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West Branch shuts out J-Hawks, 47-0
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · September 14, 2017
Jesup couldn’t go anywhere.
The visiting J-Hawks got ahold of the football 10 times on Friday night at the Little Rose Bowl, but West Branch’s back-breaking defense held those drives to negative yardage five times.
And four of the other five drives ended with net yards of 10 or fewer in the positive.
When the Bears got their turn with the ball, they swooped in to score three touchdowns in the first quarter, coasted for a couple of drives, then plowed through for four more touchdowns in a row.
Final score: 47-0, West Branch.
And in that offensive effort, senior wide receiver Ben Thompson caught three passes for touchdowns, tying a school record.
And it all happened with Bears wearing purple in honor of the former Polar Bears mascot, in front of a crowd that included a 50th reunion of the Class of 1967 and the “mythical state champion” 1966 Bears football team.
Head Coach Butch Pedersen said he told the current Bears team before the game that he had always been impressed with how much members of the Class of 1967 had interpersonal chemistry and “family characteristics.”
“Our football team has a lot of the same characteristics,” he said. “Not only were they good at athletics, but involved in co-curricular activities. It was an honor to have them in attendance because the kids played extra hard.”
Thompson called it an “honor” to tie the school record for receiving touchdowns.
“It’s great and West Branch is a great program,” he said.
According to WestBranchFootball.com, four others hold that title: Mark Heid from 1983, Pat Gates from 1996, Ricky Riley from 2005, and Tyler Donovan from 2013.
Thompson credited junior quarterback Beau Cornwell, saying he “makes it easy.”
“He gets it on target,” Thompson said.
He did not know he tied the record until after the game. Asked if he thought the record would be higher, Thompson said, “Yes, yes. I did.”
“But I know West Branch is historically a running (program),” he said.
Thompson averaged 24 yards per catch that night, the longest at 48 yards for the first touchdown of the game. Two of those end zone catches required some acrobatics and one included a tug-of-war with a Jesup defender before the referee threw up his hands for the score.
Pedersen said Thompson started to “understand his potential” last season, and he “is blossoming more as a senior.”
“He’s a tremendous player with great hands and great vision on the field,” the coach said. “He really complements Beau’s ability to get the ball to him.”
Pedersen said that if opponents start to focus too much on Thompson, West Branch has three other receivers “who will burn them.”
“It’s like a family,” he said. “If you pick on one, the other three will beat you.”
Three other touchdowns came from sophomore Tanner Lukavsky, who ran in two and caught a third, and the fourth came from senior Jacob Graves, who ran one in.
Skimming through a summary of Jesup’s net yardage for each drive, it appears they collected only 17 total yards. However, due to a sack, tackles for losses and their own penalties, the J-Hawks hurt their forward motion and lost first-down yardage soon after earning them. By the end of the night, the visitors had 65 total yards, with 58 on the ground.
Bears defenders pushed them back 44 yards behind the line of scrimmage, intercepted two passes and recovered two fumbles.
Pedersen said defense ran to the ball well.
“They were gang-tackling extremely well,” he said. “To get a shutout is a special thing, I don’t care who you’re playing. We took a lot of pride in that.”
Late in the third quarter, West Branch scored with Tanner Lukavsky rushing four yards for a touchdown to give the Bears a 40-0 lead. That set the “continuous clock” rule — Iowa high school’s version of a mercy rule for football — in motion. Jesup ran down the final 3 1/2 minutes going three and out and set up for a punt at their own 23-yard line.
As if things could not get any worse for the J-Hawks, the punt attempt went backward when junior Brady Lukavsky soared in from the left, blocked the punt and then scrambled to recover it at the Jesup 6. To open the final quarter, senior running back Jacob Graves ran the ball twice to cover the distance and score.
“I saw an opening and I took it,” he said, crediting the defensive line for drawing J-Hawk blockers away from him. “I got my hands up.”
“It felt good,” B. Lukavsky said.
Pedersen said that play was “a simple example of the hustle Brady puts into every sport he plays.”
“He gives you everything he has on every single play,” the coach said. “He’s a good role model.”
Cornwell is among the Top Ten quarterbacks in Class 1A right now with 42 pass completions, 13.5 yards per completion and nine touchdowns. He is ranked No. 1 in District 3, ahead of No. 2 Maquoketa Valley senior Tyson Tucker and No. 3 Bellevue senior Cade Daughtery. On Friday, Cornwell averaged nearly 16 yards per completion and 206 yards in the air.
“He develops his reads well,” Pedersen said, and is getting better, finding second or even third options on the move. “That’s unusual for a high school kid. If he can continue to do that, he’ll be strong all year.”
West Branch recorded 17 first-downs with fairly even split between rushing and passing. The Bears’ 338 total yards is more than five times that of Jesup’s.
Sophomore running back T. Lukavsky chalked up his third game in a row with 100 yards or more, finishing Friday’s game with 101 yards on the ground, not to mention 24 yards on two catches. He scored three touchdowns, two from rushing.
As for those three 100-plus-yard games, Pedersen called it a “good start.”
“There’s still a lot of room for improvement, but he’s come a long way from the beginning of the year,” the coach said. “The sky’s the limit. If he continues to work hard, he could be one of the best football players ever to play at West Branch.”
Lukavsky also picked off a pass that set up the Bears’ second scoring drive from 12 yards away, which he also carried in.
West Branch shortened the J-Hawks’ next drive when junior Brett Schiele picked off another pass that set up the Bears’ third scoring drive.
Pedersen said he “really liked the way we’re starting to come together” as a team.
“Every week we improve a lot,” he said, noting that he can see greater improvement in the younger players, but still sees improvement in the more experienced upperclassmen.
“It helps the chemistry of the team when a lot of underclassmen give the effort they give,” he said. “It’s very gratifying.”
The coach called himself “extremely happy” with the crowd at Friday’s game.
“I’m pleased to be 3-0 and I don’t think anybody thought we’d do that,” he said. “It’s a real honor to our coaching staff and our players.”
The Des Moines Register Class 1A football rankings places West Branch at No. 7 this week. The Bears moved up one spot each week since the preseason rankings started the boys of red and black at No. 10.
Maquoketa
Valley next
The Maquoketa Valley Wildcats will host West Branch this Friday coming in with an identical 3-0 record.
Maquoketa Valley opened the season by beating Edgewood 20-18, Starmont 60-22 and Durant 28-14.
Pedersen said the Wildcats bring an “excellent” and “very balanced” offense.
The quarterback, Tyson Tucker, and his top two receivers, Brock Hillers and Norman Wilson, are a serious threat. And so is lead running back Garrett Hogan.
“We have to slow them down,” he said. “They’re very diversified and run to the ball well. It’s going to be a real challenge for us.”
The coach said he read one preseason prediction that put Maquoketa Valley ahead of West Branch for the playoffs, yet he welcomes the underdog status.
“That’s OK with us. We don’t read that much into it, though,” he said. “As long as we give perfect effort — that’s our mantra — win or lose, I’m going to be extremely happy. We’ve surprised a lot of people already.”
West Branch 47, Jesup 0
Scoring
Jesup 0 0 0 0 0
West Branch 21 7 12 7 47
Jesup WB
First downs 5 17
First downs: Rush-pass-penalty 4-1-0 8-9-0
Rushing yards 58 132
Passing: Completions-Attempts 2 of 11 13 of 18
Passing yards 7 206
Passing: TD-Interceptions 0-2 4-0
Total plays 43 46
Offensive yards 65 338
Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-0
Penalties-yards 5-40 2-10
Defensive sacks-yards lost 0-0 1-10
Time of possession 24:11 23:49
3rd down efficiency 0 of 11 1 of 5
4th down efficiency 2 of 2 1 of 2
Punts-average yards 7-28.71 2-30.5
First quarter
WB: Beau Cornwell 48-yard pass to Ben Thompson; Javier Zamudio kick; 7:01
WB: Tanner Lukavsky 3 run; Zamudio kick; 4:49
WB: Cornwell 15-yard pass to Lukavsky; Zamudio kick; 1:20
Second quarter
WB: Cornwell 22-yard pass to Thompson; Zamudio kick; 50.4 seconds
Third quarter
WB: Cornwell 21-yard pass to Thompson; kick failed; 8:43
WB: Lukavsky 4 run; 2 pt. conversion failed; 3:39
Fourth quarter
WB: Jacob Graves 6 run; Zamudio kick; 11:10
• • • • •
Passing — Beau Cornwell 18-209, 4 TD
Rushing — Beau Cornwell 1-14; Jacob Graves 5-20, 1 TD; Morgan Hartz 1-(-1); Tanner Lukavsky 17-101, 2 TDs; Levi Kleinmeyer 1-3
Receiving — Ben Thompson 4-96, 3 TDs; Brady Lukavsky 2-45; Brett Schiele 2-(-3); Jacob Graves 3-44; Tanner Lukavsky 2-24, 1 TD
Tackles (solos-assists-sacks) — Luca Passeri 1-0-0; Evan O’Neil 2-1-0; Ben Thompson 1-0-0; Brady Lukavsky 2-1-0, 1 forced fumble; Dakota Kaalberg 0-1-0; Brett Schiele 2-2-0, 1 INT; Jacob Graves 2-1-0; Tanner Lukavsky 1-3-0, 1 INT; John Hatfield 1-8-0; Levi Kleinmeyer 1-1-0, 1 forced fumble, fumble recovery; Cameron Howsare 1-2-0; Dalyn Pederson 1-4-0; Javier Zamudio 0-1-0; Billy Friis 1-5-0; Andrew Black 3-4-0; Jeff Bowie 2-4-1; Marcus Gould 0-1-0; Jacob Barnhart 1-3-0
Kick returns: Jacob Graves 1-18
Punt returns-Yards: Brett Schiele 2 fair catches; Jacob Graves 1-0
Punting: Beau Cornwell 2-61
Kickoffs: Javier Zamudio 8-376
PATs: Javier Zamudio 5 of 6
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