Prep Football- Week one is set to kick off this Friday, August 30th, and some of our local teams are looking to make it back to the playoffs, while others are hoping to improve upon their record from the year before. Here’s a final preseason look at our local teams.
Class A
District 5 is the place to be for southeast Iowa with Wapello, Van Buren County, Danville, and Columbus Community highlighting our local squads, while Pekin, Highland, Lisbon, and Louisa-Muscatine fill out the rest of the district.
Last season it was Lisbon, Columbus, Pekin and Danville that found their way into the playoffs from the district with the Lions traversing the farthest, getting knocked out by East Buchanan 38-7 in the second round. Let’s take a look at our returning playoff squads.
Lisbon
The Lions dominated most of their competition during the regular season, finishing a perfect 8-0, defeating teams by an average of nearly 40 points. Their closest game was a 34-28 win against Columbus that saw senior Baylor Speidel rush for 277 yards and four scores.
Despite Speidel’s big game, it was mostly a running by committee ideology for Lisbon as junior Dakota Clark finished with 584 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns and senior Henry Neymeyer grabbed six touchdowns with 495 rushing yards.
Clark will be their biggest star this season as the returning quarterback. He tossed nine touchdowns with 806 passing yards and recorded 26.5 tackles, three interceptions including a pick-six on the defensive side.
The Lions will lose their leading tackler from a year ago but retain Jacob Walerius who led the tam in sacks and tackles for a loss. Additionally, Gage Holub returns as a receiver and kicker, who they are confident enough to trot out for field goals.
Lisbon returns a decent amount of talent on defense, but this squad did force an otherworldly 35 turnovers last year with five defensive touchdowns. That type of production is hard to reproduce.
Lisbon starts the year at home against Durant at 7 pm.
Biggest Strength: Skill Positions
Biggest Question: Turnovers
Columbus
Last year’s Wildcats squad entered the season with high expectations after finishing 8-2 the season before, their first winning season in over a decade. A gigantic reason for that excitement was senior Kaden Amigon.
Amigon rushed for 1,860 yards and 28 touchdowns, while contributing on defense with 33.5 tackles and a sack. However, the season, which many believed could have ended at the UNI-Dome, was downed in the first round of the postseason by Maquoketa Valley. Amigon still reached the UNI-Dome after committing to the Panthers.
Nevertheless, Columbus still has plenty to be excited about with Trevor Phillips returning under center and their second-leading rusher and tackler in Riley Kaalberg. In fact, most of their defense stays intact.
Tyson Kaalberg led the team with 52.5 tackles and six interceptions and he’s only a junior this season. Of their top ten tacklers, six of them return to the squad this season and all of their interceptions were grabbed by returners.
Besides Amigon, the Wildcats will have to find a way to replace Russell Coil on the offensive and defensive lines after providing lanes for the rushing attack and racking up 17.5 tackles for a loss.
The Wildcats will host Mediapolis at 7 pm.
Biggest Strength: Defense
Biggest Question: Wide Receiver
Pekin
The Panthers produced their first winning season since 2018 and had climbed quite the mountain after going 0-8 back in 2021. Pekin relied on their defense against tougher opponents with their offense scoring only 37 points in their three losses.
With a run first philosophy, Sven Dahlstrom averaged nearly 10 yards per carry on his way to 12 rushing touchdowns in his senior season, while also catching 17 passes for 229 yards and another score.
Most of Pekin’s production came from juniors or underclassmen, such as returning quarterback Will Adam, who finished with over 1,700 total yards and 21 touchdowns, and Robert Brown, the team’s leading receiver with 444 yards and eight scores.
Dahlstrom was more than just a threat on offense, he also led the team in tackles with 55.5 and caught four interceptions. Nevertheless, most of their consistent tacklers return for another season and Brown showed he’s a bit of a ball hawk as well.
Pekin can be another team to fear this year as they start their season at home against Cardinal at 7 pm—a team they beat 20-2 last year.
Danville
Not many expected the Bears to produce a playoff team, and many were just excited to have a team back in Danville after seven years laying in hibernation. Head coach Cody Thompson described how they are using last year’s success to push forward,
“So, honestly, I feel like last year everybody was just kind of happy to be there, happy to have it. And I thought we did a really good job of setting the tone and you know and being a playoff team and winning some games…”
The Bears can pin a lot of their success upon their returning starting quarterback Jaden Bauer. In his junior campaign, Bauer totaled 1,972 yards and 23 touchdowns and collected 33.5 tackles.
Danville also returns their two leading receivers in Kessler Whaley and Landon Seibert as they caught an even 22 passes each and combined for 921 yards and 12 touchdowns. Coach Thompson expressed confidence in this year’s passing attack after a scrimmage with Mt. Pleasant,
“So, the chemistry between our quarterback and two of our receivers is pretty good. They’ve grown up playing together. They had some good action together last year and that was just kind of what we got, what we got in the groove with tonight. We just kind of rolled with it.”
The Bears will take a bit of step backwards on defense, losing 50% of their top ten leading tacklers and sacks from last year. However, they do return Byers Nealey, who led the team in tackles and tackles for loss as a sophomore.
Danville will have to figure out how to replace some pieces from their offensive line and who will step up to run the football, but this team does return some important pieces from last year’s culture building year.
“We spent a lot last year, you know, trying to figure it out, trying to develop that” said Coach Thompson. “But I’d say our culture is we’re going to outwork people, you know, we may not be the biggest. We may not be the fastest right, but we’re going to outwork people and we’re going to, we’re going to ultimately outplay them.”
The Bears will start the year at home against Lynnville-Sully at 7 pm.
Biggest Strength: Passing Offense
Biggest Question: Offensive and Defensive Lines
Van Buren County
The Warriors haven’t had a winning season since 2014, when they went 9-2. In fact, in the past nine seasons Van Buren County has picked up only 12 wins. Nevertheless, Van Buren County controlled their fate after picking up three consecutive wins to move to 3-2.
The Warriors finished the season 3-5, being outscored 152 to 29 over the last three games.
Despite the disappointing end to the season, there were some bright spots for this squad namely their youth. The Warriors return most of their starting lineup from last season, including dual threat quarterback Izaak Loeffler who threw for over 1,000 yards and rushed for over 400 yards for a total of 15 touchdowns.
Most of their defense returns, including their leading tackler Kamden Nusbaum for his senior season. The Warriors will greatly miss Lucas Fett as he caught 46 of the team’s 90 passes for 572 yards and 10 of the team’s 11 touchdowns.
Van Buren County will face off against Central Lee in a road matchup at 7 pm.
Biggest Strength: Experience
Biggest Question: Defense
Wapello
Wapello finished 1-7 last year with their lone win coming against Louisa-Muscatine, a team that went winless last season. Unfortunately, it was their worst record in almost a decade as they failed to score a point in the final three weeks of the season.
The offense struggled in general, passing for only 930 yards and rushing for 649 yards for an average of 3.9 yards per carry. On the season, the offense scored only nine touchdowns with their leaders in each statistical category having now graduated.
Grant Wilson and Rowen Atkinson are two talented juniors that showed flashes last season with Wilson’s four sacks and Atkinson’s two picks. It will be interesting to see how Wapello decides to use the duo on offense.
Wapello will travel to West Burlington with kick off scheduled for 7:30 pm.
Biggest Strength: Wilson and Atkinson
Biggest Question: Offensive Line
Class 2A
Moving up two classes but staying with District 5, we see a couple more playoff squads and a team that ended up only a game away from traveling north to the UNI-Dome.
West Burlington/Notre Dame
The Falcons finished last season 5-4, their first winning season since 2009 and just two years removed from their 0-9 season back in 2021. The Falcons hit a rough stretch in the middle of their season but ended the regular season undefeated to clinch the playoffs.
Camanche would end their season in the first round with a 42-14 final.
WB/ND rode on the back of junior running back Quincy Collins’ 1,062 rushing yards and 16 scores. Caden Schwenker aided the rushing attack with 412 yards on the ground along with 1,062 yards through the air mixing the ball through a litany of receivers.
Collins was also a fiend on defense with two pick-sixes to help the team finish with nine interceptions to go along with eight fumble recoveries. Add in 49.5 tackles for a loss with 15 coming from freshman Blake Wilson and the defense was no slouch.
The loss of starting quarterback Caden Schwenker and leading receivers Dylan Kipp and CJ Davis will prove to be tough, but with Collins running the ball the offense will still be tough to stop.
Biggest Strength: Rushing Attack
Biggest Question: Quarterback
Mediapolis
The Bulldogs were in trouble after the first three games of the season, sitting at 1-2 after two consecutive losses being outscored 66 to 7. Mediapolis proceeded to run off seven straight victories, allowing only 60 points in that span.
The magical season would end in the quarterfinals against Monticello in heartbreaking fashion 34-28 as Drew Miller finished with 210 total yards and three touchdowns.
The Bulldogs had a strong senior class with the aforementioned Miller quarterbacking the offense, but it was Jackson Hutcheson’s 1,121 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns that really led the offense.
Add in Chett Mohr acting as a vacuum on defense with 112.5 tackles with 2.5 sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss. The Bulldogs knew how to get to the quarterback with 28 team sacks and tackle behind the line with 125.5 tackles for a loss.
Noah Schmidgall will look to step up running the football after totaling 589 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. He supplemented his rushing stats with 231 receiving yards and two scores.
Alton Wonderlich and Maxx Ortiz will help anchor the defense after combining for 18.5 tackles for loss last year.
Biggest Strength: Noah Schmidgall
Biggest Question: Defense
Mid-Prairie
The Golden Hawks started the season 0-3 before going 4-1 in their final five games to punch a ticket to the postseason. Mid-Prairie proceeded to dominate Northeast 49-18 before being shutout 36-0 against PCM in the second round.
The Golden Hawks will be a scary team on offense as they return their starting quarterback Brady Weber, who tossed 20 touchdowns, their leading rusher in Hudson Ehrenfelt, 1,336 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns, and their top receivers.
The defense also returns their top tackler in Kaden Kos as he rounded up 74 tackles for a team leading 4.5 sacks and second-best 9.5 tackles for loss. Their defense and offensive line will need the most attention during the offseason.
Mid-Prairie will travel to Wilton to start the season at 7:30 pm.
Biggest Strength: Offense
Biggest Question: Takeaways
Central Lee
Looking at our final team for the upcoming season, the Hawks ended up a game short of a 0.500 record, which would have been their first season not finishing with a losing record since 2017.
Central Lee started the year 3-0 before losing a close matchup to Davis County and thus derailing the season. The Hawks focused entirely on running the ball on offense with four runners collecting at least 240 rushing yards, but no one rushing for more than 500 yards.
Central Lee had 21 offensive touchdowns with only one score coming through the air. Kayden Calfee and Chase Johnson return for the Hawks as they lead the rushing attack last season with nearly 1,000 yards between them and nine scores.
Johnson also led the team with 53 tackles on defense; however, the top four seniors on defense tallied 1/3 of the team’s total tackles. Moreover, Cory Jones also intercepted five passes on defense, more than half of the team’s total.
Biggest Strength: Running Backs
Biggest Question: Offensive and Defensive Lines
Other Class 2A District 5 Matchups
Albia @ Centerville
Davis County @ Chariton