 2-7.

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