Ankeny Centennial, Southeast Polk QBs lead top performers from Week 3 of Iowa high school football

After some close games headlined Week 1 and Week 2, Week 3 brought some lopsided wins for squads across Iowa. With some larger margins of victory, many players stood out for our top performers list, but we once again narrowed it down to 10.

Here are the best 10 performers from Week 3 of Iowa high school football.

Ankeny Centennial’s Trenton Smith throws six touchdown passes

After their Week 1 loss to Ankeny, it was still apparent that this Centennial offense has some really fun weapons. Smith went 17-of-20 passing for 295 yards in Centennial’s win over No. 6 Cedar Falls. Between Smith, Elijah Porter and Max Snyder, this is an offense that is going to continue to cause problems for anyone they face.

More: What we learned from Iowa City High's 49-28 Little Cy-Hawk game win over Ames

Cedar Rapids Jefferson gets out to a 3-0 start

This is too awesome of a story to ignore. Before this season began, the J-Hawks’ last win came before the COVID-19 pandemic against Dubuque Senior on Oct. 25, 2019. After 26 straight losses, Cedar Rapids Jefferson is now one of four undefeated teams in Class 5A remaining after a 41-8 win over Des Moines North on Friday. Ishara Kalolero ran for two rushing touchdowns in their win.

Cherokee Washington advances to 3-0 thanks to Jaxon Paulsrud

Posting 239 yards and three touchdowns on the ground catches your eye pretty quickly, but the running back also led his team with 7.5 tackles in their win over Ridge View. His two-way impact was ultimately the difference here.

Connor Moberly breaks in Southeast Polk's new stadium with five touchdown passes

On the night before the Cy-Hawk game, Iowa State fans got a reason to be excited for the future. Moberly, an ISU commit, tossed five touchdown passes and really just seemed to have total control of the game from the jump. Even more impressive, it came against the No. 4 team in 5A, Cedar Rapids Prairie. Just a big-time performance under some fresh bright lights.

More: Connor Moberly throws five TDs as Southeast Polk dominates Prairie in stadium's debut

Evan Alt’s takes it the house seven times for Audubon

Anytime I can mention 8-player football, I’m going to do it. Defenses are mostly optional in these games, but the heavy hitting usually comes from the passing game. Alt ran for 281 yards and seven touchdowns to defeat Exira-EHK.

Lewis Central’s offensive line sets the tone

I haven’t shown enough love to the offensive lines in these top performers lists. Shame on me. Lewis Central’s offensive line powered Brady Hetzel to pass for 237 yards and three touchdowns, and run for another 70 yards. The Titans ran for 317 rushing yards on the night in their 38-31 win over ADM. The big guys up front got it done here.

Lucas Kral runs rampant against Central Springs

A night of 283 rushing yards and four touchdowns is the final tally for Garner Hayfield Ventura’s running back. There are quite a few running backs on here once again, but you have to include when guys explode for games like this.

Owen Lalumendre racks up double-digit tackles

Spirit Lake’s offense might draw the headlines after scoring 48 in a win over Spencer, but 12.5 tackles is quite impressive for the senior linebacker. Eleven of those tackles were solo tackles as well and two were tackles for loss.

More: Iowa high school football final scores, results from Week 3, Sept. 7-8 of the 2023 season

Quarterback duel between Maquoketa and Northeast headlines close game

Maquoketa’s Carter Meyer got the best of Northeast’s Gavin Kramer with the win, but both posted impressive stat lines. Meyer passed for 252 yards (20-of-24 passing) and three touchdowns while running for another 140 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. Kramer fought valiantly with three passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns and 169 yards on the ground.

Ra’Shawd Davis continues to impress

Anytime this guy touches the ball, something magical seems to happen. Davis posted 242 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 36 carries in the win over Ankeny. Whenever someone from Dowling Catholic has a big night it's going to draw attention, but this surpasses any status his school has. What he’s doing right now is extremely impressive.

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Southeast Polk & Jefferson lead Week 3 of Iowa HS football's top performers