Donnellson, IA- The Central Lee Community School District has inducted three new members to its Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2023.

The first inductee is coach Don Ford. You would be hard pressed to miss him at any Hawks sporting event as Ford coached six different sports in the span of over three decades.

Ford’s most notable achievement was founding the volleyball program and then holding the position of head coach for 31 years. Ford’s leadership led to nine conference titles in just a decade and personal recognition with multiple conference coach of the year awards.

Moreover, Ford was the head basketball coach for 11 years, spent 10 years as an assistant coach, was the head coach of girls’ track and softball for 10 years, spent a year on the football staff, and volunteered as the head girls’ golf coach for three years.

Ford has demonstrated unwavering support for Central Lee’s extracurricular activities, including school plays, show choir, band, and more. His mentorship has empowered countless young individuals to develop their skills and self-confidence, both on and off the field.

The second nominee is Jeff Brisby. A three-sport athlete, Brisby excelled in all of them with first-team all-conference honors in football, basketball, and baseball. Additionally, Brisby garnered all-state recognition in all three sports along with being named to the All-Hawkeye Land team in baseball and basketball.

Brisby’s most impressive season of basketball included an average of 22 points and nine rebounds per game for his senior season. On the diamond, Brisby batted 0.380 and tallied a 10-1 record on the mound with a sub-1.00 ERA. Brisby led the conference in tackles for football.

The third nominee is Christy Schrader (Holtkamp), another standout three-sport athlete. Her career stats for basketball are quite impressive with 1,311 points, 733 rebounds, and an amazing 273 blocks, which ranks among the top 50 in the history of girls’ Iowa high school basketball.

Her 1993 season saw Schrader score 550 points, collect 303 rebounds, and average 5.27 blocks per game

In addition to her contributions to basketball, Schrader showcased her talents in volleyball and golf. Off the fields and courts, Schrader demonstrated leadership by serving as president of the student council.

“We take immense pride in acknowledging the exceptional achievements of these outstanding student-athletes and coaches whose remarkable contributions continue to inspire our athletic community,” said Dr. Andy Crozier, Central Lee Superintendent. “This year, we celebrate two versatile, multisport athletes and an exemplary six-sport coach. We look forward to reuniting with these distinguished individuals and honoring their accomplishments together.”

Community members, families, staff, and alumni are encouraged to nominate individuals for Hall of Fame recognition. To be eligible for nomination, individuals must have graduated from Central Lee schools or have been a staff member and should be at least five years removed from their association with the district. A committee reviews all nominations and determines each year’s inductees. Central Lee also has Academic and Fine Arts Halls of Fame.

The Central Lee Community School District’s Hall of Fame ceremony to honor the 2022 and 2023 inductees will take place on Saturday, April 6, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. at Central Lee High School.

High School Football

For 8-player, Winfield-Mt. Union jumped out to a quick lead over Bishop Garrigan, but the Golden Bears scored 28 unanswered points to take down the Wolves 34-20. Winfield-Mt. Union was overwhelmed with players playing through injuries and despite the outcome Head Coach Scott McCarty was proud of the effort shown.

Cam Buffington rushed for 36 yards, scored two touchdowns, and racked up 12.5 tackles in an effort that proved his love for the game and his team.

“I didn’t want to quit,” stated an emotional Buffington. “I wanted to be in there with my brothers, so I didn’t want to quit. You know, it hurt, but I couldn’t move, so put me at nose, I didn’t want to quit.”

Jake Edwards threw for 212 yards and a touchdown that was caught by Abram Edwards who tallied 81 yards. The Wolves finished the season with an 11-1 record. 

Gladbrook-Reinbeck was 13 seconds away from advancing to the championship game, but Bedford’s Kase Coleman had other thoughts after nailing the game winning 24-yard field goal to win 31-30. Garrison Motsinger led the way with 134 yards rushing. 

Bishop Garrigan and Bedford will compete for the state championship next Thursday, November 16th, at 9:30 am. 

In Class A, Madrid will take on West Hancock today at 10 am followed by East Buchanan and Woodbury Central.

The Class 1A semifinals will take place tomorrow, November 10th, with Columbus Catholic facing off against Grundy Center at 10 am and MFL MarMac competing against Underwood at 1 pm. 

The Class 2A semifinals will be on Saturday, November 11th, with Monticello taking on Van Meter at 10 am and Spirit Lake clashing with Central Lyon/George-Little Rock at 1 pm.

Class 3A will also play on Saturday with Bishop Heelan taking on Creston at 4 pm and Williamsburg getting a rematch against Solon.

At 4 pm today, North Polk will take on Lewis Central with Bondurant-Farrar and Western Dubuque playing at 7 pm.

Class 5A will round out the day on Friday with Valley taking on Southeast Polk at 4 pm and Ankeny Centennial battling with Ankeny at 7 pm.

High School Basketball

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will host a jamboree on November 13th with four games on the slate with each game given a 45 minute time limit.

Lone Tree and Burlington will start off the night with the first game at 6 pm. Mediapolis and Keokuk will follow at 6:45 pm. Winfield-Mt. Union will take on Fairfield at 7:30 pm. Lastly, Mt. Pleasant and WACO will face off at 8:15 pm.

College Football

Iowa State University will face off against BYU this Saturday, November 11th, at 9:15 pm. This is the first meeting between the two teams since 1974.

Iowa will host Rutgers on Saturday at 11 am. 

For the Hawkeye broadcast, tune in to KILJ 105.5 FM. For the Cyclone broadcast, tune in to KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130.

College Basketball

The Iowa State men’s team will face off against Lindenwood tonight at 7 pm. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will have the call.

The Iowas State women’s team will take on Drake on November 12th at 2 pm.

The 3rd ranked Iowa women’s team will compete in a top 10 matchup against #8 Virginia Tech tonight at 7 pm.

The Iowa men’s team will take on Alabama State tomorrow, November 10th, at 7 pm.

NCAA Guidelines

The NCAA Division I council coordination committee has changed their guidelines to their gambling policy. If a college athlete wagers on teams at their own school, but not on their own team, they will only face the penalty of one year of loss eligibility instead of a permanent loss of eligibility. 

These new guidelines will be applied to those student-athletes that were investigated by Iowa and Iowa State. 

This Day in Sports History

1953 – The Supreme Court rules Major League baseball exempt from antitrust laws.

1991 – Houston’s Roman Anderson becomes the first player in NCAA history to surpass 400 points by kicking a 32-yard field goal in the Cougars’ 23-14 victory over Texas.

1996 – Evander Holyfield upsets Mike Tyson in an 11th-round knockout in Las Vegas to regain the WBA heavyweight boxing title; becoming the second boxer, after Muhammad Ali, to win a heavyweight title three times.

Cedar Falls, IA- This one will sting for Winfield-Mt. Union. Their undefeated season became no more in the span of a little over two and a half hours. An offseason and season full of bumps, bruises, and triumphs finished before the championship game as Bishop Garrigan pulled off another upset.

Off the back of 28 unanswered points in the second half, the Golden Bears won the game 34-20 and moved on to their fifth championship game in their program’s history.

Nevertheless, that’s not how the game started and as Winfield-Mt. Union’s Head Coach Scott McCarty stated after the game, the Wolves threw the first couple of haymakers,

“We told our kids in pregame, don’t wait to be great, you know, and I thought that they did a really nice job of coming out and we talked about writing our own story, I just thought they did a real nice job of that.”

It was the Wolves defense that set the stage early with multiple fourth down stops and two takeaways—senior Cole Milks interception and a Carter Loyd, senior, fumble recovery—highlighting the first half.

Junior quarterback Jake Edwards’ deep passing attack set the Wolves offense up nicely. A 37-yard pitch-and-catch to Carter Loyd put the ball at the two-yard line, which Cam Buffington, senior, piled in for a touchdown.

Buffington would find paydirt again to begin the second quarter from seven yards out to give the Wolves a 12 to 0 lead.

A minute after Bishop Garrigan cut the lead in half, Jake Edwards lofted a perfect ball to senior Abram Edwards for a 31-yard touchdown strike to give the Wolves an 18 to 6 lead, which was extended to 20 to 6 after converting a two-point conversion.

The Golden Bears flipped the script in the second half as the physicality of the game was slowing down an already injured Wolves squad. Abram Edwards commented on his team’s willingness to keep stepping up despite injury,

“Shows just how tough we are and how much we truly want it. Something we felt like we deserved, just couldn’t make it happen.”

The Golden Bears leaned on Caden Roethler for the entire second half as he totaled 181 of the teams’ 270 rushing yards and four touchdowns in his MVP performance. Ethan Maros, the fullback for Bishop Garrigan, was a wrecking ball, clearing lanes for Roethler.

“Big doesn’t wear down,” said Coach McCarty after the game. “I thought that they [Bishop Garrigan] were a big physical team and I thought that they did a very nice job of playing big and physical, you know. Their fullback was as big as you can get… but they did a really good job of being simple and being really good at being simple behind their pads.”

Additionally, two costly turnovers for the Wolves derailed promising drives that kept them off the board in the second half. A late injury to Cam Buffington seemed to have ended his season earlier than the clock had, but his perseverance saw him enter as a nose guard on the last drive of the game.

“I didn’t want to quit,” stated an emotional Buffington. “I wanted to be in there with my brothers, so I didn’t want to quit. You know, it hurt, but I couldn’t move, so put me at nose, I didn’t want to quit.”

Abram Edwards and Cole Milks echoed a similar mentality in their postgame answers. A brotherhood formed and evolved ever since they started playing sports together at a young age and no one was going to give up the chance to continue playing.

The season may end here for Winfield-Mt. Union but an 11-1 record and a trip to the semifinals will always be remembered within the community and that brotherhood.