T-R FILE PHOTO

STATE CENTER — When a player calls out “UNO” and only one card remains in their hand, there’s no way to know what they’re holding.

West Marshall head football coach Cody Hackett showed his hand every Friday night, but there wasn’t much the opposition could do to stop him from playing a winner.

Somewhere in the Trojans’ play-calling system, the word “UNO” meant senior left tackle Luke Pinnick was moving to the other side of the formation, and the ball often followed West Marshall’s 6-foot-4, 295-pound pile-pusher.

Knowing, however, was only half of the battle for the opposing defense.

Pinnick, the Times-Republican’s All-Area Football Co-Player of the Year, helped propel his team to the top of the charts in Class 2A with 325.5 rushing yards per game, 40 rushing touchdowns and an 8-2 season that came up just shy of a trip to the state semifinals.

Hackett acknowledged his offense’s “tendency” to run behind the biggest player on the field in spite of the obviousness of that decision.

“I was told by a couple of coaches that when you have great players like that, you only get them for four years so you better use them,” Hackett said. “We made that switch (to UNO calls) this year … to try and put Luke in the best position for us to be successful. Obviously coaches watch film and I’m sure fans and everybody else knew who we were going to run behind, obviously we had tendencies, and we were going to run behind Luke and he still did a tremendous job.

“You know you’re going to be a successful team when the defense knows what you’re going to do and you’re still successful doing them on Friday night.”

Pinnick recently signed his National Letter of Intent to play NCAA Division I football at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, picking the Huskies over a number of suitors seeking to add the state’s 23rd-best prospect to their roster for next fall. Pinnick ranked 162nd nationally among offensive linemen, earning those distinctions after helping the 10th-ranked Trojans turn in an 8-2 season that came up one point shy of getting back to the UNI-Dome for the first time in eight seasons.

West Marshall’s ground game was relentless, leaning on Pinnick and a senior-laden offensive line to lead the way and clear running lanes for the likes of sophomore quarterback Peyton Hart and junior tailback Preston Pope.

Pope piled up 1,842 yards and 24 touchdowns running behind Pinnick a bulk of the time, especially as the season wore on and the competition improved. Pinnick and Co. met the challenge as West Marshall rushed for 279 yards in their 21-20 state quarterfinal loss to PCM.

“It’s not every often in a whole coaching career that you get a guy like this at a 2A school,” Hackett said. “We were very fortunate to get him and the type of player that he is. His size and fundamentals and technique is by far the best I’ve ever seen as a coach so I was extremely happy to have him play for the Trojans.”

Hackett handed off a lot of the credit to his assistant coaches Austin Nichols and Chris Evertsen as both former Trojans played offensive line in college — Iowa Western Community College and Southwest Minnesota State for Nichols, and Waldorf College and Southeast Missouri State for Evertsen.

“Both of them had the opportunity to play college football so they both know what they’re talking about and what they’re doing, but with a guy like Luke sometimes it’s just hard to figure out ways to coach him because he’s already well developed and his fundamentals and technique were just so much above any freshman coming in by far,” Hackett said. “It’s just trying to pinpoint those little things that we could help him out on, and he’s a very coachable kid.”

2020 Times-Republican All-Area Football Team

Co-Players of the Year — Brayden Evertsen, sr., West Marshall; Luke Pinnick, sr., West Marshall; Carson Williams, sr., Marshalltown

Coach of the Year — Cody Hackett, West Marshall

ALL-AREA TEAM

Quarterback — Taurice Grant, sr., Meskwaki Settlement; Peyton Hart, so., West Marshall

Fullback — Patrick Landeros, sr., Marshalltown.

Running Back — Keagan Giesking, sr., Gladbrook-Reinbeck; Malik Haynes, sr., Marshalltown; Preston Pope, jr., West Marshall; Payton Vest, sr., South Tama.

Wide Receiver — John Loney, sr., Marshalltown; Evan Nelson, sr., Meskwaki Settlement.

Tight End — Adam Greiner, jr., North Tama.

Offensive Line — Brock Bonschmit, sr., West Marshall; Aidan DeVolder, sr., Marshalltown; Daniel Garber, sr., BCLUW; Kalem Schrock, sr., South Tama; Ethan Wertzberger, sr., Marshalltown; Auston Wittgreve, sr., Gladbrook-Reinbeck.

Defensive Line — Tim Benson, jr., East Marshall; Austin Close, jr., Marshalltown; Dylan Hosek, sr., North Tama; Conner Murty, sr., GMG; Tiernan Wanatee, sr., Meskwaki Settlement.

Linebacker — Samuel Bandstra, sr., East Marshall; Drake Blakesley, jr., Gladbrook-Reinbeck; Jack Hughes, sr., BCLUW; Grant Nason, sr., West Marshall; Logan Rausch, jr., North Tama; Gannon Williams, jr., Marshalltown; Sergio Zaragoza, sr., Marshalltown.

Defensive Back — Jarrin Goecke, sr., West Marshall; Gabe Kopriva, jr., North Tama.

Kicker/Punter — Uriel Martinez, sr., South Tama.

Kick/Punt Returner — Deonte Dean, sr., Marshalltown; Noah Weber, sr., North Tama.

Utility — Jesse Moore, sr., BCLUW.