Air attack: Weber smashes school records

WELLMAN

The numbers are staggering.

In less than two seasons on Mid-Prairie’s varsity football team, quarterback Brooks Weber has thrown for 49 touchdowns and 3,567 yards.

They are both school records at a school with a quarterback list that includes Seth Fisher, a former football player at the University of Pennsylvania and now a financial officer at a business firm in Chicago; older brother Brady Weber, who is now a sophomore at Southeastern Community College; Travis Kern, Mid-Prairie’s all-time points scorer in basketball and a former Golden Hawks coach; and Ryan Cortum, who is now a Golden Hawks assistant football coach.

Last Friday, on a muddy field following three days of rain and a week of practices at Mid-Prairie’s indoor practice facility, Weber drilled scoring passes of 63, 64 and 26 yards to track state qualifiers Ryan Henry, Bronx Miller and Nolan Jergens in the opening quarter. He would add three more scoring passes through the night.

“It was a tough challenge tonight,” Weber said, referring to the muddy field conditions.

No problem.

For two seasons when he was a freshman and then a sophomore, Brooks played on the JV and watched as older brother Brady passed for 31 touchdowns, missing Fisher’s school record by just two TDs, and broke a school record with 3,322 passing yards.

Brooks smashed all those records, tying the school record for single-season TD passes last year (30) and breaking the all-time passing record last week in a 56-21 against Central Lee with 353 passing yards and 6 TDs.

So, let’s get this straight.

In four years, the Weber brothers have passed for more than 6,800 yards and 90 TDs.

Simply staggering.

But it is more than that, and Brooks will be quick to point it out.

The reason he doesn’t pick himself off the ground every play? A powerful offensive line that includes Tommy Miller, another state qualifier in track; Jack Sorrell, a 6-foot, 337-pound monster; and Quincy Duvall, who is 6-5 and weighs 305. Try pushing that around.

And then there are the receivers: Carson Humphrey, Nolan Jergens, both state track qualifiers. Ryan Henry, a two-time state qualifier in sprints. Out with injuries are another two state qualifiers: Kendrick Kos and Oliver Miller.

It’s fun to watch.

Humphrey and Jergens simply outrun their defenders. Henry, well, he sprints past his defenders for an open pass and heads for the end zone.

The Golden Hawks rank third in Iowa 2A with 37.2 points scored per game and No. 8 in the 2A rankings entering the final two weeks of the regular season, when postseason spots will carve a path toward the shot at a state title in the UNI-Dome at Cedar Falls.

That is the goal, and has been since the Golden Hawks feel just one win short of the Dome a year ago, losing to Van Meter by just a touchdown in the 2A quarterfinals.

The ride toward the Dome is really just beginning.

Two words: go long.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul