Heartbreak at Home, Cobras Fall To West Branch, 41-33

Written by Clint Dye

After Sigourney-Keota’s final pass attempt to tie their Iowa Class 1A first round playoff game fell incomplete as time expired last Friday, October 25, Cobra senior Jax Weber immediately knelt outside the endzone gathering his thoughts. 

With tears in his eyes, Weber watched as the West Branch defensed sprinted to the sidelines in celebration of their shocking 41-33 upset victory - the realization setting in that the Cobras season and his time in a S-K uniform was truly over. 

That pain of playing in your final high school game is something only those who have played can understand. 

Soon after, Weber and his senior teammates - Isaac Bruns, Caden Clarahan, Brady Clark, Ashton Schwab, Jace Chalupa, Brody Greiner, Jayden Thompson, Landyn Greiner, Cael O’Rourke, Kaen Kopp, Mison Milan, Billie Kindred, Jonathan Wheeldon, and Zach Guffey were met with hugs and words of encouragement from all of their teammates and coaches. 

This was a contest where it seemed anything that could go wrong did go wrong for Sigourney-Keota, bringing an unexpected ending to an outstanding season. 

“It seemed every time we had something going, they responded with a big play, so credit to them,” said Sigourney-Keota head coach Jared Jensen. “This one will hurt for a while as it wasn’t how we wanted our season to end. But I’m proud of our kids and how they fought till the very end.”

Things started off swimmingly for Sigourney-Keota as they jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. 

The first score coming from a 45 yard touchdown run by Isaac Bruns, followed by a five-yard touchdown run by junior Brayden Wood. 

In his final game as a Cobra, Isaac Bruns finished with 176 rushing yards.

West Branch’s first big play of the game came on the ensuing kickoff which they returned for a touchdown. 

Big play number two came early in the second quarter after a tipped pass found its way into a West Branch receivers hands leading to a touchdown pass. 

With the game knotted at 14, Sigourney-Keota turned to Bruns once again, this time he scored on a seven yard touchdown run. However, the Cobras missed the extra point attempt. 

Once again, the West Branch passing game responded with a big play, a 68-yard touchdown pass. The throw narrowly floating over the fingertips of Sigourney-Keota junior John Berg’s deflection attempt. 

Trailing for the first time since week two against Mid-Prairie and with just six seconds left in the first half, Coach Jensen dug into his bag of tricks. 

The Cobras pulled off a double reverse pass from Brown to Bruns as time expired giving Sigourney-Keota a 26-21 halftime lead. 

“The kids had been calling for that play for weeks,” Jensen said. “We had confidence in pulling it off and getting it completed. Brayden made a great throw to Isaac.”

In the third quarter things took a turn for the worse for the Cobras after two possessions ended in turnovers that led to West Branch taking a 35-26 lead with just over six minutes left in the quarter. 

Junior Cobra Ike Molyneux’s short touchdown run with six seconds left in the third brought the score to 35-33. 

But early in the fourth is when West Branch delivered their final dagger in the form of a 73-yard touchdown pass. 

The Sigounrey-Keota defense gets ready for the snap.

It needs to be noted that a controversial no call for pass interference cut short a potential game tying drive for Sigourney-Keota with just over six minutes left in the game. 

The no call, which was caught on video by yours truly, is still up for debate on whether it should’ve been a pass interference or not. 

Despite the no call, Sigourney-Keota still had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds but each pass attempt from Wood fell incomplete as time expired. 

In his final game as a Cobra, Isaac Bruns carried the ball 32 times for 176 yards and two touchdowns while also hauling in a touchdown pass. 

Brayden Wood cemented his status as a Cobra to watch in 2025 with a solid performance, throwing for 60 yards. It was his ability to pick up crucial first downs with his arms and his legs late in the game that really stuck out.

Brayden Wood fights for extra yards.

“Brayden has just gotten better all year long,” Jensen said. “His play late was clutch and now he knows what he needs to do in the future to be even more successful.”

Defensively Sigourney-Keota was led by Ashton Schwab, Jace Chalupa and junior Owen Menke all finishing with six total tackles. Meanwhile John Berg finished with five and junior Jacob Libe had the only Cobra turnover, recovering a fumble. 

With the loss, Sigourney-Keota finishes the 2024 season with a overall record of 7-2. They were unanimous Iowa Class 1A District 6 Champions. It was the fifth consecutive unanimous District Title under Coach Jensen. 

“I was pleasantly surprised with our output this season,” Jensen said. “At the beginning of the season a lot of people questioned what our output would be like this season and what we would bring to the table. Our kids had faith and fought hard all year and really turned it into something special.”