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| Wilton senior placekicker gets ready to boot a 43-yard field goal out of the hold from quarterback Jerome Mays (1) during #8 Wilton's 41-17 loss at #1 Iowa City Regina last Friday. The field goal, set a new school record. The previous record was 41 yards. Photo by Ryan Stonebraker, Tipton Conservative. |
By Ryan Stonebraker
Tipton Conservative Sports Editor
IOWA CITY — The top two teams in class 1A district 4 met last Friday in Iowa City as top ranked Iowa City Regina faced #8 Wilton with big implications on the D4 playoff chase. The winner of the football game would be in the driver’s seat for the district title, while the loser would have to win out to get the runner-up spot in the district. There, it was the Regals that flexed their muscles up front, carving out running lanes while racking up 383 yards on the ground in a 41-17 win.
“We wanted to win a district title and that is what we talked about all week and we knew we had to beat Regina,” said Wilton football coach Ryan Hetzler.
“The one thing that we come away from tonight, and that I am most proud of and something that this team has that previous teams may not have had, is that when we got down 27-0, we fought back and punched them back. We went toe to toe with them for a bit. I am not upset about our effort,” he said.
The Regals scored the game's first 27 points including 13 in the first quarter and 14 of their 21 second quarter points, running through the Beavers defense, before the Beavers got on the scoreboard.
Regina took the opening kickoff and marched down field scoring their first touchdown on an Isaac Vollstedt 3-yard run, two minutes into the game. The Beavers found little room to operate offensively on their first drive and had to punt the football back to the Regals. Vollstedt finished with 182 yards on 15 carries. All but three of his yards came in the first half.
Regina again marched down the field and scored again, this time on a Jacob Phillips 14-yard run to set the score at 13-0, three minutes later.
Wilton put together a 10-play drive on their second drive which ended at the 11-yard line on a 4th and two. Trey Brisker was stopped at the line of scrimmage, ending the scoring threat.
The Regals extended their lead to 20-0 on a 9-yard run by Michael Conlon early in the second quarter, giving the Regals three different players with touchdowns in their first three scoring drives.
Wilton, having struggled to move the football on the ground, tried to move the football through the air. Jerome Mays came into the game without having thrown an interception and on the ensuing Beaver drive did, setting up Regina with a short field. Soon after, Mason Simpson rumbled into the end zone from 18 yards out to push the score to 27-0 with 8:54 remaining before halftime.
Wilton finally put up points on the scoreboard with back to back scoring drives. Evan Reifert caught a short pass on the Beavers next drive and outran the Regals defensive backs for a 79-yard touchdown, putting the score at 27-7 with 7:59 left in the half. After forcing a Regal punt, the Beavers embarked on a long drive that ended in a Jerome Mays 1-yard touchdown run trimming the Regal lead to 27-14 with 2:34 left before halftime. The Beavers second score capped off an 8-play drive that started at their own 46-yard line.
Too much time remained for the Regals however as Regina marched down and punched in another touchdown before halftime, a Conlon 5-yard run to put the score at 34-14 at halftime.
Regina outscored Wilton 7-3 in the second half. However, the three points for the Beavers had special significance. Senior Kaleb Timmsen broke the school record with a 43-yard field goal with 4:22 left in the football game. The previous record was 41 yards.
Hetzler said that the game was all but over, but instead of trying to convert a 4th down, Wilton chose to give a record breaking field goal attempt to his senior placekicker.
“We had the chance to go for it on 4th and 5 or maybe it was 4th and 7, and we could have gone for it, but the field goal record is something that he (Timmsen) has been chasing. He’ll tell you, it’s 41 yards. We all know it is 41 yards, because he reminds us every Thursday. It’s been a goal of his since he started playing football. We’re excited for him and most of our sideline came off the sideline to celebrate with him,” said Hetzler.
Wilton finished with 14 first downs and 303 yards of total offense. Regina had 22 first downs and 457 yards of total offense.
The Beavers fared well against the big Regals offensive line with 179 rushing yards and had a few drives in the second half that including big gains on the ground. Mays finished with 103 yards passing and 88 yards rushing. He passed for one touchdown and rushed for one touchdown. He threw two interceptions, his first picks of the season for the sophomore quarterback.
“This was a big eye opening experience for Jerome. When you look at the type of quarterback we want him to be down the road, this is his first big time game. I was impressed with how he played. He ran the ball hard. He’s a sophomore quarterback and he is going to make some mistakes. We’ve been lucky to this point with the interceptions. Inches matter and we can fix those things,” said Hetzler.
Bryce Oveson rushed for 68 yards on 21 carries and Trey Brisker rushed for 23 yards on eight carries. Kaleb Timmsen caught two passes for 40 yards.
Defensively, Oveson had 15 tackles including nine solo tackles and Trey Brisker had 11 tackles including five solo tackles to lead the defense. Wilton defensive lineman Nathaniel DeVore sent the Wilton sideline and fans who made the trek to Iowa City crazy, when he picked off a screen pass by the Regals in the second half and rumbled to a 9-yard return. The Beavers turned the football over on their ensuing drive as Trae Rogers picked off Mays for the second time in the game, jumping past Evan Reifert at the goal-line to snatch away a likely Wilton touchdown.
Other tackle leaders were Tyler Hartman 8 and Kaleb Timmsen and Jared Townsend each had 6 tackles.
Michael Condon passed for 70 yards on 3-of-4 completions with a touchdown. He also rushed for 49 yards and scored twice. Jacob Phillips rushed for 79 yards and Mason Simpson 75. Each scored a touchdown. Phillips caught two passes for 50 yards. Daniel Sullivan, Brady Bigley and Jared Brinkman each had six tackles to lead the Regals.
The Beavers have three football games remaining in the 2016, the next two are at home with the first one Friday against Wapello. Games with Van Buren on the 14th and at Sigourney-Keota round out the season. The Beavers, Wapello and Sigourney-Keota all are in the mix for the final guaranteed playoff spot out of district 4. All three teams are 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the district. All three have lost to Iowa City Regina. Wapello and Wilton mirror each other with points scored and points given up. Both have scored 219 points in six games and Wapello holds a 95 to 99 point differential over Wilton for points given up.
Wapello has the district’s top passer, Logan Belzer who has 981 yards, 12 TD’s and 0 interceptions. Running back Adrian Lanz is the third leading running back in the district wtih 651 yards and 12 scores and receiver Logan Mears leads the district in receptions, yards and touchdowns. The Arrows have won three straight football games.
Team Statistics:
WIL ICR
First Downs 14 22
Rush Att-Ave. 43-4.2 48-8.0
Rush yards 179 383
Pass C-A-I 4-11-2 4-9-1
Pass yards 124 74
Returns-yds. 6-91 3-49
Penalties-yds. 3-15 4-35
Turnovers 2 1
Time of Poss. 25:16 22:44
Total Yards 303 457
Quarter Scores:
1 2 3 4 Final
Wilton 0 14 0 3 17
IC Regina 13 21 7 0 41
Scoring Summary:
1st Qtr (9:59) - ICR - Isaac Vollstedt 3-yard run (Simpson kick blocked)
1st Qtr (6:57) - ICR - Jacob Phillips 14-yard run (Simpson kick)
2nd Qtr (9:51) - ICR - Michael Conlon 9-yard run (Simpson kick)
2nd Qtr (8:54) - ICR - Mason Simpson 18-yard run (Simpson kick)
2nd Qtr (7:59) - WIL - Evan Reifert 79-yard pass from Jerome Mays (Kaleb Timmsen kick)
2nd Qtr (2:34) - WIL - Jerome Mays 1-yard run (Kaleb Timmsen kick)
2nd Qtr (0:07) - ICR - Michael Conlon 5-yard run (Simpson kick good)
3rd Qtr (3:50) - ICR - Noah Felderman 20-yard pass from Michael Conlon (Simpson kick)
4th Qtr (4:22) - WIL - Kaleb Timmsen 43-yard field goal
Individual Statistics:
Rushing: Wilton - Jerome Mays 14-88, Bryce Oveson 21-68, Trey Brisker 8-23. ICR - Isaac Vollstedt 15-182, Jacob Phillips 12-79, Michael Condon 8-49, Mason Simpson 6-75, Daniel Sullivan 2-19, Thomas Rapp 2-(-1).
Passing: Wilton - Jerome Mays 3-for-10 103 yards 1 TD, 2 INT’s; Evan Reifert 1-for-1 21 yards, 0 TD’s, 0 INT’s. ICR - Michael Condon 3-for-4 70 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT’s; Thomas Rapp 1-for-5 4 yards, 0 TD’s, 1 INT.
Receiving: Wilton - Kaleb Timmsen 2-40, Evan Reifert 1-79, Trey Brisker 1-5. ICR - Jacob Phillips 2-50, Noah Felderman 1-20, Jack Jensen 1-4.
Defensive Statistics:
Tackles (S-A-T): Wilton - Bryce Oveson 9-6 15,Trey Brisker 5-6 11, Nathaniel DeVore 3-5 8, Kaleb Timmsen 3-4 7, Tyler Hartman 2-5 7, Brady Barrett 2-4 6, Jared Townsend 2-4 6, Evan Reifert 3-2 5, Jerome Mays 3-1 4, Chantz Stevens 1-1 2, Jake Lenker 1-1 2, Brock Hartley 0-1 1, Austin Pleggenkuhle 1-0 1, Ethan Fagner 0-1 1.
Iowa City Regina - Reagan Ries 6-1 7, Brady Bigley 6-0 6, Jared Brinkman 6-0 6, Daniel Sullivan 5-1 6, Jacob Phillips 5-1 6, Mason Simpson 2-2 4, Steve Sehl 4-0 4, Trae Rogers 4-0 4, Christian Iben 3-1 4, Andrew Hingst 2-0 2, Jack Jensen 1-1 2, Alex Moore 1-1 2.Scott Arndt 1-0 1, Patrick Clark 1-0 1, Michael Condon 1-0 1, Luke Stein 1-0 1.
Interceptions: Wilton - Nathaniel DeVore 1-9 yards. Iowa City Regina - Trae Rogers 2-49 yards.
Kicking Statistics:
Kick-Offs: Wilton - Kaleb Timmsen 4-213 yards, 53.3-ave. ICR - Sam Stein 7-378 yards, 2 touchbacks, 54.0-ave.
Kick-Off Returns: Wilton - Trey Brisker 4-53, Evan Reifert 1-20. ICR - Jacob Phillips 2-20, Brady Bigley 1-23.
Punts: Wilton - Evan Reifert 2-88 yards, 44.0-ave. ICR - Sam Stein 2-76 yards, 38.0-ave.
Punt Returns: Wilton - Evan Reifert 1-18 yards, 18.0-ave. ICR - none.
PAT’s: Wilton - Kaleb Timmsen 2-for-2. ICR - Sam Stein 5-for-6.
Field Goals: Wilton - Kaleb Timmsen 1-for-1, long of 43 yards. ICR - none.
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