Author: Nathan Bloechl

Prep Girls’ Basketball: Mount Pleasant Hosts Fort Madison, Other Regional Matchups:

The Mount Pleasant girls’ basketball team will look to win their second in a row tonight when they open up Southeast Conference action at Panther Gymnasium, hosting Fort Madison.

The Panthers are coming off a Monday night win over Ottumwa, 43-29.

Fort Madison has started their season well, also with a victory over Ottumwa in their pocket, while defeating Davis County 58-43, earlier this week.

Mount Pleasant is lead by Andrea Lopreato’s 18 points per game, the junior is also leading the squad with 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists.

The consensus first-team All-Conference player from a year ago looks poised for another huge season.

The Panthers have won nine of the last 10 tilts between the two schools with Fort Madison nipping Mount Pleasant in their most recent matchup, 36-31 back on January 8th.

Tonight’s game will be varsity only and will tip at 6:30 p.m.

You can listen on FM 105.5 and kilj.com.

Nathan Bloechl and Kent Bennett will have all the action.

Other area scraps:

• Holy Trinity vs. Cardinal
• Louisa-Muscatine vs. Columbus
• Winfield-Mount Union vs. Highland
• Wapello vs. Hillcrest Academy
• Pekin vs. Mediapolis
• New London vs. WACO
• Central Lee vs West Burlington
• Notre Dame vs. Van Buren County

Prep Boys’ Basketball: Mount Pleasant at Fort Madison, New London Opens:

The Mount Pleasant boys’ basketball team will look to get into the win column, albeit in a tough environment, when the Panthers travel to the HoundDome to take on Fort Madison.

The Panthers suffered a Tuesday night defeat at the hands of Cedar Rapids Xavier, one in which they shot a meager 29% from the field and 23% from the three point land.

Dewon Trent looked to be in good form however.

The Mount Pleasant forward has a chance to claim Southeast Conference Player of the Year honors this year.

Tonight will be Fort Madison’s first of the year but the Panthers are 4-1 against the Bloodhounds in the last five.

Dayton Davis will lead a solid senior class that will be bookended by Miles Dear, Tate Johnson and Landes Williams.

Tonight’s game will tip at the HoundDome at 7:30 p.m.

Meanwhile in Henry County, a matchup of rivals commences tonight when New London squares off with WACO.

The Tigers and their star-power need no introduction.

Blaise Porter, arguably the top prospect in southeast Iowa and classmate Kade Benjamin comprise the best 1-2 punch in the conference and will start their quest to Wells Fargo Arena tonight.

Standing in their way on their 2021-22 debut is WACO, who looked strong in a 58-29 win earlier this week against Holy Trinity.

First team all-state running back Simeon Reichenbach scored 12 points in that matchup while Hunter Hughes chipped in with 11.

Tonight’s game will tip from Wayland at 7:30 p.m.

Other area matchups:

• Burlington at Keokuk
• Fairfield at Washington

Prep Girls’ Basketball: Latest IGHSAU Basketball Rankings:

	School	Record	LW
1	Newell-Fonda	2-0	1
2	Bishop Garrigan	1-1	2
3	Exira-EHK	1-0	3
4	Springville	3-0	4
5	North Linn	2-1	5
6	MMCRU	1-0	6
7	Burlington Notre Dame	3-0	7
8	North Mahaska	1-1	8
9	Storm Lake St. Mary’s	0-0	9
10	Montezuma	2-0	13
11	East Buchanan	2-0	NR
12	Stanton	1-0	12
13	Central Elkader	3-0	NR
14	CAM	1-0	NR
15	Westwood	1-1	9

	School	Record	LW
1	Dike-New Hartford	2-0	1
2	Grundy Center	1-0	3
3	Denver	4-0	5
4	Central Lyon	1-1	4
5	Panorama	1-0	6
6	Cascade	2-0	7
7	Nodaway Valley	1-1	2
8	Sibley-Ocheyedan	1-1	8
9	West Hancock	1-0	9
10	Jesup	2-0	11
11	South Central Calhoun	2-0	13
12	Treynor	1-1	10
13	North Union	1-0	15
14	Aplington-Parkersburg	2-0	NR
15	Wilton	2-0	NR

	School	Record	LW
1	Unity Christian	2-1	1
2	West Lyon	2-0	3
3	Ballard	2-1	2
4	Estherville-Lincoln Central	3-0	6
5	Center Point-Urbana	3-0	7
6	Cherokee	2-1	4
7	Sergeant Bluff-Luton	1-0	8
8	Clear Lake	0-1	5
9	West Liberty	2-0	9
10	West Marshall	3-0	10
11	Vinton-Shellsburg	3-0	14
12	Roland-Story	0-1	11
13	Harlan	2-0	NR
14	Okoboji	2-0	NR
15	Davenport Assumption	0-2	13

	School	Record	LW
1	Glenwood	1-0	1
2	Indianola	2-0	2
3	Central DeWitt	1-0	3
4	Cedar Rapids Xavier	3-0	4
5	Bishop Heelan	3-0	6
6	North Scott	2-0	7
7	North Polk	2-1	14
8	Dallas Center-Grimes	2-1	5
9	Winterset	1-0	9
10	Grinnell	2-0	10
11	Solon	1-2	8
12	Mason City	1-1	11
13	Spencer	1-1	12
14	Gilbert	2-0	NR
15	Benton Community	2-1	13

	School	Record	LW
1	Johnston	2-0	1
2	Waterloo West	0-0	2
3	Cedar Falls	1-0	3
4	Iowa City High	0-0	4
5	Des Moines Roosevelt	1-1	6
6	West Des Moines Valley	2-0	7
7	Iowa City West	1-0	8
8	Ankeny Centennial	3-0	9
9	Southeast Polk	1-1	5
10	Cedar Rapids Washington	2-0	10
11	Dowling Catholic	4-0	11
12	Waukee Northwest	2-1	12
13	Sioux City East	1-0	13
14	Pleasant Valley	1-0	14
15	Linn-Mar	2-0	NR

College Football: Grand View Takes on Lindsey Wilson in NAIA semifinals Saturday:

Third ranked Grand View visits top ranked Lindsey Wilson of Kentucky in the semifinal round of the NAIA playoffs on Saturday.

Lindsey Wilson is the defending national champion.

“What an opportunity we have to play the defending the national champions on their home turf. I know our guys are excited about the challenge and the opportunity and [we] just can’t wait for Saturday to get here.”

That’s Grand View coach Joe Woodley who says the Vikings first goal is to make a game of it. Lindsey Wilson has only played one game that was not a blowout in posting a 12-0 record.

Former Mount Pleasant standout Brody McGhghy has been a special teams ace for the Vikings this year.

Saturday’s game will kick at 12:30 p.m. from Columbia, Kentucky.

Women’s College Basketball: Wesleyan Stomps Waldorf:

Iowa Wesleyan stayed hot last night, securing a 67-45 road win over Waldorf last night.

The Tigers used a 22-10 third quarter run to pull away for their eighth victory in ten games.

Maci Kuchta, who played the entirety of the game, finished with 22 points, three rebounds and a steal.

Brittany West ended with 19 points and five boards, while Kyla Moore chipped in with 12.

The Tigers are scheduled to take on Lincoln Christian University next on Wednesday, December 8th in Lincoln, Illinois.

The game is scheduled for a 5:00 p.m. start.

College Football: Iowa Readies for Michigan: 

Iowa has accepted the role of underdog as the 13th ranked Hawkeyes get ready to play second ranked Michigan in the Big Ten Championship.

The 10-2 Hawkeyes open as a better than 10-point under dog to a Wolverine team that will be looking to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff.

“It’s motivation for us to go in there and prove everyone wrong — nobody really expects much from us. We are just as good as any team in the country and we are going to give everything to get a win at the end of the day.” 

That’s a quote from Iowa safety Kaevon Merriweather, who is a native of Belleville, Michigan.

Iowa safety Jack Koerner said the team — and defense — has bounced back well following a mid-season two-game losing skid.

“You know a lot of people were pretty low on us, saying we were overrated. We knew our identity. Those two losses didn’t define us. At the end of the day it’s about winning football games and that’s what we’ve been trying to do week in and week out and that’s what we’re going to try and do this Saturday as well.” 

Saturday’s game will kick at 7:00 p.m. from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, with pregame coverage beginning on KILJ at 5:00 p.m.

College Football: All-Conference Honors Roll in for Hawks:

Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum has been named the Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year in Big Ten, league officials announced yesterday.

Linderbaum, an Outland Trophy finalist, started all 12 games for Iowa this year.

Fellow lineman Kyler Schott was a second-team honoree, while tight end Sam LaPorta was a third-team selection.

Running back Tyler Goodson, who has been the engine behind the Iowa offense this year, was listed as an honorable mention All-Conference choice.

Two days ago, cornerback Riley Moss was named the Defensive Back of the Year in the league, as well.

Prep Wrestling: Quiet Night Sees WACO Travel to Montezuma:

It’s a bit of a quiet night in terms of prep wrestling across southeast Iowa.

One bout of note will be a mini tournament in Montezuma tonight.

Making the trek there will be the resurgent WACO Warriors. There, they’ll wrestle against Baxter, Cardinal, Sigourney and of course Montezuma.

Mat action will get underway at 5:30 p.m.