Football roundup: Week 1

Friday night marked new seasons for the football teams in the state of Iowa.

In Monday?s issue of The Journal, you can see how three area teams did (Columbus winning a wild game against WACO, Washington suffering a loss to the No. 1 ranked team in the state), but two other teams claimed victories in their season opener.

Recaps from the three other area teams follow below:

Mid-Prairie soars over Durant

Things couldn?t have gone much better for the Mid-Prairie football team in its season-opening game at Durant on Friday night.

The Hawks, who lost to Durant 7-6 last year, got their offense going, as they rolled to a 54-22 victory over the Wildcats, led by a strong running game.

Led by Nolan Faselt?s 103 rushing yards, the Hawks ran for 368 total yards in the game, averaging 8 yards per carry on the night.

Faselt picked up his yardage on 11 carries (9.4 yards per carry), and scored three touchdowns on the night. Sophomore Keaton Duwa had 92 rushing yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, while junior Ricky Vargas had 72 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.

Overall, seven different Golden Hawks picked up at least 20 yards on the ground.

Senior quarterback Ryan Cortum completed three of five pass attempts on the night, with all three completions coming to Levi Duwa, for 48 yards.

Mid-Prairie?s defense was strong in the game as well, picking off two passes, including one that was returned 46 yards by senior Paul Hawbaker for a touchdown.

Tackles were spread evenly among the Golden Hawks in the game, with seven players earning at least two, led by Jason Tew?s 5.5, which included 1.5 tackles for a loss.

Levi Duwa had 4.5 tackles in the game, three of which went for a loss.

The Golden Hawks will open their home schedule on Friday night when they host Clear Creek-Amana.

Highland downs Danville

It was the first game of the Donovan era at Highland, and it ended with a good note.

In Joe Donovan?s first game as head coach of the Huskies? football team, the running game helped propel Highland to an 18-10 victory over Danville.

Nick Sandburg and Bryce West helped lead the rushing attack, as each averaged over 7 yards per carry, combining for nearly 300 yards of rushing and three touchdowns.

Sandburg finished the game with 149 yards and two touchdowns, while West had 144 yards and a touchdown (averaging 8 yards per carry) to cap off his night.

Junior quarterback Jake Wood completed three passes in the game for 43 yards, each going to different receivers. Chase Rath caught a 19-yard pass, Trent Lasek caught a 14-yard pass and Tony Olguin had a 10-yard reception.

Highland will take on Iowa Valley at home for its next game.

Sigourney-Keota falls in home opener

The run game was bottled up for Sigourney-Keota in the season-opening game against BGM, Brooklyn.

Peyton Crawford, the 2014 District skill player of the year, was held to 66 yards rushing on 11 carries in the game as the Cobras fell 20-6.

Crawford accounted for the lone touchdown in the game for the Cobras, but the passing game was Sigourney-Keota?s Achilles? heel, as they threw five interceptions in the loss.

Lane Boender led the team with 8.5 tackles in the game, followed by Crawford?s eight, while Noah Boender had 7.5.

Luke Greiner had a solid defensive night, picking off a pass.

Sigourney-Keota will take on Pekin in a rivalry game on the road on Friday night.