In the game we covered for he Blitz Extra-SE-Polk got the Best of Dowling. The Maroons have two losses now but I still feel they are as strong as any team in the CIML. You have to hand it to the Rams. This is the kind of win that can take you season to another level. Having Jeff Woody doesn’t hurt. Coach Muller was not on the sidelines but was at the game and we wish him our best here at ICS.. ALSO “HOW BOUT THOSE TROJANS.!!!”
I stayed up late last night to watch all of the Angels/Red Sox game, and it was well worth it. Boston goes up 1-0 and snags the homefield advantage from California. Yes, I still call them California. Lester pitched superb and Jason Bay continues to earn his keep since coming over from Pittsburgh. What I like the most, though, is Ellsbury doing what your leadoff man should do. He set the table, getting on every time up, and played excellent defense. If that continues, it will be pretty hard to deal with Boston. The Angels have the big bats and good pitching coming up, so it should get interesting. As for the Cubs, I don’t think the Dodgers are better, but this just seems like one of those series that will end with ‘what the heck happened?’ written all over it. Maybe not, though. Zambrano could change that vibe all by himself, but will he be on or on another planet? Milwaukee looks like they are grossly underprepared to get past the Phillies. Their pitching situation is not good with Sheets out, and C.C. can’t pitch everyday. Philly is a tall task for them. As for the White Sox/Rays series, I have no idea what will happen, but I hope Griffey has a good series and the games are at least exciting. Not a big fan of either team, otherwise the playoffs are pretty good to me. No Yankees and no Mets…Should be like this every year. Let’s get to the high school football schedule for this Friday. That seems like a much better topic than Game Ones. I’ll start in the Central Conference of the CIML, where last week proved what this group has in store for the fans. A close game, a near upset and a dose of revenge highlighted last week here. Dowling got by Ankeny to pay back the Hawks for a beating they administered last season, Indianola fought SE Polk down to the wire before falling and Urbandale led Johnston late before finally relenting. Now it’s Dowling at SE Polk, Ankeny at Urbandale and Johnston at Indianola. All three will be great games. ICS will be covering Dowling/SE Polk for the Blitz and the Blitz Extra. Waukee at Ames should be the best Iowa Conference matchup, but Valley travels to upstart Mason City, which is a long road trip for the Tigers, making it at least interesting to see if that will have any effect on Valley at all. My guess is that it won’t. Valley should be just fine. In the Metro, Ottumwa comes to Des Moines to take on Lincoln, and this should be a good indicator of what kind of challenge lies in store for East as far as who can make a run at the title. Having easily disposed of Lincoln last week, East will be concentrating on beating Hoover, but paying close attention to the outcome of the Bulldogs/Railsplitters battle. North has a shot at moving to 2-0 in the conference if they can get by Roosevelt, so look for a feisty, excited Polar Bear crowd at Grubb Stadium. “Nothing’s as mean as pink and green!” How many years has it been since North displayed pink in their color scheme? Very unique. In the East, North Scott at Burlington is a spotlight contest. Burlington would like to stay undefeated to challenge Bettendorf, but North Scott could nail down temporary ownership of second place in the MAC with a win. Iowa City High at CR Kennedy is the only other head-to-head between “top dogs” in the East, but it should be a good one. The Little Hawks can basically put the Mississippi Division race to bed with a win. Either way, Kennedy will be a playoff team, and shouldn’t lose many more games. Way out West, in the Missouri River Conference, look for both CB Jefferson and SC North to get wins and move to 2-0 in a messy league. In Class 3-A, the Spencer/Heelan game highlights District 1 action, with both teams 3-0 in district play, while West Delaware at Cresco should be the biggest game in District 3. In District 4, Central Clinton goes to Maquoketa with both teams sporting 3-0 district records and trying to keep pace with undefeated LaPorte City. In District 5, Oskaloosa takes on Clear Creek-Amana in a game between teams jockeying for position in the playoff race, and one team will lose its second district game, falling back a step, while the other will hang near the top with Williamsburg and Mount Pleasant. In District 6 there is only one game to focus on this week…Pella at Grinnell. Undefeated. Rivals. District title. You get the point. What a great game to go to. This will be top shelf. ICS wishes it could go to this one. In Class 2-A, I like the District 3 matchup of Roland-Story at Dike-New Hartford. These teams never play each other, but both have a long history of success, and somehow they ended up in the same district for this year and next. Roland-Story is 5-0 and DNH is 3-0 in district play. Again, a great game to go to. Unless the winner of Hudson at Osage has some tricks up it’s sleeves, this one features the district champion. There are two good games in District 4. One is Beckman at Sumner-Fredericksburg and the other is North Fayette at Monticello. These are four teams that have their sights on Cascade, the undefeated leader one game above them all. In District 6, Davis County at West Burlington is a battle of 4-1 teams that are both 3-0 in the district. Bondurant-Farrar looks to keep on track and unbeaten in district play when they challenge 4-1 CMB in District 7 action. CMB fell to West Marshall last week, and looks to rebound against the Bluejays. Along with Colfax-Mingo, those three teams are still vying for the top spot in the district. Finally, in District 8, Missouri Valley is at 5-0 IKM/Manning, which shows no sign of trouble with the merger that brought them to 2-A. They were good teams apart, now they are a great squad together. Looking in at Class 1-A, we find good games in District 1 between West Lyon and Hinton and HMS and Westwood, Sloan. These are the top four teams in the district, with West Lyon the lone undefeated team in district play. District 2 again has nice contests with Belmond-Klemme at Ft. Dodge St. Edmond and Emmetsburg at Garner-Hayfield. Emmetsburg is out in front here, with a 5-0 record, while the others only have one current district loss each. There are also two good games on tap in District 3 this week, with BCLUW at Gladbrook-Reinbeck and 5-0 Aplington-Parkersburg at Turkey Valley, Jackson Junction. That has always been one of my favorite school names. District 4 has three teams that are 3-0 in district play, and two of them square off Friday. North Linn is at Northeast, Goose Lake in a battle to keep pace with Maquoketa Valley, Delhi atop the standings. In District 5, Iowa Valley at Belle Plaine is a nice matchup, and even though Pekin has lost a couple games already, their matchup with West Branch is a pivotal one for district placement and pride between two of Iowa’s big time football schools. Mount Ayr and Pella Christian both own 3-0 district records in District 6, but of course neither play in the most important game. That distinction goes to I-35 at Pleasantville, as any game featuring the Trojans is the ICS spotlight for this District. Go Trojans! Prairie Valley at Guthrie Center rounds out the top 1-A matchups. In Class A, we have two good games located in District 2. Algona Garrigan at Newell-Fonda should be a rough one, and Clay Central-Everly at Southern Cal promises to be intriguing. District 4 gives us a head to head battle between the top two teams there, as East Buchanan entertains Central Elkader for sole possession of first. The same situation exists in District 5, where WACO is at New London, and neither has dropped a district game. District 7 and District 8 both have some good games this week, but none compare to the playoff-like pairing of Madrid and AHST. This is a non-district classic that features two 5-0 teams with nothing short of UNI-Dome aspirations. This kind of matchup is usually reserved for Cedar Falls. Another great game ICS would like to go to…The 8-Player field also has two games featuring teams that are undefeated in district competition. East Union is at Lamoni in District 6, while Coon Rapids-Bayard will go to CAM, Anita in District 7 action. There are also 14 other 8-player teams with unblemished records in their districts that will be trying to keep it that way. It is what we thought it would be…another great week in high school football. No matter where it is, enjoy your game and support your team.
Heading into week 6, yes week 6! The rankings have stayed the same here on ICS. Valley, Heelan, Solon, AP, Madrid and Stanton. Wait a second Bay just hit one out for the sox! Post season baseball can ruin a good thought on high school football. Back to the #1’s. I don’t see Valley, Heelan, or Stanton losing in the regular season. Solon will have it’s test later against Coach Cook and Regina. However, we will learn a ton about Madrid and AP this week. AHST is always solid and if the Tigers are the real deal we will know for sure after this non district contest on the road. Wickett and Mattewson are averaging more than 16 yard per touch. It is mind numbing to fathom what a machine this Madrid offense has been during the tenure of Coach Hinkel. Ed Thomas and the boys have a road test at Turkey Valley. I think this district could be the best top to bottom in 1-A, and the Junction boys will give the Falcons a good measuring stick as the regular season starts to close. Lester just got out of the 6th. No real other thoughts, I will leave you with some more highlights from our week one Blitz Extra between DNH and AP. Also, our thoughts are with coach Muller, and we wish him a speedy recovery.
1st Half
Post Game
Had a chance to travel to Carroll tonight. I wanted to get a chance to see Blake Haluska up close. He reminded me a lot of Brett Meier. I saw Brett his Junior year against Harlan. In that game, Meier was under a ton of pressure and did not quite have the poise and moxie he later showed in his brilliant senior year. However, you could see the potential.
Tonight Blake took some shots early. In fact, he was sacked on the first play from scrimmage, but he marched the Tigers to the end zone on that opening series against DCG. Like Adam, Sean, and even Meier, this kid has the tools. I’m not sure Carroll is 5 td’s better than DCG, but Blake did not give the mustangs a chance to get back into the game. My thought is sign the kid now! ISU and Iowa were both after Meier. He proved that given talent around him to be a solid D-1 player. Austen Arnaud the same thing. These are kids you want to keep in state. Ask Iowa if they would roll the dice and take a chance on Joel Osborne? Yea? Duh… Just a thought. Couple thoughts….. Caleb Byers from Murray 6 td’s tonight,….STUD.
I’ve felt all along that I have Dowling ranked to low at #8 and they proved that to me tonight.. Maybe it’s Valley #1 Dowling #2.
Great win for Butch and West Branch tonight., and also for my Trojans!! Keep em’ going Coach K.!
It’s hard to believe, but here we are staring week five right in the face. It’s already the midpoint of the season and that means the playoff picture gets clearer and clearer with each passing week from here on out. There are a lot of matchups this week that will have a major impact on which teams will stay on course for a title and which teams will stay in the playoff discussion. On the flip side, that means there will be numerous teams that will basically be eliminated from postseason hopes with losses Friday night. If your team is 0-3 or 1-2 in district play after this weekend, it’s going to take an epic turnaround just to be in the mix for the field of 32 advancing teams in each class. Playoffs aside, let’s take a look at some of the key matchups this week starting with Class 3-A. In District 1, Heelan is at MOC-Floyd Valley Friday, and both are 2-0 in the district. District 2 has one of the premier matchups with a battle of unbeatens. Clear Lake hosts Charles City with the winner garnering sole possession of first place and the loser facing a potential four team tie for second. In District 5 there are two games of note, with Clear Creek-Amana hosting Mount Pleasant and Williamsburg traveling to Oskaloosa. All four teams are 2-0 in the district with Williamsburg and Mount Pleasant both at 4-0 overall. In District six, Pella and Grinnell look to stay undefeated, as the Dutch host Carlisle and the Tigers will entertain Knoxville. In District 7 the big game is in Carroll, where the Tigers welcome Dallas-Center Grimes to town. Both are 4-0 and with all due respect to Boone, this should be the biggest game in the district this season. ICS will be there to cover the action for the Blitz Extra on ABC5 as our feature game for next week. Looking at Class 2-A, Gilbert at Dike-New Hartford in District 3 and Sumner-Fredericksburg at North Fayette in District 4 should be exciting matchups, and CMB at West Marshall in District 7 is near the top of our list of favorites at ICS. Depending on what Bondurant-Farrar does, The winner of CMB vs. WM should be the champion, but there will be no shortage of playoff caliber teams in District 7. That leaves us with the marquee matchup in 2-A, and we go to District 8 to find it. Six of the teams in this district are going to battle it out for playoff spots, but the winner of the IKM/Manning vs. O-A/BC-IG will have the upper hand on the title. They are both 4-0 and have an amazing eight communities in their names. Class 1-A will have its share of nice contests as well. In District 1, West Lyon and HMS are unbeaten in district play, and they battle Friday for sole possession of first. HMS looks to stay undefeated on the season. District 2 serves up yet another head to head between unbeatens, as Fort Dodge Saint Edmond goes to Emmetsburg, looking to knock off the E-Hawks and stay on top of the district. Gladbrook-Reinbeck is next in line for Aplington-Parkersburg at the Sacred Acre in District 3. Wish them luck, they will need it. District 5 leaders West Branch and Belle Plaine square off with both squads looking to gain the upper hand and stay unblemished in the district, and it may not be a headline stealer, but Pleasantville will host Wayne and it is Homecoming for the Trojans. Hey, one team will go to 2-1 in the district, so cut me some slack. Go Trojans! In Class A, Akron-Westfield has gotten off to a nice start in District 1 at 2-0. They welcome LeMars Gehlen, also 2-0, to town for a shot at the drivers seat in the district race. In District 2, all the games will be good, but the best should be Southern Cal at Algona Garrigan. Both are undefeated in district play, and with six tough teams here, every win is huge. The only two teams in District 3 with clean district slates are Northwood-Kensett and Mason City Newman, and as luck would have it, they square off Friday in Mason City with the winner to be alone atop the standings. In District 5, Highland, Riverside and WACO are both only 1-3 on the year, but they are 1-0 in the district, so their tilt Friday is a spotlight game. In District 7 Earlham takes their 4-0 record into a contest with S.E. Warren that will leave only one of them unbeaten in the District, and Bedford at Fremont-Mills, Tabor in District 8 play is a matchup of teams with 1-0 records in the district. That brings us to the 8-Player class, where Woodbine at Remsen-Union, Armstrong-Ringsted at North Sentral Kossuth, Janesville at Ventura and Tri-County at Melcher-Dallas represent the matchups between teams unbeaten in district action so far. Melcher-Dallas actually hasn’t played a district game yet, but they obviously haven’t lost one either. That’s it for today, but don’t forget the weather is going to be perfect for the week five games, so get out and enjoy it. ICS: We Love Iowa High School Football…Do You?
Let’s take a little bit closer look at what has happened so far in 4-A as we cross the midway point of the season. Keep in mind there are 48 schools in 4-A, fighting for 32 postseason berths. A conference title assures you of a spot, and the point standings determine the 25 wildcard teams that will also advance. 16 total teams from the “East” and 16 more from the “West” will make up the field, so that means only the remaining 16 will not move on. Through four weeks of play, there are some teams that look dominant, many that look like they are trying to find their identities, and still many more that are struggling to stay alive and just win some games. Nothing unusual there. But this year, with the expanded playoff field, teams are going to be “in it” longer, so there will be more significance to a lot of games that otherwise would not have hit the radar. Starting in the Mississippi Athletic Conference, there are three squads making early bids for supremacy. Bettendorf has only lost six conference games this decade and is the current defending state champion, riding a 17 game win streak dating back to a 21-14 semi-final loss to Cedar Rapids Xavier in 2006. They are currently 4-0 and own an impressive 89-12 overall record since 2000. So it’s no surprise that the MAC title will have to go through them. So far they have defeated key opponents Pleasant Valley and Clinton with big games against North Scott, Burlington and Davenport Assumption left. North Scott is also 4-0 and hosts Bettendorf this Friday. North Scott has also defeated Pleasant Valley, but their first three victories were against opponents with a combined 1-11 record. The Lancers will find out where they stand against the Bulldogs. Burlington is at Pleasant Valley this week, and the Greyhounds are definitely off and running at 4-0 so far. They blanked Davenport Assumption 22-0 in week one, Davenport Central 16-0 in week two, and only gave up a total of 13 points in their last two wins. If they can stay on track, a possible showdown of unbeaten teams with Bettendorf looms in week eight at home for them. That leaves a logjam in the middle of the conference with Pleasant Valley, Clinton, Davenport Assumption, Muscatine and Davenport North fighting it out for records that will get them in the playoffs. Unfortunately for Davenport West and Davenport Central, things are not looking good at 0-4, but with five games left, they can hope to turn it around. In the Mississippi Valley Conference, the Mississippi Division is looking like Iowa City High and “Others” so far. The Little Hawks have been outstanding, and already own a 27-23 victory over Cedar Rapids Washington, a team many tabbed as a potential finalist in 4-A, and an impressive 21-0 shutout of Cedar Rapids Xavier as well. They will take on 3-1 Dubuque Hempstead this week. Hempstead‘s only loss was a 42-19 setback to Cedar Falls last week after a 3-0 start. An upset in Iowa City would more than rejuvenate their spirits, and could possibly force a four-way tie for the lead if combined with wins by Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Waterloo West. 3-1 West has only lost to Dubuque Wahlert, but faces a stiff test with a Cedar Rapids Xavier team that just upset Cedar Rapids Kennedy last week 31-13. 3-1 Kennedy will have to rebound quickly if they want to get in on that possible scenario. They host 3-1 Cedar Rapids Washington. It looks like a four-way tie for second with 2 losses each is a more plausible outcome, but we shall see. Wahlert is 2-2, having lost to Iowa City High and Hempstead, but they are taking on 3-1 Cedar Falls with a chance to jumpstart their season with a win. Iowa City West will go against Cedar Rapids Prairie to round out the division. The Trojans are 0-4 and have not looked good, but hope springs eternal when you have the kind of tradition West has enjoyed. In the Valley Division, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids Washington and Cedar Rapids Prairie are on top at 3-1 each. Washington at Kennedy is the big game involving these teams this week. Washington beat Cedar Falls 28-9 in week one, but the Tigers have bounced back nicely with two shutouts and a 117-19 advantage in three straight wins. Washington beat Prairie 20-7 in week three, but the Hawks have won their other three games by a convincing 102-6 total with two shutouts. So the top of the division is strong, but it gets rough after that. Cedar Rapids Jefferson is 1-3, but that lone win was over Xavier, 7-0. Then Jeff was pasted by Kennedy 37-0, Cedar Falls 34-0 and Prairie 30-6. Linn-Mar is 1-3 as well, with a win over Dubuque Senior that ended a 20+ losing streak. They started a new one last week, losing 41-14 to Washington. The Lions will take on 0-4 Waterloo East which has only won 2 games this decade, one in each of the last two seasons. Dubuque Senior is also 0-4 and heads to Jefferson with hopes of getting things on track. So there’s the ‘East Side Story’, now let’s focus on the “West” half of the state. In the Missouri River Conference, It is basically a toss-up to this point. The non-conference games have really left us clueless on what teams will emerge here. Only their head-to-head games will help sort this out. Sioux City North, Council Bluffs Lincoln and Council Bluffs Jefferson are all 2-2, while Sioux City North is 1-3 and Sioux City West is a resounding 0-4. If anything, I would venture to guess West will not win many, if any games, but you never know in this conference. North owns the most “impressive” win with their 20-19 defeat of Ottumwa, but Lincoln also defeated Des Moines Lincoln 14-9. That’s pretty much it. Let’s move on. Newton is still an independent football school, and they are 1-3 this season after a 17-1 record in their first two regular seasons without a conference affiliation. Granted, they have lost to Ottumwa, Waukee and Valley. Plenty of time to turn it around for the Cardinals, who travel to 1-3 Fort Dodge this week. Fort Dodge is in the Iowa Conference of the CIML, where Newton used to play. The Dodgers beat Roosevelt 24-7 in week two, but have faltered in their other three games giving up 104 points in losses to Waukee, Ames and CB Jefferson. Mason City has gotten off to a nice 3-1 start, but the three wins were against 0-4 Des Moines North, 0-4 Hoover and 0-4 Sioux City West. Much more telling was their loss to Ames, 48-17. They take on Marshalltown, which is 2-2 with wins over Des Moines North and Sioux City North, and losses to Valley and Johnston. With games left against Ames and Waukee, and one more loss than Mason City, the Bobcats might need this win a little more than the Mohawks. Waukee is the mystery team in the Iowa Conference. They have big-time talent, but 2 non-conference losses to Ankeny and SE Polk leave precious little room for slip ups with Ames, Valley and Marshalltown yet to play. Waukee is the type of team that I could see winning all three of those games, or just as easily losing all three. Where will they stack up? Ames is 3-1 and is equally puzzling. A 35-14 loss to Johnston to open the season is understandable, but what do the wins over Des Moines East, Fort Dodge and Mason City equal up to? I see them battling with Marshalltown and Waukee for spots two through four in the conference, but that could all change this Friday. If Ames could somehow pull the upset on Valley, that changes the face of the conference. If not, they still have a great chance of finishing 7-2 or 6-3. However, beating Valley is easier said than done. Valley is 4-0 and hasn’t lost a conference game since 2002. A 2006 loss to Dowling is the only regular season loss for Valley since 2002, as well. They’ve only lost four conference games this decade and own a 90-12 overall record in that time. Bottom line is Valley will win this conference unless a major upset or two occurs. They are the number one team in the state right now for good reason. The number one conference in the state? That distinction no doubt belongs to the CIML Central. Five of the six teams have been ranked in the top ten, and four currently are. The final non-conference record of the Central teams this year was 22-2. Not bad. Now comes the dogfight. Indianola is 4-0, but their chink in the armor is the 2-14 record of their foes. Hoover, Sioux City West, Sioux City East and Des Moines Lincoln only averaged 10.75 points against the Indian defense, while Indianola averaged 43. They host a 4-0 SE Polk team that has averaged 47.5 points while only giving up 11.5, with big road wins over Ottumwa and Waukee. Can the Indians stop Jeff Woody? They will have to. Ankeny is 4-0 to follow up their state runner-up finish in 2007, and they have been stingy on defense. They have also defeated Ottumwa and Waukee, and their opponents overall record is 7-9. They host Dowling this week to open conference play. Dowling has looked very good in three wins over Metro teams and despite losing 22-0 to Valley, managed to perform well in that one too. This game is always hard-fought and will showcase some of the best athletes in the state. Johnston is arguably the closest thing to Valley in our part of the state. They are scoring 43.25 points per game and only allowing 10.25. They own big wins over Ames and Marshalltown among their 4-0 record. Larpenter is a force to be reckoned with, and they have no shortage of weapons. Not to mention a huge chip on their shoulders from not making the playoffs last year. This Friday they host Urbandale, who may feel a little left out of things right now, being the lone team in the conference not ranked. But, at 3-1, the Jayhawks are eager to get things going. They lost to Des Moines Lincoln 13-12 to start the season, but have rebounded to win their last three over CB Jefferson, Des Moines North and Sioux City East. The last five weeks of the season in the Central Conference will be outstanding, trust me. No matter what happens, five of these teams will make the playoffs with legitimate shots at going far. That leaves us with the Metro Conference. What can I say? The non-conference schedule turned out to be brutal. Their overall record was 3-21. I know they will have spirited games and great moments between rival schools, but unless one team really emerges, it will be a frustrating disappointment of a season for the Metro. Honestly, I think East, Lincoln and Ottumwa have a chance to turn it up a notch, with East being my pick to get it done. East has some very solid talent and great coaching, so I look for them to be the team to beat. They host Lincoln this week, right off the bat, so we will know soon. If it is a two team race, those teams should both make the playoffs, so there’s a lot to play for. Ottumwa has a new coach and low numbers, but they have always been tough, and have had a rough schedule so far. Roosevelt, Hoover and North are winless and a little hard to put a finger on at this point. I think North might be better, and should get some conference wins. Hoover is at North and Ottumwa is at Roosevelt to get things underway. That’s it for today, I just wanted to pour out the 4-A teams on the table and see what we have so far. We will discuss 3-A through 8-Player games of note and some other thoughts before kickoff Friday…
When you get a chance to cover Harlan, you do it. ADM hosting the Cyclones, and this is a Tiger Squad that has some Playmakers. An overtime thriller! This is going to be one of our best Blitz Extra’s. Here’s a sample.
Last night East traveled to Sioux City and downed SC West 34-13. After a rough 0-3 start, look for the Scarlets to make a run. I’m only speculating, but if East gets by Lincoln next week, they may run the table in the Metro to finish 6-3. I think they are capable of it, anyway. Also, Cedar Falls dropped previously unbeaten Dubuque Hempstead 42-19, sending a message to their Mississippi Valley foes that their loss to CR Washington may have been the only bump in their road. We’ll see, but it looks good for the Tigers. ICS will send a split squad to Adel tonight to cover the Harlan/ADM game for the Blitz Extra. Actually, I’m the only one not going, but it gives us a chance to hear from one of our favorite announcers, Ron Novotny, who covers Harlan sports. You will enjoy listening to his call when the Extra features this game next week. Tonight’s Blitz Extra is the SE Polk/East rain-dominated highlights, so be sure to tune in. As for tonight’s games of note in week four across the state, there are plenty of decent contests to garner our attention. Marshalltown comes to Johnston tonight, and while the Dragons should handle the Bobcats, it is an opportunity to get a look at Chance Creekmur and this passing game for Marshalltown, while watching Johnston’s well-oiled machine in action. 3-0 Mason City? Tonight they play at Ames, which is 2-1. This might be a good indicator of whether there is playoff potential here. Mason City has been down, winning only 3 games since 2003, when they won four. Ames hasn’t made the playoffs since 2005. The winner of this one has a shot to put together a nice season, the loser won’t be out of it by any means, but will have to regroup based on their schedules. Valley at Newton used to scream classic, but Newton will have their work cut out for them in this one. Valley has shut out back to back foes and is at full strength, which as far as Valley is concerned, is a scary thought for the rest of the pack. A nice test for Bettendorf tonight, as they travel to Clinton and a hostile environment to take on the River Kings, who are coming off a painful loss to a suddenly tough Burlington squad, 7-6. I like the Bulldogs. North Scott needs a win at Pleasant Valley to keep pace at the top, and the Iowa City battle for the boot is tonight as well. Look for City High to have no problem with football and footwear this evening. In 3-A, Decorah gets an early district test versus West Delaware that the Vikings need to pass to stay unbeaten, and Benton, Van Horne hosts Maquoketa in a nice district four tilt that should be a good one. Grinnell goes to South Tama and Pella travels to Chariton in efforts to stay undefeated in district six action, while Boone at Nevada steals temporary limelight from Dallas Center and Carroll in district seven. I mentioned the Harlan/ADM game, but it bears repeating that this is a great chance for you to get to see the Cyclones in person if you can get out there because they are always worth the price of admission. As far as 2-A goes, the district four battle between MFL and North Fayette looks enticing, as do many others, but let’s look at district seven and our local teams there. Nice matchups tonight include Colfax-Mingo at Bondurant-Farrar, West Marshall at North Polk and the big CMB at PCM game. I really like this district, and it looks like it will play out nicely as the season goes on, but I’m curious which teams will emerge and survive in the end. In 1-A, Nashua-Plainfield gets their turn to play on the ‘Sacred Acre’ against Aplington-Parkersburg, but they are up against it, for sure. Clayton Ridge at Northeast and H-M-S at Hinton are also games of note, as well as Wapello at West Branch. As always for ICS, Pleasantville is our top priority, and they have a tough task tonight going to Pella to take on Pella Christian. This was a great game last year…For the Trojans. Look for the Eagles to be very revenge-minded against the team that shut the door on their playoff plans for 2007. Griswold at Tri-Center shouldn’t disappoint, either. In Class A, Rockwell City-Lytton at Newell-Fonda should be fun. This wood be a great small school game to attend. How about the Lisbon/Don Bosco matchup? Do you think these wrestling-rich communities have rowdy, enthusiastic crowds that can get up for this one? Lone Tree at New London is an early big game in district five, and North Tama at HLV will surely be a heated contest. Don’t overlook the AHST at Boyer Valley game, this may have your district eight winner, possibly. Locally, I guess Van Meter at Earlham will tell us something, but I’m more interested in how much of a game, if any, Colo-Nesco is capable of giving Madrid. In 8-player action, Aurelia at Ar-We-Va, West Central at Springville, Twin Cedars at Harmony, East Union at Murray, Lenox at Lamoni and Stanton at Essex look to be the most headline-worthy contests, but there will no doubt be many other great games statewide. Enjoy week four, and let us know what you think.
We’re now a third of the way through the season, and into district play in 3-A through 8-player, a time where 0-2 and 1-1 teams can regroup and hope to contend for an upper-half finish and a playoff spot. A lot of teams picked up big wins to get back on track while others remained undefeated and on course. The weather was awful all across the state with constant downpours blanketing most games. Nearly all games in central Iowa had heavy rain from start to finish. In 4-A play, most of the big dogs rolled. Valley, Iowa City High, Bettendorf, Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Johnston all pitched shutouts to move to 3-0, while Dowling bounced back nicely from their loss to Valley last week with a 35-0 blitzing of Lincoln. Ankeny and S.E. Polk also cruised to easy victories. Add to that impressive wins by Indianola and Urbandale, and you’ll find the Central Conference of the CIML is now 16-2 overall with one more week of pre-conference action to go. If you’re wondering what the opposite of that success looks like, check out the Metro Conference. Sadly, they are now a combined 2-16, and it hasn’t been pretty getting there. This week, Metro teams scored a total of 39 points in their six games, with 19 belonging to Ottumwa in their 20-19 loss to Sioux City North. Lincoln and Hoover were shutout and Roosevelt had its third effort of seven or less points. In week one, East scored 21 in a loss to Dowling and in week two Ottumwa scored 21 in a win over Newton, representing the highest Metro point total for a single game so far. Ouch. The six teams have a collective 11.5 ppg average through three weeks. Not good. Hopefully things will get much better, but probably not before they play each other. East will travel to winless Sioux City West this Friday while North heads to Council Bluffs to take on Jefferson (1-2). Possible wins, but both are long road trips, and those are the BEST chances for Metro victories. Congratulations to Linn-Mar for snapping their painful 24 game losing streak with a 24-6 triumph over Dubuque Senior. On the other end, Bettendorf extended their 4-A best win streak to 16, and Valley raised their 4-A best consecutive conference wins total to 27 and their 4-A leading regular season wins total to 20. Out of non-playoff teams from 2007, Johnston leads 4-A with four consecutive wins. In 3-A, there are still 15 unbeaten teams and what looks to be some great district races getting underway. Grinnell, Pella and Dallas Center-Grimes lead the way locally, with several other teams gearing up as well. DC-G is undefeated thanks to pulling out a 2 OT grudge match with Ballard 6-0. This week, Harlan at ADM will be a great local matchup and a great opportunity for those of you who haven’t witnessed the Cyclones in action to get a look at Coach Bladt and one of the most storied programs in our state. Not to mention a good ADM squad that has playoff talent. Out of 3-A non-playoff teams from 2007, Grinnell leads the way with six straight wins. In local 2-A action there were two games that stood out to me. One is West Marshall downing PCM 38-14. Not a major surprise, but an impressive win for the Trojans. Both will have playoff runs. The other was Colfax-Mingo over North Polk. This was a big win for a program that hasn’t had many over the last few seasons. They are now 3-0 after going winless last year, and only winning twice since 2004. Maybe they can recapture the magic of their 2003 campaign that ended in a 9-0 district championship effort. If they do, they will have earned it. District seven is loaded with Bondurant-Farrar, CMB, West Marshall, North Polk and PCM. Also, Gilbert and Roland-Story remained unbeaten and intact in District three. This week, CMB is at PCM in a great battle of acronyms and talent. Out of non-playoff teams from 2007, Cascade leads 2-A with seven wins in a row. Solon is tied with Bettendorf and Stanton to lead the state with 16 straight wins overall. In 1-A there are some very good teams, but Aplington-Parkersburg is focused and locked in on their mission. The Falcons are flying high right now, looking tough to beat. They also have one of the tougher districts, so they will be adequately battle-tested . It could play out nicely in 1-A when it gets down to the UNI-Dome. Imagine A-P, CB St. Albert and Emmetsburg all fighting for that trophy…Locally, it looks like Guthrie Center is going to be the team to beat, but out of nowhere comes the Raiders of Mount Ayr. Look out here, they share the lead for 2-A non-playoff qualifiers from 2007 with eight straight wins, along with Fort Dodge St. Edmond. Pella Christian should be in the mix as well. This week, hopefully for us Trojan fans, Pleasantville can go there and get a big win. In Class A, the only thing locally to ask is “can anyone knock off Madrid?” I doubt it, but we’ll see. Earlham and Colo-Nesco are entertaining thoughts of it, but they are probably high hopes to put it nicely. Madrid goes to Colo-Nesco this week. Statewide, it looks like the survivors of District two will be tough to deal with, it is loaded. Of non-playoff teams from 2007, Boyer Valley, Dunlop leads the way with four straight wins. In 8-player football, there are some really good games to be played, thanks to the realignment due to the addition of teams this year. Good teams dropped from 11-player to strengthen the overall field and it will lead to better district races and playoff matchups. A nice, wide-open fight. By the way, I mentioned Stanton is tied with Bettendorf and Solon to lead the state with 16 straight overall wins, but Tri-County also leads the state with 21 straight regular season wins, and out of non-playoff teams from 2007, West Central, Maynard and Coon Rapids-Bayard both have won five straight times dating back to last season. More high school football later in the week…As for the big Iowa/ISU game from Saturday, I don’t think we really learned that much, other than Iowa has a decent defense and ISU has some nice young talent. Both teams are flawed, both teams will struggle at times in conference play, and both teams will win a game or two they maybe “shouldn’t”. Anyway, they both have a long way to go before striking fear in any teams’ hearts.
Just a little dose of the Monsoon we endured at SEP vs DM East. Camera down but we did survive and will live another day. Congrats to Coach K and the Trojans who got the win tonight!!
