GO BIG BLUE!!
INWOOD, Iowa | A year ago, after West Lyon handed his Central Lyon/George-Little Rock football team a 35-13 setback on the Lions’ home field, Coach Toby Lorenzen had a message for West Lyon Coach Jay Rozeboom.
“I told Jay I expect them to be state champs,” Lorenzen said. “They have a lot of people carrying the ball and you’re not going to find an offensive line any bigger than that offensive line in the state.”
Those words turned out to be prophetic as West Lyon went on to a 14-0 season and the Iowa Class A state championship, capping it with a 49-7 rout of Brooklyn BGM in the title game.
The Wildcats lost a number of key performers off that team and have moved up to Class 1A this season, but nonetheless head into Friday’s traditional battle of Lyon County with high expectations.
Kickoff for the annual Beef Bowl is at 7 o’clock on West Lyon’s home turf. The Beef Bowl is the moniker this game obtained several years ago because of the large number of beef producers in the area. There is a large cookout before the game and the winner takes home a traveling trophy.
“It was a great year last year with a great group of players who worked hard together for one common goal and were a fun team to coach,” Rozeboom said. “Now we’re telling our guys that it’s time to get back to work and take care of business this year. Let’s work hard and do all of the things we’ve been doing in the past.
“You find out a lot about your team when you play great competition and we’re definitely starting out with great competition.”
True enough, Central Lyon/George-Little Rock return eight starters on either side of the ball from a 7-4 squad that earned the program’s 19th playoff appearance and 33rd postseason victory.
“Some of those guys are two-way players and there are a few that have been three-year starters for us,” Lorenzen said. “That’s a big payoff and we have four juniors who started as sophomores for us last year, so we have a great nucleus back and we’re off to a pretty good start.”
Junior quarterback Pete Menage passed for 1,179 yards and rushed for 594 as a sophomore while junior running back C.J. Roth had 594 rushing yards and was fourth on the team in tackles at linebacker.
Two-way lineman Travis Vande Streek is a returning all-district selection while Grant Metzger (TE-DE) and Nick Lutmer (TE-LB) are two more third year starters.
“We’ve always had pretty good success with a quarterback that’s more than a one-year quarterback and Pete’s going into his second year,” Lorenzen said. “He took some lumps last year but has done a good job improving on what he has to do to get better and we’re happy going into a second year with the same quarterback.”
West Lyon’s featured player is 6-4, 285-pound two-way lineman Jake Newborg, a University of Iowa recruit who will be a standout on both sides of the ball. Vaughn Moser should take over the role as the primary ball carrier for the Wildcats, who rely heavily on their ground attack.
One thing’s for certain. The teams are rivals on the field, but when this game is over there’s mutual respect.
“Toby and I get along great and we respect all of their coaches and the way they do things over there,” Rozeboom said. “It’s a game we want to win but a lot of the players know each other and might hang out together. We hope it’s a hard-fought game and they do well and win the rest of them after this game.”
