All good things must come to an end, and so too does the high school season. After Scott Starzyk's decommitment from Iowa, the Hawks had just three high school commits playing this weekend. By late Saturday night, all of their seasons were over too.
Here's how the final high school games went for Drew MacPherson, Nathan McNeil, and Lucas Allgeyer. Also included are season summaries for Iowa's other commits.
Player of the Week
Iowa officially has a state champion commit. Loyola Academy defeated York 35-14 in the Class 8A Illinois state championship game, earning their third consecutive state title.
MacPherson played maybe his best game of the season in the finale. In the second quarter, he scored two touchdowns, one a 12-yard TD run and the other a 16-yard TD reception. The touchdowns gave Loyola a 21-14 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, MacPherson was a big contributor on a touchdown drive from Loyola that saw the Ramblers go up 28-14.
Then in the fourth quarter, MacPherson capped off his night with a 3-yard touchdown run to put the game out of reach.
For the game, MacPherson rushed 19 times for 150 yards and two touchdowns. He caught four passes for 41 yards and another touchdown.
Other Commits
McNeil and Wiregrass Ranch's strong season ended with a 17-0 loss in the Class 6A, Region 3 championship game to West Boca.
Wiregrass Ranch had one opportunity deep in West Boca territory, but McNeil was stopped on fourth and goal:
Allgeyer and MICDS fell to Platte County 44-30 in the semifinal of the Missouri Class 5 playoffs. The Rams moved the ball well throughout the game behind Allgeyer and the o-line, but turned the ball over three times. Platte County scored 16 points off those turnovers.
Commits Whose Seasons Are Over
Iowa City West fell to Southeast Polk 42-15 in the second round of the Iowa Class 5A playoffs to finish the year 6-5.
For the season, Woods finished with 54 receptions for 1,057 yards and 12 touchdowns. He rushed five times for 48 yards. He also completed a pass for 26 yards.
Defensively, Woods had 24 tackles, one tackle for loss, and an interception. Woods also returned a kick 87 yards for a touchdown.
Carroll fell to Crown Point 38-21 in the Regional Championship of the Indiana playoffs. Carroll finished the season 9-3.
For the season, Sullivan was 143-of-230 passing (62.2%) for 2,001 yards. He had 24 touchdown passes and five interceptions. Sullivan also led Carroll in rushing, running 142 times for 718 yards and ten touchdowns.
If you didn't catch Eliot's feature about Sullivan from early October, it's worth your time.
Bishops fell 47-14 to Mater Dei in the second round of the playoffs. Bishops finished its season 7-4.
Herrera finished the season 141-of-226 passing (62.4%) for 2,033 yards. He had 24 passing touchdowns and just five interceptions. He also rushed for 334 yards and eight touchdowns.
West Aurora fell to Maine South 41-6 in the second round of the Illinois Class 8A playoffs to finish 10-1.
Smith played in only eight of the 11 games, but finished his season with: 28 receptions for 331 yards and eight touchdowns. He also had an interception on defense.
Clear Lake fell to Humboldt 13-10 in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs to finish 6-4.
For the year, Meyer finished with 31 receptions for 512 yards and nine touchdowns. He had 34 tackles, 20.5 tackles for loss, and five sacks defensively.
Sycamore fell to St. Francis 10-0 in the quarterfinals of the Illinois Class 5A playoffs. The Spartans finished the season 11-1.
Prior to the final game, Gautcher had passed for 1,661 yards and 17 touchdowns with just one interception. He completed 65.9% of his passes. He also rushed for 229 yards and eight touchdowns.
River Falls finished the year 3-6 and did not make the playoffs.
Johnson's season stats: 40 receptions, 579 yards, 6 touchdowns, 43 tackles, 4.5 sacks
Edwardsville fell to York 37-7 in the first round of the Illinois Class 8A playoffs to finish the season 6-4.
Epenesa finished the season with 51 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and seven sacks. Offensively, he had 4 receptions for 30 yards and a touchdown.
Oswego fell to York 35-17 in the second round of the Illinois Class 8A playoffs to finish the season 10-1. Unfortunately, Cooney missed the York game due to injury.
Cooney's season highlights are here.
Pleasant Valley fell to Southeast Polk 24-21 in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs to finish 7-3.
VanWetzinga finished the season with 34.5 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and 4.5 sacks. Offensively, he rushed 17 times for 55 yards and four touchdowns.
VanWetzinga's season highlights are here.
Waterloo West fell 49-14 to Johnston in the first round of the 5A playoffs. West finished the season 6-4.
West finished the year with 1,672 rushing yards and 1,035 passing yards behind Nielsen and the o-line.
Marist fell to Loyola Academy 24-20 in the second round of the Illinois Class 8A playoffs to end its season 9-2.
St. Thomas More finished its season 6-3.
