Postseason High School Volleyball
#4 Holy Trinity Catholic and #5 Dunkerton engaged in a classic last night for the Class 1A Region 2 championship as the Crusaders participated in their second consecutive five-set thriller, but this time there would be no story book ending as the Raiders pulled off the upset in comeback fashion to win the final set 15-11. Adalyn Kruse led the effort with 19 kills as Presley Myers and Olivia Bendlage each tabbed double-digit kills. The Crusaders finished the season with a 36-7 record.
The Class 1A bracket is now set with #1 Saint Ansgar taking on #8 East Mills at 6 pm on Tuesday, November 4th. #4 Dunkerton, in their first ever state tournament appearance, will square off against #5 BCLUW. #2 Janesville will clash with #7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck and #3 North Tama will face off against #6 Sidney to end the night.
Over in Class 2A, #1 Denver enters as the favorite with their first match on Tuesday being against #8 Wapsie Valley. #4 Grundy Center will tangle with #5 Beckman Catholic. #7 Aplington-Parkersburg will look to upset perennial powerhouse #2 Dike-New Hartford, while #3 Hinton will contend against #6 Regina Catholic.
In Class 5A, #1 Waukee Northwest will start off the day on Monday, November 3rd, with a noon game against #8 Indianola. #2 Ankeny Centennial will face off against #7 Iowa City West and #4 Dowling Catholic will battle with #5 Ankeny. Rounding out the quarterfinals will be #3 Pleasant Valley attempting to avoid the upset against #6 Valley.
For Class 4A, #1 Clear Creek Amana enters as the favorite as they are tasked with playing #8 Sergeant Bluff-Luton. #7 Marion will look to knock off #2 Sioux Center. #4 Dallas Center-Grimes will square off against #5 North Scott and #3 Pella will take on #6 Norwalk to round out the quarterfinals.
Class 3A will begin at 10 am on Tuesday with #1 Western Christian taking on #8 Mt. Vernon. #2 Davenport Assumption will compete against #7 Mid-Prairie. #4 Cherokee and #5 Humboldt will tangle, while #3 Red Oak will face off against #6 Kuemper Catholic.
Postseason High School Football
In Class 3A, Mt. Pleasant was placed in Pod C where they will travel to West Delaware for their first playoff game in 15 years tomorrow, October 31st, at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
Solon will get to host Benton tomorrow at 7 pm.
For Class 2A, Mediapolis will get a rematch against district-foe Mid-Prairie in a road showdown tomorrow with kickoff at 7 pm.
In Class A, Pekin will take on North Linn at home tomorrow at 7 pm in a rematch of last year’s first-round postseason matchup.
For Eight-Player, Iowa Valley will be looking to continue their undefeated season when the Tigers face off against Janesville tomorrow at 7 pm at home.
High School Cross Country
The state meets for Classes 2A and 3A are scheduled for tomorrow, October 31st, while Class 1A will run on Saturday, November 1st, at Fort Dodge.
Running tomorrow for Class 3A on the girls’ side will be Mt. Pleasant’s Avery Fedler and Quintrie Lee, Fort Madison’s Avery Rump, and Washington’s Iris Dahl and Emma Horak. On the boys’ side, Fort Madison will have Riley Tripp and Hunter Wiegand, Washington’s Andrew Rees was the only Demon to qualify, while Silas Hulett of Mt. Pleasant led the pack.
For the Class 2A boys’ race, Mediapolis will be competing as a team, while Cavin Denney of Notre Dame/West Burlington will run as an individual. On the girls’ side, Central Lee’s Aubree Bunnell will be joined by Hannah Ritter of Notre Dame/West Burlington.
For a full breakdown of who will be running at state, follow the links:
Southeast Iowa Playbook
Mt. Pleasant was our school of focus for last night’s episode of the Southeast Iowa Playbook as the Panthers prepare for an action packed day tomorrow as Silas Hulett prepares to run for the boys’ Class 3A state cross country meet at Fort Dodge and Max Sloat travels with the football team to West Delaware for their first round showdown with the Hawks.
For Hulett, who stumbled upon the world of cross country, he’s looking to pass along to everyone else that hard work can go a long way,
“With enough work and enough dedication, anything is possible, and you just have to be willing to fight through the pain and power [through] and run your race and have a little fun sometimes because you don’t always run your best race. You know, you don’t always do your best all the time. Sometimes you mess up, but maybe that mess up is just to be better the next time, you know.”
The Panther defense has imposed their will for most of the season and for Sloat, the senior linebacker, it’s all about attitude,
“Dominate, we have to go into every game knowing that we’re going to dominate, get the offense back with the football. We know that they’ll take care of business though once we do our job, we know that the offense will do theirs. And then yeah, we just got to go in and dominate. Set the tone on the line of scrimmage and then just win.”
If you missed last night’s episode, then follow this link: Mt. Pleasant Episode
Southeastern Community College
The volleyball team ended the regular season with a sweep of Central Community College last night. The Blackhawks earned the #5-seed for the Region 11 tournament as they travel to play Northeast Community College on Saturday, November 1st, at 1 pm.
The men’s soccer team advanced to the Region 11 championship yesterday after defeating Central Community College 5-4 in penalty kicks. The Blackhawks will head to Spencer on Sunday, November 2nd, at 2 pm to face off against Iowa Lakes.
College Football
Iowa State will host Arizona State on Saturday, November 1st, at noon. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will be on the call.
Iowa is on a bye week.
This Day in Sports History
1919 – Baseball league presidents call for the abolishment of the spitball.
1954 – The first use of the 24-second shot clock in pro basketball; the Rochester Royals defeated the Boston Celtics, 98-95.
2016 – The Oakland Raiders break the single game record for most penalties in an NFL game, gaining 23 in a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.