Sports, September 21st

High School Football

Mt. Pleasant was hoping to spoil Burlington’s homecoming last night, but a motivated Grayhound squad dominated in all phases of the game to come out with the win, 42-14. Burlington started the game off with a bang as Darius Shealey took the opening kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown. Shealey then rushed for a 56-yard touchdown less than two minutes later. Adding salt to the wound, Gavin Carlson returned a fumble 37 yards to the house, giving the Grayhounds a 21 to 0 lead less than three minutes into the game. 

 Head coach John Bowlin did not mince words in his evaluation of the game,

“I mean, we just put ourselves in a terrible spot from the first minute of the game. So when you show up and don’t come out ready to go and give up those plays like that in the first 2 minutes, it’s pretty hard to come back on, give a team momentum like that so you know we talked at halftime about battling and keeping our heads up and fighting. And I think they fought in the second half. But you know, just a tough night there. They just came out and really dominated us from the get go and now we just got to watch film and get better for next week.”

The Panthers did find some success on offense late in the third quarter and the fourth quarter as Payton Walker scored a three-yard touchdown plunge. Moreover, Cooper Coleman, who was moved to quarterback after Zach Newton was injured, threw for over 100 yards and a score as he found Lou Schimmelpfennig from 18 yards out. Coach Bowlin talked about Coleman’s performance,

“He stepped up. He was a leader for us and you know, we had to get somebody in there to take over for Zach. And, you know, he threw some good balls. We had some other balls hit our hands in the first half. We had opportunities in the first half. We just couldn’t come down with the catch and make that big play, but he still stuck in there. Him and Peyton ran the ball well in the second-half and you know, we fixed a couple of things. But you know, like I said, he’ll do whatever it takes for the team and you know, that’s a good leader.”

Mt. Pleasant will stay on the road to compete against Mt. Vernon on Friday, September 27th, at 7:15 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 7 pm. 

WACO handled business last night, drubbing HLV 49-20. Louden Huisenga tallied 109 rushing yards and three scores, while Clayton Miller tossed for 220 yards and two touchdowns in the win. The Warriors will travel to Easton Valley on Friday at 7 pm. 

Montezuma swatted Winfield-Mt. Union last night 55-14. The Wolves will hit the road to take on English Valleys at 7 pm on Friday. 

New London lost to Central City last night 46-20. The Tigers will look to pick up their first win of the season on Friday at home against HLV with kickoff at 7 pm. 

Fairfield was not able to keep up with Keokuk’s high scoring offense last night, falling 44-33. The Trojans start their district play against Benton on Friday at 7 pm at home. 

Danville clobbered Louis-Muscatine last night 55-12. The Bears will host Wapello on Friday at 7 pm. 

Wapello is back to 0.500 after sneaking past Van Buren County last night 14-6. The Warriors are back at home to face off against Louisa-Muscatine on Friday at 7 pm. 

Central Lee remains undefeated after taking down Davis County last night 21-14. The Hawks will take on Albia on Friday at 7:30 pm at home. 

Columbus held tight with Pekin for a quarter-and-a-half but Will Adam and the Panther offense finally struck, leading his team to a 48-0 victory. Adam threw for 157 yards and two scores, added 34 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, and picked off two passes on defense, including a pick-six. Columbus will attempt to right the ship at home on Friday against Highland with kickoff set for 7 pm. 

Mediapolis steamrolled Albia last night 32-7. The Bulldogs will square off against West Burlington/Notre Dame at home on Friday at 7:30 pm. 

West Burlington/Notre Dame suffered their first loss of the season against Mid-Prairie last night 42-21. 

Looking at other scores from around the way, Solon won a fist fight against Mt. Vernon 7-6, Washington lost their undefeated record against Grinnell 31-0, Assumption lost to Wahlert Catholic 38-21 and Fort Madison was whacked by Williamsburg 67-6 as both teams remained winless. 

High School Volleyball

Mediapolis, #4 Holy Trinity Catholic, and #10 West Burlington will travel to Lisbon today for an invitational. 

#11 Burlington Notre Dame will hit the road today to participate in the Springville Invitational.

Danville will compete in a tournament today at West Liberty.

WACO and Van Buren County will participate in the Cardinal Invitational today. 

Fairfield will travel to Ottumwa for a tournament today along with Mt. Pleasant. 

Central Lee and Wapello will compete in the Holy Trinity Catholic Classic on Monday, September 23rd, at 4 pm. 

Winfield-Mt. Union and New London will get a break until the SEISC tournament next Thursday, September 26th.

High School Cross Country

Van Buren County will run at Ottumwa Golf and Social Club tonight.

Mt. Pleasant’s girls’ coach Lyle Murray urges the community to come out and support the Panthers when they host the Mt. Pleasant Invitational at the high school on Tuesday, September 24th, at 4:30 pm. Central Lee, Columbus, Danville, Fairfield, Holy Trinity Catholic, New London, Mediapolis, WACO, and Winfield-Mt. Union will also be participating. 

Wapello will travel to Burlington to compete next Thursday, September 26th. 

Southeastern Community College

The volleyball team made a trip to Parkland College to start their weekend tournament yesterday and split their matchups, losing 3-0 to the hosts and beating Lake Michigan College in a 3-0 sweep. The Blackhawks will compete against Danville Area Community College today at 11 am.  

College Football

Iowa will start Big Ten play tonight at 6:30 pm against Minnesota. KILJ 105.5 FM will have the broadcast.

#20 Iowa State will host Arkansas State today at 1 pm. The call will be on KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130.

This Day in Sports History

1952 – MLB Boston Braves play what turns out to be their last home game at Braves Field in Boston, losing to the Brooklyn Dodgers 8–2 before a crowd of 8,822; the team relocates to Milwaukee before the start of next season.

1969 – New York Jet Steve O’Neal launches a punt 98 yards against the Denver Broncos, the longest punt in NFL history.

1991 – USA Basketball announces the “Dream Team” for the 1992 Olympics.