A big second half for the Tiger football team led to an emotional Homecoming win as they move to 3-3 on the season and 1-0 in conference play after defeating Mayville State University 42-38 in a back-and-forth affair. The Tigers scored 28 points in the 3rd quarter after finding themselves down at halftime 14-7. A 2-yard rush by Parker Heidt gave the Tigers their first lead of the day and a Jaydon Varnado blocked punt and recovery in the endzone led to a two-possession lead over the Comets.  However, the Comets battled back and had a late lead with the Tigers at midfield with a fourth down. Then, AJ Moses found a hole and busted a 55-yard run down to the 3-yard line eventually leading to a 14-yard touchdown pass from Zach Chevalier to JC Gill with 1:10 left in the game and the defense held out. Coach Daniels had nothing for praise for his team after the game,

 

“I tell you what I’m so proud of our team, our players, our coaches because that pendulum was swinging back-and-forth all game our players and coaches did not give up. They’re the ones that make this program grow. I’m proud of them the way they practiced this week, how they bought into what we are building. 3-3, going to our next week, I’m on cloud nine right now.”

Senior Keetyn Townsley recorded her 1,000th dig

The Mt. Pleasant Panthers almost shocked everyone at Evans Field last night and pulled off the upset over the Burlington Grayhounds on Homecoming night, but the Panthers were a fingertip away and lost 41-33. Burlington scored the first 19 points of the game, but the Panthers battled back forcing 3 takeaways in the 2nd quarter and scoring 20 points, off of rushing touchdowns by Payton Walker and Zerek Venghaus and a passing touchdown from Jacob Richtman to Carter Amos, his first of the season. Unfortunately, the Grayhounds responded by scoring two touchdowns in the second half. Payton Hagans, who had been out the last two weeks, scored a touchdown from 6-yards out with 6:31 left in the fourth quarter. The Panther defense couldn’t get a stop and Burlington scored with 1:41 left in the game making it a 15-point game. However, the Panthers were not out yet as Richtman connected with Amos again for a 45-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 8. The ensuing onside kick was recovered by the Panthers and they marched the ball down the field and with less than 10 seconds on the clock had one more play left. Looking for the endzone to Wyatt Woodsmall, a Grayhound defender was able to get his hand in the passing lane and knock the ball away with 4.4 seconds to go, final 41-33.

The JV team finishes their season with a 3-1 record.

Alexis Hafenstine was named Continental Athletic Conference Volleyball Defender of the Week. From October 3rd through the 9th, Hafenstine totaled 94 digs for an average of 7.83 digs per set, including a 33-dig performance against Haskell Indian Nations University last Saturday. Tiger volleyball’s next game will be October 13th against Waldorf University at 7 pm on the road.

The Tigers are riding a 5-game winning streak with a 7-5 record on the season.

The Mount Pleasant Panthers ran the Southeast Conference Cross Country Meet at Fairfield last night. The girls team finished in 4th place in the 5K run with a total time of 1:54:51. Emma Welcher was the top finisher for the Panthers with a time of 21:42 that placed her in 11th place. In the girls 3200-meter run, Mt. Pleasant finished in first with a time of 1:09:18. Charley Huebner, Isabella Dodds, and Quintrie Lee finished in the pole positions

The boy’s team for the 5K race finished in 4th out of 6 teams with a time of 1:32:12. Ben Carthey and Jude Dykstra both ran great races finishing in the top 10 with Carthey finishing in 2nd with a time of 17:04 and Dykstra running a time of 17:51, which gave him 8th place.

Holy Trinity Catholic defeated the Wayne Falcons in dominating fashion, 25-8, 25-2, and 25-7. The second set was the most impressive as the set was tied 1-1 before Brooke Mueller stepped up to serve and helped the Crusaders rattle off 23 straight points serving up aces left and right.

First round of the playoffs starts this week with WACO hosting Martensdale-St. Marys at 7 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame to start at 6:45.

The New London Tigers will be traveling to play Gladbrook-Reinbeck this Friday for their playoff game at 7 pm.

The Winfield-Mt. Union Wolves have the dubious distinction of playing Don Bosco, who is ranked 3rd in 8-man football, to start their playoff journey this Friday at 7 pm.

The Mount Pleasant Panthers were the underdogs last night going against district foe, the Burlington Grayhounds, having lost all 5 matchups prior. However, the Panthers pulled off the upset and defeated the Grayhounds in an exhilarating 5 set match, winning by scores of 25-23, 18-25, 25-23, 10-25, and 15-7. Emma Starr had a great match, Andrea Lopreato helped tremendously in the third and fifth sets scoring the game winning point, and Jersey Beachy dominated from the service line in the fifth set. They will play Oskaloosa tomorrow at 7 pm on the road looking for another upset as Oskaloosa is ranked 12th in Class 4A.

Logan Lucas and Lily Garnsey each earned Continental Athletic Conference honors for Runner-of-the-Week. Lucas was the first Tiger since 1994 to break the 27 mark in the 8,000 meter race with a time of 26:56. This is his second Athlete-of-the-Week honor as a Tiger. Garnsey ran a lifetime best of 21:40 last week as she finished in 17th place at the Indian Hills Invitational. This is her second time winning the award as the Tigers swept it for the week.

The WACO Warriors cruised through their first round playoff matchup as they defeated the Martensdale-St. Marys Blue Devils 57-14. The Warriors scored five touchdowns in the opening quarter in large part due to a defense that intercepted the Blue Devils five times in the game. Simeon Reichenbach had a total of four touchdowns on the day, three rushing and one receiving, with an interception on the defensive side of things. Louden Huisenga rushed for a touchdown and Ty Egli caught a touchdown pass. Isaac Oswald rushed for two touchdowns and threw for two touchdowns.

The SEC released its All-Conference teams with senior setter for Mt. Pleasant Tristian Shull being named 1st team. Senior Adrea Lopereato and Freshman Addison Clark were honorable mentions

Burlington Notre Dame will move on to the Regional Championship for Region 8 as they defeated the Winfield-Mt. Union Wolves in straight sets by scores of 25-20, 27-25, and 25-16. Gabby Deery had a spectacular game talling 20 kills with a hitting efficiency of 0.333. Maddy Mosena finished the night with 34 assists, while Emily Stutsman had 3 aces. Coach Davis talked about the matchup that awaits him on Wednesday. Winfield-Mt. Union’s season does end here but Coach discussed his senior class after the game.

 

Holy Trinity Catholic and WACO battled but the Crusaders came out on top winning 3 sets to 1, 25-6, 23-25, 28-26, and 25-17. The Warriors were led by Ellah Kissell who tallied 13 kills, and Grace Coble who finished with 30 assists. The Region 8 Regional Championship is set with Burlington Notre Dame facing off with Holy Trinity Catholic tomorrow, October 26th, with KILJ on the call with pregame at 6:45 pm.

The Mount Pleasant Panthers Cross Country team had a runner qualify for State in their last race at Washington. Ben Carthey finished in 7th place with his best time of the season, 16 minutes 40 seconds. Carthey had been finishing in the top 10 for all of his races this season, slowly improving his time from race to race, shaving 1 minute 5 seconds off his time from the beginning of the season.

The Holy Trinity Catholic Crusaders are the Class 1A Region 8 Regional Champions after pulling off the upset over the Burlington Notre Dame Nikes 3 sets to 1 by scores of 23-25, 25-23, 25-17, and 25-21. The Crusaders were flying around getting every loose ball and playing excellent defense at the net. They will play next Tuesday, November 1st, against Gladbrook-Reinbeck. The Crusaders finished the season with a 29-16 record and Regional Champions

Holy Trinity Catholic: Kayla Box and Brooke Mueller

 

Mediapolis: Lexie Arnold

 

New London: Natalie Burden, Camryn Lair, Elly Manning, and Emma Nye

 

Burlington Notre Dame: Gabby Deery and Abby Korschgen

 

WACO: Grace Coble and Ellah Kissell

 

West Burlington: Sophia Armstrong, Abbey Bence, McKenna Marlow, Isabelle Ritter, and Lauren Summers

 

Winfield-Mt. Union: Bradie Buffington, Keely Malone, Melina Oepping, and Keetyn Townsley

 

They will be coached by Kelly Knustrom from Fort Madison, Mike Davis from Burlington Notre Dame, BJ Carter from Van Buren, and Jay Coble from WACO.

The WACO Warriors move on to the Quarterfinals after defeating Central City 48-12 Friday night. Louden Huisenga got the scoring going early after his 2-yard touchdown run on the Warriors opening drive led to 21 first half points. Coach Edeker mentioned after the game that his team seemed a bit down leading at halftime 21-6, and Simeon Reichenbach took over the third quarter scoring two touchdowns on the ground including a 39-yard highlight reel touchdown, a pick-six, and a 42-yard field goal. The Warriors will face Montezuma next Thursday at 7 pm as coach called it a business trip for his team

The men’s basketball team followed up the women’s dominating win with a dramatic 62-57 finish over William Woods to move to 2-1 on the season.

The WACO Warriors continue to dominate as they crushed Montezuma 52-7 last night at home. The Warrior defense took a shock to the system as Owen Cook connected with Garrett Watts for a 16-yard touchdown on the second play of the game. However, that group shut out the Braves the rest of the way as Simeon Reichenbach rushed for 264 yards and four touchdowns in the game. The Warriors will play next Wednesday at the UNI Dome

For the men, Logan Lucas led the Tigers finishing in 6th place with a time of 27 minutes 52 seconds. Lucas ran well enough to earn the opportunity to run at Nationals and earned Second-Team All-Conference. Florida College captured the team title with Jaiven Hale from Haskell Indian Nations University being named Runner of the Year.

On the women’s side, the Tigers were paced by Lily Garnsey, who finished in 7th place with a time of 21 minutes 58 seconds, and Faith Younce, who ran a time of 22 minutes 7 seconds which placed her in 9th. Garnsey ran fast enough to qualify for Nationals and earned Second-Team All-Conference honors along with Faith Younce.

Logan Lucas, a sophomore, finished in 293^rd. Lilly Garnsey was the other Tiger that ran as she finished in 310th place.

First-Team All-District Team: Jacob Richtman, Zerek Venghaus, and Carter Amos. Bowen Davis and Wyatt Woodsmall made Second-Team All-District and Payton Walker was named District Punter of the Year.

Andrea Lopreato held her signing day yesterday afternoon surrounded by friends and family, as she will be bringing her basketball talents to Black Hawk College

The WACO Warriors will be playing in the State Championship for the first time in school history after defeating Newell-Fonda yesterday 29-21 in a dramatic contest. The Warriors scored the first 11 points of the ball game with a 28-yard field goal in the first quarter then a 28-yard touchdown pass from Isaac Oswald to Mason Miller in the second quarter. Newell-Fonda responded by scoring the next 14 points and taking a 14-11 lead early in the 3rd quarter. The Warriors were able to respond with a Reichenbach 23-yard touchdown run despite an injury that sidelined him late in the second quarter. After a blocked punt by Colton Leichty, Reichenbach kicked a 20-yard field goal to make the score 22-14. It wasn’t until Oleh Shtefanchuk intercepted a pass that the Warriors scored with four minutes to go with Reichenbach on a 19-yard touchdown run to make it 29-14. The Mustangs would not go away easy as they scored less than a minute later to make it 29-21. The Mustangs got the ball with less than two minutes to go and one timeout left, but Chase Waterhouse ended the game with a fourth down sack and the Warriors kneeled out the rest of the clock. Coach Edeker appreciated how his players were able to battle through adversity.

Alexis Hafenstine earned First-Team All-Conference honors and Libero of the Year. She finished with 639 digs on season and had 24 serving aces as the leader of the Tigers defensively. Emma Lincoln was named to the Second-Team as she finished the year with 166 kills with a kill efficiency of 0.183, adding 9 aces from the service line.

For the women’s team, Jaycee Page received the honor after scoring four goals and added an assist to the season statistics. For the men, Richard Arch earned the honor after scoring six goals on the season with a 0.615 shooting percentage.

Winfield-Mt. Union will have a new head coach patrolling the courts in alumnus Mendy McCreight

Braylyn Wagler will continue wrestling in college as she signed her letter of intent. She will be taking her talents to Cornell College in Cedar Rapids next year.

The American Midwest Conference (AMC) announced they will be letting their previous member back into the Conference for the 2023-2024 academic year.

The Warriors finish the season one win away from calling themselves State Champions. Unfortunately, that honor goes to Remsen St. Mary’s as they flew to a 38-16 victory for their third state championship in school history, the second in three years.

Major Niccum and Joseph Pace each earned First-Team honors. Niccum averaged over 10 tackles a game, added 7 sacks, and had two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries, one for a touchdown. Pace had 66 tackles, 13 pass breakups, which was tops in the NSAA, and two interceptions. Tyler Ball and AJ Moses each made the Second-Team All-Conference list. Jakim Brock, Jeremiah Pauling, Moses Eason, and Asaivien McWilliams were all honorable mentions. Lastly, Jaheem Hampton was named the Champion of Character for the Tigers.

The men’s basketball team pulled off the upset against the #13 ranked William Penn Statesmen in front of the home crowd in a dramatic 85-81 final

The American Football Coaches Association, AFCA, and the American Football Coaches Foundation selected Iowa Wesleyan’s Head Football Coach MD Daniels to participate in the AFCA 35 Under 35 Coaches’ Leadership Institute scheduled for January 8th at the 2023 AFCA. Coach Daniels navigated the Tigers to their highest win total since 2014

Lilly Garnsey ran a time of 20:27 in the 5,000 meter race, which broke the record by over 32 seconds

Quarter 3

            Two Rivers Bank brings us the Year in Review. The third quarter is where a team likes to wear out the opponent and start running away with the game. New London baseball took that idea and brought it to another level in the month of July. The Tigers, led by seniors Dereck Santiago and Josh Catala, finished the regular season one game away from a perfect record, 25-1. The Tigers were poised to make a big run at state for Head Coach Brad Helmerson’s last season at the helm for New London. New London started their postseason run with a 6-2 win over Pekin with Tucker Gibbar knocking in three runs with a double in the game and Santiago getting the win on the mound. Parker Testa was on the call for the Tiger’s run through the playoffs. The Nikes were the next victims of the Tiger sweep, this time Cater Allen smacked the ball around for a double and a triple tallying an RBI. Santiago again was an ace on the mound striking out 8 in the 5-0 win over Burlington Notre Dame. Moravia looked to be the toughest competition for the Tigers having scored 41 runs in their two playoff games before. The Tigers bats were unphased as they clobbered the Mohawks 11-1 to punch their ticket to the Class 1A state tournament. At 28-1, the third seed Tigers were tasked to go against the sixth seed CAM and took care of them without much of an issue as Santiago and Gibbar accounted for 6 RBIs on their way to a 12-3 final. The Tigers continued their march to the State Championship dismantling Newman Catholic 16-1 in 4 innings as Gibbar added another 3 RBIs with Allen adding 3 RBIs of his own. The undefeated Hawks of Remsen St. Mary’s was the last team to face off against New London. The Tigers got out to a nice lead thanks to Gibbar’s solo home run in the fourth, but it came down to the final inning with New London clinging on to an 8-7 lead. Here’s Parker Testa’s call on the last play. Coach Helmerson had high praise for his team after the game saying, “That’s amazing. These guys are something else.” New London ran the table with the Southeast Iowa Super Conference All-Conference baseball awards with Dereck Santiago, Tucker Gibbar, Kooper Schulte, Carter Allen, Josh Catala, Camden Kasel, and Ryan Richey making the First Team. Set Bailey was named Second Team pitcher with Drew Benz and Brendan Richey getting Honorable Mentions. Brad Helmerson, Justin Schulte, and Jayden Flowers were named Coaching Staff of the Year. Helmerson was also named Des Moines Register’s 2022 All-Iowa Baseball Coach of the Year. To round out the month of July, Mt. Pleasant Baseball had Cooper Keldgord and Carter Amos make the All-SEC 2^nd Team with Jake Ensminger and Lincoln Henriksen being named Honorable Mentions. For Iowa Wesleyan, Courtney Carl, the Associate Athletic Director for Compliance, Marketing, and Communications, was named Sports Information Director of the Year.

The month of August brought us the start of the high school academic year and the fall sport season with Football, Volleyball, Cheer, and Cross Country. WACO, Winfield-Mt. Union, and New London all started their playoff runs with a week zero matchup with the Warriors and Wolves picking up victories. There were high hopes for the Wolves and Warriors to start the season as WACO and Winfield-Mt. Union both ranked inside the Preseason Top 10 for the Des Moines Register. Prep volleyball was very competitive to start the season with Holy Trinity Catholic, Winfield-Mt. Union, Burlington Notre Dame, and New London all taking turns being ranked in the top 15 for the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. For Iowa Wesleyan it was the start for Men’s and Women’s Soccer, Football, Volleyball, and Cross Country. The biggest news for the Tigers was Aduago Nwachukwu winning the bronze medal for Team USA at the U20 World Championship in dominant fashion.

The month of September saw teams paving their way toward a run in the playoffs and some payer recognition for Iowa Wesleyan. Major Niccum started that trend by picking up a NSAA Defensive Player of the Week after his 15-tackle performance in a week one performance against Tabor College. Lily Garnsey earned Cross Country Runner-of-the-Week for the CAC after finishing with her personal best time of 22:23 at the Fighting Bee Invitational and Alexis Hafenstine nabbed Volleyball Defender of the Week for the CAC after a 35-dig performance against Graceland. Volleyball continued picking up recognition as Bethany Williams earned All-Tournament honors at the Jimmy John’s Classic as she accounted for 18 points through four matches. Tyler Ball picked up NSAA Special Teams Player of the Week in a 55-0 win over Finlandia thanks to a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown. The defense also set two school records in the game against Finlandia with most sacks in a game with 11 and least amount of rushing yards allowed with -119. The men’s soccer team picked up a CAC Athlete of the Week from Richard Arch after his four goals in two matches. The Iowa Wesleyan Women’s golf team won their first invite since April 2021 at the Monmouth Invitational thanks to Aubrey Duncan’s stellar performance picking up her second collegiate victory. Duncan continued playing well at the Simpson Fall Invitational earning an All-Tournament nod for her 2^nd place finish. Trace White also made the All-Tournament Team for his 5th place finish.

On the high school side of things, Ben Carthey was pacing the Panthers cross-country team with multiple top three finishes. Volleyball featured Keely Malone of Winfield-Mt. Union capturing her 1,000-career assist in early September. Malone followed that up by passing Samantha Walker’s career assist record of 1,175 in a 25-assist performance against Lone Tree; Malone would finish her career with 1,431 assists. The Southeast Iowa Super Conference was fiercely competitive this season with four teams ranked within the top 15 in New London, Holy Trinity Catholic, West Burlington, and Burlington Notre Dame fighting for the title. The tournament followed the rankings as such with the Nikes besting Holy Trinity Catholic to face off against West Burlington in the Championship and the Crusaders to play New London for third place. Gabby Deery continued clobbering the ball collecting 20 kills in the championship game helping the Nikes take the title in a very competitive third set 15-12. The Crusaders would take third place in straight sets. Burlington Notre Dame would end the month ranked 3^rd in Class 1A followed by Holy Trinity Catholic in 10^th and New London in 15^th. We’ll catch back up for regional play for upset central with the Crusaders and Mt. Pleasant shocking their opponents. For football, WACO ended the month at 7-0 and eyeing a trip to the UNI Dome. The fourth quarter will start with an exciting Homecoming game for the Iowa Wesleyan Tiger football team with a couple of trips to State to end out this fantastic year of sports for the Year in Review sponsored by Two Rivers Bank.