Mt. Pleasant, IA- The Mt. Pleasant Panthers will have a new head coach patrolling the sideline this upcoming fall season, pending board approval, in former Iowa Valley Head Coach John Bowlin.

Bowlin is a former student of Mt. Pleasant that continued playing football at the college level as an offensive tackle at Coe College. Bowlin has been teaching and coaching at Iowa Valley Community High School for the past 15 years. The best season for the Tigers was the 2018-2019 season where they finished 10-1 before falling in the second round of the playoffs. Last year, Iowa Valley finished the season with a 6-4 record as they competed in the same district as WACO, New London, and Winfield-Mt. Union.

Bowlin will have to make the leap from coaching 8-Man football to 11-man football as the Panthers also moved down a classification to 3A. They will be in the same district as Keokuk, Fort Madison, and Washington for this upcoming season.

KILJ Bracket Challenge- In a year that the perfect bracket would confirm the existence of either time traveling or psychics, we still have prizes up for grabs on who did the best at guessing the unpredictable. KILJ’s bracket challenge is sponsored by the Press Box and Wiley’s Interior Furnishing and Designs.

Hanging on to first place right now is “broekerb 1” with 690 points with a chance at 850 points. “Colt Ensm 1” sits in second with 610 points, but like most others has no chance to add any more points to the total.

However, there are two wildcards still in the running as “BGO5 1” sits in third place, and “flip25 1” in 8^th place and they both picked UConn to win the tournament. So, if UConn wins their 5^th National Tournament they would take 1^st and 2^nd place, respectively.

Prize Reminders:

First prize:

-1 cabin rental from Henry County Conservation.

-$100 Gift Certificate to Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design.

-2 Midwest Old Threshers gate passes.

Second prize:

-A Meal a month from the Press Box.

-2 Midwest Old Threshers gate passes.

-2 Festival of Lights tickets.

The Final Four will take place on April 1^st with UConn facing off against The University of Miami and Florida Atlantic University looking to continue their Cinderella run when they play San Diego State.

Iowa City, IA- The Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team punched their ticket to the Final Four last night after taking down Louisville 97-83. This will be the program’s second trip to the Final Four with their first dating back to 1993. The key to the Hawkeyes’ success? A junior from West Des Moines named Caitlin Clark.

Donning number 22 for the black and gold, Clark has limitless range from the court and will pull up from just beyond the half-court line and sink the shot. Her 27.3 points per game is 3^rd in the country and her 8.6 assists per game leads the country. Her play led the Hawkeyes to a #2 seed in the tournament and she has played out of her mind from there.

In the first round, Clark had a double-double with 26 points and 12 assists against Southeast Louisiana. Georgia was looking for the upset and did the best defensively against the junior, but #22 still managed 22 points and 12 assists for another double-double. Clark flipped a switch in the Sweet 16, scoring 31 points and dishing out 8 assists on their way to an 87-77 victory. Then in the Elite 8, history was made.

Louisville entered the game as the #5 seed and Iowa’s toughest competition up to that point. A high scoring game ensued that saw Clark do something that no one—man or woman—had done in NCAA tournament history. Her 41 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists performance made her the first player to ever have a 40-point, triple-double game in NCAA tournament history. She already had the first 30-point triple-double in March Madness history.

In case you were curious of Clark’s three-point total through the tournament, her 8 three-pointers against Louisville gave her 19 three-pointers in the tournament. Additionally, Clark is looking to join the 1,000-point club as she’s totaled 984 points this season. She would join fellow Hawkeye Megan Gustafson, Maddy Siegrist, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Stiles, and Odyssey Sims as others who have scored 1,000 points in a single season.

Iowa will face off against the winner between South Carolina and Maryland on March 31^st with the winner going to the championship.

High School Track and Field

WACO boys’ team will be competing at the Ruritan Relays tonight.

Winfield-Mt. Union, Mt. Pleasant, New London, Central Lee, and Danville are set to compete at the Falcon Relays tonight at Keokuk.

The girls will be competing at Burlington Notre Dame tomorrow, March 28th.

High School Soccer

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ soccer season will begin tomorrow against Mediapolis on the road.

WACO’s boy soccer team will start their season at home against Fairfield on March 30th.

The Central Lee boys’ soccer team will take on Keokuk tonight as the Hawks start their season on the road.

Youth Basketball

The next event will be the Easter Weekend 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament held at Iowa Wesleyan University for 3rd graders through adults. For a registration form, contact Coach Ronnie Ashton at 319-931-2896 or Iowa Wesleyan’s Men’s Head Coach Jordan Ashton at 319-461-9023. The entry fee will be $60 per team, with prizes for the 1st and 2nd place teams. Registration is due by April 4th and it starts at 9am on April 8th.

March Madness

In a Final Four that no one could have predicted, FAU is looking to continue the Cinderella story by taking down San Diego State, while Connecticut will take on the University of Miami, as the Hurricanes have taken down the #1 and #2 seeds. The winner of the KILJ Bracket Challenge will get a free cabin rental from Henry County Conservation and a $100 gift certificate to Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design with 2nd place getting a meal a month from the Press Box.
For the women’s bracket, Iowa advanced to the Final Four after Caitlin Clark splashed 8 three-pointers on her way to 41 points on the night as the Hawkeyes downed the Cardinals 97-83.

Iowa Wesleyan Athletics

The Tiger softball team will take on the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis tomorrow, March 28th, in a road doubleheader with game one at 1 pm.

The Tiger baseball team will take on William Woods University tomorrow for a home doubleheader with game one at 3 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 2:45 pm.

The men and women’s golf team will have their home opener today at the Purple Cup. Head Coach Kurt Moon talked about the competitiveness that comes with the meet against Waldorf.

“Well, it was when Kiley Miller was a junior, Bo Vitale was a senior. Waldorf had two players from Mexico and they had quite the rivalry with those two. Well, they decided to get a Mexican flag and hang it from the flagpole at Sheaffer when they pulled it, so it was quite the chuckle.”

The outdoor track and field season kicked off at the Viking Relays this past weekend and the record books have been rewritten for the Tigers. Faith Younce broke her own record in the women’s 5,000 meter RaceWalk with a time of 29 minutes 6 seconds, which gave her 2nd place. Allison Morris finished in 3rd place. Logan Lucas broke the school record in the men’s 5,000 meter RaceWalk as he finished in 3rd place with a time of 27 minutes 6 seconds, which is 5th in the NAIA. Kenny Tucker took 4th and Gannon McNamee was right behind him in 5th. KeRon Blackwell placed 3rd in the men’s high jump. Bri Hunter heaved the shot 42 feet 0.5 inches to finish 2nd in the women’s shot put. Younce also took 3rd place in the women’s 3,000 meter steeplechase. Emily Gehring and Teya Hawkins finished in 3rd and 4th, respectively, in the 100 meter hurdles. In the men’s triple jump, with a leap of 43 feet 1 inch, Daron Jackson finished in 1st place for the event. The Tigers will compete at the Mustang Open on April 1st at 11:30 am.

This Day in Sports History

1925 – 84th Grand National: Major John Wilson wins aboard 100/9 shot Double Chance; first year a tape, known then as a ‘gate’, used at the start line.

1939 – First NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: University of Oregon beats Ohio State, 46-33; Ohio State forward Jimmy Hull is named tournament Most Outstanding Player.

1991 – NCAA bans the University of Minnesota football team from postseason play in 1992.