Turnovers help Regina reach 6th-straight title game

CEDAR FALLS - You just never get the feeling Iowa City Regina is going to lose a playoff football game.

The Regals came close in the quarterfinals. West Branch gave them a tussle before falling by seven points.

Dike-New Hartford sure seemed to have them back on their heels in Saturday morning's Class 1A semifinals at the UNI-Dome. The Wolverines tied the game on a long touchdown pass in the third quarter, put together a defensive stop and took over possession at its 30-yard line with oodles of momentum and seemingly a legit shot to rock the Iowa prep football world.

But a fumble on the very next play helped set up a Regina go-ahead touchdown. Another fumble led to an early fourth-quarter field goal.

By the time it was all said and done, the Regals had their 29th consecutive postseason win, 31-14. A 30th gives them six straight state championships.

'Turnovers really determined the game,” said Regina's Michael Conlon. 'The defense did a great job with strips and everything.”

'The turnovers, they helped a lot,” agreed Regina's Ethan Suchomel. 'We kind of make it a priority to try and create turnovers. We knew that shifts the game's momentum.”

Not much separated these teams statistically. Regina (12-1) had roughly 50 more yards of offense. Each team had eight penalties. Regina even punted one more time than its opponent.

But Dike-New Hartford (11-2) fumbled six times, losing four. Suchomel added a late interception that made it five Wolverines turnovers.

There's your game.

'That was critical,” Regina Coach Marv Cook said. 'Dike-New Hartford is a great football team. They play hard, they play tough, they're well coached. You hate to have a game come down to (turnovers), but, fortunately, we came out on the right side of those. That was anybody's game.”

Nathan Stenger had three 1-yard quarterback sneak touchdowns for Regina, which faces Western Christian (11-2) Friday morning at 11:06 at the Dome. He also threw a 10-yard scoring pass to Suchomel, finishing with 225 yards rushing and passing.

Emilio Tovar made all four of his extra points and booted a 24-yard field goal.

'Regina is a great football team,” said D-NH's Connor Neuroth, whose 60-yard TD catch made it a 14-14 game. 'We knew we couldn't lose the turnover battle. We just had way too many of them.”

'I think we did a good job of keeping our heads in it and answering there in the second half,” Suchomel said.

Regina is now 81-2 over the past six seasons, both of those losses to Class 3A teams (Solon last season and Cedar Rapids Xavier this season).

'It's pretty cool (going for six in a row), I guess, but we can't let that get too big,” Stenger said. 'We need to understand that we've got to take it day by day and focus on the moment.”

'It's rewarding as a coach to see each senior class come in and take ownership of the team,” Cook said. 'It's going to be driven by them, their effort and preparation. We've been blessed each year to have guys step up, whether we have a 13-man senior class or a 23-man senior class.”

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