Sports, December 25th

High School Basketball

Looking at the Southeast Conference (SEC) standings on the girls side. Keokuk sits atop the standings with a perfect conference record. Burlington’s win over Fort Madison has the two locked in second place in the conference at 3-1. Washington is 2-2, while Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant currently are tied at 0-4 in conference play. 

On the boys side of the SEC, Mt. Pleasant’s 57-55 win over Keokuk secured their spot on top of the standings before winter break with the Panthers touting a 4-0 conference mark with the Chiefs at 3-1. Washington and Fort Madison are tied at 2-2, while Fairfield is 1-3 followed by Burlington, who is 0-4.

Moving over to the Southeast Iowa Super Conference (SEISC) north division for the girls, Columbus and Lone Tree are the top teams with the Wildcats touting a 7-0 record in conference followed by Lone Tree’s 6-1 conference record. WACO is tied for fourth in conference with Wapello, sporting a 4-3 record. Winfield-Mt. Union’s 1-7 mark sits the Wolves eight in conference with Hillcrest Academy rounding out the rankings with an 0-8 record. 

On the boys side of the north, Winfield-Mt. Union’s win over WACO earlier in the season is the determining factor in the conference rankings with the Wolves sitting at 7-0 and the Warriors in second place at 5-1. Pekin and Hillcrest Academy are still in the battle for the conference with two losses apiece. 

Focusing on the SEISC-south for the girls, Holy Trinity Catholic and Mediapolis are knotted at the top with matching 5-1 records. The Crusaders hold the advantage with a win over the Bulldogs. Danville is 4-2 followed by Burlington Notre Dame who is 4-3, but one of those wins came against the Crusaders. Central Lee is in fifth place with a 3-3 mark, while Van Buren County, West Burlington, and New London all have one conference win. 

On the boys side, West Burlington is alone at the top with an undefeated conference record of 7-0. Burlington Notre Dame and Holy Trinity Catholic are tied for second place with a 4-2 record. Tied for third at 3-3 is Central Lee, Danville, and Mediapolis. Lastly, New London sits above Van Buren County in the rankings with one conference win as the Warriors seek out their first conference win in the new year. 

High School Wrestling

The WACO boys’ team will compete in a meet at Washington on January 4th.

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union, Mt. Pleasant, and WACO girls’ teams will compete at a tournament after winter break on January 5th at Highland. 

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ teams will have to wait until after winter break with the Panthers competing on January 4th at Sigourney.

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ team competed at the Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont duals over the weekend and picked up wins against Interstate 35, 46-21, Mediapolis, 60-14, and Southeast Polk, 46-23, but fell to Creston 54-21. In the loss, Dakota Aney won by a 6-2 decision as Ty Scorpil, Kason Dopler, and Russel Coil won their matches by fall. 

Against Interstate 35, Ian Estudillo and Riley Kaalberg won by fall. Scorpil won by major decision, while Bowen Thompson and Dopler won by decision. Aney, Jacob Nelson, Trevor Phillips, Cooper Buffington, and Coil won by fall against Mediapolis. Thompson and Kaalberg won by decision. Joey Glendening won by 8-4 decision against Kohlby Newsom, while Peyton Johnson picked up a victory by technical fall and Kyler Crow won by fall for the Bulldogs. Lastly, Aney, Estudillo, Phillips, Dopler, Kaalberg, and Coil picked up wins by fall against Southeast Polk. Scorpil and Cole Storm won by decision and Nelson picked up a win by major decision. The Wildcats will wrestle on January 6th at Highland in a tournament. 

New London will wait until after winter break to compete in a quad at Cascade on January 4th. 

High School Bowling

Mt. Pleasant will take on Washington on January 4th. 

College Football

Iowa State University will take on Memphis in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis on December 29th at 2:30 pm. The Cyclones defeated Memphis in the 2017 AutoZone Liberty Bowl 21-20. 

#20 Iowa will face off against #25 Tennessee in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on January 1st at noon. 

College Basketball

The #4 Iowa women’s team will face off against Minnesota on December 30th at 1 pm at home. 

The Iowa State women’s team will begin conference play on December 30th at 2 pm against Oklahoma State on the road. 

The Iowa State men’s team will host New Hampshire on December 31st at noon. 

The Iowa men’s team will take on Northern Illinois on December 29th at 6 pm at home. 

This Day in Sports History

1888 – First indoor baseball game played at the fairgrounds in Philadelphia; 2,000 watch the Uptowners beat the Downtowners 6-1. 

1971 – Longest game in NFL history as the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in 2OT in an AFL playoff game; the game lasted 82 minutes and 40 seconds. 

2020 – New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara equals Ernie Nevers 1929 NFL record of six touchdowns in a game in the Saints’ 52-33 win over the Minnesota Vikings at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.