Prep Football- The 2025 high school football season is a mere 16 days away from week zero matchups, 22 days away from the first official week one showdown for some teams, and 23 days away from the rest of the state kicking off the season. With the excitement of the season a little over three weeks away, how about we look at Class 3A District 4.
Class 3A District 4 or ostensibly the Southeast Conference (SEC) will place Solon in the place of Burlington as Mt. Pleasant, Washington, Fort Madison, Keokuk, and Fairfield battle for two automatic berths into the playoffs. Only one of these teams made the playoffs a year ago.
Solon
The Spartans have not lost more than three games in a season since 2016, including a couple of trips to the state championship game. Solon looked like a powerhouse after starting the year 5-0, which saw them outduel Mt. Vernon 7-6.
Yet, the Spartans would finish the season going 3-3 in their last six games, losing 35-3 to Humboldt in the playoffs. Solon did bash Fairfield 61-19 in that final six game span, despite allowing the Trojans to trounce the defense for 264 rushing yards.
There Spartans enter this season with a couple of question marks as they will have to replace two-year starter behind center in Ty Bell, who tossed for 33 touchdowns in the last two seasons. Additionally, they will have to find a new ballcarrier as their two main running backs graduated in Eddie Johnson (1,257 yards and 18 touchdowns) and Cole Carney.
They will also miss Johnson on the defensive side of things as he led the team with 4.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss and recovered two fumbles, taking one back for a touchdown.
That’s about it for skill positions. They return Maddox Kelley, who led the wide receiver room with 54 receptions for 675 yards and seven touchdowns, while ranking second on defense with 50 tackles and leading the team with two fumble recoveries and four interceptions.
Eli Kampman completed 15 of his 19 passes for 172 yards and a score last year, while adding 116 rushing yards and another score on the ground. The incoming senior even had two interceptions, including a pick-six, and 24.5 tackles.
Overall, their defense returns seven of their top 10 tackles last season and 10 of their 15 takeaways. Their special teams should also return to form. The biggest question will be if the Spartans can find a rushing attack to balance themselves.
Player to Watch: Eli Kampman
Washington
The Demons are next on our list because a 6-3 record will usually find you a place in the postseason, but combined 76 to 27 losses to Mt. Vernon and Assumption knocked them back to third in the district and their strength of schedule buried them in the RPI rankings and out of the postseason.
Nevertheless, it was a welcomed sight after suffering a 2-7 campaign in 2023. The issue will be building upon the success of last year’s squad as it was one nearly wholly dependent on their senior leadership.
The Demons had five First Team All-District players and four of them were seniors: Mason Morgan, Summit Keith, Jayfred Espinosa, and Jude Carter. Washington also had eight players on the Second Team, half of them were seniors.
Washington lost their starting quarterback in Logan McDole as he had 1,678 all-purpose yards and 20 all-purpose touchdowns as the Second Team quarterback. Morgan and Espinosa combined for 784 of the team’s 1,270 receiving yards and eight of the team’s 15 receiving touchdowns.
Half of the team’s 10 leading tacklers were seniors, including Carter and Keith, who each found a spot on the All-District First Team. Seniors also contributed to half of the team’s interception numbers. Additionally, Conner Leyden, their main kicker and punter, graduated.
So, what do the Demons have? Kael Williams. The junior led the team in rushing with 528 yards and six touchdowns. Caught 13 passes for 215 yards and four touchdowns. Ranked fourth on the team in tackles with 39.5, while recovering a fumble and intercepting two passes, including a pick-six.
Williams even returned a kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown. The kid can do it all and he most likely will have to in some capacity. The defense will get their sophomore sack machines back in Brady Krantz and Blaine Rees as they combined for seven sacks and 16.5 TFLs.
Player to Watch: Kael Williams
Mt. Pleasant
The Mt. Pleasant football program had their resolve tested last season on their way to a 4-5 record. Three of their four victories saw the Panthers comeback in the fourth quarter to win by a touchdown or less, including an overtime victory and a last-second field goal.
The Panthers experienced the thrills of victory for the first time since 2021 and their first victory at home since 2020. The key for head coach John Bowlin will be maintaining the culture of “Win the Day.”
The basic component toward winning the day for Mt. Pleasant last year was controlling the line of scrimmage as the Panthers thrashed opponents for 789 rushing yards in their wins, while allowing only 323 rushing yards. The good part about that? The offensive line returns four starters.
The problem is the Maroon and Gold graduated three of their top four rushers, their top two receivers, and their starting quarterback. Zach Newton provided an excellent dual-threat approach with 299 rushing yards complementing his 535 passing yards. No one else on the roster has thrown more than seven passes.
Payton Walker takes his career marks of 1,200 rushing yards, 18 touchdowns, 180.5 tackles, 22 tackles for loss, two interceptions, and two fumble recoveries to St. Ambrose University. He’s led the team in rushing yards and touchdowns and tackles the last two seasons.
While the continuity of the offense should remain consistent, the defense has something to prove with the loss of three of their top four tacklers and 26 of the team’s 60.5 tackles for loss. William Birdsell blocked a punt and tabbed 3.5 sacks, while Jared Dorothy was a reliable tackler.
Kellen Kohorst will be looking to go both ways again as he helped pave the way at right guard and piled up 21.5 tackles with 9.5 tackles for loss and an interception on defense. Ramzy Davis went on an absolute tear at the end of the season, gaining most of his 312 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns in the final four games of the year.
Despite the loss of some key players, the Panthers still return a decent amount of experience on both sides of the ball and Dylan White returns to kick after knocking away two-game winners last season. This team will turn every game into a drag-out fight.
The season will start with a non-district showdown against Mediapolis at Bob Evans Field at 7:30 pm with KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, on the call.
Player(s) to Watch: Ramzy Davis and Kellen Kohorst
Keokuk
Marvin McNutt’s first year at the helm for Keokuk was marred by a disappointing district campaign, most likely set on by a grueling non-district schedule that saw the Chiefs take on Ottumwa and Pella to start the season—both losses.
Still, the Chiefs went from a projected fringe playoff squad to turning in a 3-6 record and winning just one district game, including a 35-0 clobbering at the hands of Washington to kick off the start of the final five weeks.
Despite lauding the #27 ranked recruit in linebacker Mason Claus for his upcoming senior season, the problem for the Chiefs last year was slowing down an opposing team’s rushing attack. Throwing out Fort Madison’s abysmal eight-yard performance, Keokuk surrendered 275 rushing yards per game, including a horrendous 470 yards to Ottumwa in the season opener.
Additionally, the offense lacked any type of balance with less than 1,000 team rushing yards, even with most of those yards coming from 1st Team All-District quarterback Brenton Hoard, who finished his career with over 6,000 all-purpose yards and 69 touchdowns. Hoard’s three-year stint as the starting quarterback led to him being recruited by Upper Iowa.
Keokuk will be leaning on Claus both on defense, as he racked up 79.5 tackles, and on offense as a playmaker. To help him out on defense will be Braxton Hayner, as the junior finished second on the team in tackles.
Nonetheless, the team lost six of their top ten tacklers, their star quarterback, who also led the rushing game, their leading receiver, and their kicker. The Chiefs might be staring down another tough season.
Player to Watch: Mason Claus
Fairfield
The Trojans had a strange season under the direction of first-year head coach Matt Jones. A 2-7 record paints one picture, but it was far from the truth of the season. A reconstruction of the offense, converting from a spread, pass-first offense to a Wing-T last year, saw some growing pains.
After Mt. Pleasant kept them under 100 rushing yards, the Trojans barreled through Fort Madison 55-15 before losing tough contests to Washington, Keokuk, and Benton in consecutive weeks, all of them by two possessions or less, before almost dropping their game against a winless South Tama County squad, squeaking by 33-29.
The thing about last year’s squad, it was comprised of mostly sophomores. Voss Richardson, the starting quarterback, Zandrik Allison, the second leading rusher, and Ethan Bisgard, the leading receiver and third leading rusher, return to patrol the skilled positions.
Sophomores made up five of the top ten leading tacklers, including Bisgard and Allison, who ranked second and third for the team last season and forced two takeaways apiece. Moreover, Allison was voted by fans on a poll led by “High School on SI” as one of the top returning running backs for Class 3A.
With that being said, the Trojans will still have to find a way to replace Luke Konczal, who finished with a team-high 790 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 7.5 yards per carry along with leading the team with 100.5 tackles.
That won’t be an easy task, but after most of the team was forced to step up as underclassmen, this team could prove to be a fringe playoff team.
Player to Watch: Zandrik Allison
Fort Madison
The fall off was expected but brutal. The Bloodhounds enjoyed four straight winning seasons with three of those years ending in a trip to the playoffs. Last year, a depleted roster saw Fort Madison finish the year 0-9 with seven losses of 20 points or more.
The worst part was that team was led by mostly seniors—their seven All-District players were all seniors. They will have to find a new starting quarterback, as Marcus Guzman had to do it all with 829 passing yards and 677 rushing yards for all 15 touchdowns.
Furthermore, the Bloodhounds will have to find new receivers, starting linebackers, defensive and offensive linemen, defensive backs, and a kicker/punter just to add an exclamation point to the end of a joke that has no punchline.
Moses Thacher was the only non-senior to run the football last year and finished second on the team with 143 yards, while Marshall Heitmann was the only non-senior to tab more than 20 tackles with 32.5 tackles for the season, including three for a loss.
A positive to all of this is someone will have to step up. Usually, a player will have to wait until their junior and senior seasons to make an impact on the gridiron. This year’s squad will provide plenty of experience for a team looking at a youth overhaul.
Player to Watch: Marshall Heitmann
Full List of Schedules: Class 3A Schedules
