High School Football
It had been over four years since Mt. Pleasant picked up a district victory, at least that was until last night as the Panthers completed their second-half comeback to down Keokuk 34-27. Head coach John Bowlin discussed his thoughts after the game,
“Just super proud of these guys. Just worked their butts off, you know, we had a tough start, and we’ve had a tough start for the last month. You know, we just can’t get out of the locker room and play, but our guys battle every week, you know, and we’ve improved a lot these last two weeks. We’ve been able to run the ball, our line has gotten better. I mean it just feels good. We got a lot of guys that carried the weight tonight and just, you know, kept doing what we wanted to do on offense, you know, we weren’t going to come out and throw the ball. We had to go run it, got outside a lot, which was a good thing for us there tonight on the, you know, a couple big plays on those pop passes were huge for us. So, all in all, just a great second-half. Our defense stepped up. You know, we couldn’t stop them in the first half and then they were getting pressure like crazy. Their quarterback was still making huge plays, but we never backed down and just made big play after big play.”
That slow start resulted in Keokuk’s Brenton Hoard to connect with Drew Campbell for three first quarter touchdowns as a Ramzy Davis touchdown made it 20 to 7. But, the Panthers kept running the football as Payton Walker scored and Zach Newton plunged in for a 3-yard touchdown on a 4th and goal situation. Hoard and Campbell scored one more touchdown to give the Chiefs a 27 to 21 lead at the half.
A scoreless third quarter set the stage for Mt. Pleasant, as the Panthers started driving, converting key play after key play before Newton broke free and scrambled for an 8-yard touchdown to give the Panthers a 28 to 27 lead. Coach Bowlin praised his senior quarterback after the game,
“Yeah, just super poised, he told me all week, ‘Coach, I’m feeling better. I’m ready to run,’ you know, he’s been dinged up here for a while and he ran the ball great. We called, I don’t know how many carries for him, but he had a couple scrambles. Two for us tonight that were huge chunks. Got a monster first down for us, you know, down when we were going into the end zone there. So just a great leader. He does so many good things that aren’t noticed either. Just handling the ball in the back, getting to the right spots. Ramzy Davis and Payton Walker are pretty tough to handle back there as well. They did a great job carrying the load. And I admit, you know, you talk about Griffin Jones coming in, but I just he fill in for Ramzy as he was a little sick tonight, you probably couldn’t tell that, but he just battled and Jones came in and did a great job, got to the outside and you know he wants it too. I mean, that’s the one nice thing about our young guys. We got a lot of young guys that are playing good football in that fresh/soph game and we got a lot of talent to be, you know, grateful for coming up in these years.”
Mt. Pleasant would recover back-to-back fumbles on the ensuing kickoffs as Davis scored his second touchdown of the game to cement the final score of 34-27. Newton totaled over 200 yards and two touchdowns as Davis rushed for 96 yards last night and five touchdowns in the last two weeks. Isaiah Lange grabbed two sacks as the defense got home for six total sacks. The Panthers will travel to Fort Madison on Friday, October 18th, at 7:30 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 7:15 pm.
Central Lee was stomped by Mid-Prairie 48-14 last night. The Golden Hawks are district champs for the first time in 16 years. The Hawks will face off against Mediapolis on Friday at 7:30 pm for their regular season finale.
Mediapolis took down Davis County last night 49-20.
WACO ended the regular season with their fifth consecutive victory last night, dispatching English Valleys 60-12. Louden Huisenga rushed for 115 yards and finished with four total touchdowns. The Warriors are 7-1 as they await the postseason.
Columbus handled Van Buren County 48-7 last night. The Warriors will host #4 Lisbon on Friday at 7 pm.
Danville could not stop #4 Lisbon’s rushing attack last night as the Bears fell to the Lions 50-7. Danville will host Columbus to end the season at 7 pm on Friday.
West Burlington/Notre Dame rode Quincy Collins to a 49-7 victory over Albia last night as the senior totaled 333 rushing yards and a school record six rushing touchdowns. Collins also broke the school records for yards and touchdowns in a season in the win. The Falcons will compete against Davis County on Friday at 7:30 pm in a road matchup.
Winfield-Mt. Union trounced Mormon Trail 68-6 last night. The Wolves will face off against HLV on Friday at 7 pm on the road.
Wapello was drubbed by Pekin last night 57-0. Wapello will square off against Highland on Friday at 7 pm at home to end the season.
Fairfield managed to score 20 unanswered second-half points to defeat South Tama 33-29 last night. The Trojans will travel to Solon on Friday at 7 pm.
In other Class 3A district 4 matchups, #10 Mt. Vernon destroyed Fort Madison 56-7 and Assumption defeated Washington 34-6.
New London will travel to Moravia today at 2 pm.
High School Volleyball
#2 Holy Trinity Catholic will participate in a tournament today at Pella.
Central Lee, Van Buren County, and New London will compete in a tournament today at Davis County.
Mt. Pleasant and Fairfield will travel to Oskaloosa today for a tournament.
Winfield-Mt. Union will take on Lone Tree on the road on Tuesday, October 15th, at 7:30 pm.
Wapello will face off against Louisa-Muscatine on Tuesday at 5:30 pm on the road.
WACO will travel to Pekin on Tuesday at 7:30 pm.
Columbus will face off against Hillcrest Academy in a road matchup on Tuesday at 6:30 pm.
#14 West Burlington will square off against Danville on Tuesday at 7:30 pm in a road matchup.
Burlington Notre Dame will compete at a tournament hosted by Danville on Thursday, October 17th, starting at 5 pm.
Mediapolis will square off against Fort Madison on Thursday at 5 pm to start off their quad.
The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released the postseason brackets and for a breakdown of our local matchups, follow this link: IGHSAU Postseason Brackets
High School Cross Country
Danville, Central Lee, Columbus, Holy Trinity Catholic, WACO, Van Buren County, Mediapolis, Winfield-Mt. Union, Wapello, and West Burlington/Notre Dame will compete on Tuesday, October 15th, at Cedar Crest Country Club for their conference meet.
Mt. Pleasant and Fairfield will compete in their conference meet on Thursday, October 17th, at Keokuk.
Southeastern Community College
The volleyball team split their triangular yesterday, defeating Wilbur Wright College in a sweep, while falling to Illinois Central College 3-1. The Blackhawks will take on Iowa Central Community College on Tuesday, October 15th, at 7 pm at home.
College Football
#11 Iowa State will travel to West Virginia tonight at 7 pm. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will have the call.
Iowa will host Washington today at 11 am. KILJ 105.5 FM will have the broadcast.
This Day in Sports History
1979 – Boston Celtics guard Chris Ford scores the first 3-point basket in NBA history in the first quarter of a 114-106 win vs Houston at the Boston Garden; game also marks debut of Boston rookie Larry Bird.
1979 – Future Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson makes his debut for the Los Angeles Lakers at the San Diego Clippers; Lakers win, 103-102.
1989 – Dallas running back Herschel Walker is traded from the Cowboys to the Minnesota Vikings for five players and six future draft picks including future stars Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith, and Darren Woodson.
