Cedar Falls, Ia. -- The Class A championship trophy had been waiting for West Lyon.
Not just since the Wildcats won the Class 1-A crown in 2010, or from late August when they began a 14-game winning streak.
The hardware sat patiently after it was claimed by halftime, as the Wildcats beat BGM of Brooklyn, 49-7 in the UNI-Dome on Thursday for their fourth state title.
“We’re just enjoying the moment,” West Lyon quarterback Brandon Snyder said. “It’s tough because it’s my last game with these guys, but I wouldn’t want to go out any other way.”
West Lyon and Snyder crushed AHST of Avoca early in last week’s semifinals, rushing for 400 yards in the first half. Snyder threw and got other teammates involved on Thursday, and the group held a 42-7 cushion by intermission.
“Their defensive line is huge and their linebackers are very good, but we knew we had to control the line of scrimmage,” Snyder said. “I think we did that today and you saw the result of that.”
BGM lost top playmaker Jack Kline to an ankle injury in the first quarter. The senior returned an interception 52 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring, and took the big play threat of the Bear (13-1) offense with him when he left the field.
“Jack went down and they got three quick scores on us and it went down from there,” BGM senior Kyle Gritsch said. “It took a lot out of us. I’m not saying that’s the reason we lost, because it’s not, but it was a big part because he gets a lot of our carries.”
Snyder led the Wildcats with 181 rushing yards, scoring two touchdowns on gains of 60 and 34 yards. He was 4-of-5 passing for 110 yards and a touchdown.
West Lyon scored on seven of the next eight drives following Kline’s pick-six.
“We hadn’t really been down all year and I was wondering how we’d respond to adversity,” West Lyon coach Jay Roozeboom said. “I was really proud of how our guys stuck together and got this done as a team.”
The Bears were playing in their first state title game. They slowed run-dedicated Wapsie Valley of Fairbank in the semifinals, but couldn’t keep up with the powerful Wildcats.
BGM allowed 329 rushing yards and mustered just 121 yards of total offense while being kept out of the end zone.
“They just took it to us up front and we couldn’t get any rhythm going,” Gritsch said. “We just wanted to get something going.”
Quarterback Bryan Kriegel led BGM with nine completions for 73 yards. Gritsch paced a tough running day with 47 rushing yards.
Besides the 1-A crown in 2010, West Lyon won in 2-A in 1998 and 1999.
After scoring more points on Thursday afternoon than BGM allowed in the entire regular season, the Wildcats were thanking their preparation.
“The difference comes from the offseason,” Snyder said. “Getting up at 5:30 in the morning in the summer isn’t easy, but we do it for a reason. We do it for days like this where we can make it pay off.”
Boys, great job. You took a bad moment from last year and turned it around. So much fun to watch. Big Blue wins another state championship. Here are this year's Des Moines Register all staters. I will post all district and other all state as I find them. GO BIG BLUE!!
==== CLASS A ====
FIRST TEAM OFFENSEE: Patrick Sheehey, Pleasantville, sr.
E: Austin Heitland, AGWSR (Ackley), sr.
L: Zach Pierce, Gladbrook-Reinbeck, jr.
L: Matt Fett, Audubon, sr.
L: BJ Weepie, Wapsie Valley (Fairbank), sr.
L: Matt Metzger, West Lyon, sr.
L: Jared Bond, Pekin (Packwood), sr.
QB: Brandon Snyder, West Lyon, sr.
B: Jack Kline, BGM (Brooklyn), sr.
B: Chase Clark, Gladbrook-Reinbeck, sr.
B: Ethan Kleitsch, Wapsie Valley (Fairbank), sr.
K: Steven Jacobsen, AHST (Avoca), jr.
SECOND TEAM OFFENSE
E: Paul Pins, Lake Mills, sr.
E: Kane Barker, Montezuma, sr.
L: Keegan Tritle, Lisbon, jr.
L: Clay Kirkpatrick, Madrid, sr.
L: Landon Paulsen, Woodbury Central, jr.
L: Garrett Graves, Riverside (Oakland), sr.
L: Eric Adam, Pekin (Packwood), sr.
QB: Elijah Kinseth, Belmond-Klemme, sr.
B: Kyle Bauerkemper, AHST (Avoca), sr.
B: Joe Burgmeier, Mason City Newman, sr.
B: Bennett Feuchtenberger, West Lyon, sr.
K: Austin Vaughn, GMG (Garwin), sr.
FIRST TEAM DEFENSE
L: Mitchell Hoefling, Hinton, sr.
L: Jake Newborg, West Lyon, jr.
L: Luke Kuennen, Turkey Valley (Jackson Junction), sr.
L: Logan VanNoort, West Sioux, sr.
LB: Kyle Gritsch, BGM (Brooklyn), sr.
LB: Logan Rickard, Lisbon, sr.
LB: Kaleb Heyer, West Lyon, sr.
LB: Adam Hawkins, BGM (Brooklyn), sr.
B: Mitch Gibson, Montezuma, sr.
B: Nick Novotny, Madrid, sr.
B: Nate Herbst, AHST (Avoca), so.
P: Chris Loss, Algona Garrigan, sr.
SECOND TEAM DEFENSE
L: Cody Bauman, West Lyon, sr.
L: Levi Paulsen, Woodbury Central, jr.
L: Matt Wieland, Lone Tree, jr.
L: Brady Hook, Grundy Center, sr.
LB: Clayton Taylor, Prairie Valley (Gowrie), sr.
LB: Stone Kane, Wapsie Valley (Fairbank), sr.
LB: Dylan Gibson, Martensdale-St. Marys, sr.
LB: Michael Story, East Mills, sr.
B: Marshall Nieland, Woodward-Granger, sr.
B: Kyle Groeneweg, West Lyon, sr.
B: Trevor Smith, Audubon, jr.
P: Jordan Clapp, Grundy Center, sr.
