West Lyon dominates in third state crown
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West Lyon dominates in third state crown
By Terry Hersom
thersom@siouxcityjournal.com
Sioux City Journal | Posted: Saturday, November 20, 2010 3:15 pm | No Comments Posted
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Rick Tibbott
Rick Tibbott/Waterloo Courier
West Lyon's Beau Hassebroek (84) celebrates the team's win over Dike-New Hartford in the Class 1A state championship game Saturday in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The checklist of major goals wasn't going so well for the seniors on this West Lyon football team.
An undefeated season? That was out the window in Week 2 with a 14-13 non-district loss to Hull Western Christian.
A district title? A 17-10 setback to Emmetsburg in the season's sixth game pretty much ruled that out, as well.
There was, however, one last dream, improbable as it might have seemed in light of everything else. And, Saturday morning in the UNI-Dome, darned if the Wildcats of Coach Jay Rozeboom didn't pull it off.
Cody Ahrendt broke a 50-yard touchdown run on the fourth play from scrimmage and eighth-ranked West Lyon never looked back, rolling to a 42-0 victory over Dike-New Hartford in Iowa's Class 1A state championship game.
Ahrendt finished with 96 yards and three touchdowns as the Wildcats finished off a 12-2 campaign that culminated in a third state title for a tradition-rich program with 21 playoff appearances, all in the last 23 years.
Brendan Ter Wee, a two-way senior lineman who survived a battle with cancer two years ago, was there to enjoy it on his 18th birthday, celebrating just like he did when the Wildcats reigned the last time in 1999 on the day he turned 7.
“It was like a double whammy, the team gave me a gift and I was able to help with it,'' said Ter Wee, a powerful 5-11, 260-pound honor student who hopes to become a doctor.
Added to the school's back-to-back Class 2A championships in 1998 and '99, this third title and fifth state final appearance was a testament to a team that responded to its two narrow losses by working hard on what caused them.
“They rolled up their sleeves and got to work on improving the things we weren't doing very well,'' said Rozeboom, a glossy 186-33 in 19 seasons as the Wildcats' skipper.
After playoff wins over Lawton-Bronson (41-20) and 10th-ranked Hinton (35-6), West Lyon earned its way to the championship game by turning back No. 2 Emmetsburg (21-14) and No. 1 Council Bluffs St. Albert (35-7).
The Emmetsburg win, of course, avenged the Wildcats' 17-10 district defeat and the stunningly decisive semifinal triumph over St. Albert was a telltale success against a team seemed destined to reign over Class 1A for the fourth time in five years.
West Lyon, which had played quarterfinal cliffhangers with St. Albert the last three years in a row, losing two out of three, was simply too much to handle for a Dike-New Hartford team whose playoff trek included wins over teams ranked third, fourth and fifth in the final Associated Press poll.
The Wolverines were unranked after back-to-back mid-season losses to district rivals Aplington-Parkersburg and St. Ansgar, but they avenged the A-P loss with a 35-12 rout of the third-ranked Falcons in a second-round playoff rematch.
“We were able to make quite a run here in the playoffs,'' said Dike-New Hartford Coach Don Betts. “It didn't end quite the way we wanted to, but I hope in the long term that doesn't distract from the season that we had.
“West Lyon was just an outstanding football team. They were even more impressive defensively than they were offensively.''
“Early in the season, this wasn't the first thing on our minds,'' said Ter Wee. “The first thing on our minds was to keep winning, keep winning. We knew we had to come together more as a team. We weren't there yet when we played Emmetsburg (the first time).''
Ahrendt's quick strike on the game's first possession was followed by two shorter TD runs by the 6-3, 215-pound senior.
The first was a two-yarder after Adam Teunissen's 54-yard punt return left the Wildcats just 18 yards from paydirt on their second chance with the ball.
The other was a one-yarder to finish off a 60-yard march that was punctuated by Cody Grotewold's 32-yard pass to Beau Hassebroek, hauled down at the Dike-New Hartford 5-yard line.
It was the first of four pass attempts for Grotewold, who completed them all, netting 106 yards with three for 92 to Hassebroek and also a 14-yard touchdown strike to Teunissen. That set the continuous clock in motion under Iowa's 35-point mercy rule and a Dike-New Hartford bid to restore normal timing was foiled when Teunissen scooped up a Wolverine fumble at the West Lyon 2-yard line and sprinted 98 yards for a bonus TD.
“My guess is that our quarterback probably has a pretty sore arm just from passing the ball,'' quipped Rozeboom, whose team had thrown just 68 passes in 13 previous games while running the ball 646 times for 3,786 yards.
Ahrendt's strong finale capped off a 1,120-yard season while 10 carries for 48 yards, including a one-yard TD run, gave Trevor Snyders 1,040 yards for the campaign. Junior running back Sully Al-Ostaz tacked on another 40 yards and netted 680 for a team that had to adjust to injuries that sidelined Al-Ostaz for several early games and then Snyders for some late-season contests.
Dike-New Hartford star Eric Joblinske, who came into the game with 1,949 yards on 287 carries and an apparent lock on a rare 2,000-yard season was limited to 14 net yards on 12 attempts as the Wolverines were outgained 323-109.
Suffice it to say, the one-sided win was a far cry from the 41-40 squeaker that gave West Lyon its first state title in the 1998 2A final against none other than Dike-New Hartford, still the highest scoring game in an 11-man Iowa state championship contest.
The Wildcats followed that with a 44-7 rout of Arlington Starmont to repeat in 1999 and they also had runner-up teams in 1995 (14-10 loss to Sigourney-Keota) and just two years ago (3-0 loss to Emmetsburg in the lowest scoring state final ever in all classes).
Giant killers square off in 1A championship
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Giant killers square off in 1A championship
By Terry Hersom
thersom@siouxcityjournal.com
Sioux City Journal | Posted: Friday, November 19, 2010 10:00 pm | Loading…
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Brandon Pollock / Waterloo Courier
Brandon Pollock / Waterloo Courier
West Lyon's Nick Thompson celebrates a quarterback sack against St. Albert in the Class 1A high school football semifinals at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. WL takes on Dike-New Hartford today in the championship.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The logical favorite to win Iowa's 2010 Class 1A high school football championship?
They're all gone, thanks in no small part to eighth-ranked West Lyon and unrated Dike-New Hartford, the two teams left to battle for the title today at 10:05 a.m.
Putting a pair of imperfect 11-2 records on the line inside the UNI-Dome are two teams that are possibly best described as “survivors.''
West Lyon has advanced to the championship game with a postseason performance that has left No. 1-ranked Council Bluffs St. Albert and No. 2 Emmetsburg, both previously undefeated, in its wake.
Meanwhile, Dike-New Hartford reached the finals after a postseason trail that has seen the Wolverines sideline No. 3 Aplington-Parkersburg, No. 4 West Branch and No. 5 Woodward-Granger.
So, between the two finalists, the top five teams in the final Class 1A poll by Associated Press have all bit the dust.
And, much as that might disappoint the pollsters, what's left is an intriguing clash of teams that have reached this climactic meeting with similar story lines.
Aside from the identical records, after all, this is the fifth state championship game for both schools and both teams were able to avenge one of their regular season setbacks in postseason play.
Dike-New Hartford, which has had runner-up teams in 1998, 2001 and 2002 since reigning as Dike High School in 1981, avenged a 42-34 overtime loss to Aplington-Parkersburg with a 35-12 triumph in second-round playoff action.
Meanwhile, West Lyon, 2-2 in previous title games, avenged a 17-10 loss with its 21-14 reversal over District 1 rival Emmetsburg in a quarterfinal game.
“Two years ago we were playing them (Emmetsburg) in a state championship game and now we have them in our district,'' noted Jay Rozeboom, a superb 185-33 in 19 seasons at the West Lyon helm.
That 2008 state final saw the E-Hawks clip Rozeboom's squad 3-0 in the lowest scoring state championship game ever in Iowa.
Oddly enough, though, Rozeboom and West Lyon also took part in the highest scoring of 190 Iowa title games in 11-man football prior to this year. And, that wild affair was a 41-40 victory in the Class 2A final of 1998 against none other than Dike-New Hartford.
“All I remember is that we scored in the last couple seconds of the game and kicked the extra point to win it,'' said Rozeboom, whose offensive coordinator, Jeremy Childress, quarterbacked the '98 champs.
Like all 21 state playoff teams produced by West Lyon, all of them in the last 23 years, this is a team that strives to power its way down the field with the running game. Rolling up 3,786 yards on 646 attempts, the Wildcats have attempted a mere 68 passes, or 5.2 per contest.
It's a well-distributed ground game that has netted 1,024 yards from powerful Cody Ahrendt (6-3, 215), 992 from Trevor Snyders (6-2, 181), 640 from junior Sully Al Ostaz (6-0, 180) and 553 from quarterback Cody Grotewold (6-1, 177).
Grotewold has completed 41 of 65 passes for 614 yards and seven touchdowns and most of them have gone to junior wide receiver Adam Teunissen, who has 30 catches for 394 yards.
Brendan Ter Wee, a 5-11, 260-pound senior who is a two-way starter in the line, one of seven two-way regulars, leads the defense with 97 total tackles.
“We had to learn from our mistakes and regroup a couple of times,'' said Rozeboom, whose team lost a 14-13 nailbiter to Class 2A Western Christian in their second start of the season. “They've steadily improved all season long.''
Tom Wilson, who guided top-ranked West Des Moines Dowling in the Class 4A title game Friday night, was the Dike-New Hartford coach when West Lyon outpointed the Wolverines in 1998. Fourth-year skipper Don Betts is now at the helm at the school barely five miles west of the UNI-Dome exit on U.S. Highway 20.
Dike-New Hartford's offense enjoys an impressive blend between tailback Eric Joblinske, who has rushed for 1,949 and 21 touchdowns, and junior quarterback Josh Rekers, who has passed for 1,695 yards and 20 scores. Rekers is 127 of 217 (58.5 percent) and his favorite target is Michael Weidemann, who has 50 catches for 699 yards.
On defense, linebackers Si Eiklenborg and Brennan Miller, both juniors, lead the way with over 100 tackles apiece.
“They're playing really well at the right time,'' said Rozeboom. “Joblinske is a 190-pound kid with great vision who is hard to bring down. They can hurt you both ways with the run and the pass.''
Rozeboom is also wary of Joblinske's impressive success on kickoff returns. He has hauled back 21 of them for 711 yards and gone all the way four times.
High school football: West Lyon wins Class 1-A championship
Updated 12:15 pm
BY TOMMY BIRCH • TBIRCH@DMREG.COM • NOVEMBER 20, 2010
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Cedar Falls, Ia. —Adam Teunissen brought a lot of school pride to Cedar Falls on Saturday.
He’ll be leaving a little bit of it there.
The West Lyon of Inwood junior set a state championship game record with a 98-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown during a 42-0 win against Dike-New Hartford in the Class 1-A final at the UNI-Dome.
“I was tired,” said Teunissen, who plays safety and wide receiver for the Wildcats. “After that, it was just an adrenaline rush. It felt good.”
Teunissen raced into the record books when he stopped a Dike-New Hartford drive 2 yards short of the end zone by forcing a fumble out of the arms of Eric Joblinske.
“I just reached across and then I pulled it out of his hands and took off running,” Teunissen said.
The previous mark was set in 1978 when Dan Boddicker ran 80 yards for a score for Cedar Rapids Regis.
“It’s awesome,” Teunissen said.
Teunissen and several teammates dyed their hair blue to show school pride.
“Wildcat pride,” he said.
They have plenty to be beaming about.
The Wildcats (12-2) racked up 323 yards of total offense. Their defense held Dike-New Hartford (11-3) to just 109.
The Wolverines’ closest visit to the end zone ended with Teunissen’s historic run.
“It just didn’t work out,” Wolverines quarterback Josh Rekers said. “After that was the start of the end.”
West Lyon leaped to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter on three rushing touchdowns by Cody Ahrendt. Ahrendt scored on dashes of 50, 2 and 1 yards.
Trevor Snyders added a 1-yard scoring run in the second quarter and Teunissen hauled in a 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Cody Grotewold before his historic play.
“I think after we got 21 points, they were doubting themselves pretty much,” Ahrendt said.
Grotewold completed all four of his pass attempts for 106 yards and the touchdown.
Ahrendt finished with the three scores and 96 rushing yards on 16 carries.
West Lyon got the clock to run non-stop by building up a 35-0 lead on Teunissen’s first touchdown.
“I can’t say enough good things about how well our offense played,” Wildcats coach Jay Rozeboom said. “They did a great job of keeping their (Dike-New Hartford) offense off the field.”
As for those hair styles?
“(They look like) a bunch of Avatars,” Rozeboom said, referring the box-office hit.
“I can handle it.”
Team 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH FINAL
Dike-New Hartford
0 0 0 0 0
West Lyon
21 7 14 0 42
10:00 am
Nov 20, 2010
Video: West Lyon handles Dike-New Hartford, winning state title 42-0
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Video: West Lyon handles Dike-New Hartford, winning state title 42-0
By NICK PETAROS, nick.petaros@wcfcourier.com wcfcourier.com | Posted: Saturday, November 20, 2010 2:45 pm | (1) Comments
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Rick Tibbott West Lyon's Beau Hassebroek, left, makes a catch as Dike-New Hartford's Royce Pool defends in the Class 1A 2010 State Championship game on Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010 in Waterloo, Iowa. (RICK TIBBOTT/Courier Staff Photographer)
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Video: West Lyon Defeats Dike-NH at 1A State Final
West Lyon wins the 1A State Championship, but Dike New-Hartford remains proud of their success and hopeful for next season.
Game Stats
DN WL
1st Downs
Passing 1st downs
Rushing 1st downs
1st downs from Penalties
3rd down efficiency (Made/Att)
4th down efficiency (Made/Att)
Total Plays
Total Yards
Passing Yards
Passing efficiency (Comp/Att)
Rushing Yards
Rushing Attempts
Red Zone efficiency (Made/Att)
Penalties (Made/Yards)
Turnovers
# of Fumbles
Fumbles lost
Interceptions thrown
Defensive / Special Teams TDs
Time of possession
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- Trailing by 35 points and six minutes into a continuous clock, Dike-New Hartford approached its opponent's goal line only to have a touchdown opportunity stripped away.
West Lyon's Adam Teunissen snatched up the loose ball and returned it 98 yards for a score.
It was that kind of day for Dike-New Hartford in the Class 1A championship game. Behind a stingy defense and a powerful offense, West Lyon (12-2) took control early and cruised to a 42-0 shutout over the unrated Wolverines (11-3).
The finals loss was the third for Dike-New Hartford since its 41-40 setback to West Lyon in the 1998 title game. Eight years removed from its last championship appearance, D-NH found itself play catch-up from the start.
West Lyon senior running back Cody Ahrendt capped all three of his team's first-quarter possessions with rushing touchdowns and finished the game with 96 yards on 16 carries.
"They were very, very fast and they had a lot of big kids on their team," Ahrendt said. "We were just going to try to beat power with power."
The Wildcats totaled 217 yards rushing and another 106 passing, while their defense recorded three takeaways and held Dike-New Hartford to 109 yards of total offense.
Ahrendt's first touchdown came on a 50-yard sweep four plays into the game's opening drive. A 54-yard punt return by Teunissen set up a 2-yard Ahrendt TD, and he scored from 1 yard out after a 32-yard play-action pass from Cody Grotewold to Beau Hasselbroek moved the ball to the goal line.
"We knew that we were going to have to play almost error-free ball," Dike-New Hartford coach Don Betts said. "We just couldn't hang with them early at the line of scrimmage.
"We dug ourselves into a hole and we just weren't quite able to get out. Every time we got something going, we seemed to step on our foot."
Trailing 28-0 at halftime, Dike-New Hartford's hopes of a comeback were dashed when Teunissen received a 14-yard TD pass from Grotewold for the 35-point lead needed to trigger the state's continuous clock rule.
D-NH answered with its best drive of the game, a 53-yard march to the Wildcat 2-yard line, before Teunissen stripped standout running back Eric Joblinske of the ball and returned the fumble a state-championship game record 98 yards.
Joblinske entered the championship tilt with an impressive 1,949 yards on the season, but the senior managed just 14 net yards on 12 carries against West Lyon's defense.
"They just played really hard and stopped us," Joblinske said. "We tried to battle back, but they just played hard the whole game."
Among the linemen contributing to West Lyon's dominating performance was two-way senior starter Brendan Ter Wee. The state title came on the 18th birthday of the 5-11, 260-pounder, who survived a battle with cancer two years ago.
"It was like a double whammy ... the team gave me a gift and I was able to help with it," said Ter Wee, who hopes to become a doctor.
Despite being denied its first title since 1981, a Wolverine team that missed out on last year's playoffs can hang its hat on a season during which it advanced to the state finals with wins over the state's third-, fourth- and fifth-rated teams.
"I'm extremely proud of these kids, I'm extremely proud to be their coach," Betts said. "They are all heart. We may not be the biggest team, the fastest team or the most talented team out there, but our kids played with tremendous heart, and that's carried them to this point. And I'll always remember that about this group."
"The bar is going to be so high next year," D-NH junior quarterback Josh Rekers added. "We'll be back in contention and we'll play hard every play."
West Lyon 21 7 14 0- 42
Dike-NH 0 0 0 0 - 0
WL - Cody Ahrendt 50 run (Trevor Snyders kick)
WL - Ahrendt 2 run (Snyders kick)
WL - Ahrendt 1 run (Snyders kick)
WL - Trevor Snyders 2 run (Snyders kick)
WL - Adam Teunissen 14 pass from Cody Grotewold (Snyders kick)
WL - Teunissen 98 fumble return
TEAM STATISTICS
WL DNH
First downs 14 8
Rushes-yards 43-217 22-50
Passing yards 106 59
Return yards 105 0
Passes 4-4-0 12-21-2
Punts-avg. 2-17.5 6-38.8
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1
Penalties-yds 3-25 2-6
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
DIKE-NEW HARTFORD - Josh Rekers 5-14, Eric Joblinske 12-14, Si Eikenborg 1-12, Brennan Miller 2-11, Mike Weidemann 1-0, Nathan Riggle 1-minus 1
WEST LYON - Cody Ahrendt 16-96, Trevor Snyders 10-48, Sully Al-Ostaz 9-40, Tyler Kruse 2-12, Garth Knobloch 1-2, Team 1-minus 1, Jeff Moser 1-minus 2.
Passing
DIKE-NEW HARTFORD - Rekers 12-21-2, 59 yards.
WEST LYON - Grotewold 4-4-0, 106 yards.
Receiving
DIKE-NEW HARTFORD - Weidemann 6-21, Royce Pool 2-17, Eikenborg 2-8, Joblinske 1-11, Miller 1-2.
WEST LYON - Hassebroek 3-92, Teunissen 1-14.
