The defense never rests for No. 1 Iowa City West in win over sixth-ranked Cedar Falls

IOWA CITY - An explosive offense has garnered a lot of acclaim this season for Iowa City West football.

The Trojans showed they are also bringing a defense with teeth to the UNI-Dome.

Top-ranked West remained the only undefeated football team in Class 4A and advanced to the state semifinals for the second year in a row after smothering No. 6 Cedar Falls, 27-9, in a state quarterfinal game Friday night at Trojan Field.

'Our defense has been improving by the week,” West Coach Garrett Hartwig said. 'You run, you tackle, you hit. That's what you've got to do this time of year and we've got guys that are doing that.”

The Trojans (11-0) will play fourth-ranked Bettendorf (10-1) on Nov. 10 at the UNI-Dome. Win there, and West is in the state title game for the second year in a row.

The Trojans lost to West Des Moines Dowling, 23-10, in last year's state championship game.

'We have a motto, ‘unfinished business,'” said West quarterback Evan Flitz, who threw for 149 yards against Cedar Falls (9-2). 'Business isn't finished yet. We've got more work to do.”

Friday night bore little resemblance to the 32-31 overtime escape by the Trojans in Week 3 at Cedar Falls, a game West trailed 17-0 in the first half.

Since that tussle, the Trojans have posted two shutouts and allowed 10.7 points per game, while Cedar Falls blanked three opponents and surrendered a miniscule 5.4 per contest.

The Trojans never trailed in the rematch. An 18-yard TD pass from Flitz to Austin West got the scoring started in the first quarter, then a 23-yard Lucas Karwal field goal gave West a 10-0 lead two minutes into the second.

Cedar Falls cut the lead to 10-3 by halftime and both teams went on long scoring drives to begin the third quarter.

Another Karwal field goal, this time from 20 yards, extended the Trojans' advantage to 13-3, but Cedar Falls junior tailback Sam Gary - who ran for 193 yards on 32 carries - finally found the end zone with a plunge on 4th and goal from the 1 that pulled the Tigers within 13-9 with 10 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Tigers appeared poised to drive for the lead after they recovered a Jalen Gaudet fumble at their own 22-yard line, but two plays later, Gary fumbled and the recovery by West D-lineman Joe Briddle set the Trojans back up at the Cedar Falls 23.

'We've got our offense's back no matter what,” West D-lineman Dillon Shephard said. 'We know we can take over. We knew what we needed to do. We did it.”

A roughing the passer penalty on 3rd and 8 gave West a first down at the Cedar Falls 10, and Flitz scored from there on a quarterback keeper for a 20-9 Trojans' lead with 8:19 to go.

'It was just determination,” Flitz said. 'It starts with the O-line. Those guys really won it for us. They train hard all offseason for times like this. We really needed to pull one out and we did.”

The Tigers turned it over on downs at their own 25 on their next possession, and West tailback Trumell Roberts punished the Cedar Falls defense with a trio of runs that got the Trojans on the doorstep of another score.

'For our offense to thrive, we've got to have a strong run game,” said Roberts, who ran for 130 yards in 17 attempts. 'If we have that, we wll dominate.”

From there, a two-yard TD by Cole Mabry out of the 'Wildcat” formation got the celebration started with less than three minutes left and West leading, 27-9.

'It means a lot to us,” Shephard said. 'People were questioning us after losing every player last year. We're 11-0 now. We're going back to where we were. We're not finished yet.”

AT TROJAN FIELD

Class 4A state quarterfinal

No. 1 Iowa City West 27, No. 6 Cedar Falls 9

Cedar Falls 0 3 6 0-9

Iowa City West 7 3 3 14-27

ICW -

Austin West 18 pass from Evan Flitz (Lucas Karwal kick)

ICW -

FG Lucas Karwal 23

CF -

FG Matthew Cook 40

ICW -

FG Lucas Karwal FG 20

CF -

Sam Gary 1 run (kick blocked)

ICW -

Evan Flitz 10 run (Lucas Karwal kick)

ICW -

Cole Mabry 2 run (Lucas Karwal kick)

RUSHING - Cedar Falls: Sam Gary 32-193, Luke Gillett 11-(-17), Austin Smiley 1-(-6); I.C. West:

Andre White 4-3, Evan Flitz 10-40, Trumell Roberts 17-130, Cole Mabry 1-2.

PASSING - Cedar Falls: Luke Gillett 11-18-0-118, Sam Gary 0-1-0-0; I.C. West:

Evan Flitz 13-18-149.

RECEIVING - Cedar Falls: Blake Christensen 7-69, Logan Wolf 1-12, Dalton Closson 1-14, Reese Gardner 1-8; I.C. West:

Traevis Buchanan 3-36, Austin West 2-34, Jalen Gaudet 6-80, Jonathan Gannon 1-(-3), Owen McAreavy 1-2.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com