Prep Football- The Southeast Iowa Super Conference is running wild in Class A after New London made the jump up a classification from 8-Player to Class A to join District 5. That makes it two “newer” programs rounding out the next two years of scheduling for the 7-team district.
The four playoff teams from the district last year were Lisbon, who did not lose a district contest over the past two seasons, Pekin, Danville, and Columbus. The Lions have now moved up a level to Class 1A, meaning the door is open for a new district champion.
Pekin
Three years removed from a winless 2021 season, the Panthers finished second in the district and finished the year with their highest win total since 2017, going 8-2 before losing to Madrid in the second round of the playoffs.
In terms of district play, Pekin was a red and white mass that enveloped the field, terrifying opposing onlookers. The Panthers averaged 55 points per game in their wins against the district and allowed a measly 23 points in those six wins, pitching four shutouts.
Their one loss of the regular season was to Lisbon, 28-15. Pekin was one of two opponents to hold the Lions under 30 points last season—they did even better in 2023, holding Lisbon to just 17 points.
Unfortunately, the player that made the Panthers tick on offense and defense was senior Will Adam. The dual-threat quarterback amassed over 2,000 yards and 26 touchdowns through the air and on the ground, leading the team in rushing. Naturally, he even returned a punt for a score.
Defensively, Adam finished second on the team in tackles and nabbed two interceptions, including a pick-six, and two fumble recoveries. Two other seniors on defense included Caden Bender and Alton Williams, as each player totaled 31 tackles and two sacks.
Additionally, his favorite target through the air was another senior in Robert Brown. He finished his final season with the Panthers with 29 receptions with 514 yards and four touchdowns. Brown was also a ballhawk on defense with a team-leading four picks, returning one for a touchdown.
Luckily for Pekin, they have another Adam for the next two years. Henry Adam was all over the field in his sophomore campaign. He completed one pass for 54 yards, caught 10 passes for 178 yards and a score, and rushed for 353 yards on 47 carries for seven touchdowns.
Additionally, he led the team in tackles with 59.5 and captured two sacks. The sophomore ranked second on the team in interceptions with three and he handles the kicking responsibilities with 23 converted extra points last season.
Add in Nolan Glick’s 17 rushing touchdowns and four sacks, Alijah Brock’s five receiving touchdowns, and an increased role for an already productive Riley Smith and Pekin could have another dominant run through the district.
They might have to do it without the takeaways as they graduated 13 of the team’s 25 total takeaways.
Player to Watch: Henry Adam
Danville
Who would have thought that a program that laid dormant for nearly a decade would rack up back-to-back postseason trips and nine district victories in their first two seasons back on the gridiron.
Winning can do a lot for a program and the Bears have figured out how to do it in the clutch. Danville collected three wins in four one-possession games last year, including an overtime victory over Columbus. Head coach Cody Thompson knows how important winning is to a burgeoning program,
“Winning is big, especially early because you know kids want to win, they want to compete and they want to show that they can play with good teams and you know, I think that our kids knew the expectation from the outside world wasn’t very high for us but our expectations in house is that we’re competing with the blue-collar type schools in in our area and being able to come out with some of those gritty wins and show that that we can score points and play defense. But we can also put it all together and win as a team. I think goes a long way with not only our kids, but everybody watching the program that we’re able to do it in multiple ways.”
Danville was rather inconsistent on offense, scoring 97 points in the span of two weeks to totaling just 14 in the subsequent weeks, collecting a surprising 3-1 record during that span. Still, they saved their best performance for the Wildcats as Jaden Bauer decimated the defense for 402 passing yards and two passing touchdowns.
The same game also displayed the Bears’ biggest weakness on defense: stopping the run. Danville allowed seven of their nine opponents to rush for 150 yards or more and six of those teams slashed their way to at least 190 yards.
The defense should see some improvement as they return Byers Nealey, who has led the team in tackles the last two years and been apart of the leadership council since his sophomore season, and Kamryn Wolkenhauer. They also provide some much-needed retention on offense because it is bear (excuse the pun) in the skill positions.
Danville graduated Jaden Bauer, Kessler Whaley, Landon Seibert, Deken Huff, and Aiden Konig. In order that was their starting quarterback and leading rusher, their leading wide receiving in yards and touchdowns, their second-leading wide receiver, an important link on the offensive and defensive lines, and their starting kicker.
By the way, Whaley also grabbed an unbelievable eight interceptions for the season.
Danville will be counting on Dillan Mason, who has sat behind Bauer the last two years, to command the offense, while Drake Biesler will see an increased role on offense. Tatem Sherwood will probably take the bulk of the carries on offense after averaging 5.7 yards per carry and plunging in for three rushing touchdowns.
Turnovers might see a big drop in production as they lose 74% of their takeaways from the year prior. A lot of question marks surround this team, but if they can put together another run at the postseason, then the legitimacy of this program is fully cemented.
Columbus
Two years ago, there were fans thinking that the Wildcats could be a wildcard and make a run in the postseason with Kaden Amigon’s running ability. Losing a D-I prospect like that can deflate any type of program’s momentum and a 1-3 start to last season appeared to have buried Columbus early.
Nevertheless, the Wildcats bounced back to win three straight games, outscoring their opponents 150 to 21. It was enough to earn the last playoff spot for the district after taking down Wapello earlier in the year. A first-round postseason lost to Maquoketa Valley—two years in a row—ended the journey. Columbus did not beat a team with a winning record last year.
It’s no secret what the Wildcats’ identity has been for the last decade with the last time they have thrown for over 1,000 yards in a season occurring back in 2016. Unfortunately, the Wildcats graduated another talented running back as Riley Kaalberg rushed for 1,505 yards and 19 touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown on 67 yards.
In terms of a one-man show, Riley accounted for 60% of all offensive yards and 57% of the team’s offensive touchdowns. Fortunately, Juan Chairez was the only other senior to gain a yard on offense last season and only three seniors finished in the top 10 for tackles on defense.
The team will most likely move on to another senior Kaalberg as Tyson accounted for 541 total yards and eight total touchdowns in his junior campaign. In fact, this will be a very senior-heavy squad as Trevor Phillips returns for his third year under center. Drew Totemeier led the team in tackles as a junior.
Of that aforementioned tacklers list, four juniors made the list, including three in the top four. Despite the lack of total turnovers—just 14—they return 86% of that game-changing momentum, including Lamar Cenat and Kason Dopler, who each grabbed three interceptions.
Ceant could be an X-Factor for the Wildcats this year, as the now-junior returned two kick returns for touchdowns. The prominent track athlete could take the next step on the gridiron and a tough player to catch in space.
Player to Watch: Tyson Kaalberg
Highland
The Huskies ended a four-year streak of finishing with a sub-0.500 record but could not find their way into the postseason after losing four district matchups, the toughest was a 14-7 final against Danville at Highland.
The Huskies were overwhelmed by the upper echelon of the district, being outscored 158 to 33. Impressively, Highland did hold their opponents to six points in their four wins, which included three shutouts.
The strength of last year’s squad was defense as grabbed 17.5 sacks, 58 tackles for loss, and 19 takeaways. The defense will need almost a complete overhaul as they lose their top three tacklers and six of their top ten tacklers.
Colten Sypherd was an overall playmaker with 55 tackles, two interceptions, and fumble recovery, while Jared Diaz led the team with five interceptions. The Huskies will most likely find their new alpha in junior Jose Ramierz. As a sophomore, he snatched seven sacks and 13 tackles for loss.
Ramierz will also have to big year on offense as a backfield by committee featured three seniors and two sophomores, including him. Ramierz finished second on the team in yards and touchdowns with 327 yards and five rushing touchdowns on 6.7 yards per carry.
The intriguing part of this team is their youth. They had only one junior account for any type of stats last year, meaning this team will be a bit green, but also loading up on future talent or finding a diamond in the rough.
Player to Watch: Jose Ramierz
Wapello
After winning back-to-back district contests in weeks three and four, Wapello did not win another game, scored just 21 points in the final five weeks, while never holding an opponent under 42 points in that same span.
The offense was balanced but neither the air nor ground was able to break 1,000 yards and just 13 total offensive touchdowns was a tough metric to overcome. Defensively, they managed just five sacks as a team but did have 13 takeaways.
The positive is most of their team returns. Rowen Atkinson should be back under center after tossing for 816 yards and six touchdowns last year, while Grant Wilson should be the main ball carrier after amassing 472 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Seniors accounted for only 77 of the team’s 916 rushing yards and 157 of the team’s receiving yards. Moreover, the juniors contributed on the defensive side as well with Wilson, Garrett Cooley, and Atkinson finished as the top tacklers for the team. Wyatt Marlette led the team in sacks with three.
Wapello will look very similar to Columbus with a mostly senior cast conducting how far this team will go.
Player to Watch: Rowen Atkinson
Van Buren County
27 points. The Warriors lost four games last year by a combined 27 points. A week one loss to Central Lee had a 13-8 final. Highland shut them out 13-0 in week 3. A 14-6 loss in week four to Wapello moved Van Buren County to 0-4 for the season. Lastly, and most painfully, a missed extra point led to a 7-6 loss to Danville in week six.
Their only win was against a winless Louisa-Muscatine team 45-20. The Warriors managed to score 27 points in the seven other matchups. So, what happened? The easy answer points to turnovers as the Warriors threw 18 interceptions, including 13 from senior Izaak Loeffler.
The ground game could not generate a reliable push with a yard per carry average sitting at a pedestrian 3.4 for the season. Bryce Moquin, a senior, led the team with 454 yards and three touchdowns, while Loeffler added 198 yards on the ground to finish second on the team.
Additionally, the top three receivers were seniors. Defensively, they will lose their top tackler in Kamden Nusbaum, who made 72.5 tackles last season. However, Van Buren County will carry over most of the starters from that stingy defense. Unfortunately, non-seniors accounted for just four of the team’s 14 takeaways.
The Warriors will be leaning on unproven players at skill positions, meaning the offensive line and defense will be put in another stressful situation of trying to keep games close. If the turnovers can shrink, then Van Buren County can sneak out a couple one-possession wins.
Player(s) to Watch: Cale Mellinger and Ethan Cochenour
New London
The new team on the block, the Tigers are back playing 11-man football for the first time since going 6-3 in 2017, following that up with a 12-1 season and a state championship in their first season at the 8-player level.
Since then, New London has been trending down, culminating in a 3-13 record the past two seasons, which has seen their roster numbers teeter amongst the disqualified line and at one point dipping over that line.
Still, there’s a new excitement in the air surrounding the upcoming season, especially with the renewed rivalries, including an early October matchup against Danville to celebrate the Tigers’ Homecoming game.
The Tigers were an offensively minded team last year, scoring at least 20 points in every game and putting up 54 and 56 points in their two wins against HLV/TC and English Valleys, respectively.
On the flip side of that coin, New London allowed 48.6 points per game. The obvious example of this dichotomy was a 67-42 loss against WACO in week six. The Tigers gained nearly 400 total yards, while the Warriors outgained them piling up 540 total yards.
The loss of Gavin Menke-Bailey will be felt as the senior amassed 1,330 all-purpose yards and 18 touchdowns on offense and finished as an All-District First Team linebacker with 62.5 tackles. Corbin Jacobs-Jewell provided some pressure in the backfield with six tackles for loss, including three sacks.
Yet, this was a team populated with juniors. The likes of London and Logan Franklin, Brigham Porter, Cale Westerbeck, and Nicholas Loyd makes this one of the stronger senior classes in the district.
The main man to look out for is London Franklin. The objective was to get him the ball in any way last year. The junior returned punts and kicks, which saw him run back a kick 62 yards for a touchdown. He threw two touchdowns, rushed for 10 touchdowns with 471 rushing yards, and caught 21 passes for 514 receiving yards and six touchdowns.
Logan Franklin will also see an increased role as he nabbed 153 receiving yards and three touchdowns along with grabbing four interceptions on defense.
New London will be the underdog for the entire season, but do not mistake the new kids on the block for an easy win. A change of scenery has already proven fruitful once.
Player to Watch: London Franklin
Full List of the Schedules: Class A Schedules
