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Game for the Ages: Bears upset Bellevue in 45-41 thriller
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · September 23, 2017
A homecoming win:
Sweet.
A homecoming win where West Branch intercepts a nearly last-second go-ahead touchdown to upset a higher-ranked Bellevue team in a high-scoring, back-and-forth, edge-of-your-seat slugfest:
Breathtaking.
When a smiling Head Coach Butch Pedersen approached the team for the post-game huddle, he stopped, looked around at the players, and paused for a long moment.
“For the first time in my life, I’m speechless,” he said of No. 7 West Branch’s 45-41 win over No. 6 Bellevue. “That was a hell of a ball game.”
West Branch looked in control with a two-touchdown lead at the half, but Bellevue stormed back in the second half, closed the gap and took the lead in the final quarter.
The lead changed four times in the final 12 minutes in an epic battle of adrenaline and nerves. Bellevue trailed by four points and covered 69 yards in less than a minute when West Branch senior Ben Thompson picked off a pass at the one-yard line with 7.2 seconds left on the clock to stop the score and save the homecoming game.
“You got up, you got down, you got up again. But you gave a perfect effort and won the d--- game! You should be so proud of yourself,” an elated Pedersen told the team.
The Bears coach said both teams made big plays throughout the night.
“It was a shame somebody had to lose,” he said.
Thompson credited Assistant Coach Cole Kelly, who taught the defensive backs to not let the receiver get inside.
“I turned around and the ball landed in my stomach,” he said. “I realized we had won and it was awesome.”
He said Kelly’s coaching had the secondary defense feeling “really confident.”
“Coach Cole Kelly is probably the best D-back coach in our district and he has us ready to go for every pass situation, so we were good to go,” Thompson said.
In the two drives previous, both West Branch and Bellevue worked their way down to just a few yards from the end zone when the defense dug in for what appeared to be successful goal-line stands. In both cases, each team faced fourth-and-one and each offense rammed through the defense with a quarterback sneak.
“Oh, that was crazy,” Thompson said. “That was the perfect (end) for the perfect game. You couldn’t get anything better on a Friday night game with two teams going back and forth at the goal lines, crowds going crazy. It was great!”
Pedersen called Thompson “extremely coachable” and capable.
“I thought it was a great play by a great senior captain,” he said. “He knew what he was supposed to do, and the defense held when it needed to hold. It was a tribute to the entire defense on that last stand.”
Bellevue, 4-1, 2-1, Head Coach Chet Knake said called the game “everything we thought it was going to be.”
“It was a very exciting game, a great game, with both teams battling with a lot of pride, and it came down to the last play,” he said.
The Comet comeback in the fourth quarter to retake a lead they lost in the first quarter made Knake “proud of my kids.”
West Branch rolled up 524 total yards to Bellevue’s 558, giving the game a whopping 1,082 yards in this powerhouse collision at the Little Rose Bowl. The Bears covered 343 yards with passing to the Comets’ 322, and the home team ran for 181 yards to the visitors’ 236. Both teams converted on both fourth-down conversion attempts.
Pedersen said the scoring and yardage put up by both teams “is indicative of the athletes on the field.”
“It was a great opportunity to showcase a lot of talent on both teams,” he said.
WestBranchFootball.com cracked open the record books and made a few observations: Beau Cornwell’s 343 yards of passing broke a 21-year-old record of 303, set in 1996; Jacob “Cheese” Graves’ 168 yards of receiving beat Cooper Kabela’s 163-yard record set last year; Cornwell’s fifth field goal ties a single-season record set by Josh Griebahn; and Coach Butch Pedersen earned his 292nd victory, tying him with the late Ed Thomas of Aplington-Parkersburg.
“This was very exciting,” Graves said of the game. “I did not expect it to be that close.”
He said it “feels great” to come away with a homecoming game win.
“It’s a good boost,” Graves said. “Now we’re No. 1 in the district.”
Pedersen called it a “classic high school football game” with two Top Ten Class 1A teams.
“Both teams and coaching staffs worked their hearts out,” he said.
Pedersen said the Bears entered the game confident, so now the coaches need to ensure that does not turn into overconfidence.
“There’s still four games left,” he said. “We have to continue our philosophy of one game at a time.”
Graves said the Bears suffered a “mental breakdown” that allowed Bellevue to come back from trailing 31-13.
“We got ahead of ourselves,” he said.
West Branch got picked off once around midfield, and Bellevue capitalized on the return drive. Yet the Bears caused more turnover problems for the Comets, with three interceptions — Thompson, Graves and Brett Schiele — all 10 yards or less from the end zone, snatching away three potential Comet scores. West Branch also forced two fumbles, one by freshman Jeff Bowie and another by Brett Schiele, the first of which came on the last play of the first half and the second of which senior Billy Friis recovered for the Bears.
Until Friday, Bellevue only suffered one interception and one fumble in four previous games. On Friday, they turned it over four times.
“The turnovers … they were too hard to overcome,” Knake said.
Graves called the turnovers “huge.”
“They got the offense in good position and we took advantage of them,” he said.
Pedersen agreed, calling the turnovers “very helpful for us to get this W.”
Bear junior John Hatfield led the team with eight tackles, followed by Schiele with 6.5, Thompson with 4.5, Graves with 3.5 and Jeff Bowie with 2.5 and the aforementioned sack.
The most yardage in a single Comet play came in the third quarter on special teams when junior Hunter Clasen caught a kickoff and returned it 91 yards for a touchdown. That started what would turn into three unanswered scores that vaulted the visitors from a 31-13 deficit to 34-31 lead in a matter of nine minutes.
“Special teams was a positive for us,” Knake said. The Bears’ two drives in that run ended with an interception and blocked punt.
Graves said Bellevue brought a strong passing and running game, calling Cade Daugherty a “very good quarterback” and Hunter Clasen a “hard runner.”
Cornwell’s 343 yards came from landing 18 of 27 passes and one falling into Comet hands. He threw for three touchdowns, ran for one, sank six extra points and a field goal.
Graves’ 168 yards came only with five catches of the night, meaning he averaged 33.6 yards every time the ball landed in his hands. He also scored two touchdowns.
The coach said both the individual and the team can take credit for those records.
“They couldn’t do it without their teammates,” he said, adding that his players would agree. “You have records if you play together as a team.”
Junior Brett Schiele also nabbed five catches resulting in 69 yards, or 13.8 yards per catch. Tanner Lukavsky caught four passes for 32 yards, Ben Thompson caught three passes for 46 yards and a touchdown, and Brady Lukavsky caught one pass for 28 yards.
Sophomore Tanner Lukavsky’s rushing yards continues to improve as the season wears on. He rushed for 160 net yards on 29 attempts, about 5.5 yards per carry, and scored two touchdowns.
Pedersen said he expects “to see that with a young back,” getting better game by game.
“With more repetitions … the better he is going to get,” the coach said. “He’s also good at catching passes, so he’s pretty diversified.”
Pedersen was pleased to see an even split of rushing and receiving touchdowns, which speaks to the team’s balanced offense.
“It made the offense hard to defend,” he said. “And we did a lot of good things on the running game and the passing game and got more touches for everybody so an opponent can’t key in on one person.”
With the win, West Branch sits atop District 3 the only 5-0, 3-0 record. The Bears moved up to No. 6 on the Des Moines Register’s Class 1A Top 10 football rankings, taking Bellevue’s spot. The Comets dropped off the list after the loss.
Durant next
Durant, 2-3, 1-1, comes off a solid win over North Cedar, with an eyebrow-raising five touchdowns at the half in that victory.
The Bears will travel to the Wildcats’ field for Week 6 action.
Pedersen said the team needs to “not listen to the noise” about which opponents are better because it may harm effort.
“We want to go into this game and improve as a football team,” he said. “How does anybody know (a game’s outcome)? Clayton Ridge has not lost in district play. … Our district is a pretty good district, and I think it’s stronger than some around here. That will help us as the year goes on.”
Durant quarterback Bryce Lafrenz connects with receivers about 54 percent of the time, but each catch averages 16.2 yards of production and he has seven targets to spread the field. His favorite target is Mason Compton with 17 receptions and three touchdowns. Five receivers — Compton, Marcus Engstler, Cole Miedema, Zac Badtram and Curtis Lilienthal — average about 13 yards or more per catch.
On the rushing side, Tristan Hughes leads the Wildcat team with 322 yards and three touchdowns, but he is only one of seven entrusted to carry the ball from behind the line of scrimmage.
Eight different players recorded touchdowns for the Wildcats, with an even split between receivers and backs.
“They are clicking right now,” Pedersen said.
Pedersen said the coaches and players watched Durant game film over the weekend, and said opponents ought not to read too much into their record.
“They’re excellent, and they’re huge,” the coach said, with an offensive line weighing 260 to 270 pounds and a 260-pound fullback.
He called Compton a “great receiver” and remembers Lafrenz attending West Branch schools when he was younger.
“We need to make sure we take care of business and don’t overlook anybody,” Pedersen said. “Anything can happen and that’s just the way it has to be. We want to continue to improve and we’re not going to stop doing that.”
The Bears coach said West Branch will try some new defenses in hopes of slowing down Durant, as well as “playing as hard as we can.”
West Branch 45, Bellevue 41
Scoring
Bellevue 7 6 14 14 41
West Branch 7 21 3 14 45
Bellevue West Branch
First downs 20 24
First Downs: Rush-pass-penalty 11-9-0 12-11-1
Rushing yards 236 181
Passing: Completions-Attempts 14-31 18-27
Passing yards 322 343
Passing: TD-Interceptions 4-3 3-1
Total plays 62 65
Offensive yards 558 524
Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0
Penalties-yards 8-50 5-30
Defensive sacks-yards lost 1-3 1-12
Time of possession 21:41 26:19
3rd down efficiency 7 of 13 4 of 12
4th down efficiency 2 of 2 2 of 2
Punts-average yards 2-36.5 4-34
First quarter
B: Cade Daugherty 63-yard pass to Hunter Clasen; Dillon Rentz kick; 11:11
WB: Beau Cornwell 12-yard pass to Jacob Graves; Cornwell kick; 5:10
Second quarter
WB: Tanner Lukavsky 28 run; Cornwell kick; 11:53
WB: Lukavsky 18 run; Cornwell kick; 8:45
B: C. Daugherty 26 pass to Clasen; kick failed; 41.6 seconds
WB: Cornwell 67-yard pass to Jacob Graves; Cornwell kick; 21.1 seconds
Third quarter
WB: Cornwell 27-yard field goal; 4:43
B: Hunter Clasen 91-yard kickoff return; Rentz kick; 4:29
B: Daugherty 33-yard pass to Trevor Hager; Rentz kick; 1:04
Fourth quarter
B: C. Daugherty 40-yard pass to Hagar; Rentz kick; 7:32
WB: Cornwell 31-yard pass to Ben Thompson; Cornwell kick; 6:31
B: C. Daugherty 1 run; Rentz kick; 3:06
WB: Cornwell 1 run; Cornwell kick; 54.7 seconds
• • • • •
Passing — Beau Cornwell 18-343, 3 TD, 1 INT
Rushing — Beau Cornwell 5-15, 1 TD; Jacob Graves 3-6; Tanner Lukavsky 29-160, 2 TDs
Receiving — Ben Thompson 3-46, 1 TD; Brady Lukavsky 1-28; Brett Schiele 5-69; Jacob Graves 5-168, 2 TDs; Tanner Lukavsky 4-32
Tackles (solos-assists-sacks) — Evan O’Neil 0-1-0; Ben Thompson 4-1-0, 1 INT; Brady Lukavsky 1-1-0; Dakota Kaalberg 0-2-0; Brett Schiele 5-3-0, 1 INT, 1 forced fumble; Jacob Graves 3-1-0, 1 INT; Tanner Lukavsky 2-0-0; John Hatfield 4-8-0; Levi Kleinmeyer 0-1-0; Cameron Howsare 1-2-0; Dalyn Pederson 3-3-0; Billy Friis 3-5-0, 1 recovered fumble; Andrew Black 2-2-0; Jeff Bowie 2-0-1, 1 forced fumble; Drake Bloem 2-1-0; Jacob Barnhart 2-1-0; Matt Paulsen 1-0-0
Kick returns: Brady Lukavsky 2-14; Brett Schiele 5-79
Punt returns-Yards: Brett Schiele 2-33
Punting: Beau Cornwell 3-136
Kickoffs: Beau Cornwell 8-361
PATs: Beau Cornwell 6-6
FGs: Beau Cornwell 1-1
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