WATERLOO - Waterloo West head coach Stan Wienke expected to see a lot of second-ranked Iowa City High quarterback A.J. Derby Friday at Memorial Stadium.

Wienke will probably see Derby in his nightmares, as well.

Derby rushed for 153 yards, 122 in the first half, as the Little Hawks rolled past the Wahawks, 45-22, in Mississippi Valley Conference action.

Derby's play helped City High (8-0) rack up 442 total yards as the Little Hawks moved a step closer to earning the No. 1 seed in the East region of the Class 4A playoffs.

"I thought we played hard, thought we played pretty good," West coach Stan Wienke said. "But you aren't playing an average team … They are going to make you look bad on some plays. They have some good athletes back there, otherwise they wouldn't be 8-0 right now."

Derby had a 69-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and his deft ballhandling skills left West chasing the wrong ballcarrier more than once.

Overall Derby had 250 total yards as the Little Hawks jumped out to a 24-0 lead and never looked back.

"It's exactly what we wanted to do," City High coach Dan Sabers said. "We talked to the team about being a championship team and going out and taking control of the game."

West lost two key players early, offensive lineman Eric Harbaugh (ankle) and starting quarterback Jud Wienke (concussion) within the first eight minutes of the opening quarter.

"I didn't see him get hit in the head, but that is what they told me. He's going to be all right," Wienke said of his son.

But the Wahawks (3-5) received a spark from Ryan Edwards, who replaced Wienke.

With Edwards at quarterback, the offense moved the ball proficiently against the Little Hawks.

One drive ended on downs at the City High 31, and the second saw a 43-yard run by Collin Styron set up an Edwards 1-yard touchdown run with 1 minute, 19 seconds left in the half that narrowed the gap to 24-8.

West had 116 rushing yards in the first half, 63 from Styron and 45 from Edwards.

"I'm disappointed with the end of the first half, but at the same time when they put Edwards back at quarterback that makes them a very dangerous team," Sabers said.

"We know what A.J. Derby does for us, and when they put him back there … he's a tough kid. They have some talent. We told our boys if we let these guys hang around they have enough talent to play with us."

West had a chance to make it interesting in the third quarter as it appeared the Wahawks had stopped the Little Hawks on their opening possession. But on fourth-and-eight from the West 46, Derby faked a punt and dashed 16 yards for a first down.

"We came out in the second half, they had a fake punt that we knew they were doing and we didn't get it covered," Wienke said.

Three plays later, City High went up 31-8 on an Eric Washpun 14-yard run.

West than failed on its own fourth-down conversion attempt at midfield on its ensuing possession. The Little Hawks made them pay one play later as Derby found Allen Simpson all alone for a 48-yard touchdown pass which made it 38-8.

Trailing, 45-8, West scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter, a 21-yard pass from Edwards to Nick Massina, and a 5-yard run by Styron.

"We might have learned more in that game than we have in the first seven because I didn't see anybody hang their heads," Wienke said. "They just kept playing. We have to learn to do that here. In the past, I think, there were times they got down when they got behind, but you have to learn you are never out of a game and I think we are getting there, I really do."

Edwards and Styron both rushed for more than 100 yards. Edwards carried it 17 times for 112 yards, and Styron had 108 on 15 carries.

West heads to Dubuque Hempstead Thursday for its regular-season finale.

Contact Jim Nelson at (319) 291-1521 or jim.nelson@wcfcourier.com

City High 21 3 14 0 - 45

West 0 8 0 14 - 22

ICH - Eric Washpun 3 run (Phillip Riley kick)

ICH - Nick Reuter 37 run (Riley kick)

ICH - A.J. Derby 69 run (Riley kick)

ICH - Riley FG 36.

WEST - Ryan Edwards 1 run (Collin Styron run)

ICH - Washpun 14 run (Riley kick)

ICH - Allen Simpson 48 pass from Derby (Riley kick)

ICH - Reuter 13 run (Riley kick)

WEST - Nick Massina 21 pass from Edwards (run failed)

WEST - Collin Styron 5 run (Mike Meyerhoff run)

TEAM STATISTICS

ICH West

First downs 20 16

Rushes-yards 39-296 40-242

Passes 8-14-0 4-15-0

Passing yards 146 50

Return yards 7 9

Punts-avg. 1-39.0 4-36.0

Penalties-yards 5-35 3-36

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

CITY HIGH - Derby 12-153, Washpun 9-52, Reuter 7-80, Nolan Hauge 2-(-4), Andy Hodge 1-2, Adam Prybil 1-2, Andrew McNulty 1-3, Clay Embree 1-2, Rick Bahner 2-5, Sam Emrich 1-0, Jason Romont 1-(-1), Greg Weno 1-2.

WEST - Styron 15-108, Meyerhoff 3-19, Edwards 17-112, Mike Steimel 1-0, Jud Weinke 1-(-3), Max Shower 3-6.

Passing

CITY HIGH - Derby 6-10-0-88 yards and one touchdown; McNulty 2-4-0-58 yards and no touchdowns.

WEST - Wienke 0-2-0-0-0; Edwards 3-12-0-45 yards and one touchdown; Shower 1-1-0-5 yards and no touchdowns.

Receiving

CITY HIGH - Reuter 1-13, John Chelf 2-51, Simpson 2-58, Washpun 1-10, Hodge 1-(-2), Matt Evans 1-16.

WEST - Mark Krouse 1-12, Massina 2-26, Jerrold Manago 1-12.

CITY HIGH SOPHS 45, WEST SOPHS 12