Kyle Stephenson rushed for 189 yards and three scores as South Tama County cruised into the Class 3A second round following an easy 31-14 win over Waverly-Shell Rock on Wednesday.
The Trojans recovered the opening kickoff in the end zone for another score and held the Go-Hawks without points until the fourth quarter. Erik Lux rushed for a season-high 95 yards and the Trojans won despite completing just two passes on the night.
Kaleb Davenport recovered a kickoff in the end zone to give the South Tama an early lead and then Stephenson reached paydirt on runs of 9, 5 and 4 in the second quarter to essentially put the game away. The other points came on a 47-yard field goal by Jose Fonseca in the fourth quarter.
Waverly-Shell Rock scored both of its touchdowns through the air in the fourth quarter. The first scoring strike covered 30 yards as Jake Velky connected with Brett McCalla with 5:21 to play in the game. The last score of the contest came in the final minute as Velky added one more scoring pass, this time a 33-yarder to Tommy Bates. Tyler Hemer also added a two-point conversion on the final scoring drive.
Zach Morris led the Trojans' defense with eight tackles and an interception, while Vinny Lasley added six tackles and a sack. Austin Lowe also had seven tackles in the victory. Sam Kuhter and Clay Waterbury also had interceptions for the Trojans.
South Tama (8-2) will next play at Humboldt at 7 p.m. Monday. Humboldt (7-3) eliminated Newton, 42-3, on Wednesday.