West Lyon makes Regina work for fifth straight title
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa | The book on Iowa high school football history is going to show Iowa City Regina becoming the first school to win five consecutive state championships since the playoff era began in 1972.
Unfortunately for West Lyon, which has made more than a little history of its own, there’ll be no room for the details of the Class 1A title game Friday that gave Regina that five-peat, if you will.
Worse yet, a 38-21 victory in the UNI-Dome over West Lyon won’t reflect just how difficult the Wildcats made it for the Regals of Coach Marv Cook to add their third straight crown in Class 1A since reigning over Class 2A in 2010 and 2011.
Cook, the West Branch native who followed up a college career at Iowa with seven seasons in the NFL, graciously acknowledged the quality of an opponent that actually won the statistical battle with 395 total yards to Regina’s 390.
“I think it was one of those games our kids knew they were going to be challenged for 48 minutes and wanted to see if they could answer the bell,’’ said the 48-year-old Cook, a two-time Pro Bowl tight end who played his first five NFL seasons for New England. “It was a great, great football game.’’
In just his eighth season at the Regina helm, Cook picked up a milestone win by sending his record to a gaudy 100-5, which includes wins in 69 of the last 70 games.
Cook’s son, Drew, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound quarterback who has committed to Iowa with no particular position carved in stone, headed up a senior class that has helped significantly with the last three championship seasons.
This one started with a 29-28 overtime loss to Class 3A Solon in a season-opening showdown between the two schools previously tied for the state record with four consecutive championships (Solon from 2007-10 with three titles in 2A and the last one in 3A).
That opening cliffhanger also snapped Regina’s state-record winning streak at 56 in a row.
Coincidentally, West Lyon also opened its season with an eye-opening loss, absorbing a 49-14 drubbing at the hands of arch-rival Central Lyon/George-Little Rock.
As a result, Friday’s game paired up two teams that had each responded to opening losses with 12 wins in a row.
Not only that, it was a clash between two of last year’s state champs since West Lyon had reigned in Class A, the Wildcats’ fourth state crown.
And, ultimately, it was probably decided by two big plays for Cook’s team.
The first followed a defensive stop to open the game and then, on Regina’s first scrimmage play, the ball was pitched twice on an apparent reverse before a third pitch went back to Drew Cook. And, just like they’d practice it all week, the top-ranked Regals had wide receiver Nathan Stenger wide open down the field for a 47-yard touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead.
“We worked with it and kind of liked it and thought we’d just take a shot,’’ said Cook, who later got another TD when his son ran a fly pattern to the end zone and hauled in a 24-yard pass from Stenger – the third time the play had gone for a score this season.
For Regina, running back and linebacker Jake Brinkman was a dominating presence on both sides of the ball, even though he was held under 100 yards rushing with 98 on 14 carries. The 6-1, 205-pound North Dakota State recruit, who came into the game with 1,155 yards, did break the second-half kickoff for a 94-yard touchdown that opened up a 28-7 advantage.
“We made big plays,’’ said Marv Cook. “The flea-flicker (opening TD) was huge and Jake’s kickoff return was huge. That’s the difference in the game for the most part, was a couple of big plays.’’
West Lyon, meanwhile, came up empty on four solid scoring chances, starting with a long drive that ended two yards from the end zone after a 15-yard chop block on first-and-goal at the 10 all but sabotaged the bid.
Two plays later, though, Jordan Van Beek recovered a Regina fumble at the 15-yard line and Chase Grotewold’s one-yard TD run four plays later made it a 7-7 tie.
Regina, though, needed only one third-down play to craft scoring marches on its two remaining first half chances. By comparison, the last two opportunities of the half for West Lyon saw the Wildcats sputter in the red zone and also self-destruct with their first of two drives foiled by fourth-and-one false starts.
“A few breaks here or there, a couple fourth-down conversions, and it’s a different game,’’ said longtime West Lyon Coach Jay Rozeboom, collecting his third runner-up trophy in seven state finals. “We had some costly penalties and that hurt us. I’m disappointed with the loss, but I’m proud of our kids. We had a chance to roll over there a little bit and our kids fought for four quarters.’’
Indeed, the Wildcats put together two second-half touchdown drives, pulling within 31-21 with 6:06 remaining. Vaughn Moser, who carried 27 times for 151 yards, scored both TDs on short runs.
“We graduated everyone (eight starters each on offense and defense) from a team that went 14-0, kind of blowing everyone out of the water,’’ said 6-3, 285-pound Jake Newborg, a two-way lineman headed for Iowa. “That’s just kind of a testament to how hard we worked in the offseason and in season. It showed the West Lyon tradition. We want to win every year.
“Regina’s a class act. They’re good and they’re going to be good for a long time. You can’t really hang your heads on losing to them.’’
“I feel like we were very close – closer than the score indicates,’’ said West Lyon quarterback Dylan Whalen. “We had a lot of drives we could have put points on the board, but we beat ourselves with penalties. We’re proud of how our season went and we’re proud of playing a great team well.’’
In between Brinkman’s second-half kickoff return and the TD reception for quarterback Drew Cook, Regina also added the season’s sixth field goal in 10 tries for Jacob Adam. The senior kicker finished the season 84 of 84 on PATs and, more remarkably, he wrapped up his prep career 161 of 161 on extra points along with 17 of 24 on field goal attempts.
Iowa City Regina 38, West Lyon 21
Iowa City Regina 7 14 7 10 -- 38
West Lyon 7 0 7 7 -- 21
First Quarter
REGINA: Nathan Stenger 47 pass from Drew Cook (Jacob Adam kick) 10:09
WL: Chase Grotewold 1 run (Jaden Snyder kick) 2:25
Second Quarter
REGINA: Jake Brinkman 15 run (Adam kick) 11:36
REGINA: Nick Phillips 9 run (Adam kick) 5:08
Third Quarter
REGINA: Brinkman 94 kickoff return (Adam kick) 11:46
WL: Vaughn Moser 4 run (Snyder kick) 6:39
Fourth Quarter
REGINA: FG Adam 31, 9:50
WL: Moser 3 run (Snyder kick) 6:06
REGINA: Cook 24 pass from Stenger (Adam kick) 3:22
TEAM STATISTICS
Regina WL
First downs 19 20
Rushes-yards 29-191 57-314
Passing yards 199 81
Passes 14-17-1 6-11-0
Total plays-yards 390 395
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Penalties-yards 6-39 6-45
Punts-avg. 1-43.0 3-26.7
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Iowa City Regina – Jake Brinkman 14-98, Drew Cook 6-50, Aaron Barnes 2-26, Nick Phillips 4-15, Nile Vincent 1-6, Team 1-(-2), Eric Bracken 1-(-2). West Lyon – Vaughn Moser 27-151, Dylan Whalen 11-57, Chase Grotewold 8-48, Damon Knobloch 6-37, Dylan Huyser 4-18, Isaac Heyer 1-3.
PASSING: Iowa City Regina – Drew Cook 13-16-1—175, Nathan Stenger 1-1-0—24. West Lyon – Dylan Whalen 6-11-0—81.
