West Hancock’s Mitchell Smith on state football championship win
West Hancock quarterback Mitchell Smith discusses the Eagles fourth-quarter comeback and winning the 2023 Class A Iowa state football championship.
CEDAR FALLS — Fifty years ago, West Hancock — then known as Britt — qualified for its first state football championship game in program history.
Several decades later — with a completely different team but a familiar name in the head coach position — the Eagles found themselves in the title game again and added more hardware to the trophy case.
West Hancock defeated Woodbury Central, 30-28, for its first title since 2021 on Thursday.
The Eagles can thank Mitchell Smith, who intercepted Drew Kluender with 7:45 left in the fourth quarter when West Hancock trailed by four points. The Eagles stormed down the field in 15 plays, eating up over seven minutes of clock and scored a touchdown to take the lead.
“That is a West Hancock football drive right there,” Smith said postgame.
It was West Hancock’s first and only lead of the game.
But it got the job done, with the Eagles avenging last season’s runner-up finish in the state championship game.
“It’s hard to shake that off,” head coach Mark Sanger said. “We got our butts kicked and it’s hard to live with that for a year. I’ve got a great group of young men that work their tails off and do things the right way.
“And, I tell you what, to come back from something like that, you’re gonna have to be those types of people and that’s exactly what they are.”
West Hancock beats two undefeated teams in historic moment
In 1973, Britt won its first state football title in a 34-13 victory against Mount Vernon.
The head coach in that victory was Bob Sanger, father of West Hancock’s current head coach, Mark Sanger. Bob coached from 1968 to 2019 before Mark took over in 2019 to lead West Hancock to four title games in five seasons — winning three championships in that time.
Sanger and his team cemented their spot in history this season.
West Hancock handed Madrid its first loss of the season in the state semifinals to advance to the championship game. On Thursday, the Eagles beat another undefeated team for the trophy.
“I don’t think it ever gets old,” Sanger said. “It’s just as exciting for our kids. I’ll tell you what, it’s just a big win.”
The Eagles pull off the win, despite struggles
West Hancock went 0-for-5 on two-point conversion attempts, and for much of the game, it looked like that would be the difference.
“I probably should’ve done something different,” Sanger said. “But that’s neither here nor there. We knew we had to get a nice stop and we were able to grind one or two out, and the rest is what it is.”
But instead of giving up, the Eagles continued to play their style of football, put their noses down and went to work. It paid off, with Smith picking off one of the best quarterbacks in the state and helping West Hancock to the game-winning touchdown.
Drew Kluender’s season ends in heartbreak, but he will go down in the history books
Woodbury Central’s quarterback couldn’t end his season with a state championship trophy.
But, in only two years as the Wildcats’ starting man behind center, he did cement the right to be called one of the best quarterbacks in Iowa history.
Kluender led all Iowa quarterbacks with 3,419 yards in 2022. He threw for 2,895 yards this season, the second-most in the state. He was less than 100 yards away from leading the state for a second straight year.
He finished his career with 6,314 yards.
“He’s a special player,” Woodbury Central coach Kurt Bremer said. “He’s just the type of quarterback that can not only make plays through the air, but also with his feet. He’s also one of those guys that can throw every route on the field and is able to read his first and second and third options.
“So yeah, he’s a special player. I see him going on to bigger and better things, and he’s going to be missed.”
Kluender recorded the 30th-most passing yards in Iowa’s 11-player history, throwing for more yards than players like Max Duggan, Kyle Starcevich and Braylon Kammrad.
As a two-year starter — who recorded no passing statistics prior to 2022 — Kluender became only the second player in 11-player history in Iowa to throw for over 6,000 yards across just two seasons.
Bishop Heelan’s Trenton Solsma — who threw for 6,763 yards between 2012-13 — was the first player to accomplish that feat.
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at [email protected] or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
2023-11-16 22:51:05
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