Sports, Friday, February 4th

By Nathan Bloechl · Friday, February 5th, 2021 at 12:46 pm CDT

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

Girls’ Basketball: IGHSAU Releases Class 1A, 2A, 3A Playoff Pairings: 

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union has released their playoff pairings in basketball for Class 1A, 2A and 3A.

Area teams in Class 1A will compete in Region 5.

The top seed in the region is No. 8 (1A) Springville (15-3) — the Orioles are the only team in the region to receive a first round bye.

On the bottom of the bracket, No.  9 Winfield-Mount Union (16-0) will take on Holy Trinity Catholic in a first round matchup on Thursday, February 11th in Winfield.

The winner of that matchup will get either Calamus-Wheatland or Lone Tree in second round play.

Also on the bottom of the bracket No. 10 (1A) Burlington Notre Dame will host New London at Father Minnett Gymnasium in Burlington, on Thursday, February 12th.

The winner of Notre Dame-New London will play the winner of WACO-Highland, a game played in WACO on Thursday, February 11th.

You can view the entire 1A bracket here.

In Class 2A, area programs have been placed in Region 3 where the top seed is No. 3 (2A) West Branch (13-1).

In first round play, Danville will scrap with Wapello in Danville on Saturday, February 13th at 7:00 p.m. The winner of that matchup will get West Branch.

The bottom of the bracket will see Louisa-Muscatine hook up with Cardinal, with the winner getting Van Buren County on Tuesday, February 16th.

Mediapolis will pay Iowa City Regina on the 16th to close out first round action in Region 3.

You can view all of the 2A brackets here.

Lastly, in Class 3A area teams will tackle Region 8, where the top seed is No. 6 (3A) West Burlington (16-1).

The Falcons will get Albia in their first round matchup on Saturday, February 13th.

The winner of that matchup will get the winner of Central Lee-Mid-Prairie, who meet up in Donnellson on Saturday, February 13th, as well.

You can view the entire Class 3A bracket here.

Prep Basketball: Busy Weekend of Hoops in the Area: 

Despite the wintry weather, this weekend will be a hotly contested weekend in the Southeast Conference and the Super Conference.

Here’s a look at tonight’s schedule:

  • Mount Pleasant girls’ at Burlington (FM 105.5)
  • No. 9 (1A) Winfield-Mount Union at No. 6 (3A) West Burlington (girls)
  • Pekin at WACO (girls)
  • Mediapolis vs. No. 10 (1A) Notre Dame (girls)
  • New London at Notre Dame (boys)
  • Fort Madison vs. Washington

In other scheduling notes, Mount Pleasant boys’ and girls’ basketball teams are doing some late season shuffling.

With the Panther boys’ game last night against Burlington being postponed due to wintry weather both teams have mutually agreed to play that game on Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. at Mount Pleasant High School.

The Panther girls’ will play Pekin at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon as well.

That game will take the place of their Monday night affair with Ottumwa, which has been cancelled because of Health and Safety Protocols with the Ottumwa girls’ program.

Both of those games will be heard on FM 105.5.

Nathan Bloechl and Kent Bennett will have the call.

Prep Wrestling: Sectionals Begin the Road to the Well:

The Road to Wells Fargo Arena begins Saturday with sectional wrestling getting underway statewide.

In Class 1A, area programs will travel to Sigourney and Mediapolis.

Sectional 10, at Sigourney, will feature:

  • Cardinal
  • Moravia
  • New London
  • North Mahaska
  • Pekin
  • Sigourney-Keota
  • Van Buren County
  • Wayne

Ranked wrestlers at Sigourney feature four New London Tigers, per the Predicament:

  • No. 1 (120) Marcel Lopez, New London 
  • No. 2 (145) Dominic Lopez, New London 
  • No. 8 (152) Josh Glendening, New London 
  • No. 7 (160) Connor Golston, Moravia
  • No. 8 (160) Jack Clarahan, Sigourney-Keota
  • No. 8 (182) Mason Juhl, Pekin
  • No. 8 (195) Currey Jacobs, New London

Sectional 16, wrestled at Mediapolis will have:

  • Wapello
  • Wilton
  • Highland
  • Louisa-Muscatine
  • Iowa City Regina
  • WACO 
  • Mediapolis 

Ranked wrestlers at Mediapolis, Saturday include:

  • No. 10 (106) Brody Brisker, Wilton
  • No. 5 (113) Bryce Thompson, Highland
  • No. 8 (132) Quinten Aney, Mediapolis
  • No. 1 (138) Kael Brisker, Wilton
  • No. 6 (170) Aidan Udell, Iowa City Regina

In Class 2A, regional teams will travel to Davenport Assumption in Sectional 10:

  • Davenport Assumption
  • Columbus Community/Winfield-Mount Union
  • Keokuk
  • Mount Pleasant 
  • Notre Dame/West Burlington/Danville
  • Washington

Ranked wrestlers there include:

  • No. 1 (106) Derrick Bass, Assumption
  • No. 2 (113) Lane Scorpil, Columbus Community/Winfield-Mount Union 
  • No. 2 (120) Blaine Frazier, NDWB-Danville
  • No. 4 (126) Tate O’Shea, Keokuk
  • No. 10 (126) T.J. Fitzpatrick, Assumption
  • No. 6 (132) Noah Gonzalez, Assumption
  • No. 6 (138) Michael Macias, Assumption
  • No. 7 (138) Isaiah Fenton, NDWB-Danville
  • No. 2 (152) Grifen Molle, NDWB-Danville
  • No. 5 (160) Allen Catour, Assumption
  • No. 4  (170) C.J. Walrath, NDWB-Danville
  • No. 9 (182) John Argo, Assumption
  • No. 6 (195) Aiden Morgan, Assumption
  • No. 9 (285) Chane Malone, Columbus Community/Winfield-Mount Union 

And in Class 3A, area programs will compete at Iowa City West (District 5):

  • Burlington 
  • Fort Madison 
  • Iowa City High
  • Iowa City Liberty
  • Iowa City West
  • Oskaloosa
  • Ottumwa
  • Pella

Prep Basketball: Changes A Plenty for Panther Boys’, Girls’

By Nathan Bloechl · Thursday, February 4th, 2021 at 4:15 pm CDT

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

(Mount Pleasant) — The Mount Pleasant boys’ and girls’ basketball teams are doing some late season shuffling.

The Panther boys’ game tonight against Burlington has been postponed due to wintry weather.

Now, the Panthers will play that game on Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. at Mount Pleasant High School.

The Panther girls’ will play Pekin at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon as well.

That game will take the place of their Monday night affair with Ottumwa, which has been cancelled because of Health and Safety Protocols with the Ottumwa girls’ program.

Both of those games will be heard on FM 105.5.

Nathan Bloechl and Kent Bennett will have the call.

College Football: UNI Picked to Finish 2nd in MVFC

By Nathan Bloechl · Thursday, February 4th, 2021 at 12:43 pm CDT

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

(Cedar Falls) — The UNI Football team was tabbed to finish second in the Missouri Valley Football Conference in this year’s truncated spring football season.

Defending FCS National Champion North Dakota State was pegged to finish first.

Sophomore quarterback Will McElvain, who was coached by New London AD Ben Fry in his time at Des Moines Lincoln, leads the way as the only signal caller on the preseason list. McElvain tossed 20 touchdowns while throwing just seven interceptions in 15 games during the 2019 season.

He set the conference freshman passing record before it was broken by NDSU’s Trey Lance on his final completion of the national championship game. McElvain also rushed for 372 yards and another touchdown.

Defensively, the Panthers return 2019 Phil Steele Freshman Defensive Player of the Year Omar Brown who tallied 77 tackles, including four tackles for loss. He recovered three fumbles and forced a team-high six interceptions. He led the MVFC in interceptions during the regular season.

The Panthers are scheduled to open the season on Feb. 19 at home against South Dakota State.

Girls’ Basketball: Super Conference Announces Shootout Schedule

By Nathan Bloechl · Thursday, February 4th, 2021 at 12:34 pm CDT

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com

(KILJ) — The Southeast Iowa Super Conference has released their Conference Shootout schedule, as released by conference spokesman Don Lamm.

Columbus Community and Hillcrest Academy are not fielding teams for the shootout, so New London and Cardinal will not have a contest.

The Shootout Games are set for February 5th.

At West Burlington it will be Mediapolis squaring off with No. 11 (1A) Notre Dame and No. 10 (1A) Winfield-Mount Union hooking up with West Burlington.

At Van Buren County, Louisa-Muscatine will meet up with No. 15 (2A) Van Buren.

The Central Lee site will house Wapello, who is set to tango with Central Lee.

WACO is now set to host Pekin, instead of playing at Central Lee in a quad.

In Danville, the host Bears will take on Lone Tree, while Highland will scrap with Holy Trinity.

You can view the whole schedule here:

SEISC Girls Shootout Info

Sports, Thursday, February 4th

By Nathan Bloechl · Thursday, February 4th, 2021 at 12:26 pm CDT

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com

Girls’ Basketball: Super Conference Girls’ Basketball Shootout Bracket:

The Southeast Iowa Super Conference has released their Conference Shootout schedule, as released by conference spokesman Don Lamm.

Columbus Community and Hillcrest Academy are not fielding teams for the shootout, so New London and Cardinal will not have a contest.

The Shootout Games are set for February 5th.

At West Burlington it will be Mediapolis squaring off with No. 11 (1A) Notre Dame and No. 10 (1A) Winfield-Mount Union hooking up with West Burlington.

At Van Buren County, Louisa-Muscatine will meet up with No. 15 (2A) Van Buren.

The Central Lee site will house Pekin, who squares off with WACO, and Wapello is set to tango with Central Lee.

In Danville, the host Bears will take on Lone Tree, while Highland will scrap with Holy Trinity.

You can view the whole schedule here:

SEISC Girls Shootout Info

Prep Basketball: Lots of Super Action Tonight:

The Super Conference will see plenty of action tonight, with teams getting in their final regular season games before postseason action.

Area games tonight will see:

  • Burlington at Mount Pleasant (FM 105.5)
  • Columbus at Winfield-Mount Union
  • Louisa-Muscatine at Mediapolis
  • Cardinal at Danville
  • New London at Notre Dame
  • WACO at Central Lee (CANCELLED)
  • Keota at Wapello
  • Van Buren County at West Burlington

Boys’ Basketball: State Announces 1A, 2A Pairings:

The Iowa High School Athletic Association has released their 2021 Boys’ Basketball Playoff Pairings in Class 1A and 2A.

In Class 1A, area teams will be competing in District 8.

There, preliminary games will feature WACO (2-15) at Highland and Winfield-Mount Union (8-8) at home against Columbus Community, both on Friday, February 12th.

First round games will begin on Monday, February 15th.

There, New London (13-4) will host Lisbon at 7:00 p.m. in a game you can listen to on FM 105.5.

Notre Dame (11-5) will await the winner of the preliminary round matchup between Winfield-Mount Union and Columbus Community.

The top of the bracket will see top-seeded Springville await the winner of WACO-Highland, while Danville (9-7) will host Holy Trinity both of which will be played again, on Monday, February 15th.

Second round games will be played at Notre Dame and Springville both on Thursday, February 18th.

The district final is set for Tuesday, February 23rd at 7:00 p.m. at a site yet to be determined.

You can see the bracket in full here.

In Class 2A, area programs will be slotted in District 10, where Central Lee (6-12) will host Van Buren County (0-13) on Monday, February 15th at 7:00 p.m.

The Mediapolis boys’ (5-12) will travel to Letts on that same night to tango with Louisa-Muscatine (8-9) in their first round matchup.

The winner of that tilt will get top-seeded Pekin (16-1) on Thursday, February 18th in Packwood, while the winner of Central Lee-Van Buren County will travel to West Burlington (12-4).

You can see the entire bracket here.

In other news and notes, the Association announced that the Class 3A and Class 4A brackets will be available on Wednesday, February 10.

Opening round substate games for Class 3A and Class 4A tipoff on Monday, February 22.

Girls’ Basketball: IGHSAU Announces State Tournament Format:

The 2021 format of the Iowa High School Girls’ State Basketball Tournament has been set by the IGHSAU, with action beginning on March 1st at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.The tournament will open with all of Class 5A and three 3A quarterfinals, as well.

The 2nd will feature the final Class 3A quarterfinal, all of Class 4A’s quarterfinals and half of the Class 2A quarters.

Semifinal action will take place on Thursday and Friday.

In a new twist, Class 5A will play their State Championship at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

The rest of the State Championships will be played on Saturday, March 6th with Class 3A beginning at 11:00 a.m.

View the full schedule below:

6019a6f05d4f7-1.pdf-1

College Football: UNI Picked 2nd in Missouri Valley Football Poll:

The UNI Football team was tabbed to finish second in this year’s truncated spring football season in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

Defending FCS National Champion North Dakota State was pegged to finish first.

Sophomore quarterback Will McElvain, who was coached by New London AD Ben Fry in his time at Des Moines Lincoln, leads the way as the only signal caller on the preseason list. McElvain tossed 20 touchdowns while throwing just seven interceptions in 15 games during the 2019 season.

He set the conference freshman passing record before it was broken by NDSU’s Trey Lance on his final completion of the national championship game. McElvain also rushed for 372 yards and another touchdown.

Defensively, the Panthers return 2019 Phil Steele Freshman Defensive Player of the Year Omar Brown who tallied 77 tackles, including four tackles for loss. He recovered three fumbles and forced a team-high six interceptions. He led the MVFC in interceptions during the regular season.

The Panthers are scheduled to open the season on Feb. 19 at home against South Dakota State.

Boys’ Basketball: State Announces 1A, 2A Pairings

By Nathan Bloechl · Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021 at 7:45 pm CDT

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

(KILJ) — The Iowa High School Athletic Association has released their 2021 Boys’ Basketball Playoff Pairings in Class 1A and 2A.

In Class 1A, area teams will be competing in District 8.

There, preliminary games will feature WACO (2-15) at Highland and Winfield-Mount Union (8-8) at home against Columbus Community, both on Friday, February 12th.

First round games will begin on Monday, February 15th.

There, New London (13-4) will host Lisbon at 7:00 p.m. in a game you can listen to on FM 105.5.

Notre Dame (11-5) will await the winner of the preliminary round matchup between Winfield-Mount Union and Columbus Community.

The top of the bracket will see top-seeded Springville await the winner of WACO-Highland, while Danville (9-7) will host Holy Trinity both of which will be played again, on Monday, February 15th.

Second round games will be played at Notre Dame and Springville both on Thursday, February 18th.

The district final is set for Tuesday, February 23rd at 7:00 p.m. at a site yet to be determined.

You can see the bracket in full here.

In Class 2A, area programs will be slotted in District 10, where Central Lee (6-12) will host Van Buren County (0-13) on Monday, February 15th at 7:00 p.m.

The Mediapolis boys’ (5-12) will travel to Letts on that same night to tango with Louisa-Muscatine (8-9) in their first round matchup.

The winner of that tilt will get top-seeded Pekin (16-1) on Thursday, February 18th in Packwood, while the winner of Central Lee-Van Buren County will travel to West Burlington (12-4).

You can see the entire bracket here.

In other news and notes, the Association announced that the Class 3A and Class 4A brackets will be available on Wednesday, February 10.

Opening round substate games for Class 3A and Class 4A tipoff on Monday, February 22.

Girls’ Basketball: IGHSAU Announces State Tournament Format

By Nathan Bloechl · Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021 at 2:52 pm CDT

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

KILJ — The 2021 format of the Iowa High School Girls’ State Basketball Tournament has been set by the IGHSAU, with action beginning on March 1st at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

The tournament will open with all of Class 5A and three 3A quarterfinals, as well.

The 2nd will feature the final Class 3A quarterfinal, all of Class 4A’s quarterfinals and half of the Class 2A quarters.

Semifinal action will take place on Thursday and Friday.

In a new twist, Class 5A will play their State Championship at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

The rest of the State Championships will be played on Saturday, March 6th with Class 3A beginning at 11:00 a.m.

View the full schedule below:

6019a6f05d4f7-1.pdf-1

Boys’ Basketball: Porter Erupts for 36 as New London Stays Hot

By Nathan Bloechl · Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021 at 2:24 pm CDT

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

(Photo Courtesy: John Lovretta / thehawkeye.com)

(New London) — New London sophomore Blaise Porter poured in a season high 36 points as the Tiger boys’ basketball (13-4, 12-2) team picked up a big Super Conference win, 78-61 over Central Lee last night.

Porter hit 17-of-24 shots, including drilling two 3-pointers as New London won their 13th game of the season.

The Tigers jumped out to a 24-12 lead after one quarter and rode that wave to the 17 point win.

Joining Porter in double figures was classmate Kade Benjamin, who finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds, while blocking three shots.

The two combined to shot 67.5% from the field and accounted for over three-quarters of the teams scoring output.

The win kept New London atop the Super Conference-South Standings, one game better than that of West Burlington (12-4, 11-3).

New London has won three straight and seven of their last eight.

They’ll look to stay hot when they square off with Burlington Notre Dame on Thursday, on the road.

Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.

View the full box score here.