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Trojans taken out by A-P

By Ross Thede 6 min read

PARKERSBURG -- West Marshall football helped make Zach Pfantz the coach he is today.

On Friday night, Pfantz coached the team that eliminated West Marshall from the state football playoffs.

Third-ranked Aplington-Parkersburg advanced to the UNI-Dome for the first time since 2003 in Pfantz's first season as the Falcons' head coach, beating his alma mater West Marshall 24-0 in Friday's Class 1A state football quarterfinal contest at Ed Thomas Field.

A-P running back Mason Pruisner pounded out 32 carries for 189 yards and all three Falcon touchdowns, helping Pfantz push past a proud part of his past.

Pfantz was a fullback and all-state linebacker on West Marshall's 1999 state championship squad under head coach Ken Winkler, who current Trojan head coach Cody Hackett also played for. Winkler, an assistant coach at Marshalltown, ranks 12th all-time in Iowa with 322 wins with state championships at Treynor (1979) and with the Trojans.

Pfantz couldn't ignore the magnitude of the moment after ousting West Marshall on Friday night.

"It was hard, man, it was really hard," he said. "It was a hard week. I think the biggest thing about it is I just had to continually remind myself that it's not about me, it's about these kids and our team and their experience.

"I tried not to talk about it much, but there were just so many emotions."

On Friday night, the trepidation became jubilation as Aplington-Parkersburg (11-0) pitched its sixth shutout of the season in holding West Marshall (8-3) to just five first downs. The Trojans managed only 37 rushing yards after averaging 219 per game going into the state quarterfinal contest.

Senior quarterback Blayk Hart, who ranked fifth in 1A rushing yards, was held to 18 carries for 44 yards. He was 8-for-18 passing for 99 yards, but two interceptions proved costly against an Aplington-Parkersburg defense that has allowed only 3.18 points per game.

The Trojans got no closer to the end zone than the Falcons' 29-yard-line in suffering only their second shutout of the season.

"Yeah, they're a very solid team, their run defense is very, very good, and we knew it was gonna be tough to get yards," said Hackett, who took over for Winkler at West Marshall in 2014. "They're just a very physical, tough, hard-nosed team and they fly downhill. They did a tremendous job scheming for us.

"I'm just super proud of our guys. It's been a heck of a ride and there's a lot of positives that this group can look at. It sucks it ended the way that it did, but they have a lot to be proud of."

The Trojans withstood Pruisner as well as they could. The state's leading rusher in 1A, Pruisner and the Falcons found their way down the muddy field on the game's first drive by consuming 72 yards in just six plays for a 7-0 lead.

West Marshall simply couldn't answer. The Trojans averaged 1.85 yards per rushing attempt and had to turn to its passing attack. Though the Trojans lead 1A with a 21.7 yards per completion average, they complete just 48 percent of their passes.

Against a speedy and disciplined Falcon defense, the Trojan offense became hit-or-miss. Hart threw two interceptions in the first half and West Marshall trailed 14-0 at the break.

After the Trojans went three-and-out on the first possession of the second half, Aplington-Parkersburg put the game on ice with a 16 play drive that consumed 64 yards and 8:53 off the clock. It ended with a 22-yard Zion Uhlenhopp field goal that made it a three-score game.

The Trojans' ensuing possession earned the team's only two first downs of the second half, clearing midfield on a 29-yard pass from Hart to Teegun Edler, but penalties and incompletions ended the threat.

Pruisner punched in another touchdown from 20 yards out, dragging Trojan defenders into the end zone with him for a 24-0 advantage.

A-P outgained West Marshall 365-136, had two takeaways and didn't turn the ball over once. Still, the Falcons were held to a season-low 24 points.

"For the most part I thought we made [Pruisner] work for his yards," said Hackett. "I thought our defense for the most part did well.

"But props to their team. Zach had them ready to go and best of luck to them. Give credit to our guys, they play hard and they played hard for 48 minutes, but it just didn't turn out our way. Some nights the better team wins."

Aplington-Parkerburg will meet No. 3 West Lyon (10-1) in the second state semifinal game Friday, Nov. 13, in Cedar Falls. No. 1 Iowa City Regina (11-0) takes on Treynor (10-1) at 10 a.m.

West Marshall was denied its first trip to the UNI-Dome since 2011. The Trojans are 0-4 in state quarterfinal contests since that season.

"I love that program, I loved playing for that program, I had such a great experience in that program, and honestly that's why I coach because I had such a great experience in high school playing for coach Winkler in that program," Pfantz said. "It was hard, but I have a ton of respect for Cody and just their program in general. So it was weird, but I'm really proud of our kids obviously."

State Football Playoffs

Friday's Scores

CLASS A

Maquoketa Valley 22, Lynnville-Sully 12

North Linn 41, St Ansgar 0

West Sioux 35, Council Bluffs St. Albert 0

Woodbury Central 54, West Fork 21

CLASS 1A

Aplington-Parkersburg 24, West Marshall 0

Iowa City Regina 42, Grundy Center 14

Treynor 17, Underwood 14

West Lyon 42, Clarion-Goldfield-Dows 14

CLASS 2A

Alburnett 28, Wilton 21

Central Lyon 45, OABCIG 26

Roland-Story 28, Van Meter 14

Spirit Lake 24, Kuemper Catholic 17

CLASS 3A

Algona 31, Sioux City Bishop Heelan 0

Clear Lake 36, Mount Vernon 0

Des Moines Christian 43, Mt. Pleasant 26

Solon 23, West Delaware 14

CLASS 4A

Carlisle 27, Pella 14

Cedar Rapids Xavier 48, Newton 9

Sergeant Bluff-Luton 28, Glenwood 17

W. Dubuque 27, Waverly-Shell Rock 24

CLASS 5A

Ankeny 51, Iowa City Liberty 29

Dowling Catholic 42, Cedar Falls 14

Johnston 21, West Des Moines Valley 7

Southeast Polk 38, Cedar Rapids Prairie 28

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Aplington-Parkersburg 24, West Marshall 0

Score by Quarter

WM 0 0 0 0 -- 0

A-P 7 7 3 7 -- 24

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

A-P -- Mason Pruisner 2 run (Zion Uhlenhopp kick), 9:35.

Second Quarter

A-P -- Pruisner 15 run (Uhlenhopp kick), 7:14.

Third Quarter

A-P -- FG Uhlenhopp 22, 1:21.

Fourth Quarter

A-P -- Pruisner 20 run (Uhlenhopp kick), 5:01.

TEAM STATISTICS

WM A-P

First downs 5 18

Rushes-yards 20-37 41-207

Passing yards 99 158

Comp-Att-Int 8-18-2 11-18-0

Total offense 38-136 59-365

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 5-25 5-40

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING -- WM: Blayk Hart 18-44, TEAM 1-(minus-1), Joe Kielman 1-(minus-6); A-P: Pruisner 32-189, Devan Eberhart 3-22, Tate Pfantz 2-17, TEAM 2-(minus-4), Harrison Schultz 2-(minus-17).

PASSING -- WM: Hart 8-18-99-2; A-P: Schultz 11-18-158-0.

RECEIVING -- WM: Turner DeRossett 3-46, Teegun Edler 2-31, Drake Whitaker 2-14, Wilson Buckley 1-8; A-P: Wes Shirk 5-62, Pfantz 4-42, Eberhart 1-39, Noah Junker 1-15.

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