Louisa-Muscatine's Madison Chandler follows the lead block of Brode Hills in Friday's Class 2A District 6 game with West Burlington in Letts. L-M dropped a 46-6 decision. Beth Van Zandt/Muscatine Journal

LETTS, Iowa – Sixth-ranked West Burlington-Notre Dame scored four times on its first four possessions, putting the game out of reach in the first quarter of an eventual 46-6 Class 2A District 6 football game against winless Louisa-Muscatine Friday.

L-M helped out the WBND cause by turning the ball over on an interception on its second possession and its punter having a knee down before it punted the ball away on its third series, giving excellent field position to the visitors.

“It’s kind of been our M.O. (modus operandi), getting on the scoreboard first,” West Burlington-Notre Dame coach Jeff Housel said. “We’ve only trailed in one game. When you get on the scoreboard (first) it puts pressure on the other team.”

Joey Axtell, in only his second game at punter, took a low snap and inadvertently put his knee down before being able to punt the ball away, giving WBND first-and-goal from the nine-yard-line.

One play later, Ryan Kelley ran it in from nine yards out for a 13-0 WBND lead. Kelley scored three times for Notre Dame, including on a 65-yard punt return later in the second quarter.

“(We had) one guy quit at the start of last week and one this week,” L-M coach Karl Burgason said. “But we’ve got to show up and play with who we’ve got. He (Axtell) punted last week; it was just a mistake on his part.”

After going 3-and-out in its first four possessions, L-M was able to make one big play against Notre Dame as Tug McCleery hooked up with Madison Chandler on a big 80-yard pass play, giving L-M first-and-goal from the eight.

After a three-yard gain by Jake Houston, L-M lost yards and was stopped for no gain before McCleery’s fourth down pass fell incomplete, giving WBND the ball on downs.

Schyler Sterna also recovered a WBND fumble by Andrew Gall in the first quarter, but a one-yard gain and three straight pass incompletions gave the ball back to the visitors.

“You’ve got to take the little battles,” Burgason said. “I don’t think they were bigger than us, but they got after it quite a bit harder than we did.”

West Burlington Notre Dame held L-M to negative three yards rushing, and 135 yards passing.

“Our kids executed as well as possible on defense,” Housel said. “I thought we played with good energy. We had a few injuries tonight, hopefully, we’ll have them back next week.”

Kelley scored his final touchdown run with 5:32 left in the first half, giving Notre Dame a 40-0 halftime lead, sending the second- and third-teams for the visitors out against L-M in the second half.

From there, L-M was able to hold WBND to minimal yardage. Dexter Bieri blocked a punt in order to set up excellent field position at the 12-yard-line, but was unable to do anything with it.

With a continuous clock, time wasn’t on Louisa-Muscatine’s side, but it sustained an 11-play drive in the fourth quarter that was capped by an 11-yard touchdown pass from McCleery to Brode Hills.

“We saw improvement,” Burgason said. “We put a couple of drives together and scored, which we were unable to do the past couple of games. We’re also making more tackles, which is a step in the right direction.”

Reporter contact information:

Kristi Nixon 563-262-0533

kristi.nixon@muscatinejournal.com

W. Burlington 46, L-M 6

West Burlington      26    14    0     6     –   46

Louisa-Muscatine     0      0    0     6     –      6

First Quarter

WBND (9:43) – Taylor Day 35 pass from Dustin Guihan. (kick fail). 6-0

WBND (7:42.5) – Ryan Kelley 9 run. (Andrew Schilling kick). 13-0

WBND (5:31.3) – Dustin Guihan 4 run. (Schilling kick). 20-0

WBND (0:45.6) – Guihan 2 run. (kick fail) 26-0.

Second Quarter

WBND (10:19.2) – Kelley 65 punt return. (Schilling kick). 33-0

WBND (5:32.8) – Kelley 2 run. (Chris Kottenstette kick). 40-0

Fourth Quarter

LM (2:36.5) – Brode Hills 11 pass from Tug McCleery. (pass fail). 40-6

WBND (0:08.4) – Andrew Gall 18 run. (kick fail) 46-6

———

  WB LM

First downs          9    6

Rushing (Att-Yds) 28-172     31-(-3)

Passing yards                        142        135

Passing (C-Att-Int)  7-10-0     6-15-1

Fumbles (No.-lost)      1-1 1-0

Penalties (No.-Yds)    1-12        5-25

———

Individual Statistics

Rushing (Att-Yds) – West Burlington-ND (Dustin Guihan 2-6, C.J. Wilson 6-26; Andrew Gall 9-55, Ryan Kelley 5-74, Mike Bronson 4-6, Lucas Giertz 2-5); LM (Tug McCleery 3-(minus 2); Brode Hills 8-(minus 11); Madison Chandler 8-(minus 7); Jake Houston 10-5; Joey Axtell 1-(minus 6); Cole Schreurs 1-18).

Passing (C-Att-Yds-Int-TD) – West Burlington-ND (Guihan 6-7-138-0-1; Wilson 0-2-0-0-0; Taylor Newland 1-1-4-0-0). LM (Tug McCleery 6-15-135-1-1).

Receiving (C-Yds-TD) West Burlington-ND (Taylor Day 3-96-1; Newland 3-42-0, Chris Kottenstette 1-4-0). LM (Caleb Bemis 1-15-0; Hills 4-40-1; Chandler 1-80-0).