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Check, check and check for Iowa City West football team
Iowa City West 42, Linn-Mar 14
Oct. 25, 2025 12:21 am
Biggest check after a 42-14 win over Linn-Mar is a spot in the Class 5A state football playoffs
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IOWA CITY — Get your top running back over the 1,000-yard rushing mark this season? Check.
Get your top wideout over the 1,000-yard receiving mark this season? Check.
Get into the state football playoffs? Big check. The main check.
Iowa City West secured the latter with a 42-14 win Friday night over Linn-Mar. The 10th-ranked Trojans (7-2) will be part of the Class 5A postseason for sure, having to wait until Saturday morning to find out who their first-round opponent will be and where they will play.
That’s when the Iowa High School Athletic Association will release official pairings. It’s quite likely West will finish ninth in the state’s final RPI rankings in 5A, which would mean a road game.
But these guys are in, and that’s the main thing.
“It feels great, but I feel like we kind of knew,” West running back Campbell Janis said. “We kind of knew, were very confident coming into this game that we were going to get it done.”
Janis got it done and then some, rushing 24 times for 268 yards and a pair of touchdowns to bring his season total to around the 1,110-yard mark. He staked West to a 28-7 halftime lead with chunk run after chunk run, a gargantuan effort of 22 carries and 198 yards.
The kid isn’t big but has quickness, runs tougher than heck and has a very good offensive line in front of him that includes University of Iowa commit Colin Whitters.
“He’s a frickin’ beast,” West quarterback Reece Wheeler said. “You give him the ball, and he can get us 20 yards. I just have so much trust in that man.”
“When I’m running, I have no idea how many yards I have,” Janis said.
Linn-Mar’s defense simply could not keep up with West’s ultra-fast offense, one that produced 471 total yards and quick touchdown after quick touchdown. Wheeler completed 11 of 16 passes for 148 yards and four TDs, two to Ethan Headings.
Headings caught six balls for 92 yards to go over 1,000 yards this season. West rebounded from a 45-31 loss last week to Cedar Rapids Prairie.
“Last week, I knew we could be better than that,” Wheeler said. “We all knew we could be better than that. It was just a messy game by the whole team. We knew that we were going to be coming out here (hard), we just had to execute. We know we can do that, and this game was huge because it certified that. This is how we should be playing every game.”
“Our two losses this year, we lost to two really good teams. Credit goes to them,” said West Coach Garrett Hartwig, whose team’s other loss was 44-31 to Iowa City Liberty. “But we also made some mistakes in those games. The nice thing about this senior class is (that) is motivating to them. They know when they need to play better. We’ve had two really good bounce backs after our two losses.
“We wanted to play well tonight and get into the playoffs, and we were able to get that done a good team, a hot team. Now it’s 0-0 for everybody.”
Linn-Mar (4-5) saw its chances, however slim they were coming in, go completely away. But the Lions don’t have much to hang their respective heads about, considering they rebounded from an 0-4 start to win four straight games.
Sophomore quarterback Derek Roling had both Linn-Mar touchdowns here and is just one of several underclassmen that will return to a program that seems to be on the upswing.
“This team has improved and come along as much as any team I’ve ever had,” said Linn-Mar Coach Duane Orr, a veteran head coach finishing his first at the school. “They’ve really grown together so close and played their hearts out for each other. We just didn’t have it tonight.”
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(At Iowa City)
Linn-Mar 0 7 7 0-14
Iowa City West 14 14 7 7-42
- ICW-Campbell Janis 6 run (Adam Salem kick)
- ICW-Ethan Headings 17 pass from Reece Wheeler (Salem kick)
- LM-Derek Roling 1 run (Bradley Duncan-Porter kick)
- ICW-Cade Towler 16 pass from Wheeler (Salem kick)
- ICW-Janis 1 run (Salem kick)
- LM-Roling 24 run (Duncan-Porter kick)
- ICW-Henry Elser 16 pass from Wheeler (Salem kick)
- ICW-Headings 38 pass from Wheeler (Salem kick)
Team Statistics
First Downs - Linn-Mar 10, Iowa City West 24. Rushes-Yards - Linn-Mar 30-134, Iowa City West 46-323. Passing - Linn-Mar 14-23-1-86, Iowa City West 11-16-0-148. Total Yards - Linn-Mar 220, Iowa City West 471. Punts-Average - Linn-Mar 7-26.0, Iowa City West 3-24.3. Penalties-Yards - Linn-Mar 4-21, Iowa City West 4-50. Fumbles-Lost - Linn-Mar 0-0, Iowa City West 0-0.
Individual Statistics
Linn-Mar - Rushing: Derek Roling 11-77, Hud Turner 9-34, Cael Fairley 7-21, Hunter Wildman 2-1, Chase Bradley 1-1. Passing: Derek Roling 14-23-1-83, Hunter Wildman 1-1-0-3. Receiving: Chase Bradley 5-22, Tate McEowen 2-22, Deklan Toms 2-19, Harrison Schuett 3-16, Roman Nielsen 1-10, Cael Fairley 1-(minus) 3.
Iowa City West - Rushing: Campbell Janis 24-268, La’Marrie Carter 4-50, Kingstone Ross 2-5, Henry Elser 1-2, Nazareth Shaw 2-0, Rowan Harris 1-(minus) 2, Mikey Moody 3-(minus) 3. Passing: Reece Wheeler 11-16-0-148. Receiving: Ethan Headings 6-92, Henry Elser 2-28, Cade Towler 1-16, Juju Manson 2-12.
Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com
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