WOODWARD, IA — Woodward-Granger put a pair of touchdowns on the board in both the first and third quarters to dominate West Central Valley, 34-3, in their postseason victory Friday at Hawk Stadium.
The IHSAA has 8-Player and Classes A, 1A, and 2A qualify 32 team apiece for the playoffs. In a verbal twist, the first round is considered ‘postseason’ and official “Playoff Qualifier” banners are awarded only to the winners of those first games, ostensibly so they equal the number of playoff teams in Classes 3A, 4A, and 5A.
Securing one such banner proved little trouble for the Hawks (6-3), who had control of the pace of the game throughout. The defense, which has yielded 29 points on the current four-game win streak, set the tone, stifling any Wildcat (5-4) effort to make the game competitive.
Carter Moran was efficient, connecting on 13-of-15 passes for 155 yards and a score. He leads 1A through nine weeks with125 completions for the season.
Brody Nardini (4-48) and Dane Polich (4-47, 1 TD) led the aerial assault. Max Dalton (2-38), Dylan McCaulley (2-12) and Nick Rees (1-10) also caught passes.
Nardini now has 89 career grabs, a school record, for 1,029 yards, passing current head coach Cory Crnkovich in both categories. The coach has 75 catches for 1,018 yards and five TDs — Nardini has seven.
McCaulley (16-123), Moran (8-7, 2 TDs) and Oliver Potter (6-42, 2 TDs) ran the ball for the home team.
Potter now leads 1A with 98.5 total tackles after making 13.5 stops Friday. Jalen Trudeau had 6.5 denials, McCaulley 5.5 and Kaden Seeman five.
The victory sends W-G to defending state champion and three-time finalist Van Meter (8-1) Friday. The Bulldogs humbled AC/GC, 49-0 Friday and have yielded only 55 points this year. Their lone loss was a week one setback, 18-13, to top-ranked Williamsburg.
Kick off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
