Pleasant Valley shuts down West, wins district title

IOWA CITY - A key late second-quarter touchdown and a companion score to start the third quarter gave Pleasant Valley all the momentum it needed to defeat Iowa City West, 38-24, and win a district football championship Friday at Trojan Field.

The Spartans (6-3) and Trojans (5-4) both head into the 4A playoffs, but the Spartans take the top seed into Wednesday's first-round games.

The Trojans had a 21-7 lead late in the second quarter and forced a PV punt. When the Trojans took over on their own 17 with 1:57 left in the half it looked like they were playing with house money. Instead they drew to an inside straight and moved only one yard in three plays while using just 45 seconds before punting back to the Spartans.

Collin Banks returned the punt from his own 44 to the West 34, and Pleasant Valley had 62 seconds to work with. Three incompletions and a West offside penalty left PV with fourth and five at the 29. Quarterback Chase Kipper zipped a wide receiver screen to Kevin Stewart on the left, and he raced all the way into the end zone.

'Getting that touchdown and making it only a one-score game, and knowing we were getting the ball after halftime, that gave us a good feeling,” Kipper said. 'We knew we were coming back and could score on these guys.”

Suddenly the Spartans trailed by only 21-14 and were set to receive the third-quarter kickoff.

Pleasant Valley drove 78 yards in 12 plays, all on the ground, to tie the game. Brendon Bormann's fourth-down run got a first down by inches at the West 13 to save the drive.

The Trojans' offense, so potent in scoring the first three times it had the ball, was stopped cold. The Spartans drove for the go-ahead touchdown on their next possession. They added a field goal on their next possession for a 31-21 lead, which was set up by a fumble recovery deep in West territory.

West did finally put together a drive to cut the lead to 31-24 but PV responded with a 91-yard drive to clinch the game.

'We were just running our offense,” Kipper said. 'We stopped ourselves in the first half. We had a couple mistakes. At halftime we talked it out and found out what was working and what was not. I can't compliment the line enough. They brought it in the second half.”