West Lyon stuns Council Bluff St Albert

I don't know what to say other than wow. Boys played a great game. O line was moving people, backs running hard, receivers blocking and catching balls. The defense was crazy good. Flew to the ball, stuffed the run, harassed the QB, creating turnovers. CBSA got their wish, play us in the dome. Not the reward they wanted. I am going to post some articles on the game and let the professional writers describe it.
High school football: West Lyon, Dike-New Hartford move to 1-A final
Updated 11:05 am
BY ROB GRAY • robgray@dmreg.com • November 13, 2010


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Cedar Falls, Ia. — Knocking Cody Ahrendt’s helmet off only makes him mad.
“It does,” said the West Lyon star. “And when my lips get caught in my braces, too.”

Ahrendt took several hard hits Saturday, but sprang back each time, scoring two fourth quarter touchdowns in the No. 10 Wildcats’ stunning 35-7 Class 1-A semifinal rout of top-ranked Council Bluffs St. Albert at the UNI-Dome.

“We just couldn’t get going offensively,” St. Albert coach Kevin Culjat said. “Mostly because of them.”



The defending state champion Falcons (12-1) were limited to one first down in the first half — and six total — but trailed 14-7 after J.D. Culjat hit Jake Gentile for an 8-yard scoring pass with 1:21 left in the third quarter.

Enter Ahrendt, who gained 71 of his 81 yards on the ground in the fourth quarter and recovered two fumbles in the game.

His quarterback, Cody Grotewold, shined, too — completing a touchdown pass to Beau Hassebroek, rushing for a score and sprinting 100 yards to the end zone on a late interception return.

“You don’t get those opportunities very often,” Grotewold said.

The Wildcats exacted revenge for a 24-21 quarterfinal loss to St. Albert last season.
“It’s been bugging us all year,” Ahrendt said.

West Lyon will face Dike-New Hartford at 10 a.m. Saturday for the title.

It’s a reprise of the 1998 Class 2-A title game the Wildcats won 41-40.

“It’s actually kind of funny,” Grotewold said. “Some of our coaches played in that game.”

West Lyon 14 0 0 21 — 35
C.B. St. Albert 0 0 7 0 — 7



West Lyon runs over Falcons in state semifinals



AP - West Lyon’s Adam Teunissen, left, fights off St. Albert’s Kellen O’Neill for a few more yards in the first half of the Class 1-A semifinals at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls on Saturday.
By Tony Boone, Senior Writer
tony.boone@nonpareilonline.com
Published: Sunday, November 14, 2010 12:16 AM CST
CEDAR FALLS – St. Albert has cooked up some fine performances at the UNI-Dome during its recent championship run. But Saturday, it found a recipe for disaster.

The top-ranked Falcons turned the ball over twice in their first five snaps and fell behind postseason rival West Lyon 14-0 in the first quarter of their Class 1-A semifinal.

And by the time its offense finally got going, St. Albert’s defense had little left to give.

After their lead had been cut in half, the No. 8 Wildcats pounded the weary Falcons with a relentless between-the-tackles ground attack that led to a 21-point fourth quarter and a 35-7 win.

West Lyon (11-2) advanced to next Saturday’s title game against Dike-New Hartford (10-2) by holding St. Albert to 129 total yards while halting the Falcons’ 26-game winning streak.

“That’s a very, very good football team,” said St. Albert’s Kevin Culjat, who lost for the first time in his two-year career as a head coach. “We just couldn’t get anything going offensively, mostly because they took it away.”

Early on, the Falcons (12-1) gave it away.

On its third offensive play, St. Albert’s shotgun snap hit its man in motion, Jake Gentile, and ended up in Wildcat Cody Ahrendt’s hands. West Lyon scored three plays later when quarterback Cody Grotewold found tight end Beau Hassebrouk for a 29-yard touchdown.



Grotewold added an 11-yard scoring run after teammate Adam Teunissen intercepted a J.D. Culjat pass into double coverage later in the period. By the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats had a two-touchdown lead and St. Albert had minus-1 yard of offense.

Things didn’t get better for the Falcons on that side of the ball for a while. They had only one first down in seven offensive possessions through the middle of the third quarter.

By the time Culjat broke St. Albert out of its funk with a 17-yard pass to Steve O’Neill late in the third, the Falcon offense already had four punts, two turnovers, seven plays for negative yards and a personal-foul penalty. Still, it pulled to within 14-7 when Gentile caught an 8-yard TD pass.

With a little more than 13 minutes of clock left, the Falcons were in the game. But their defense had been on field for nearly the entire way to that point, and West Lyon took advantage.

The Wildcats ran between the tackles on all but one play on their final two offensive possessions, grinding out 146 of their 290 rushing yards on consecutive scoring drives. Ahrendt, who had 70 of his 80 rushing yards in the fourth quarter, capped both with short touchdowns as West Lyon pulled away to beat the Falcons for the fourth time in seven postseason meetings.

In five of the previous six, the winner has gone on to win the state championship.

A year ago, that was St. Albert, which beat the Wildcats 24-21 in the quarterfinal round before claiming its fourth 1-A title in the past six years. Its chance for a fifth slipped away Saturday when it couldn’t move the ball consistently and keep its defense off the field.

“They stopped the run, and they forced us to throw,” J.D. Culjat said. “When we did have to throw, they brought tons of pressure. And when they did, there wasn’t time or they covered everything. I don’t know how they prepared in that short week, but they covered everything.”

More than half of St. Albert’s total offense came on its final possession, when it was already down by 21 points. A 48-yard catch and run by O’Neill took the Falcons inside the Wildcat 1-yard line.

On first-and-goal, however, Culjat’s pass was intercepted by Grotewold, who matched a state record by returning it 100 yards the other way. The play punctuated an unexpectedly dominant performance by West Lyon and a big day for Grotewold, who had five runs for first downs and a TD pass prior to his late-game pick-six.

“It feels really good because last year we lost in Council Bluffs,” the senior said. “It’s always a really great rivalry, and they’re a No. 1 team. We have a lot of respect for them.”

White: This round to Wildcats, in a landslide

By Kevin White, Western Iowa Sports Coordinator
Published: Sunday, November 14, 2010 12:16 AM CST
CEDAR FALLS – It’s the most difficult thing to admit, when you’re playing a tough-guy sport and you’re drilled to believe you’re the best team every time you walk onto that field.

But on Saturday at the UNI-Dome, outside a locker room filled with tears, St. Albert came to grips: the Falcons, the kings of Class 1-A in four of the past six seasons, were beaten by a better team.

And there’s no shame in that.

Especially when it’s a program as proud and accomplished as West Lyon’s. The Wildcats have appeared in the playoffs in 21 of the past 23 seasons. They are one of the few Iowa small-school programs that are there every year, like clockwork. They have big, strong kids who are well coached and take pride in everything they do.

St. Albert has been beaten up in this run to the semifinals, no question. Falcon coach Kevin Culjat isn’t sure it would have mattered.

“If we were 100 percent today and things were going well for us, I don’t know if we hang with that team,’’ Culjat said. “They were just a very, very good team.’’

For St. Albert fans thinking things might have been different without those two first-quarter turnovers, don’t forget the game’s most telling statistic: West Lyon 290 rushing yards, St. Albert 1 rushing yard.

If you’re wondering how the battle in the trenches went, there’s your answer.



“They had guys that were bigger, yes, but they were a lot faster, that’s for sure,’’ said St. Albert’s Nate Romano, a 6-foot-1, 281-pound lineman. “Their line played great, all-out effort the whole game. No matter what happened, they never got down.’’

It marked the seventh time in the past 13 years that the two programs, located 180 miles part, met in the playoffs. In West Lyon’s two championships seasons, 1998 and 1999, it beat St. Albert en route to the title. In St. Albert’s last two championships runs (2007 and 2009), the Falcons had to get through the Wildcats.

“St. Albert is the class of 1-A over the years,’’ West Lyon coach Jay Rozeboom said. “They’ve beaten us quite a few times and we’ve beaten them a few times. They’re in the back of your mind all the time.’’

A few of those meetings have occurred in awful weather and field conditions, outdoors in the quarterfinal round. That works to the advantage of the Wildcats, whose forte is smashmouth football.

“We were hoping to match up with them in the snow a little bit, but it didn’t work out that way,’’ Rozeboom said. “But our kids did a good job playing them in the Dome.’’

St. Albert had won four titles in six years. On Saturday, the Falcons appeared in the UNI-Dome for the seventh time in eight years. They entered the semifinals with a 27-3 playoff record over those eight years.

In many ways, the Falcons are victims of their own success. And even though they made several uncharacteristic mistakes Saturday, Culjat hopes his players’ accomplishments are appreciated. They were the last team standing in a district with two extremely talented clubs in Treynor and Logan-Magnolia.

“They had a phenomenal year,’’ Culjat said. “They played outstanding. There’s no shame in getting beat by that team today.’’

Culjat lost for the first time as a head football coach. He’s now 26-1 (.963).

“I think I started my career like 0-27 as an assistant,’’ Culjat said. “So I’ve been down that road before.’’

For the Romano family, the day marked the end of an era of sorts. One of the family members figured there have been 66 different seasons of Romanos playing football on the hill. It will be a while now before another one suits up in the green and gold.

“A lot of the uncles always talk about how much fun they had playing,’’ Nate said. “So we’ve had a good run.’’

West Lyon, St. Albert renew playoff rivalry
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West Lyon, St. Albert renew playoff rivalry

By Barry Poe

bpoe@siouxcityjournal.com

Sioux City Journal | Posted: Saturday, November 13, 2010 12:00 am | No Comments Posted

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Journal photo by Jerry Mennenga West Lyon's Cody Ahrendt pushes past Hinton's Kole Vondrak in a Class 1A first-round football playoff game Nov. 1 in Hinton. West Lyon plays No. 1 Council Bluffs St. Albert at noon today in the UNI-Dome at Cedar Falls in a state semifinal.

INWOOD, Iowa - Folks in these parts have come to expect West Lyon and Council Bluffs St. Albert to hook up in the Iowa high school football playoffs.

For the fourth consecutive season, the perennial powers will collide in the postseason, doing battle today in a Class 1A semifinal at noon in the UNI-Dome at Cedar Falls.

Top-ranked and two-time defending state champion St. Albert (12-0) risks a 26-game winning streak. The Falcons have won 18 of their last 19 playoff games and have an overall record of 37-17 in the postseason, also winning state crowns in 2004 and 2006.

No. 8 West Lyon (10-2) is the playoffs for the 21st time with an overall mark of 32-19. The Wildcats copped state titles in 1998 and 1999.

St. Albert has prevailed in two of the last three meetings between the two teams, all in the quarterfinals. The Falcons won 24-21 last season and 19-12 in 2007 while West Lyon came away a 28-21 winner in 2008.

That 2008 victory was the last loss suffered by St. Albert.

“We've faced them a lot over the years,” West Lyon coach Jay Rozeboom said. “They have a great scheme for their athletes and they're so well-coached. And this is the biggest St. Albert team we've ever faced.”

The top-rated Falcons have quality and depth and have been able to win without key starters at various times. Their potent offense has generated over 4,300 yards, piloted by junior quarterback J.D. Culjat.

The 5-10, 168-pound Culjat has 92 pass completions in 175 attempts for 1,342 yards and 16 touchdowns. He's also rushed for 413 yards and seven scores.

Senior running back Jake Gentile (6-1, 205) has rushed for 1,321 yards and 22 touchdowns. Steve O'Neill has 36 catches for 600 yards and 12 touchdowns, moving his career total to 29 touchdowns, sixth best on the all-time Iowa list.

On defense, West Lyon's run-oriented offense must contend with tackles Marco Naughton (6-1, 289) and Nate Romero (6-1, 281).

West Lyon's Cody Ahrendt, a hard-charging 6-foot-3, 215-pound fullback, and Trevor Snyders, a 181-pound senior tailback form a strong one-two punch.

Ahrendt has carried 161 times for 942 yards and 15 touchdowns while Snyders has 939 yards on 147 tries, good for 10 touchdowns. Snyders doubles as the placekicker, converting 25 of 30 PATs.

Junior Sully Al-Ostaz has accounted for 580 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Senior quarterback Cody Gronewold, meanwhile, has 493 yards and nine touchdowns while passing for 573 and six touchdowns.

“It all starts up front. If they are doing their job the plays are supposed to work,” said Rozeboom, who has a 184-33 record in 19 seasons at West Lyon. “Our offensive coordinator Jeremy Childress does a great job of what we call “scratching where it itches.”

Brendan Ter Wee, a 5-11, 260-pound senior, anchors both the offensive and defensive line from his tackle spot. Ter Wee, a cancer survivor, is the Wildcats' leading tackler with 95, including eight for losses.

After defeating Lawton-Bronson (41-20) and Hinton (35-6) in its first two playoff games, West Lyon avenged one of its two regular-season losses with a 21-14 triumph over Emmetsburg in a quarterfinal.

“We have a lot of respect for their program, the coaching staff and players,” Rozeboom said. “One thing we can control is how hard we play for four quarters.”

To reach the semifinals, St. Albert downed Mount Ayr (35-0) before getting repeat wins over district rivals Treynor (20-6) and Logan-Magnolia (20-0).

Today's winner faces either unranked Dike-New Hartford (10-2) or No. 4 West Branch (11-0) in the 1A championship game 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 20.

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