Prep Football: Playoff Matchups for 8-Player and Classes A, 1A, and 2A

Prep Football- The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) worked all night and into the early morning crafting the postseason schedule from the list of qualifiers after last night’s week 8 matchups. Here’s a look at our local teams and their upcoming games.

Class 2A

District 5 saw Mid-Prairie collect their first district championship in over a decade, while West Burlington/Notre Dame ran behind Quincy Collins to a runner-up position. Mediapolis’ win over Central Lee sealed their 3rd place status and Albia snuck in at 4th place.

Mid-Prairie will get to host their first round matchup against Union, who finished 3-5 on the season. The Golden Hawks have won their past five games after falling to powerhouses Wilton, Regina Catholic, and Sigourney-Keota–all playoff teams–by a combined 23 points.

West/Burlington Notre Dame will get a home game to start off their postseason journey when Centerville comes to town on Friday. The Falcons have now made the playoffs for back-to-back seasons after 13 consecutive seasons of finishing under 0.500.

Centerville has lost their past two games by a combined score of 101 to 15. Quincy Collins will look to continue his record-breaking season against the team who allowed 381 rushing yards last night.

Mediapolis will make the trip to Northeast on Friday. The Bulldogs are a gritty squad with Noah Schmidgall already tallying over 1,100 yards rushing and nearing 20 touchdowns for the season. Northeast was ranked #6 in Class 2A behind a dual-threat quarterback in Gavin Kramer, who has produced 30 total touchdowns this year.

Lastly, Albia will travel to Van Meter.

Class A

Looking at District 5 again, #4 Lisbon took the top spot in a perfect regular season run as #8 Pekin took the runner-up spot. Danville’s win over Columbus gave the Bears 3rd place and the Wildcats 4th place.

Lisbon will get to host Starmont for their first postseason game.

Pekin will host North Linn, a previously ranked team. Will Adam has had an impressive senior season for the Panthers with 11 passing touchdowns and 13 rushing touchdowns along with two interceptions on defense, including a pick-six.

After being without a program for seven years, Danville has now made it two consecutive seasons of making the postseason. Jaden Bauer, who just passed for over 400 yards in an overtime thriller last night, will look to pick apart a secondary that has tabbed five interceptions on the year.

Lastly, Columbus will take on Maquoketa Valley in a road matchup. Maquoketa Valley has one of, if not, the toughest defenses in Class A, having pitched five shutouts this season for a total of 32 points allowed this season. In a battle of the Wildcats, Columbus will have to lean on Riley Kaalberg, who has turned in a season of 1,405 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns.

8-Player

#7 Iowa Valley might have lost last night, but they are still district champs for District 6. WACO finished as the runner-up and Winfield-Mt. Union fielded 3rd place.

Iowa Valley will face off against Southeast Warren at home to start their playoff journey. The Tigers have scored 70 or more points in six of their eight games this season.

WACO drew the short stick and will have to travel to start postseason play, but the Warriors will play a familiar opponent in Central City. WACO defeated the Wildcats back in the 2022 postseason and won a high-scoring affair to start the season 51-36. The defense will have to be ready for Matthew Klostermann as he rushed for 195 yards and three touchdowns in their last meeting.

WACO will lean on the arm of Clayton Miller and the legs of Louden Huisenga as the senior duo has combined for 47 total touchdowns this season. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

Lastly, Winfield-Mt. Union will also hit the road to start their playoff journey with a trip to Montezuma. The Wolves lost to the Braves 55-14 back in week four, but an injured Jake Edwards did not play in the contest. With the senior quarterback healthy, this will be a tough team to stop through the air.

Schedule

All first round postseason matchups will start at 7 pm on Friday, October 25th.