Iowa City Regina tops Wapsie Valley in back-and-forth Class A quarterfinal game

IOWA CITY - Ashton Cook and Alec Wick have completed numerous passes on their home field during four years of starting for Iowa City Regina.

They will always remember their last.

Cook connected with Wick for an 8-yard scoring pass with just over three minutes remaining to give the Regals a stirring 32-27 victory over Wapsie Valley in a Class A state quarterfinal game on a unseasonably warm Friday night at Regina.

Coach Marv Cook's second-ranked Regals (9-1) advance to face No. 3 Saint Ansgar (10-0) in the semifinals at 9 a.m. next Friday at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

No. 8 Wapsie Valley ends its season at 9-2.

With the game on the line, Cook found his favorite target cutting across the middle of the Wapsie Valley defense. He then fought his way over the goal line through a host of tacklers for what proved to be the winning score.

'They can do a lot of that with their eyes closed,” Marv Cook said. 'They are two really talented kids and they just love playing the game.”

Wick's effort on the winning score was indicative of the Regals' resolve.

'We just showed a lot of heart,” Wick said. 'We weren't going to let them take the fight out of us.”

And after a night of some costly mistakes, the Regals defense came up big on Wapsie Valley's final drive, sacking Warriors quarterback Kobe Risse for a 16-yard loss, forcing a punt with just over two minutes remaining.

Marv Cook was proud of the way his team responded when things weren't going their way.

'We've challenged them, we've tested them, work them hard in practice and challenge them with our schedule,” Marv Cook said. 'It's those games that make games like this winnable.”

'Wapsie Valley played hard. They made plays on offense and on special teams that made us look bad at times, but we made enough plays at the end of the game to get the victory. I'm really proud of our guys.”

Regina picked up one first down on the legs of running back Theo Kolie, then ran out the clock. Kolie had a spectacular game in his own right, rushing for 176 yards on 29 carries and three touchdowns.

'Theo had a great game,” Wick said.

Ashton Cook was 19-of-23 for 242 yards. Regina would have had over 500 yards of total offense had it not taken a couple of big intentional losses near the end of game to run out the clock.

Trevor Sauerbrei led Wapsie Valley with 115 yards rushing and two scores. Blayde Bellis also hauled in two scoring passes.

AT IOWA CITY

WV ICR

First downs 15 27

Rushes-yards 24-103 35-229

Passing yards 95 242

Comp-Att-Int 8-12-0 19-23-1

Punts-Avg. 4-32.7 0-00.0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0

Penalties-Yards 5-22 6-54

Wapsie Valley 14 0 7 6 - 27

Iowa City Regina 7 13 0 12 - 32

ICR - Theo Kolie 1 run (Alec Wick kick)

WV - Trevor Sauerbrei 20 run (Dallas Wittenburg kick)

WV - Blayde Bellis 26 pass from Kobe Risse (Wittenburg kick)

ICR - Kolie 4 run (Wick kick)

ICR - Ashton Cook 1 run (kick failed)

WV - Sauerbrei 20 run (Wittenburg kick)

ICR - Kolie 5 run (pass failed)

WV - Bellis 17 pass from (run failed)

ICR - Wick 8 pass from Cook (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Wapsie Valley: Trevor Sauerbrei 20-115, Jordan Rubner 3-4, Kobe Risse 1-(minus 16). IC Regina: Theo Kolie 29-176, Ashton Cook 13-47, Alec Wick 1-6.

PASSING - Wapsie Valley: Kobe Risse 8-12-0-95. IC Regina: Ashton Cook 19-23-1-242.

RECEIVING - Wapsie Valley: Blayde Bellis 6-68, Tyler Ott 1-10, Trevor Sauerbrei 1-18, Holten Robinson. IC Regina: Alec Wick 6-58, Levi Quinlan 5-74, Theo Kolie 4-48, Sam Aitchison 4-62.