Wins are never easy, but Iowa City Regina’s victory over Wapello Friday night certainly looked like it was.

In its fourth game of the season, Regina dominated the contest for a 43-16 win.

The senior duo of receiver Alec Wick and running back Theo Kolie led the home team’s offense from start to finish. However, it was Regina’s defense that made the first big play of the night.

On the first drive of the game, on a pivotal third-and-12 near midfield, junior defensive back Josh Gaffey intercepted a pass from Wapello quarterback Tade Parsons and the Regals never looked back.

“Gaffey’s play was amazing,” Regina head coach Marv Cook said. “[It set up] great field position for us and set up points.”

The turnover allowed Regina to take the early lead on what would be the first of four touchdowns from Kolie on Friday night.

“My line was doing a great job,” Kolie said. “We have a lot of good linemen, always pushing, working hard.”

Then it was Wick’s turn to shine. After catching his first touchdown of the game to make the score 14-0, Wick came up with another standout play, not as a receiver, but on defense stopping a Wapello receiver from seeing the end zone.

Parsons threw what looked to be a sure touchdown on a crossing route from the Indians’ 35-yard line. The Wapello receiver was running in the clear until Wick made a diving tackle, stopping him at the 3-yard line.

Regina would stand its ground from there, actually pushing Wapello five yards back on the next three plays and the Indians had to settle for a 25-yard field goal.

“It’s a four-point swing with Wick making the great effort play and then our guys balling up there at the end,” Cook said. “It was huge.”

From that point on, the Regals’ defense played a bend-but-don’t-break style as Wapello moved the ball but could only put 13 more points up for the rest of the game.

Regina’s offense put up a lot more than 13 points.

Kolie scored three more touchdowns and Wick caught another one.

Wick’s second touchdown reception of the game with 9:26 left in the fourth quarter, Regina’s last score of the contest, looked Odell Beckham Jr.-esque. The senior playmaker reached up with one hand and came down with the ball as a flag for defensive pass interference was thrown by the referee.

“We looked at their defense, they had a corner on me that’s about it,” Wick said. “Ashton [Cook] threw a great ball, the line protected, it was perfect.”

Apart from his stellar play on both sides of the ball, Wick also contributed in the kicking game. He went a perfect 5-for-5 on extra-points.

“He’s amazing. He’s one of the best football players I’ve seen in 14 years of football,” Marv Cook said. “He does it offensively, defensively, special teams, he’s just an incredibly instinctive player.”

With the win, Regina improves to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in league play. Wapello drops to 1-2 this year.

The Regals will be back in Iowa City next Friday to take on Lisbon, who dropped its most recent game, 14-12, to West Liberty.