But the Big Reds were neither sharp nor effective on offense, and that’s where West Marshall’s defense took over.

Junior lineman Austin Pfantz sacked Centerville quarterback Sawyer Wardlow, forced him to fumble and eventually recovered the slippery pigskin in the end zone for a touchdown that started a wave of West Marshall dominance in the third-ranked Trojans’ eventual 42-0 triumph in Friday’s opening round of Class 2A playoff football.

West Marshall (8-1) eliminated Centerville (4-5) for the second-straight season with a home-field victory. Last year’s 60-0 win was the start of a playoff run that ended one point short of the final four at the UNI-Dome, a moment not forgotten by this year’s rendition.

“Yep, every day,” West Marshall senior running back Preston Pope. “It’s always back there for motivation.”

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Pope carried 14 times for 99 yards and two touchdowns, while quarterback Peyton Hart had 17 carries for 136 yards and three scores, including a pair of short touchdown plunges that followed Pfantz’s momentous defensive play early in the second quarter.

Leading 14-0, the Trojan defense forced a three-and-out and scored seven plays later. Pfantz foiled Centerville’s next possession with another fumble recovery, and Hart hit paydirt three plays later for a 28-0 advantage.

The whiplash was more than the Big Reds could overcome.

“Our defense is probably our strong side of the football,” said West Marshall head coach Cody Hackett. “It just seems there’s something about Trojan football and guys that just love defense. We’re good offensively, don’t get me wrong, but we just like to tackle, we like to hit, we like to fly around defensively and the score showed it tonight and the score has shown it throughout the whole year. This defense doesn’t give up a lot of points. They may bend a little but they don’t break so that’s the main thing.”

West Marshall ranks third in 2A scoring average (37.38) and second in defensive average (11.38), and on Friday night both areas of the game excelled.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

The Trojans allowed just 57 total yards of offense as Centerville was limited to five first downs, 27 rushing yards and only 30 passing yards. The Big Reds ranked 13th in 2A passing offense but couldn’t connect against West Marshall. Centerville quarterback Sawyer Wardlow, in his second career game in State Center, finished 6-for-14 for just 30 yards with two interceptions.

“Our defense played well so I’m happy about that,” Pope said. “We’d like a shutout every week if we could — if they don’t score we win.”

The Trojans pitched their second shutout of the season while also rolling to 318 yards of total offense. Hart and Pope, as they’ve done all season long, combined for a bulk of the carries, yards and touchdowns.

“Our other guys have to do their jobs first,” Pope said. “If they’ve got to lead block and we’ve got to break tackles, that’s how we get in the end zone.”

West Marshall’s defense recovered all three Centerville fumbles while Caden Vellinga and Carson Davis pulled down interceptions on Wardlow’s last two pass attempts of the game.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Hart was 3-for-5 passing for 42 yards, including a 32-yard connection with Preston Reese that set up Hart’s second of three touchdowns. He added a 62-yard touchdown dash on the opening possession of the third quarter that made it 36-0 and started the running clock.

“Offensively we moved the ball well,” Hackett said. “They did some different things that we didn’t see on film, just really loading the box and getting a six-man front up there. We weren’t expecting that so it was a little bit tougher to get it going right away, getting on our blocks and knowing who to block, but I think as the game went on our guys up front communicated a little bit better, talked to us as coaches and we got them lined up.

“They (Centerville) fought hard, I know they did. I know the score probably didn’t show it but they’ve improved. Their coach is doing some good things there, so I’m happy with the way we played. We continued to grow throughout the game and we continue to keep fighting and we never quit.”

The Trojans await their second-round pairing, which is expected to be announced Saturday morning by the Iowa High School Athletic Association.

West Marshall 42, Centerville 0

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

At State Center

CTRV 0 0 0 0 — 0

WM 8 20 14 0 — 42

First Quarter

WM — Preston Pope 2 run (Peyton Hart run), 4:30.

Second Quarter

WM — Austin Pfantz fumble recovery (run failed), 10:20.

WM — Hart 1 run (pass failed), 5:26.

WM — Hart 3 run (Hart run), 3:15.

Third Quarter

WM — Hart 62 run (Pope run), 10:24.

WM — Pope 8 run (kick failed), 2:49.

Fourth Quarter

No scoring.

TEAM STATISTICS

CTRV WM

First downs 5 15

Rushes-yards 20-27 45-267

Passing yards 30 51

Comp-Att-Int 6-14-2 4-6-0

Total offense 34-57 51-318

Fumbles-lost 3-3 0-0

Penalties-yards 4-24 2-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — CTRV: Jayden Ruiz 9-45, Sawyer Wardlow 8-10, Kade Mosley 2-(minus 10); WM: Hart 17-136, Pope 14-99, Parker Reese 4-21, TJ Schuler 5-7, Ben Gonzalez 5-4.

PASSING — CTRV: Wardlow 6-14-30-2; WM: Hart 3-5-42-0, Schuler 1-1-9-0.

RECEIVING: CTRV: Alejandro Alvarado 2-13, Mosley 1-12, Brody Tuttle 1-4, Griffin Weber 2-1; WM: Preston Reese 1-32, Caden Vellinga 1-9, Parker Reese 1-9, Joey Tollefson 1-1.

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