Author: Nathan Bloechl

Prep Football: Mount Pleasant Beaten, WACO Stays Perfect, New London Falls Again

Iowa City Liberty 56, Mount Pleasant 0 

Liberty scored twice in the first four minutes of the game as the Lightning rolled to an easy 56-0 win over Mount Pleasant last Friday.

The win was the first at Liberty for James Harris, formerly of Washington High School.

Liberty opened the first quarter with 21 points and led 42-0 at the break before pulling their starters.

The second half was highlighted by a Liberty 94-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Mount Pleasant’s lone chance to score was on a 42-yard field goal by Owen Vansickel that was no good.

The Panthers fell to 1-5, Liberty — who’s played Class 4A’s toughest schedule — improved to 1-5.

Mount Pleasant will look to rebound next week against Burlington at Bracewell Stadium.

No. 6 (8P) WACO 55, Lone Tree 22 

No. 6 WACO scored early and often as the Warriors dominated Lone Tree in a 55-22 win.

WACO snapped a six-game home losing streak to the Lions in the win and scored the second most points ever in the series.

The win kept the Warriors’ bid for a perfect season alive as they improved to 7-0.

They’ll have a show down with Winfield-Mount Union next week in Winfield.

The Wolves were off this week after Tri-County cancelled their season.

Iowa Valley 68, New London 32 

Iowa Valley led 54-18 at half and never looked back as they put it in cruise control for a 68-32 win over New London last Friday.

The Tigers have lost three in a row for the first time under Mark McSorely.

New London tried to rally late in the 4th quarter, scoring twice but it was too little, too late.

New London fell to 2-3 with the loss.

Iowa Valley improved to 2-4.

New London will look to stop their skid when they travel to Lone Tree next week.

Kick is set for 7:00 p.m.

Other area finals:

• Fairfield 39, West Burlington 27
• Wapello 34, Highland 21
• Solon 44, Washington 21
• Grinnell 52, Keokuk 13
• Mediapolis 49, Wilton 0
• Lisbon 58, Pekin 7
• Sigourney-Keota 50, Cardinal 26
• Central Decatur 22, Van Buren County 14
• North Mahaska 12, Columbus 10

College Football: Wesleyan Breaks Record, Central Dominates Wartburg, Other Finals:

Iowa Wesleyan broke a 30 year record in a 69-28 win over Crown, Saturday afternoon.

Freshman quarterback Gavin Esquivel threw for eight touchdowns, which broke the record held by Dustin Dewald set in 1991 at seven.

Esquivel finished 32-of-48 for 456 yards and eight scores, he was intercepted once.

Asaivien McWilliams led the Tigers with eight catches for 105 yards and three touchdowns.

Damien Tanelus, Shomari Wilson, Tony Brooks, Jaden Harris and Hezekiah Hunter all caught touchdowns, as well.

The win was the first at Mapleleaf Athletic Complex since September 29th, 2019.

Wesleyan, now 1-5, will be off this weekend before taking on Dickinson State on October 16th.

Other statewide finals:

• UNI 34, Youngstown State 7
• Drake 6, Butler 3
• Central 49, Wartburg 24
• Nebraska Wesleyan 28, Luther 21
• Loras 21, Simpson 13
• Dubuque 31, Buena Vista 16
• Grand View 59, Missouri Valley College 10

College Football: Iowa State’s Purdy Named to Unitas List:

Iowa State senior Brock Purdy has been named a semifinalist for the 2021 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given annually to the nation’s top upperclassmen quarterback.

Purdy is finishing off a record-setting career with the Cyclones, owning 27 school records in his brilliant four-year career at Iowa State.

Purdy has tossed a school-record 66 career touchdown passes and needs just 130 passing yards to become just the sixth Big 12 player to amass 10,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a career.

The Cyclones will enjoy a bye week this Saturday before taking on Kansas State in Manhattan on October 16th.

Prep Cross Country: Big Night at Hillcrest Today:

The Mount Pleasant cross country teams will be at Hillcrest Academy tonight for a monster invite — their final tune up before the Southeast Conference race.

The invite will feature:

• Iowa City High
• Fairfield
• Pella
• Solon
• Burlington
• Mount Pleasant
• Mid-Prairie
• North Mahaska
• Sigourney
• English Valleys
• Washington
• Williamsburg
• HLV
• Holy Trinity
• Lone Tree
• Wapello
• Iowa City Regina

Racing will get underway at Hillcrest at 5:00 p.m. tonight.

The Southeast Conference meet is set for October 14th.

Prep Football: Mount Pleasant at Liberty, WCO Looks to Stay Perfect:

District play continues on tonight as Week Six of the Iowa High School football season commences.

In our featured matchup on KILJ-FM, Mount Pleasant will be on the road to battle Iowa City Liberty.

The Lightning are coached by former Washington head coach James Harris, so it will be a familiar sideline foe for Shawn Striegel and company.

Liberty, who will be celebrating their homecoming, are coming off a 21-0 loss to the hands of North Scott, 4A’s No. 1 ranked program.

Entering 0-5, the Lightning have played the state’s most difficult schedule to this point according to BCMoore, with matchups already against Western Dubuque, Iowa City High, Linn-Mar, Clear Creek-Amana and of course North Scott.

Mount Pleasant, 1-4, is looking to rebound following a homecoming loss of their own last week to Fort Madison.

This will be the first matchup between the two teams.

Kickoff tonight is set for 7:30 p.m. you can listen on KILJ-FM beginning at 7:00 p.m. with the Panther Tailgate Show.

Other area matchups tonight:

• Fairfield at West Burlington Notre Dame
• North Scott at Burlington
• Solon at Washington
• Clinton at Fort Madison
• Grinnell at Keokuk
• Wapello at Highland
• New London at Iowa Valley
• Iowa City Regina at Louisa-Muscatine
• Wilton at Mediapolis
• Columbus at North Mahaska
• Lone Tree at WACO
• Davis County at Central Lee

College Football: Wesleyan Homecoming Saturday, Iowa Tonight:

The Iowa Wesleyan football team will be seeking win number one tomorrow when the Tigers welcome in Crown College for a nonconference tilt.

Crown enters tomorrow afternoon’s tilt 0-3, while Wesleyan is 0-5.

Tiger coach M.D. Daniels is not losing faith despite the slow start to the year.

“To tell you the truth, even though the record doesn’t show we are exactly where we’re supposed to be.” Daniels said.

“The biggest thing is the continuity, as the year continues we’ll be more complete. 

Kick from Mapleleaf Athletic Complex is set for 1:00 p.m.

You can listen on KILJ-FM, Nathan Bloechl and Mike McBeth will have the call.

Tonight on FM 98.5, the Hawkeye football team will look to stay perfect when they open Big Ten play on the road at Maryland.

Kick is set for 7:00 p.m.

Coverage on FM 98.5 and AM 1130 will begin at 5:00 p.m.

College Athletics: Wesleyan Honoring Two Tomorrow Night: 

The Iowa Wesleyan athletic department will be honoring two new inductees into their Hall of Fame tomorrow night.

Nancy Eklund and John Keitges will be the newest members of the Tiger Hall of Fame.

Eklund was the first female basketball player to score 1,000 career points, finishing with 1,186 total career points.

Keitges was a four-year member of the basketball team and a two-year member of both the baseball and men’s golf teams. Keitges remains number one in all-time career 3-point field goals made, sinking 257.

The event will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the Social Hall of the Howe Student Activity Center tomorrow evening.

Prep Volleyball: Red-hot WACO Travels to Holy Trinity Highlighting Big Night:

Two red-hot teams will meet up tonight in Fort Madison when No. 5 Holy Trinity hosts WACO in a Super Conference bout.

The Warriors have won six straight matches to surge to 16-8 on the year, while Holy Trinity has won four of five — their lone loss to No. 1 Notre Dame.

Ellah Kissell leads WACO with 2.7 kills per set, while Natalie Randolph paces Holy Trinity’s balanced attack with 2.4 kills per set.

WACO snapped a nine-match losing skid to the Crusaders a season ago with a thrilling 3-2 win.

Tonight’s game will go at 7:30 p.m. at Holy Trinity High School.

Other matchups in the Super Conference tonight:

• Cardinal at Central Lee
• Columbus at Highland
• Wapello at Lone Tree
• Pekin at Louisa-Muscatine
• Van Buren County at New London
• Winfield-Mount Union at Hillcrest Academy

And in the Southeast Conference:

• Washington at Clear Creek-Amana

College Football: Central Moves Up in Latest D3 Poll:

Coming off a monster 84-16 win over Simpson, the Central College football team has moved up two spots in the latest D3football.com Top 25 poll.

The Dutch, who feature several on their roster from Mount Pleasant, are up to No. 13.

Wartburg is receiving votes in both the D3footbal.com and AFCA Top 25 poll.

Central quarterback Blaine Hawkins, a graduate of Ankeny Centennial, was named the league’s offensive player of the week after throwing seven touchdowns last week.

The Dutch will host Wartburg this weekend in a showdown matchup in Pella.

Kick is set for 1:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

College Football: Van Valkenburg Named Campbell Trophy Semifinalist:

University of Iowa senior defensive end Zach VanValkenburg has been named a semifinalist for the 2021 William V. Campbell Trophy, which is annually awarded by the National Football Foundation to the nation’s top scholar-athlete.

The announcement was made Wednesday by the National Football Foundation.

VanValkenburg has started all four games at defensive end for the 4-0 Hawkeyes in 2021.

He has totaled six solo tackles and five assists, with 1.5 tackles for loss and three QB pressures.

Iowa continues its season Friday evening at Maryland (7:05 p.m. CT, FS1). The Hawkeyes return home to host Penn State Oct. 9 (3 p.m. CT, FOX).

College Volleyball: Wesleyan Rallies for Huge Win:

The Iowa Wesleyan volleyball team fell down 2-0 but rallied for three straight wins to defeat Southeastern Community College.

It was the Tigers’ first win of the year.

Malie DaMate paced the Wesleyan front row with 19 kills while Emily Gehring added 11.

Kyra Linkin, a New London graduate, had 24 digs to lead Iowa Wesleyan.

Now 1-15, the Tigers will take on Central College next Tuesday.

First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.