Top performers from Week 1 of the IHSAA season

It’s finally time for Iowa high school football.

Week 1 has come and gone, and there were plenty of exciting games across the state.

Algona defeated Spirit Lake in a battle between some of the top recruits in the state. North Polk came from behind to beat Bondurant-Farrar in overtime. Ankeny Centennial staged a comeback of its own, beating Ankeny in the season-opening rivalry game.

Throughout the state, we saw big performances from individual players – some expected, some unexpected.

Here are our top performers from Week 1 of Iowa high school football.

Our top 10 are listed in alphabetical order by last name, except for coach and team selections.

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Beckett Bakker, QB, Waukee

The Warriors’ junior quarterback started his season off strong, completing 77.3% of his passes for 321 yards and three touchdowns against Ames. Most of those yards came from completions to Maverick Inman, who hasn’t missed a beat since transferring from Waukee Northwest.

Will Hawthorne, RB/LB, Gilbert

There are few two-way players as elite on both sides of the ball as Hawthorne. He started his senior campaign with 327 rushing yards and four touchdowns. He added eight tackles on defense and pushed his team to a win over Dallas Center-Grimes.

Braeden Jackson, RB, Ankeny Centennial

We’ve been waiting for Jackon’s breakout moment, and I think we just got it. The Jaguars’ running back ran for more than 200 yards and three touchdowns…in the second half alone against Ankeny. Now that he’s not splitting carries with a Division I-bound back, expect this trend to continue.

More: Iowa high school football: 3 takeaways from Valley football’s win over Southeast Polk

Alex Manske, QB, Algona

Algona hung on for a 42-40 win over Spirit Lake, but Manske started off strong and never slowed down. He had a hand in three touchdowns in the first half alone, running in two and sending a touchdown pass to Tate Slagle.

Zay Robinson, WR, Valley

Robinson put on a show in his first game back since missing all of last season with an injury. He recorded 163 yards, unofficially, and one touchdown against Southeast Polk. On top of his offensive success, he grabbed a game-preserving interception in the final minute of the game.

More: Iowa high school football: 3 takeaways from Valley football’s win over Southeast Polk

Titan Schmitt, RB, Clear Lake

No surprise here that Schmitt is in midseason form. He racked up 217 rushing yards, two touchdowns on the ground and one more in the air in a win over Forest City.

Kasen Thomas, RB/LB, Bishop Heelan

Thomas is a high-level recruit as a linebacker. But he reminded high school football fans that he excels on both sides of the ball, rushing for nearly 250 yards and – wait for it – five touchdowns. And he did that in a win over Kuemper Catholic, which is considered one of the top teams in the class.

Trainer Van Dyke, DL, PCM

One game in and Van Dyke already has 12 total tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks on his stat sheet from a big win over Sigourney-Keota. He’ll be one to pay attention to this season if he keeps up those stats.

More: 24 bold predictions for the 2024 Iowa high school football season

Josh DeWaard, Des Moines East head coach

The Scarlets hadn’t won a game since Sep. 9, 2022. That changed on Friday when Des Moines East – under brand new head coach DeWaard – defeated Des Moines North, 20-16.

North Polk

Typically, we shy away from including entire teams on the top performers list. But it’s difficult to pick just one player from a Comets’ group that came back from a 35-7 deficit at halftime to beat Bondurant-Farrar, 42-41. The play of the game? A point-after attempt that sailed barely over the crossbar to win the game in overtime.

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at [email protected] or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.