Week 4 of the Iowa high school football season is in the books. Here's what we learned.

Four weeks of Iowa high school football have come and gone, and Week 4 came with its own set of lessons learned.

The slate of matchups from Friday night led to a shakeup in some of the class-by-class rankings, and the results presented some questions about some of the teams in central Iowa and beyond.

Let’s look at what we learned from Week 4 of the Iowa high school football season.

1. First things first, let’s recognize something that had nothing to do with the final score or any top performers. It happened during Friday night’s matchups between Fort Dodge vs. Waterloo East and Fort Dodge St. Edmond vs. Audubon.

Ahead of the two games, local businesses and individuals began a touchdown pledge to support the family of Kevin Cram, an Algona police officer who was shot and killed on Wednesday night. More than $25,000 was raised for the Cram family.

Sometimes, sports are a vehicle for something bigger, and that was the case for those two Fort Dodge teams and their opponents.

2. Ankeny has taken a few lumps this year, but don’t rule out the Hawks just yet. It’s been difficult to get a real read on Ankeny so far this year. The Hawks opened the season with a double-overtime, one-point win over crosstown rival Centennial. And then Ankeny had to face the top two teams in Class 5A – Southeast Polk and Dowling – in back-to-back games.

So, the 2-2 record doesn’t really tell Ankeny’s full tale, which was evident with how the Hawks played against Johnston on Friday. Ankeny forced four Johnston turnovers, and it wasn’t just one or two players on defense who made an impact.

If the Hawks – and we’re talking about a whole team effort – can continue to make impactful plays on defense and couple that with a bit more production on offense, this is a completely different season for Ankeny.

3. Johnston has yet to live up to the preseason hype. The Dragons returned one of the top quarterbacks in the state in Will Nuss, have a Division I-bound tight end in Jacob Simpson, and brought in a quarterback-turned-receiver in Dalen Huston.

But looking at the season so far, Johnston’s offense hasn’t been impressive in any of its four games – win or lose.

Here is something we don’t understand: Why isn’t D’Angelo Barkue the starting running back? He was a workhorse against Ankeny, scoring Johnston’s only touchdown of the evening. Look back at the other three games from this season and Barkue averages nearly 10 yards per carry, almost seven yards better than the leading rusher.

The Dragons don’t have much of a presence on the ground as it is, so is there any harm in slotting him into the starting spot to see what happens?

Johnston started last season 2-2, as well, so there might not be serious reason for Dragons fans to worry. But it certainly seems like Johnston could have a bit more success on the scoreboard if the ball more frequently ends up in Barkue’s hands.

4. Moving on to quarterbacks, let’s put some more respect on Vincenzo Gianforte’s name. With Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s 2-2 record, I understand why people aren’t talking about the Cougars’ quarterback as much as some of his Class 5A counterparts.

He leads Iowa’s largest class in touchdowns (14), passing touchdowns (13), and passing yards (1,181). Gianforte’s go-to guy, Cyrus Courtney, leads 5A in receiving yards (661) and receiving touchdowns (6). Let’s not forget to mention that Gianforte’s touchdown to interception ratio is 13-to-1.

Some of that credit has to go to Kennedy’s offensive line, which has looked impressive in all four games this year, regardless of the final result.

The Cougars lost to Dowling in Week 1, and then fell to Pleasant Valley by one point in Week 2. In the last two weeks, Kennedy has been dominant on both sides of the ball.

I’m curious how the Cougars will compete against Iowa City High and Bettendorf in the coming weeks, but if the defense does its job and the offense continues to succeed on the back of Gianforte, Kennedy is becoming a team to take seriously in the back half of the season.

5. Southeast Polk is undefeated, but the perfect record comes with some question marks. Two of the Rams’ four wins – against Ankeny and Prairie – were to be expected, and SEP dominated in both those contests. But Southeast Polk defeated Valley (0-4) by just six points and the Rams barely squeezed past Ankeny Centennial on Friday.

Centennial scored two of its three touchdowns on big-chunk plays: a 66-yard bomb and a 31-yard catch-and-run. Here’s the weirdest part: The Rams defense isn’t the issue.

And neither is the offense. But it would be nice to see Southeast Polk consistently put up the points it did against Ankeny and Prairie, because the Rams are more than capable of doing that in most if not every game. It would give the defense a nice buffer from tight-game situations, like what they faced against Centennial.

As the reigning back-to-back state champion, Southeast Polk has proven time and again that it can perform well (and win) when it matters most. So, not scoring a ton of points night-in and night-out is a non-issue for now.

6. With injury after injury, Valley has struggled and now sits at 0-4. The Tigers lost to Waukee, 37-15, on Friday. But the final score doesn’t tell the full story about how Valley kept things interesting.

Let me walk you through what we’re calling the chaos sequence.

Waukee was up 24-15 with less than two minutes left to play when Grant Gammell ran 55 yards for a late touchdown. Looking back at the video from the game, there was some confusion on Valley’s defensive line, which led to them not being set before the snap.

Valley got the ball back with about a minute and a half left in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers threw a pick-six on the first play of the drive. A lot happened in those final two minutes. For the rest of the game, Valley showed that the Tigers can compete – and maybe even win a game, if they tighten up the mistakes.

7. Western Dubuque knocked off top-seeded North Scott, handing the Lancers their first loss of the season. The Bobcats came out on top, 31-24.

Western Dubuque fumbled on the opening play of the second half, and Hunter Fox converted that into a North Scott touchdown for the lead on the next play. This was a solid back-and-forth between two stacked programs. But it’s hard for any team to recover when their opponent scores three consecutive touchdowns to retake the lead in the fourth quarter. That’s exactly what Western Dubuque did.

Grant Glausser was, once again, the difference-maker, although we’re not really “learning” anything there. He broke his own school rushing record with an unofficial 413 yards in a single game.

8. Is Des Moines Lincoln the team to beat in DMPS? Even with a loss to Des Moines Roosevelt, it sure seems that way. The Railsplitters beat East, 26-8, and demolished North, 56-6, on the road. A lot of that success has to do with Javon Sanders (on the ground), a trio of consistent receivers, and a dynamic duo of Leo Jones and Daniel Sakyiamah on defense.

Sure, Lincoln is 2-2 against some teams that sit in the lower part of the standings. But it’s a major improvement for a program that won just one game a year ago.

9. So, Tate Wood leads the state with 71.5 total tackles. And, let’s be honest, we didn’t have the Independence senior on our top linebackers list because, frankly, that was a stat line we weren’t sure was accurate.

According to Bound, he had nine tackles against North Fayette Valley, 22 against Crestwood, 23 against Waukon, and then 17.5 tackles against Decorah on Friday. Those numbers seem like a lot, but when you look at Independence’s defensive strategy and their opponents, it makes sense.

The Mustangs face a lot of run-heavy offenses. Wood is a middle linebacker on a defense that allows his position to clean up. He’s just the type of player who is all over the field, and it helps that assisted tackles factor into his grand total.

10. Madrid is putting a really solid product on the field. It’s paid off for the Tigers, who have started the season 4-0, highlighted by a 27-9 win over another top-ranked team, Lynnville-Sully, on Friday. Madrid will face another tough test in Earlham next week, but this team looks sound on both sides of the ball.

Credit where it’s due, a lot of this success can be attributed to Preston Wicker, who has thrown for four touchdowns, rushed for nine more scores and leads the Tigers with 19 total tackles. If other teams don’t figure out a way to slow him down, Madrid could not-so-quietly march to the postseason.

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: What we learned Friday in Week 4 of Iowa high school football season