PCM football back in familiar place

The PCM football team is doing it again. The Class 2A No. 2 Mustangs have made it back to the state semifinals and will put their undefeated record on the line inside the UNI-Dome on Saturday morning.

But just how good has PCM been this year?

The Mustangs are 11-0 for only the third time since 2007 and are in the state semifinals for the third time since 2018, the season they went 13-0 and won the 2A championship.

“It feels great. You always dream about doing this as a kid and we finally get to do it,” said junior Shay Burns, who rushed for a career-high 209 yards in the team’s quarterfinal win. “It feels amazing.”

Burns will play in the state semifinals. Just like his older brother Sage did back in 2018 and 2020.

There also was a Van Dyke on the 2018 and 2020 squads. Senior Trenner Van Dyke enters the state semifinals with a 2A-best 24 tackles for loss. He also ranks second in the class with 13 sacks.

Van Dyke collected four sacks in the quarterfinal shutout against Mid-Prairie and was part of an offensive line unit which helped the Mustangs rush for 361 yards.

“It feels really good. There was a lot of motivation from last year,” Van Dyke said. “We were so close. It feels good to win this one.”

PCM was eliminated by Van Meter in last year’s quarterfinal. The Bulldogs defeated the Mustangs, 31-21, before going on to win the 2A title.

“The game against Van Meter showed me last year with everyone we had coming back that we could be this good,” PCM head football coach Greg Bonnett said. “We lost by 10 in that one and blew some opportunities against the state champions and were right there.

“All year long, it felt like a collision course with those four teams. We could have filled out our bracket a little earlier almost. There is nothing but good teams left though.”

The other three teams in the 2A state semifinals are top-ranked West Lyon, third-ranked Spirit Lake and defending state champion and fourth-ranked Van Meter.

The Mustangs open with Spirit Lake at 10 a.m. on Saturday inside the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. The Indians’ only loss came against 3A quarterfinalist Algona by two points.

West Lyon (11-0) is the other undefeated team in 2A and it gets Van Meter, which has only lost once this season. That was a seven-point defeat against 3A state semifinalist Humboldt.

PCM also played against a tough 3A team in the non-district season. Nevada had a lead in the first quarter of its 3A quarterfinal game and spent most of the season ranked in the top 10.

The Mustangs won that game by 23 points. That was the first time senior quarterback Gavin Van Gorp felt like this team could definitely make a run to the Dome.

“I don’t think last year was on our minds that much,” said Van Gorp about losing in last year’s quarterfinals. “We kept our one-game mentality. We knew we had a strong chance to make it, but we had to stay positive.

“The Nevada game kind of showed us and everyone else who we were.”

Van Gorp leads 2A with 42 total touchdowns this season. He ranks second in the class with 27 passing touchdowns and has thrown only two picks.

The Mustangs lead 2A with 77 touchdowns and they have compiled 4,664 offensive yards and 5,596 all-purpose yards, which are both 500 more than the team with the second most.

The defense ranks ninth in 2A with 68 tackles for loss, 11th with 21 sacks and tied for fourth with 13 picks.

Senior Finn Wilson leads PCM with 57 tackles this fall. He could see this run by the Mustangs coming over the summer.

“I loved what we were doing in the offseason and the summer workouts went great,” Wilson said. “The Nevada win though set the mood on everything.”

Contact Troy Hyde at thyde@shawmedia.com