High School Football
Mt. Pleasant will travel to Fairfield on Friday, August 30th, at 7:30 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 7:15 pm. Head coach John Bowlin discussed how the offense feels entering year two of his tenure,
“You know, I think there’s just a lot of confidence. We have changed a lot of stuff on offense, but kind of and just the fear of being here for a year now being with the kids for a year, I feel like we had a really good summer. We didn’t do a ton, but I think just the way we practice and how we’ve installed has really helped our guy’s kind of pick it up and they feel pretty confident in their rules. You know, last year I felt like there were a lot of questions on, you know, what should I do, but I think we’re getting there to where they’re very confident about where they should go.”
Danville will host Lynnville-Sully on Friday at 7 pm. The Bears head coach Cody Thompson is excited about the opportunity in front of the home crowd,
“Oh, yeah, we’re pumped. We get a great team in Lynnville-Sully, they’re coming to us this year and I think it’s a great, great tone to set the year. You know, we get to figure out where we’re at and have a big home game in front of the home crowd where, you know, we’re really excited for it and I know the kids are ready to roll.”
New London will square off against Easton Valley on Friday at 7 pm.
Winfield-Mt. Union will face off against Central City on Friday at 7 pm at home.
Central Lee will take on Van Buren County on Friday at 7 pm at home.
West Burlington/Notre Dame will take on Wapello on Friday at 7:30 pm at home.
Mediapolis will travel to compete against Columbus on Friday at 7 pm.
WACO will travel to take on Coon Rapids-Bayard on Saturday, August 31st, at 3 pm.
High School Volleyball
WACO hosted their opening tournament of the year last night in the sweltering heat and two teams left with undefeated records. Burlington Notre Dame took it a step further by not dropping a set, winning 23-21 and 21-18 against Sigourney, 21-11 and 21-9 against Louisa-Muscatine, and 21-5 and 21-13 against Columbus.
Van Buren County was the other team to sweep their competition last night, winning against Pekin, WACO, and Centerville. Due to the heat, there was no championship game played last night.
Van Buren County will hit the road on Saturday, August 31st, to compete in a tournament at Central Lee with the day starting at 9 am.
Fairfield will host WACO and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in a triangular on Thursday, August 29th, with the Trojans and Rockets starting off the night at 5:45 pm.
West Burlington will compete in a quad on Thursday at Burlington with Danville and Wapello also competing.
Central Lee will hit the road to take on Fort Madison at 7:30 pm on Thursday.
Mt. Pleasant will participate in a triangular on Thursday at Ottumwa with their first game at 6:30 pm.
Winfield-Mt. Union will face off against Keokuk on Thursday at 7:30 pm at home.
Holy Trinity Catholic and Burlington Notre Dame will travel to Bondurant-Farrar on Saturday for a tournament.
Mediapolis will get their season rolling on Tuesday, September 3rd, at Wapello for a tournament.
High School Cross Country
Van Buren County will have their first meet on Thursday, August 29th, at Albia, starting at 4:30 pm. The Iowa Association of Track and Field and Cross Country has the boys team ranked #19 in Class 1A.
Southeastern Community College
The volleyball team will host the Jimmy John’s Tournament, starting on Friday, August 30th, against Allen County Community College at 2 pm.
College Football
The University of Iowa will officially kick off the season on Saturday, August 31st, at home against Illinois State at 11 am. Tune in to KILJ 105.5 FM to listen to the game. This is the second matchup between these two squads with the Hawkeyes defeating the Redbirds 31-14 in 2015.
Iowa State will take on North Dakota on August 31st at 2:30 pm at home. Tune in to KILJ 98.5 FM or AM 1130 to listen to the game.
Iowa State Football
The Cyclones announced that seniors Beau Freyler, Jaylin Noel, and J.R. Singleton will be the captains for the 2024 season. For Freyler and Noel, this is their second-consecutive season serving as team captains.
This Day in Sports History
1910 – Using twenty 137,000 candlepower arc lights, two amateur teams play a night game in White Sox Park before 20,000. The first MLB night game would take place in 1935.
1975 – Veronica & Colin Scargill (England) complete a tandem bicycle ride, a record 18,020 miles around the world.
1985 – At age 14 years and 8 days, Mary Joe Fernández became the youngest player to win a main draw match at the US Open when she defeated Sara Gomer in the first round 6-1 and 6-4.