Boone, IA- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) has released the first-round postseason matchups for Classes 2A, 1A, A, and Eight-Player and several of our local teams earned a playoff berth. All first round games will take place on Friday, October 24th, at 7 pm.
Class 2A
#6 Mid-Prairie repeated as the District Champion after going undefeated in district play and going 7-1 overall. The Golden Hawks know how to score points, averaging 46 points per game behind Brooks Weber’s 21 passing touchdowns.
Mid-Prairie will get to host (3-5) North Fayette Valley as they look to build upon their quarterfinal run from a season ago. The TigerHawks will lean heavily on a rushing attack averaging 222 yards per game.
(6-2) Wilton, who made it to the UNI-Dome last year, will get a home game against (5-3) Dike-New Hartford. The Beavers’ only loss in district play was a 21-20 final against the Golden Hawks.
Extending their playoff streak to eight consecutive years was (4-4) Mediapolis. After an 0-2 start to the season, the Bulldogs took down Class 3A’s Fairfield and slithered past West Burlington/Notre Dame 28-21. Add in a narrow 16-14 victory over West Liberty and Mediapolis took 3rd place in the district.
Despite returning most of their starters on defense, the Bulldogs surrendered 27 points per game and went 0-3 against opponents with a record better than 0.500. Still, this is a program that has won at least one playoff game over the past three years.
Mediapolis will have to travel to (7-1) #5 Centerville. The Big Reds lost their District Championship contest last night to #2 PCM 58-30 after being outscored 43 to 3 in the second half, including a 29-point fourth quarter.
Centerville averages 42.5 points per game behind a balanced offense led by sophomore quarterback Mack Murdock, who has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 22 to 1.
Lastly, (3-5) West Liberty will hit the road to square off against #2 PCM.
Class A
District 5 yielded some close contests to end the season, including an upset to shake up how the standings were originally thought to finish as.
Pekin finished the season undefeated after they survived a week 7 scare against Danville that saw two-way star Nolan Glick nab a game-winning pick six to seal a narrow 32-27 victory. The Panther defense allows only 14 points per game, but a relative weak schedule kept them outside the top 10 rankings for the season.
In their third consecutive season punching their ticket to the postseason, the Panthers will get to welcome (4-4) Earlham to town. Pekin will be looking to replicate a 2014 season that saw the squad rack up 11 wins.
In a battle for second place, Danville needed their own comeback to down Wapello last night 33-31, earning the Bears their third trip to the postseason and first-round home matchup.
Senior Byers Nealey, who has led the team in tackles the last three seasons has been really impressed with the physicality of his team. The defense has collected 12 sacks and 38.5 tackles for loss this season to emphasize the point.
Danville head coach Cody Thompson gave his thoughts on why this team is special,
“I think our team is very physical, very determined. You know that every team puts in work over the summer, but you know, the drive these guys have and the effort they’ve been giving, and they are a very talented bunch. You know as a team we have guys that mesh really well together. You know, I feel like we have some good leaders on our team, and I think we’re going to be a tough out for anybody.”
The Bears will need to see a boost in offense that averaged just a tick under 300 total yards per game. For their effort, they will get to host (6-2) Maquoketa Valley. The Wildcats will be no walk in the part with their only losses coming against two ranked opponents. Additionally, they have outscored their last three opponents 159 to 6. Look for a defensive matchup in Danville as the Wildcats allows just one touchdown per game.
A three-way tie for 3rd place in the district and the inability to use head-to-head matchups meant the 17-point tiebreaker had to go into effect and despite not winning a district game since week two against Van Buren County (excluding forfeits), Columbus grabbed 3rd place with a point differential of (+1.50).
This now marks the fourth consecutive season that Columbus has earned a playoff bid. The Wildcats will lean on senior tailbacks Angel Ineichen and Tyson Kaalberg and a defense that has forced 10 takeaways this year.
They will be tasked with a road trip to (7-1) North Linn. The Lynx only loss this season was to #5 Wapsie Valley 42-0 last night to decide the district champion. They also throttled the Wildcats back in week four 54-7, allowing 100 total yards for the night.
How fast a season can flip on its head. Wapello got to engage with that turbulence firsthand when they defeated Columbus 40-27 for their Homecoming match to improve to 5-1 on the season. Then, the defense allowed 78 points over the last two weeks, including a 45-32 loss to Van Buren County.
Those two losses sent Wapello from 2nd place in the district to 4th after their point-differential came out to be (+1) compared to the Warriors’ (-0.67). Nevertheless, their back in the postseason after posting three total wins over the previous two seasons.
Wapello will have to venture to (7-1) Lynnville-Sully. The Hawks are winning games by an average of nearly 27 points as their defense has forced 19 takeaways and scored four touchdowns of their own this season.
Eight-Player
The playoff carousel put (3-5) WACO, (5-3) English Valleys, and (2-5) Winfield-Mt. Union on the same tiebreaker ride laid out above to see who would get that final spot in the playoffs and despite ending the season on a five-game losing streak, WACO will be heading to the postseason with a point differential of (+!) versus English Valleys’ (-1.20) and Winfield-Mt. Union’s (-6.00).
No matter how the Warriors got in, they will be preparing for their fifth straight trip to the postseason and for the second year in a row they will traveling to start off their postseason journey. WACO will be paired against (8-0) #6 Edgewood-Colesburg.
WACO will almost be entirely dependent on their rushing attack, namely Hayden Shelman. The junior has rushed for 1,019 yards and 17 touchdowns, thrown for 468 yards and three touchdowns, and caught a touchdown pass. The defense will have to try and find its form akin to their first three weeks where they allowed just 29 total points.
The Vikings average 60 points per game as their dual threat quarterback Jax Steger has compiled over 2,000 all-purpose yards and 37 touchdowns.
After starting the year 0-3, Belle Plaine went 4-1 over the last five weeks to earn 2nd place in the district. The Plainsmen will travel to (7-1) Easton Valley. The River Hawks one loss came against Edgewood-Colesburg.
#4 Iowa Valley finished the year undefeated, averaging 65 points per game, including four instances of scoring 70 or more points this season. The Tigers have two marquee wins this season: a 49-34 win over Don Bosco and an 83-64 shootout win over Montezuma.
Junior quarterback Nolan Kriegel continues to impress with 43 total touchdowns and no turnovers on the season. The Tigers commit to a ground onslaught with 2,717 team rushing yards this season on 11.1 yards per carry and 54 touchdowns.
IN a similar spot last year, the Tiger fell in the second round of the postseason. In the program’s fourth consecutive trip to postseason and third under Casey Krull, they would like to make the trip north to Cedar Falls.
In their home contest, Iowa Valley will face off against (5-3) Moravia, who was an at-large pick. The Mohawks are back in the playoffs after a layover last year. Kale Moore will lead the offense with a team leading 432 rushing yards complementing his 1,217 passing yards as he has amassed 24 total touchdowns.
Up Next
The IHSAA will release the playoff teams for Classes 3A, 4A, and 5A as soon as all of Friday’s games are turned in with postseason matchups to be released on Saturday, October 25th.
