(Underwood) For the first time since 2002 the Underwood Eagles will play a football game in the dome. The Eagles are in the Class 1A semifinals at 1:00 on Friday against West Sioux.
These teams met in the quarterfinals last season with West Sioux winning 31-14. This year Underwood is 11-0 and ranked 3rd. The 4th rated Falcons are 10-1 with their lone loss being to Class 2A unbeaten Central Lyon/GLR (44-6).
It’s two of the best offenses in Class 1A. Underwood has a state best 85 touchdowns on the season and West Sioux is second with 73. Eagle quarterback Alex Ravlin leads the state in both passing touchdowns with 31 and passing yards with 2,498. Falcons signal caller Dylan Wiggins is 2nd in the state in passing touchdowns with 29 and 4th in passing yards with 1,794. The teams rank 1st and 3rd, respectively in all-purpose yardage with Underwood having gained 6,003 yards and West Sioux 5,238.
Underwood outscored #7 Pella Christian 20-7 in the 4th quarter to win their quarterfinal game 47-28. Mason Boothby had a big offensive night with six catches for 146 yards. Alex Ravlin passed for 284, ran for 97, intercepted two passes, and returned one for a touchdown. The Eagles forced four turnovers in their last game.
West Sioux eliminated Western Christian 49-20 last week, posting 455 yards of offense. Wiggins was 11/14 through the air for 243 yards and four scores. Carter Bultman ran for 104 of the team’s 212 rushing yards. They make their 5th trip to the dome in the last six years. They won state titles in 2017 and ’18 and were a runner-up last season.
Underwood lost a 31-30 decision in their last state semifinal appearance to eventual champion Akron-Westfield.
The winner between Underwood and West Sioux will play for a state championship on Thursday, November 17th at 4:00 p.m. against either #1 (11-0) West Branch or #2 (10-1) Van Meter.
