High school football rewind: Offensive takeaways from Valley-Ankeny and Dowling-Johnston

There are two different conversations to be had regarding West Des Moines Valley after last week’s wildly-entertaining 34-24 loss to third-ranked Ankeny.

First, the Tigers are now 3-3, and when put into postseason context, they're currently on the outside looking in, according to the most up-to-date Class 5A RPI standings, threatening a consecutive playoff appearance streak that’s spanned 30 years.

Second, the Tiger offense, which struggled through the first three games this season, looked pretty good against Ankeny — yes, even in a loss.

In rewatching the game, thanks to the folks at Central Iowa Sports Network, who streamed the game live and archived the webcast on YouTube, it was clear that much of Valley’s offensive success came through the play of senior quarterback Michael Provenza.

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Valley QB Michael Provenza has steadily improved each week

Provenza accounted for 206 of the Tigers’ 263 total yards against the Hawks. He scored a pair of rushing touchdowns in the first half — a 9-yarder in the first quarter to tie the game at 7, then a 15-yarder in the second to give the Tigers a 21-14 lead.

On his first touchdown, Provenza faked a pitch to Darius Mason, rolled left and initially looked to pass. An Ankeny defender met him in the backfield, but Provenza cut back inside, pump-faked to freeze another defender, then raced nine yards to the end zone.

On his second, Provenza again faked a pitch, rolled right and faced two Ankeny defenders who eliminated any chance at a pass. He cut inside to avoid a sack, then danced through more defenders and blockers and raced 15 yards to paydirt.

Provenza finished with 102 rushing yards on 12 carries (he was sacked three times, which subtracted 10 yards) and also went 15-of-21 passing for 114 yards. But his threat to run is what fueled Valley’s offense: on drives in which he rushed multiple times, the Tigers scored; on drives he rushed once or not at all, the Tigers didn't put up points.

In the last three weeks, Provenza's emerged as a key playmaker. He’s accounted for 54.7% of the Tigers’ total offense the last three weeks, during which they’ve averaged 27.7 points and 321.3 yards per game — a stark uptick after averaging just 10.3 points and 211.7 yards per game during the first three weeks.

His effective play is a welcomed subplot for a Valley team that’s squarely on the RPI bubble, with remaining games against Des Moines Lincoln (1-5), Dowling Catholic (5-1), and Des Moines Roosevelt (3-3). If Provenza continues to play like he has recently, expect to see Valley in the playoffs yet again.

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The JJ Kohl-to-Jamison Patton connection is real

The other thing that stood out from the Ankeny-Valley game is the connection between Ankeny quarterback JJ Kohl and his star receiver Jamison Patton.

Patton hauled in seven receptions for 144 yards and a touchdown, giving him 38 catches for 494 yards and two scores through six games this season. His 494 receiving yards are the sixth-most among Class 5A receivers. His 38 receptions are third.

Currently, Patton is on pace for about 56 catches for 740 receiving yards, and that’s just through the regular season. If Ankeny reaches the 5A title game, that’s four more games, meaning Patton could potentially reach 82 receptions for 1,070 yards.

That would be an insanely-productive season, especially for an Ankeny receiver. Consider: Brady McCullough, now at Northern Iowa, led the Hawks last year with 55 receptions for 935 yards and 13 touchdowns. In 2020, Brody Brecht, now at Iowa, led Ankeny with 42 catches for 599 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Patton may not have as many touchdowns as McCullough and Brecht, but he’s clearly Kohl’s go-to receiver this season — which isn’t surprising, but still impressive since every team they play this season knows it’s coming, but they still can’t stop it.

More:The Register's Week 7 high school football rankings as the 2022 season enters the homestretch

Johnston QB Will Nuss flashes strong arm … again

Central Iowa Sports Network also streamed, and archived, Dowling Catholic’s 42-19 win over Johnston, and upon rewatching this one, the immediate takeaway was Johnston’s star quarterback Will Nuss uncorking another deep, deep pass.

In the third quarter, with Dowling up 21-12, Nuss took the snap at his own 28-yard line. He rolled backward to his right, set his feet at the 18, and launched a pass to Tatum Fox, who caught it on the opposite 29-yard line and ran it the rest of the way for a 72-yard touchdown.

To reiterate, the play spanned 72 yards, and the ball was in the air for 51 of them.

Nuss has made it a habit to produce highlights like that this season. He has completed 75-of-145 passes (51.7%) for 1,188 yards and 10 touchdowns in five games. He has 18 completions spanning 20 yards or more — and five that have gone 50 yards or more.

Two of those 50-plus yard passing plays came against Dowling last week.

Before the 72-yarder to Fox — who threw up a peace sign as he strolled into the end zone, not unlike Tyreek Hill (Fox also wears No. 10) — Nuss hit Rex Woodley on a 50-yarder in the first quarter. He rolled right to avoid a blitz and launched the ball down the sideline to a streaking Woodley, who got caught from behind inside the 10-yard line.

That big-play ability will keep Johnston in a lot of games this season. It didn’t end up making a huge difference in last week’s game — the touchdown to Fox made it 21-19, Dowling; the Maroons then scored 21 unanswered to close the game — but the Dragons have quite a weapon in their strong-armed sophomore quarterback.

Ra’Shawd Davis gives Dowling two productive running backs

The Maroons pulled away from Johnston thanks largely to its dominant rushing attack. Ra'Shawd Davis was responsible for two of the three unanswered touchdowns after the Nuss-to-Fox big play. Davis finished the game with three total rushing touchdowns, plus 70 rushing yards, all on 16 carries.

Davis, only a sophomore, leads Dowling with 338 rushing yards and six touchdowns after six weeks. More importantly, he gives the Maroons a two-headed rushing monster, alongside junior CJ Phillip, who has rushed for 292 yards and six touchdowns this season.

That thunder-and-lightning duo has made the Maroons offense even more dangerous. Because not only do opponents have to deal with two top-tier running backs, they also have to deal with three-star quarterback and Penn State commit Jaxon Smolik, plus a trio of talented receiving options in Cooper Nicholson, Beau Gamble and Jalyn Thompson.

Against Johnston, the Maroons piled up a season-best 424 total yards of offense. They are now 5-1, at the top of the RPI rankings, second in our most-recent 5A poll, and don’t look now, but things are clearly clicking as they enter the home stretch.

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Takeaways from Valley-Ankeny, Dowling-Johnston football rewind