Highlighting Friday Night’s Heroes in 2A Quarters

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Get 30% off your first billing cycle with code:&nbsp;howe30&nbsp;in the coupon code area</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A case can be made that Friday night's quarterfinals are the most pressure-packed games of a season. With a victory, teams can exhale a bit. They've cemented their legacies by reaching The Dome for the state semifinals.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As such, special performances in those emotional quarterfinal games are remembered fondly. Let's take a look at some guys who came up big in Class 2A on Friday:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1241488' first='Quinn' last='Street'], SR, QB/DB, Osage - </strong>After posting a combined 10-8 record during the last two seasons, Osage has won all 11 of its 2025 games. The Green Devils advanced to the UNI-Dome for the first time since 2009 with Friday's hard-fought, 12-7 victory against Alburnett. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Street, a Northern Iowa commitment, will get a head start familiarizing himself with the facility after playing a leading role in the team reaching the state semifinals. He rushed for 135 yards and a touchdown, and passed for 91 yards, while delivering 7.0 tackles (all solo) and an interception. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Bryer Putman, JR, WR/DB, Wilton - </strong>The Beavers pulled off the road upset Friday in Monroe, knocking off PCM, 21-17, powered by 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. It was the second year in a row that Wilton won away from home in the quarterfinals to secure a trip to The Dome.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Putman was excellent on both sides of the ball. The junior caught five passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns. On defense, he delivered four solo tackles and an interception, recorded two touchbacks on four kickoffs and averaged 35.0 yards on a pair of punts.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1370569' first='Henry' last='Lounsbury'], SR, QB/LB, Van Meter - </strong>The Bulldogs were tasked with driving two hours east to Wellman on Friday night for the 2A state quarterfinals. They made sure the trip home was a celebratory one with a 28-21 win.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lounsbury continued his strong senior season, throwing for 130 yards and a touchdown, and rushing for 35 yards and a score. He recorded two touchbacks on five kickoffs and connected on all four his his point-after-touchdown attempts. He averaged 41.4 yards on seven punts. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1241503' first='Brock' last='Trees'], SR, RB/LB, Osage - </strong>A team captain like [player_tooltip player_id='1241488' first='Quinn' last='Street'], Trees also contributes to the cause in multiple phases. During Friday night's challenging 12-7 triumph against Alburnett, the senior led a tremendous team-effort with 11.0 tackles, 10 of which were of the solo variety. He also rushed for 35 yards (5.8 YPC) and a touchdown, and hauled in a pair of passes for 20 yards. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1900142' first='Christian' last='Williams'], SO, RB/LB, Van Meter - </strong>During the Bulldogs' 28-21 win at Mid-Prairie on Friday night, Williams rushed 26 times for 110 yards and two touchdowns. The sophomore also picked off a pass and contributed 3.5 tackles. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1901425' first='Laken' last='Caves'], JR, RB/LB, Alburnett - </strong>In a game where yards were hard to come by, Caves still managed to rush for 106 of them in a 12-7 loss to unbeaten Osage. The junior also caught five passes for 31 yards, and contributed 5.0 tackles. He finished the season with 1,880 yards (8.0 YPC) and 22 touchdowns rushing, 390 receiving yards and three scores, 24 solo tackles, three interceptions and a kick return TD.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1900035' first='Chase' last='Wagaman'], SR, QB/DB, PCM - </strong>While the Mustangs came up a win short of reaching The Dome, they competed hard this season in winning nine of 11 games. Wagaman put his best foot forward in Friday's difficult 21-17 setback to Wilton. The senior completed almost 70 percent of his throws for 160 yards, and rushed for 51 yards and a touchdown. He intercepted a pair of passes and recorded three solo tackles. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->