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| Durant's Bryce Lafrenz tries to get out of the grasp of a BGM defender during the Wildcats win over the Bears last week. Durant beat the No. 5 ranked team in class 1A 28-7 to clinch a share of the district title. Photo by Ryan Stonebraker. |
By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor
DURANT — The Durant Wildcat football team sent a big message to Class A teams last Friday night at home with an upset victory over previously unbeaten BGM, 28-7. The Bears were ranked No. 5 in the Associated Press football poll as well as ranked in the Radio Iowa and Des Moines Register polls. The Bears were 7-0 and 3-0 in district play, the Wildcats were 5-2 and 3-0 in district play. Though each team has this week’s games’ left, last week’s game was a de facto district title game. The Wildcats also clinched a postseason spot for only the third time in school history, the last coming in 2010 when the Wildcats entered the postseason 5-4 under then-coach Casey Bouska.
The Wildcats matched the Bears intense play the whole night and did not allow the Bears to get their potent offense going. BGM had not scored less than 28 points in any of their seven wins coming into Friday’s game and had scored 30 or more points in each of their first five games including over 50 twice. The Wildcats came into the game on a win streak of their own of four games, after dropping two of their first three games to begin the 2018 season.
Durant showed off its prolific passing game last Friday night. Senior quarterback Bryce Lafrenz had quite a night and came up big in the big game. Lafrenz passed for 232 yards on 11-of-19 completions with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Lafrenz leads district 6 in passing with 1,407 yards and 16 touchdowns. His yardage total is fourth in Class A and his TD pass total is tied for third. It was also a big night for his receivers. Junior Jake Willkomm had a career night, nearly doubling his season total for receptions, yardage, and touchdowns. Willkomm came into the game with four catches for 122 yards and a touchdown. Friday he had three receptions for 98 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Mason Compton also had a stellar night, leading the Wildcat receivers with four receptions for 62 yards and a touchdown. Compton reclaimed his spot atop Class A as the classes leading receiver at 847 yards. He is second in receptions with 40 and touchdowns with 10.
Tristan Hughes inched closer to topping 1,000 yards this season, leading the Wildcats with a 67-yard night on 17 carries. Hughes now has 883 yards on the ground is the fourth leading rusher in the district.
Defensively, Durant was led by Zac Badtram with 13 tackles, Joe Lilienthal with 12 and Mason Compton with 10. Tristan Hughes and Cameron Ruggiero each had seven. Tristan Hughes had a tackle for loss and a sack while Brendan Paper and Jonah Werth each had fumble recoveries. Durant intercepted BGM passers three times with Marcus Engstler getting two and Bryce Lafrenz getting one interception.
BGM junior running back Noah Beck topped the 1,000-yard mark for the season in the game. Beck, one of the most prolific backs in district six, rushed for 76 yards on 14 carries and scored the only BGM touchdown.
Durant held BGM quarterback Scott Tibbetts to only 29 yards passing on six completions. Tibbetts entered the game with just over 650 yards passing and 10 touchdowns. The Wildcats did not allow leading BGM receiver Devon Maxfield a reception in the game.
Durant scored first in the game when Lafrenz connected with Jake Willkomm for a 22-yard pass with just under a minute left in the first quarter, giving Durant a 7-0 lead. A Wildcat special teams turnover set BGM up for their first score in the second quarter. With 3:29 left in the first half, the Bears tied the game at 7-7 on a 6-yard Noah Beck touchdown run. Durant would retake the lead before halftime, marching down the field and scoring with 1:29 left in the half. Another connection from Lafrenz to Willkomm, this one for 15 yards, gave Durant a 14-7 halftime lead.
The Willkomm to Lafrenz connection continued into the third quarter when the two accounted for the only points for either team in the third quarter. A 34-yard scoring pass play gave the Wildcats a two-score lead, 21-7 with 1:29 left in the quarter. Durant put the game away early in the fourth quarter when Lafrenz threw for his fourth touchdown of the game, a 20-yard pass to Mason Compton, to extend the Wildcats lead to 28-7.
Durant will look to complete an undefeated district 6 seasons this Friday when they travel to Pekin. The Panthers are out of the playoff picture this year, but have a record of 5-3 and would like nothing better than to spoil the Wildcats regular season finale.
The Panthers are led by the leading rusher in the district, Dayne Eckley who has 1,440 yards, 13 touchdowns and an 8.7-yard per carry average. Quarterback Caleb Comstock has passed for 713 yards and 11 touchdowns and Kennan Winn is the leading receiver with 221 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Quarter Scores:
1 2 3 4 Final
BGM 0 7 0 0 7
Durant 7 7 7 7 28
Scoring Summary:
1st Qtr (0:44) - D - Jake Willkomm 22-yard pass from Bryce Lafrenz (Hector Gonzales kick)
2nd Qtr (3:29) - BGM - Noah Beck 6-yard run (Cam Loschen kick)
2nd Qtr (1:09) - D - Jake Willkomm 66-yard pass from Bryce Lafrenz (Hector Gonzales kick)
3rd Qtr (1:29) - D - Jake Willkomm 34-yard pass from Bryce Lafrenz (Hector Gonzales kick)
4th Qtr (11:20) - D - Mason Compton 20-yard pass from Bryce Lafrenz (Hector Gonzales kick)
Individual Statistics:
Rushing: BGM - Noah Beck 14-76, Dylan Staker 5-16, Kaden Rhinehart 4-25, Scott Tibbetts 4-1, Dawson Owens 2-10. Durant - Tristan Hughes 17-67, Drew DeLong 13-38, Zac Badtram 3-18, Bryce Lafrenz 4-(-13), Jake Willkomm 1-24.
Passing: BGM - Scott Tibbetts 6-for-12 29 yards, 0 TD’s, 1 INT. Noah Beck 1-for-3 2 yards, 0 TD’s, 2 INT’s. Durant - Bryce Lafrenz 11-for-19 232 yards 4 TD’s, 0 INT’s.
Receiving: BGM - Ulises Felix 2-19, Noah Beck 2-3, Jordan Kriegel 2-2, Dawson Owens 1-7. Durant - Mason Compton 4-62, 3-98, Jake Willkomm 3-98, Marcus Engstler 1-20, Zac Badtram 1-9, Will Lossi 1-8.
Defensive Statistics:
Tackles (S-A-T): BGM - Kyle Cadden 4-6 10, Noah Beck 7-2 9, Dawson Owens 4-3 7, Tanner Wright 2-5 7, Ulises Felix 2-4 6, Austin Hall 3-3 6, Dylan Staker 2-3 5, Hunter Rudd 1-3 4, Joe Kasal 1-2 3, Jordan Kriegel 3-0 3, Devon Maxfield 1-2 3, Kaden Rhinehart 2-1 3, Omar Corona 1-0 1.
Durant - Zac Badtram 1-12 13, Joe Lilienthal 3-9 12, Mason Compton 5-5 10, Tristan Hughes 3-4 7, Cameron Ruggiero 0-7 7, Jonah Werth 4-1 5, Bryce Lafrenz 2-3 5, Marcus Engstler 1-4 5, Drew DeLong 1-3 4, Will Lossi 1-1 2, Lucas Callison 1-0 1, Kegan Head 0-1 1, Brendan Paper 0-1 1, Jake Willkomm 0-1 1.
Tackles For Loss: BGM - Kyle Cadden 4, Dylan Staker 3, Austin Hall 3, Jordan Kriegel 2, Dawson Owens 2, Tanner Wright 1, Joe Kasal 1, Ulises Felix 1. Durant - Tristan Hughes 1.
Sacks: BGM - Kyle Cadden 1. Durant - Tristan Hughes 1.
Fumble Recoveries: Durant - Brendan Paper 1, Jonah Werth 1.
Interceptions: Durant - Marcus Engstler 2, Bryce Lafrenz 1.
Kicking Statistics:
Kick-Offs: BGM - Ulises Felix 2-73 yards. Durant - Hector Gonzales 5-251 yards.
Kick-Off Returns: BGM - Dawson Owens 3-56, Noah Beck 1-21. Durant - Mason Compton 1-7.
Punts: BGM - Ulises Felix 5-193 yards, 38.6-ave. Durant - Bryce Lafrenz 5-162 yards 32.4-ave.
Punt Returns: BGM - Noah Beck 4-55 yards. Durant - Mason Compton 2-12.
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