By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Sioux City Heelan’s Brandon Wegher put himself in the Iowa prep football record books Friday night. Wegher rushed for 267 yards and six touchdowns in a 58-7 victory over LeMars at Sioux City’s Memorial Field.
Wegher became the state’s all-time career rushing leader, out-gaining Chad Shuff of LeMars. Wegher now has 5,436 yards to 5,411 for Shuff, who played college football at Augustana.
In the win, Wegher scored five touchdowns off running plays and returned a punt for another score. His touchdown runs included efforts of 82, 15, 20, 49, and 46 yards. The punt return was 60 yards. The University of Iowa football recruit did not play after the first series of the second half.
Football: Valley Wins CIML Iowa Conference
In the mega-conference that is the Central Iowa Metropolitan League, West Des Moines Valley wrapped up its sixth-straight CIML-Iowa Conference title last Friday.
The Tigers clinched the championship with a 35-7 victory over Fort Dodge at Valley Stadium in West Des Moines. It’s the program’s 25th straight victory and improved their season mark to 8-0 going into the regular season finale Thursday night at Sioux City North.
“A conference championship is always our initial goal, and then we go to the playoffs and try to advance,” Valley head coach Gary Swenson told the Des Moines Register. “That’s a testament to the kids who’ve played here and the coaching staff.”
Football: Ottumwa Claims CIML Metro Title
On the other side of the CIML, Ottumwa wrapped up the Metro Conference championship with a 21-13 victory over Des Moines East Friday night.
Ottumwa had to fight off a fourth-quarter comeback from the Scarlets, who made a game of it with a three-yard touchdown pass from Matt Widlund to Tyrae Kemp, and a six-yard score from Anthony Cross, who finished with 110 rushing yards.
Football: Dyersville Beckman Coach to Step Down
If the Dyersville Beckman football team remains in fourth place in its Class 2-A district standings at the end this coming week, they’ll be playing in the postseason and get at least one more game.
Regardless, the last game of the season, whenever that will be, will also be the last game for Beckman coach Bill Duffy, who has announced plans to resign when the season is done.
Duffy is in his third year at Beckman and cited “family reasons” behind his decision to resign.
"I can't give 100 percent to the program, and anybody that knows me knows that if I can't do that, I need to turn it over to somebody else," Duffy told the Cedar Rapids Gazette newspaper.
Beckman is 4-4 on the season. Duffy took the Blazers to the playoffs in 2006, his first season at the helm.
Girls Swimming: Cedar Falls Wins Mississippi Valley Conference Meet
Cedar Falls has now won 17 of the last 18 Mississippi Valley Conference girls swimming championships, including last Saturday’s meet at Cedar Rapids Kennedy. The Tigers had a 16-year streak of conference titles ended by Kennedy last fall, but could be starting another streak after Saturday’s action.
Cedar Falls won six of 11 events in the conference meet and won the championship by a score of 439.5 points to 256 for second-place Linn-Mar of Marion.
Freshman Kelsey Abbas and junior Bailey Pons paced Cedar Falls by winning two events each. Abbas won the 200 individual-medley crown in 2:15.93 and took the 100-backstroke in 1:01.78.
Pons won the 200 meter freestyle in a meet record time of 1:54.05 and also took the 500-meter freestyle.
Volleyball: Mount Vernon Wins WaMaC Conference Tournament
Top-ranked Mount Vernon (Class 3-A) played in its first WaMaC Conference tournament last weekend, and came away with the league championship. The Mustangs swept Waterloo Columbus 25-13, 25-16 in the championship match.
Mount Vernon had previously played in the Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference, but the WaMaC tournament should get them ready for post-season and a run to win a state title, which eluded them in last year’s tournament finals. The Mustangs are now 34-1 for the year.