High School Football
In a top 10 matchup to determine the district champion, #8 Mt. Pleasant and #3 Solon brought the defense, but the Spartans got enough out of their offense to escape with the 35-0 victory. The Panther defense forced multiple turnover-on-downs and Griffen Jones snared the first interception of his varsity career. Nevertheless, penalties and miscues by the Mt. Pleasant offense put the team in some tough spots. Panther head coach John Bowlin gave his thoughts about the game,
“We had a tough time offensively moving the ball. I think we screwed up a lot of our assignments tonight. You know, I don’t know if it was all just them beating us. I think we were making a lot of things up tonight that we got to fix and you know, we’ll definitely get better from it. And I think we can physically compete with those guys. But we got to execute better from here on out.”
Fairfield defeated Keokuk last night 38-30, setting up a playoff bout on Friday, October 24th, when Mt. Pleasant travels to Fairfield for their week nine contest at 7:30 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 7:15 pm. Coach Bowlin will be leaning on his seniors to help lead the charge,
“Yeah, they’re a great group of guys. I mean, they’re gonna fight like crazy. We got a huge game next week, and you know, they’re going to have everybody ready. They’re great leaders. They’ve done everything right. You know, for the program, they’re a lot of the reason why we were able to compete for a playoff spot next week. You know, it’s going to be a crazy atmosphere. A lot of fun, going to be a hard-hitting game and you know, we got a lot of faith in those guys that they will come out, they’re going to be ready to go and you know, we got to take care of business next week.”
Mediapolis leveled Central Lee last night 35-0. The Hawks finished the season with a 2-6 record. The Bulldogs will be going to the postseason for the 8th consecutive season as they finished 3rd in the district.
WACO dropped their fifth consecutive game last night, losing 60-20 to #4 Iowa Valley. Nick West tossed for 86 yards and a touchdown in the losing effort.
Winfield-Mt. Union hung close with Belle Plaine, but was unable to take down the Plainsmen, losing 56-42. English Valleys, WACO, and Winfield-Mt. Union are in a three-way tie for the final playoff spot for the district.
West Burlington/Notre Dame was shutout by #6 Mid-Prairie last night 59-0. The Falcons ended the season with a 3-5 record.
Danville claimed 2nd place in Class A District 5 after coming back from behind to take down Wapello last night 33-31. The Bears will be heading back to the postseason for the third straight season.
Columbus fell to Pekin last night 43-14 as Nolan Glick ran for 170 yards and three scores for the Panthers. Columbus, Wapello, and Van Buren County each finished the season with a district record of 3-3 with two of the teams getting a berth into the postseason.
Postseason Volleyball
Regional Volleyball for Classes 1A and 2A starts on Monday, October 20th, at 7 pm, while Classes 3A, 4A, and 5A will begin on Tuesday, October 21st.
In Class 1A Region 2, #2 Holy Trinity Catholic has the top seed and a bye into the second round. The Crusaders will play the winner between Winfield-Mt. Union and Pekin with the Wolves acting as the host.
Burlington Notre Dame will take on WACO at home on Monday. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. The winner will play the winner between Wapello and New London on Wednesday, October 22nd.
In Class 2A Region 8, Danville will host Cardinal on Monday at 7 pm. The winner will advance to play Regina Catholic on Wednesday. Van Buren County will take on West Burlington at home on Wednesday to draw out the top half of the bracket.
Class 3A Region 2 will feature a Southeast Iowa Super Conference showdown between Mediapolis and Central Lee with the Bulldogs acting as the hosts.
Fairfield will travel to West Liberty in Class 3A’s Region 7 bracket.
Lastly, in Class 4A Region 1, Mt. Pleasant will host Keokuk at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
High School Cross Country
The Class 3A boys’ and girls’ state qualifying meets are set to run on Wednesday, October 22nd. Mt. Pleasant, Burlington, Fort Madison, Keokuk, and Washington will travel to Williamsburg, while Fairfield will head to Pella.
The Classes 1A and 2A boys’ and girls’ state qualifying meets are scheduled for Thursday, October 23rd. Pekin will be hosting Danville, Holy Trinity Catholic, New London, WACO, Wapello, and Winfield-Mt. Union, while Van Buren County will travel to Central Decatur for Class 1A. Additionally, Columbus will journey to North Linn.
Mediapolis, Central Lee, and West Burlington/Notre Dame will make the trip to Regina Catholic for Class 2A.
Southeastern Community College
The men’s and women’s soccer teams will remain at home for a matchup against Western Iowa Tech today with the women playing first at 4 pm.
The volleyball team will host a triangular today.
College Football
Iowa will face off against Penn State tonight at 6 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM will be on the call.
Iowa State is on a bye week.
This Day in Sports History
1953 – Willie Thrower becomes the first Black NFL quarterback in modern times.
1974 – Chicago Bulls Nate Thurmond, in his debut with the team, becomes the first in NBA history to complete a quadruple double: 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, and 12 blocks.
2009 – Tom Brady throws five second quarter touchdowns against the Tennessee Titans, an NFL record for touchdown passes in one quarter.