Prep football quarterfinal roundup

NORTH FAYETTE VALLEY 24, WAUKON 20 - Kendrick Bemiss scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak with 3:17 to play in the fourth quarter, sending No. 6 North Fayette Valley to a 24-20 victory over No. 5 Waukon in a Class 2A quarterfinal playoff game Friday night in West Union.

NFV (10-2), behind its crushing, wing-T ground game, came from behind time and again. The Tigerhawks needed one more rally after Waukon (10-2) grabbed a 20-18 lead on Austin Hogan's 1-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

Twice on its game-winning drive, NFV nearly fumbled the ball away. Finally, Bemiss fought his way into the end zone to give North Fayette Valley the lead for good

Running back Trey Kuhens led the Tigerhawk offense with 199 yards rushing.

Colin Steiber's 23-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter gave Waukon a 14-12 lead at halftime.

Steiber set up that go-ahead score by recovering a Tigerhawk fumble at the Indian 46.

- Jim Sullivan, Waterloo Courier

DON BOSCO 80, ELKADER CENTRAL 32 - No. 2 Don Bosco sputtered briefly Friday night, then exploded on No. 6 Central Elkader in the 8-player quarterfinals in Elkader.

Trailing 12-8 after a quarter, the Dons (10-0) got rolling with 30-point second and third quarters, scoring seven unanswered touchdowns at one point to blow the game open.

Don Bosco quarterback Brandon Bagby was 10 of 13 passing for 132 yards and four touchdowns. Three of those scoring strikes went to Spencer Bruess, who had five catches for 150 yards. Don Bosco also established its running game in the second half, led by Joel Sweeney's 132 yards on 19 carries with four touchdowns.

Defensively, the Dons silenced the Warriors' offense in the second half, giving up just one score over the final 24 minutes of play.

- Rod Payne, Waterloo Courier

GLADBROOK-REINBECK 24, BGM 10 - Quarterback Jake Schuman passed for 209 yards and scores of 33 and 54 yards to lead No. 6 Gladbrook-Reinbeck past No. 1 BGM in a Class A playoff game Friday night in Brooklyn.

Gladbrook-Reinbeck (10-2) used a push up middle from center Jed Peterson and guard Jacob Walters as it drove 50 yards on 10 plays before a Walker Thede field goal on its opening series.

Ty Eiffler then blocked the punt on BGM's next drive and Gladbrook-Reinbeck executed a fake punt when Jake Schuman hit Walker Thede on a quick pass that went for a 34-yard gain to the BGM 3. Two plays later Josh Cooley punched it in.

BGM recorded its lone first-half score in the second quarter on a halfback pass from Colton Massengale to Kaiden Fiebelkorn.

Schuman used a 33-yard play action pass to Erik Knaack and a 54-yard pass to Thede for a pair of second half Rebel touchdowns to seal the victory.

- Nick Petaros, Waterloo Courier

ALBIA 17, SOUTH TAMA 6 - The third quarter couldn't have started any worse for top-ranked Albia. No. 3 South Tama returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, intercepted a pass by Blake Bayer and nearly had a long touchdown run in the first two minutes.

From there, however, the third quarter would prove to be a season-defining period for the Blue Demons. Albia overcame as much adversity as possible and answered by forcing two turnovers. Bayer then found Tony Leshen on two straight touchdown passes, helping guide Albia back to the Class 2A semifinals in the UNI-Dome.

The battle of the two best defenses in Class 2A lived up to the billing in the first half as the two teams punted more times than moved the chains for first downs. Albia led 3-0 at half.

- Scott Jackson, Ottumwa Courier