A star all season long for the Wildcats, Evan Hildring Evan Hildring 5'11" | 185 lbs | LB West Lyon | 2026 State IA had the first and last word on Thursday night in Cedar Falls.

On the first drive of the evening, Hildring took carries of ten and 24 yards to help the Wildcat offense down to the two-yard line before punching it in to take a 7-0 lead.

On the first play of overtime, Hildring took a carry up the middle and wouldn’t be denied, scoring from ten yards out to give WL the 34-27 advantage.

After Tracy took it down to the one-yard line on Regina’s first offensive play of overtime, Hildring was a key cog in the Wildcat defensive machine, stuffing the Regals at the line on 2nd and 3rd down, before a botched snap on the final play secured the victory for West Lyon.

The lead back for West Lyon, expectations in seeing Evan Hildring Evan Hildring 5'11" | 185 lbs | LB West Lyon | 2026 State IA for the first time in person were that he’d be a hard-nosed, run it down your throat tail back that’s tough to tackle.

Instead, Hildring brought pure, breakaway speed to the table against the Tigers. thanks to a big hole the Wildcat OL constructed in the second quarter, he got West Lyon on the board with a 62 yard run, where he saw the hole and took off. With linebackers closing in, Hildring put on the jets and outran the entire South Hardin defense to the endzone. With a quick stutter-step to avoid would-be tacklers in the backfield, he helps prevent TFLs that can stall drives for the Wildcats.

The bell cow back for the reigning state champions in 2A who moved down a class this season, Evan Hildring Evan Hildring 5'11" | 185 lbs | LB West Lyon | 2026 State IA will, once again, be heavily relied on by West Lyon if they want to win another state title in a few weeks.

So far this year, the senior running back has taken 119 carries for 1,143 yards and 20 scores. His 20 touchdowns leads all of Class 1A, and 9.6 yards per carry is fourth in the class. To go along with his offensive numbers, the Northwestern College commit has posted 22 tackles, four tackles-for-loss (TFLs), a fumble recovery and a pick on defense.

Moving down after taking the 2A state championship last season by a score of 42-7 over Spirit Lake, Evan Hildring Evan Hildring 5'11" | 185 lbs | LB West Lyon | 2026 State IA is back to carry the load on the ground for West Lyon. In 2024, he took 151 carries for 1,023 yards and 15 scores and added 46 tackles defensively.

The leading rusher despite sharing the majority of the carries with three seniors last season, Hildring will once again be the main workhorse in the run game for the Wildcats this fall. Also losing starting quarterback, Bryson Childress, West Lyon will rely heavily on Hildring and his ability to breakaway from defenses in the open field.

Production was not a problem for Hildring in helping the Wildcats becoming undefeated state champions last season. The junior rushed for 1,023 yards (6.8 YPC) and 15 touchdowns, and caught six passes for 121 yards and a score. On defense, he collected 46.0 tackles (40 solo, 7.5 TFL), 1.5 sacks, three interceptions and a fumble recovery. Hildring also returned a punt to the house. It’s a broad-based set of skills with plenty of athleticism when viewing Hildring’s junior highlight video. They earned him second-team all-state honors as a running back and first-team all-district laurels as a linebacker. Hildring utilizes quickness and physicality in playing both positions. Safety could be a possibility at the next level.