High School Football

Mt. Pleasant will travel to Fairfield on Friday, August 30th, at 7:30 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 7:15 pm. Head coach John Bowlin talked about the upcoming matchup with their rival,

“Yeah, I mean, we’re excited obviously just to play football for real. But you know, anytime you play a foe, you know we it’s great that we still have these rivalries here in Southeast Iowa and you know we can all, all kids, both teams can get up for it. And you know they’re going to be ready. We’re on their turf and I know that is never easy there. They’re going to be ready to go. And you know, we got to match the energy and go bring it on Friday night.”

Danville will host Lynnville-Sully on Friday at 7 pm. The Bears showed off their air attack last Friday in their scrimmage against Mt. Pleasant with their returning quarterback Jaden Bauer and receivers Kessler Whaley and Landon Seibert, which head coach Cody Thompson is going to continue to roll with,

“So, the chemistry between our quarterback and two of our receivers is pretty good. They’ve grown up playing together. They had some good action together last year and that was just kind of what we got, what we got in the groove with tonight. We just kind of rolled with it.”

New London will square off against Easton Valley on Friday at 7 pm.

Winfield-Mt. Union will face off against Central City on Friday at 7 pm at home.

Central Lee will take on Van Buren County on Friday at 7 pm at home.

West Burlington/Notre Dame will take on Wapello on Friday at 7:30 pm at home. 

Mediapolis will travel to compete against Columbus on Friday at 7 pm. 

WACO will travel to take on Coon Rapids-Bayard on Saturday, August 31st, at 3 pm.

High School Volleyball

Holy Trinity Catholic and West Burlington will travel to Mediapolis tonight at 4:30 pm for a scrimmage with Fort Madison, Wapello, and West Liberty also participating.

WACO will be hosting a tournament tonight at 5 pm with Burlington Notre Dame, Columbus, Pekin, Centerville, and Van Buren County also competing. 

West Burlington will compete in a quad on Thursday, August 29th, at Burlington with Danville and Wapello also competing. 

Central Lee will hit the road to take on Fort Madison at 7:30 pm on Thursday. 

Mt. Pleasant will participate in a triangular on Thursday at Ottumwa with their first game at 6:30 pm.

Winfield-Mt. Union will face off against Keokuk on Thursday at 7:30 pm at home.

Southeastern Community College

The volleyball team finished the opening weekend tournament with an even 3-3 record after picking up wins against Southwestern Illinois College and Oaktown Community College over the weekend. McKenna Marlow led the way against Southwestern Illinois College with nine kills, while Maddie Jones picked up 17 assists. 

The Blackhawks will host the Jimmy John’s Tournament, starting on Friday, August 30th, against Allen County Community College at 2 pm. 

College Football

The University of Iowa will officially kick off the season on Saturday, August 31st, at home against Illinois State at 11 am. Tune in to KILJ 105.5 FM to listen to the game.

Iowa State will take on North Dakota on August 31st at 2:30 pm at home. Tune in to KILJ 98.5 FM or AM 1130 to listen to the game.

This Day in Sports History

1903 – Phillies walk 17 Dodgers in a game, the most at the time. 

1947 – Dodgers’ Dan Bankhead, MLB’s first African-American pitcher, homered in his first MLB at bat in a 16-3 loss to Pittsburgh, at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, NYC. 

1971 – Bobby Orr signs a five-year contract with the Boston Bruins worth one million dollars, the first million dollar contract in NHL history.

High School Football

WACO showcased the offense last night in their week zero matchup, thumping Central City 51-36 to start the season undefeated. Clayton Miller threw for 157 yards and three touchdowns, while Louden Huisenga grabbed three rushing touchdowns for the win. The Warriors will travel to take on Coon Rapids-Bayard on Saturday, August 31st, at 3 pm.

Mt. Pleasant scrimmaged Danville to conclude their “Meet the Panthers” event last night with both teams getting a chance for their varsity and younger kids gaining some experience on the field. Panthers head coach John Bowlin was eager for the opportunity,

“Well, you know, I haven’t slept for a few days, maybe a few weeks. I don’t know. I was pretty, pretty antsy today, so I was excited. I know the boys were, you know, I don’t have to say much to get them fired up to put pads on. So, they were out there having a great time. So, and you could tell by their faces just how they were playing and running. Just you know, we’ve had a really good team camaraderie this year, so that’s been really nice.”

Danville’s offense was the first to find paydirt officially after Jaden Bauer’s arm hit a deep pass to Kessler Whaley to set up a touchdown strike to senior Landon Seibert, who then caught the two-point conversion. Bears head coach Cody Thompson discussed his team’s play last night,

“So, overall I was very pleased with how the kids came out and played. You could tell right away we had some younger guys out there, you know, the bright lights in front of people. This is a great time of year to get that out of the way, saw some really good things. And we saw some areas where we need to clean up to be ready for Week 1. But overall, as far as our varsity, even our younger kids, I’m pretty happy where we’re at today.”

Payton Walker returned the favor when he broke off a huge run, then followed it up with a bruising run to score a touchdown as Zach Newton hit Aiden Humble for the two-point conversion. Coach Bowlin talked about his team’s performance last night,

“Yeah, I thought we played pretty physical, and I was really happy with what the o-line did. You know, we had some mistakes. That’s gonna happen. Some of it was not their mistakes. It’s play calling mistakes. You know that we knew we didn’t have a guy blocked and we thought we could outrun that, and we couldn’t. So those are just some little things that we got to get better at reading people, but on an overall thing, you know, our goal was just come out and execute. We’d had very few penalties. Didn’t jump offsides just played really clean tonight, you know, and I think we created a few turnovers on defense. You know, if you look at last year, we didn’t create any turnovers on defense. So just the work our guys have done, you know, I think we’re going to be able to compete. You know, I don’t know where we’re going to end, but I know that our guys are gonna come out and give it their best and just have a ton of, you know, great opportunities this year.”

Mt. Pleasant will travel to Fairfield on Friday, August 30th, at 7:30 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 7:15 pm. 

Danville will host Lynnville-Sully on Friday at 7 pm.

New London will square off against Easton Valley on Friday at 7 pm.

Winfield-Mt. Union will face off against Central City on Friday at 7 pm at home.

Central Lee will take on Van Buren County on Friday at 7 pm at home.

West Burlington/Notre Dame will take on Wapello on Friday at 7:30 pm at home. 

Mediapolis will travel to compete against Columbus on Friday at 7 pm. 

High School Volleyball

Holy Trinity Catholic and West Burlington will travel to Mediapolis on Monday, August 26th, at 4:30 pm for a scrimmage with Fort Madison, Wapello, and West Liberty also participating.

WACO will be hosting a tournament on Monday at 5 pm with Burlington Notre Dame, Columbus, Pekin, Centerville, and Van Buren County also competing. 

West Burlington will compete in a quad on Thursday, August 29th, at Burlington with Danville and Wapello also competing. 

Central Lee will hit the road to take on Fort Madison at 7:30 pm on Thursday. 

Mt. Pleasant will participate in a triangular on Thursday at Ottumwa with their first game at 6:30 pm.

Winfield-Mt. Union will face off against Keokuk on Thursday at 7:30 pm at home.

Southeastern Community College

The volleyball team traveled to Rockford, Illinois for the first day of their three-day opening weekend tournament, splitting their contests. The Blackhawks lost to Kansas City Kansas Community College 3-1, then swept Blackhawk Technical College. SCC will take on Southwestern Illinois College to start off their day. 

College Football

The University of Iowa will officially kick off the season on Saturday, August 31st, at home against Illinois State at 11 am. Tune in to KILJ 105.5 FM to listen to the game.

Iowa State will take on North Dakota on August 31st at 2:30 pm at home. Tune in to KILJ 98.5 FM or AM 1130 to listen to the game.

This Day in Sports History

1804 – Alicia Thornton becomes the first female jockey in England, riding at Knavesmire in Yorkshire.

1875 – Captain Matthew Webb makes the first observed and unassisted swim across the English Channel in 21 hours and 45 minutes.

1978 – MLB baseball umpires stage a  one-day strike.

High School Football

WACO will kick off the season with a week zero matchup against Central City tonight at home at 7 pm. 

Winfield-Mt. Union will scrimmage Midland tonight at 5 pm at home. 

Central Lee will take on Keokuk tonight at 6:30 pm for a scrimmage at home.

West Burlington/Notre Dame will scrimmage Burlington at 6 pm tonight at Bracewell Stadium. 

Mt. Pleasant will face off against Danville tonight at 7:30 pm for a home scrimmage. Head coach John Bowlin enters his second season at the helm, which has helped calm down the pace of the offseason and helped better prepare himself and the team,

“I think our players have a better, better understanding this year. You know, I think I think they know more about you know what I expect of them, and you know just getting to know them for that year and spending every day there in the weight room with them and getting prepared, I think you know one thing I preach to them is, you know, what their work they do is going to show up. You know, you got to believe in the process. You know, the work you do. And I think it’ll show up for us on Friday nights and you know, hopefully we can come out to be a much more competitive team this year.”

High School Volleyball

West Burlington and Winfield-Mt. Union will travel to West Liberty tonight for a scrimmage starting at 4:30 pm. Washington, Muscatine, and Solon will also be participating. 

Central Lee will host a scrimmage tonight at 5 pm against Keokuk.

Holy Trinity Catholic and West Burlington will travel to Mediapolis on Monday, August 26th, at 4:30 pm for a scrimmage with Fort Madison, Wapello, and West Liberty also participating.

WACO will be hosting a tournament on Monday at 5 pm with Burlington Notre Dame, Columbus, Pekin, Centerville, and Van Buren County also competing. 

High School Volleyball Rankings

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) released their preseason rankings yesterday for the upcoming 2024 season and two of our local teams made the top 15 for their respective classes.

For Class 2A, West Burlington is ranked #11 to start off the year after falling to #14 Grundy Center in last year’s Regional Championship contest. Last year’s SEISC champion, the Falcons return most of their roster; however, one of the names not returning is Taryn Havener as she led the team in kills with 335 and blocks with 68.

A good candidate to fill that slot will be junior Brenna Beggs, who posted 241 kills and 34 blocks in her sophomore campaign. Taryn Snodgrass returns after nabbing 900 assists last season, which led the conference. Their top servers in Madelyn Hamelton and Carli Cline return and following behind are their 107 combined aces.

For Class 1A, Holy Trinity Catholic enters the as the #2 team behind last year’s champion Ankeny Christian. The Crusaders are hoping to keep the tradition rolling after making it to state for the 13th time in the past 14 years. The squad was led by five All-Southeast players and, of course, District Coach of the Year, Melissa Freesmeier.

However, two of those All-Southeast members were seniors: Mary Kate Bendlage, who recorded over 1,000 career kills, and Natalie Randolph, an all-around talent. Nevertheless, the Crusaders will be returning towering junior Presley Myers and an experienced sophomore in Adalyn Kruse as the two combined for 479 kills and 206 blocks.

Additionally, Anna Bendlage has had two successful seasons of being the team’s main setter under her belt and Teagan Snaadt is a defensive specialist that keeps plays alive as she led the team with 482 digs.

Meet the Players Nights

New London’s “Meet the Players” night will be tonight at 5:30 pm with cross country and volleyball introductions and scrimmage taking place in the Charles Lorber Gym. On the football field, cheer and football will have their introductions with a football scrimmage against Wapello to follow.

Mt. Pleasant will have their “Meet the Panthers” tonight starting with an intrasquad volleyball game at the high school gym at 5 pm. Introductions of the fall teams will begin at 7 pm, starting with the cross country teams.

Fairfield will have their “Meet the Trojans” tonight with introductions taking place on the track at 6:35 pm. Volleyball and football will have intrasquad scrimmages at 7 pm. 

Central Lee will have their “Meet the Hawks” night tonight with the cross country race beginning at 4:30 pm to kick off the night. Volleyball introductions will commence at 6:10 pm in the gym, while dance, football, and cross country team introductions will take place on the football field at 6:20 pm.

Mediapolis will have their “Meet the Bulldogs” tonight starting at 5 pm with a free will donation dinner and a youth football punt, pass, and kick fundraiser. The football team will be introduced at 5:45 pm with a scrimmage against Fort Madison at 6:30 pm to round out the night. For admission, please bring a donation of prepackaged individual snacks for the football team after away games this season.

Southeastern Community College

The volleyball team will travel to Rockford, Illinois today for their opening weekend tournament with their first matchup against Kansas City Kansas Community College.

College Football

The University of Iowa will officially kick off the season on Saturday, August 31st, at home against Illinois State at 11 am.

Iowa State will take on North Dakota on August 31st at 2:30 pm at home.

University of Iowa

Head coach Kirk Ferentz and wide receivers coach Jon Budmayr have been suspended for the first game of the season after a recruiting violation in 2022. The review brought forward that the staff talked to Cade McNamara prior to him entering the transfer portal.

Coach Ferentz and Athletic Director Beth Goetz recommended a self-imposed one-game suspension and loss of one week of off-campus recruiting. 

“I frequently tell our players to abide by the rules, and in this instance, I did not.” said Ferentz. “In 26 years as a head coach at Iowa — and more than four decades as a coach — this is my first potential Level II NCAA infraction. I made a mistake and would like to apologize to our players, University leadership, and our Hawkeye football fans. I know Coach Budmayr echoes those sentiments.”

The two coaches will step away from all duties on August 31st and will return to normal duties on September 1st. Assistant Head Coach Seth Wallace will act as Head Coach for the Illinois State contest. 

This Day in Sports History

1936 – 17-year-old future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller’s first MLB game as a starter; strikes out 15 St. Louis Browns in 4-1 win at League Park, Cleveland.

1947 – First Baseball Little League World Series, Williamsport, Pennsylvania: Maynard beat Lock Haven All Stars, 16-7.

1992 – Dennis Eckersley, who previously set record for most consecutive saves (40), is the first pitcher to record 40 saves in four different seasons.