High School Football
WACO will kick off the season with a week zero matchup against Central City this Friday, August 23rd, at home at 7 pm. The Warriors defeated the Wildcats 48-12 back in 2022, where Louden Huisenga rushed for a touchdown and totaled five tackles.
Winfield-Mt. Union will scrimmage Midland on Friday at 5 pm at home.
Central Lee will take on Keokuk on Friday at 6:30 pm for a scrimmage at home.
Mt. Pleasant will face off against Danville on Friday at 7:30 pm for a home scrimmage. Mt. Pleasant head coach John Bowlin praised his team for their work during practice as they prepare for their scrimmage and eventual week one opponent Fairfield,
“It was good. You know, we had the battle. We were kind of fortunate there during camp. We had a really nice cool week of camp. So we started battling some humidity last week and heat. And you know, I thought our kids did a really good job of that, staying focused. You know, we had a couple physical days there. We put shells on doing some situational drills and I think our kids competed well in that and you know I like where we’re at right now. You know, we’ve got a lot of the offense, and I just got to tweak things now. We play Danville on Friday night for a scrimmage, so, you know, really kind of prepping ourselves for Fairfield. But understanding we got, you know, a game type situation on Friday that we got to get ready for as well.”
High School Volleyball
Mt. Pleasant, Fairfield, and Highland made the trip to WACO last night to compete in a quad scrimmage. Focusing on Mt. Pleasant, the Panthers started off the night against Highland in the practice gym and after both teams shook off the preseason cobwebs they both finished with some nice plays. The Huskies found success at the net defensively, while Meadow Carter and Sonya Simon helped lead the Panthers from the service line, generating multiple aces, which was one of the preseason keys for head coach Logan Wall,
“Yes, we served really well last year. One of our goals was to serve spots efficiently. And so we’ve put that on the list to work on. We’re also trying to work on some plays too. So we just can continue to build from last year.”
Fairfield ventured in for game two and with both teams rotating players often, it was not quite the Southeast Conference matchup that we should expect to see from these two squads later in the season; nevertheless, there were some impressive rallies.
Lastly, the Panthers took on WACO in the main gym and exhibited their attacking offense headlined by Addision Clark and Alex Scott, each taking turns earning thundering kills. Coach Wall considered last night a successful scrimmage,
“I think we built on what we started in our team camp at Des Moines. We got a couple girls back, a couple of girls hurt, so we didn’t really know what to expect. But I think we came together as a team. I said in the huddle, we all worked as a team and for the team. So, no one was thinking individually. We’re all for the team, so.”
WACO’s head coach Danae Drish discussed the positives to last night’s scrimmage,
“We’re learning a lot and have some really good energy. We have a young group this year, so they’re learning a lot and getting experience, so it’s quite nice and refreshing to have the seniors giving them some advice and leading them, but with a lot of youngsters.”
WACO will participate in a scrimmage on Thursday, August 22nd, at Washington with Keota and Hillcrest Academy also attending.
West Burlington will host a scrimmage today at 4 pm.
Danville will compete in a scrimmage on Thursday at Burlington Notre Dame.
Central Lee will host a scrimmage on Friday, August 23rd, 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.
Meet the Players Nights
New London’s “Meet the Players” night will be on Friday, August 23rd, 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.
Winfield-Mt. Union’s “Meet the Players” will take place tomorrow, August 21st, at 6:30 pm.
Mt. Pleasant will have their “Meet the Panthers” night on Friday starting with an intrasquad volleyball game at the high school gym at 5 pm.
Fairfield will have their “Meet the Trojans” on Friday with introductions taking place on the track at 6:35 pm. Volleyball and football will have intrasquad scrimmages at 7 pm.
High School Cross Country
Fairfield will practice at 8 am on Friday, August 23rd, then today through Thursday practice will start at 3:30 pm.
Southeastern Community College
The volleyball team will travel to Rockford, Illinois on Friday, August 23rd, for their opening weekend tournament with their first matchup against Kansas City Kansas Community College.
NAIA Football
NAIA released their first top 25 ratings for the season with four Iowa teams finding their way onto the list including three in the top ten: Northwestern (#2), Grand View (#5), and Morningside (#10).
Additionally, Bethel University out of Tennessee is ranked 8th heading into the season. Their co-offensive coordinator, pass game coordinator, and wide receivers coach is former Iowa Wesleyan head coach and defensive coordinator MD Daniels.
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.
This Day in Sports History
1900 – Great Britain beats France by 158 runs in Paris; cricket’s only appearance at an Olympic Games.
1919 – Wichita outfielder Joe Wilhoit (Western League) fails to get a hit, ending a 69-game streak (155 hits in 299 at bats for .505 average). The longest in minor league history.
1920 – The American Professional Football Association forms with Jim Thorpe as president; later becomes the National Football League (NFL).
