High School Football
Mt. Pleasant’s Royalty would not be overthrown, as the Panthers took down Fort Madison for their Homecoming last night, 45-10. Against a much improved Fort Madison squad, it took the Panthers a bit longer to secure control of the game, but head coach John Bowlin was happy about the execution,
“You know, it started off our first drive, we came out executed, had some penalties, but still executed every play we ran. So came out with that mentality for every drive to play that way. Obviously, it was a fight there in the first half, like I said, they’re a tough team, they got some kids that they’re going 100%. That’s what you wanna see out of those kids. So it was tough, and the second half, I think we just caught them a couple times over top that kind of took the air out of them a little bit in the second half. But hats off to them, they’re getting better and better. They got Stud running back, quarterback back there, they’re a tough one to handle. So really proud of our guys, just their effort all night. Second half, I think we scored every possession, which was our goal coming out as we wanted to do, and they took care of it there.”
Mt. Pleasant was able to put distance in between them and the Bloodhounds thanks to a 21-point outburst in the 3rd quarter. Grayson Walker was a surgeon, throwing for 236 yards and five touchdowns with each one going to a different receiver, including an 8-yard touchdown pass to Brody Clark on 4th down to start the scoring back in the first quarter. Yet, the story of the night was the containment of Fort Madison’s Moses Thacher, who entered the game averaging near 200 rushing yards per game being held under 100 yards for most of the game. Coach Bowlin thought his defense answered the call,
“Yeah, our defense played lights out tonight. Our goal was to not let him cross that 1,000 yard mark tonight. I think he might have, but that’s okay. That was a great goal for us. I thought we executed the game plan well. He’s a tough back, so we had a gang tackle him and just keep pounding. When he’d have a big play, we’d get him behind the sticks on another one. And the defense was just great. Shout out to the coaches, they’re doing a great job game planning. And we just keep trying to get better every week.”
Mt. Pleasant will stay at home for a matchup against Keokuk on Friday, October 9th, at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
Fairfield took down Washington last night, 28-14. The Trojans will tangle with Fort Madison at home at 7:30 pm on Friday.
Winfield-Mt. Union’s Cole Milks amassed 274 total yards and four touchdowns in a 70-36 trouncing of HLV-TC last night for their Homecoming night. Kale Kerr also rumbled for 138 yards and two touchdowns for the Wolves. Winfield-Mt. Union will compete against Murray on Friday at 7 pm at home.
Columbus outdueled Wapello for their first victory of the season in a 12-0 shutout last night. The Wildcats will host Highland on Friday at 7 pm.
Van Buren County celebrated their Homecoming with a 14-0 shutout of Highland last night. The Warriors will try to make it two in-a-row when they hit the road to play Wapello on Friday at 7 pm.
Mediapolis dropped a tight one last night to West Liberty, 17-14. The Bulldogs will attempt to upset #8 Mid-Prairie on Friday at 7:30 pm at home.
Central Lee had no answer for Mid-Prairie last night, losing 56-21. The Hawks will welcome Wilton to town on Friday at 7 pm.
West Burlington/Notre Dame fell to Wilton last night, 48-6. The Falcons will square off against West Liberty on Friday at 7 pm at home.
Danville could not curtail ACGC’s offense in a 47-13 loss last night. The Bears will clash with Pekin on Friday at 7 pm on the road.
WACO just needed more time, as a second half surge was extinguished in a 38-28 loss at the hands of English Valleys. Hayden Shelman rushed for 159 yards and scored four total touchdowns in the effort. The Warriors will travel to Springville on Friday at 7 pm.
In other matchups, Burlington throttled Davenport West last night, 36-0, as the Grayhounds rushed for 228 yards in the win; additionally, Solon and Pekin remained unbeaten, as the Spartans flattened Keokuk, 51-0, and the Panthers took down North Mahaska, 40-22.
High School Volleyball
New London will host a tournament today with Burlington Notre Dame, Columbus, and Winfield-Mt. Union making the trip.
The first round of the Southeast Conference Tournament will begin on Monday, October 5th, at 5 pm at Fairfield.
Wapello will hit the road to play Highland on Tuesday, October 6th, at 7 pm.
#5 Holy Trinity Catholic will celebrate Senior Night on Tuesday against West Burlington at 7 pm.
WACO will face off against Pekin on Tuesday at 7 pm at home.
Mediapolis will travel to West Burlington on Thursday, October 8th, at 7 pm.
High School Cross Country
Notre Dame/West Burlington and Columbus will run at the Steve Johnson Invite today at 11:30 am.
Columbus, Danville, New London, Van Buren County, WACO, and Winfield-Mt. Union will participate in the Mike Jay Invitational on Monday, October 5th, at 4:30 pm.
Hillcrest Academy will host their Invitational on Monday with Fairfield, Wapello, and Washington making the trip.
High School Girls’ Tennis
The Class 1A Region 8 Team championship is scheduled for today at Fairfield with the Trojans taking on Assumption.
The Individual State Tennis brackets have been released and here’s the matchups for Fairfield in Class 1A. Natalie Steele of Fairfield will face off against Chloe Palmer of St. Edmond for her first round matchup. In the doubles bracket, Faeven Gebremariam and Sriya Yammanur will clash with Central DeWitt’s Greenley Grell and Claire McGarry, while Kinzley and Mareyn Dunkin will team up against Charley Dilulio and Lea Patrick of Assumption.
The tournament will be held at Waukee Northwest on October 7th and 8th, starting at 10 am.
Southeastern Community College
The men’s and women’s soccer teams will host Iowa Lakes Community College today with the women playing first at 1 pm.
The volleyball team fell to Central Community College-Columbus last night in four sets. The Blackhawks will take on Des Moines Area Community College on Wednesday, October 7th, at 6 pm at home.
College Football
#14 Iowa will host #5 Ohio State today at 2:30 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM will be on the call.
Iowa State will take on West Virginia at home today at 11 am. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will have the call.
This Day in Sports History
1920 – The Dayton Triangles beat the Columbus Panhandles 14-0 in the first official game of the American Pro Football Association (later the NFL).
1974 – 39-year old Frank Robinson becomes the MLB’s first African-American manager when he signs as player-manager for Cleveland.
2004 – Seattle Mariners’ right fielder Ichiro Suzuki adds two more singles in a 3-0 defeat to Texas as he finishes the season with an MLB record 262 hits.