The road to the eight-player state title runs through two unbeaten semifinal matchups Wednesday in the UNI-Dome, and the spotlight is especially bright on Woodbine senior Landon Blum.
Woodbine meets Iowa Valley at 4 p.m. CT in Cedar Falls, with Gladbrook-Reinbeck and Audubon opening the day at 1 p.m.
CT. All four teams arrive perfect, a combined 43-0, and they’ve done it against real resistance: 29 of those wins have come against teams with records above .500.
For Woodbine, the story starts with Blum, one of the state’s top prospects and one of the most dangerous playmakers in eight-player football. He’s an all-state receiver with 75 career receiving touchdowns, which is an eight-player record.
This season, he’s piled up 61 catches for more than 1,100 yards and 16 scores. But Woodbine isn’t built around just one star.
Ayden Coenen and Blaine Leaders, both juniors, have each topped 400 receiving yards, and together they’ve accounted for 15 touchdowns.
The Tigers also have plenty of punch from the quarterback spot. Cal Pryor has thrown for 2,355 yards and 36 touchdowns while adding 13 more scores on the ground.
Reagan Blum has stepped in for the injured Micah Moores and delivered 499 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. Up front and on defense, Jacob Cogdill has been a force with seven sacks, 21.5 tackles for loss and 31 pancake blocks on offense.
Iowa Valley brings a different kind of firepower into the semifinal. Nolan Kriegel and Landon Blum have been two of the best players in the state regardless of class over the last four seasons, and now they’ll share the same stage.
Kriegel owns the eight-player record for total touchdowns and added to it in the quarterfinals. He’s up to 1,864 rushing yards and 40 touchdowns, while also completing 72 percent of his passes for 1,031 yards and 21 scores.
The numbers around Iowa Valley are just as loud. The team has rushed for 3,825 yards and scored 75 rushing touchdowns, averaging 12.3 yards per carry.
Through the air, they’re averaging 24 yards per completion. Mason Hoyt leads the defense with 7.5 sacks, Chance Hoyt has five, and Layne Peska has three defensive touchdowns.
Iowa Valley has nine defensive touchdowns overall, plus three more on special teams.
The other semifinal has its own heavyweight feel, with Gladbrook-Reinbeck and Audubon both back in the dome after falling short a year ago. This time, one of them gets to move on.
Audubon had to shake off a slow start to get past North Union in the quarterfinals, but once the Wheelers got rolling, they were impossible to stop. Quarterback Aiden Kjergaard carried the load with 26 rushing attempts for 361 yards and six touchdowns. The junior now has 1,929 rushing yards and 38 touchdowns on the ground, and he’s also completed 37 of 67 passes for 696 yards and 12 scores.
Mason Kasperbauer has nearly 900 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns, while Hudson Hocker leads the receiving corps with 17 catches for 355 yards and five scores. Audubon has been a machine on both sides of the ball, averaging 66 points per game and allowing fewer than 14.
The Wheelers have two shutouts, have scored 95 in one game, and have gone over 70 points four times. One of those shutouts came against a Lenox team that gave Woodbine a battle in the quarterfinals.
Gladbrook-Reinbeck has become a familiar name in this part of the season, and the Rebels are back in the dome again. Treyvon Herron delivered a huge quarterfinal performance with 202 rushing yards and four total touchdowns, and he now has 1,431 rushing yards and 33 touchdowns while averaging more than 14 yards per carry.
Behind him, Bennett Sieh has been steady and efficient. The junior has not thrown an interception on 77 attempts, has completed 81 percent of his passes, and has 20 touchdowns and more than 1,000 passing yards. Gladbrook-Reinbeck has won at least seven games every year since 2013 and has finished with a winning record in each of the last 17 seasons, including this one.
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