High School Football
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.
Columbus will attempt to right the ship at home on Friday against Highland with kickoff set for 7 pm.
Mediapolis will square off against West Burlington/Notre Dame at home on Friday at 7:30 pm.
Fairfield starts their district play against Benton on Friday at 7 pm at home.
Danville will host Wapello on Friday at 7 pm.
WACO will travel to Easton Valley on Friday at 7 pm.
Winfield-Mt. Union will hit the road to take on English Valleys at 7 pm on Friday.
New London will look to pick up their first win of the season on Friday at home against HLV with kickoff at 7 pm.
Central Lee will look to stay undefeated for the season against Albia on Friday at 7:30 pm at home.
High School Volleyball
Mediapolis, #4 Holy Trinity Catholic, and #10 West Burlington made the trip to Lisbon over the weekend for a tournament and the Falcons claimed 2nd place after a narrow defeat in the championship match against Anamosa.
West Burlington had no issues through the first four games of pool play, not dropping a set against Midland (21-9, 21-11), West Branch (21-14, 23-21), Mediapolis (21-6, 21-13), and Davenport West (21-12, 21-11). In a battle of two ranked southeast Iowa teams, the Falcons soared past Holy Trinity Catholic 25-22 and 25-15 to set up a championship match against Anamosa. After the two teams traded sets, Anamosa edged out a 15-9 win to claim the gold. Jayonna Hiley led the team with 35 kills, while Taryn Snodgrass passed another career milestone as she collected her 1,500th career assist; overall, she tabbed 118 assists and five aces.
Mediapolis picked up victories against Midland (21-14, 21-11) and Iowa Valley (21-16, 21-11), but lost to Davenport West in three sets (9-21, 25-23, 15-10) and was swept by the Crusaders (21-10, 21-14) and Anamosa (21-12, 21-16). Josie Hutcheson led the Bulldogs with 25 kills with Bryn Wright clocking 64 assists.
Lastly, Holy Trinity Catholic finished 3-3 at the Lisbon tournament. The Crusaders swept Midland (21-12, 21-6) and snuck past Lisbon in three sets (21-13, 14-21, 15-11); however, Anamosa had their number, beating them twice 2-1 and 2-0.
Holy Trinity Catholic will host their Classic tonight at 4 pm with Central Lee, Mediapolis, Wapello, and Danville making the trip.
#11 Burlington Notre Dame struggled on their trip to Springville over the weekend, falling in each of their three matches. The Nikes lost in straight sets to Cascade (21-18, 21-14) and Jesup (21-19, 21-11), while losing in a three-set thriller to Easton Valley (24-22, 14-21, 15-0). Maddy Knapp and Addi Brockway grabbed 13 kills apiece with Chloe Wenzel tabbing four blocks and four aces.
Danville’s closest match of the West Liberty tournament was a three-set loss to Cedar Rapids Kennedy (17-21, 21-10, and 7-15). Unfortunately, the Bears were swept the rest of the weekend by Muscatine, West Liberty, and Davenport North. Miya Orbiana collected 24 kills and five blocks.
Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant competed in the Ottumwa Invitational over the weekend with the Trojans finishing 1-4 over the weekend and the Panthers locking in a 2-3 record. Fairfield’s lone win came against Davis County in a 22-20 and 21-11 sweep; the Trojans nearly picked up another win against Albia after forcing a third set but fell short 15-17 in the third set. They also suffered losses to Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (21-9, 21-7) and Ottumwa (21-13 and 21-17).
Mt. Pleasant also picked up a win against Davis County, needing three sets (21-16, 10-21, and 15-13). Additionally, the Panthers took down Fairfield for the second time this season in straight sets 21-18 and 21-13.
Mt. Pleasant will travel to Washington tomorrow, September 24th, at 7:15 pm.
Fairfield squares off against Fort Madison tomorrow at 7:15 pm at home.
West Burlington, Winfield-Mt. Union, WACO, Burlington Notre Dame, and New London are preparing for the SEISC tournament on Thursday, September 26th.
High School Cross Country
Van Buren County was a part of history over the weekend as the Warriors participated in the first lighted high school cross country meet in state history at the Ottumwa Twilight Invitational. The boys’ team finished in 3rd place with 71 points as Lincoln Bainbridge collected the gold with a time of 16 minutes and 39 seconds, followed by Landry Loeffler in 6th place. On the girls’ side, Rylee Phillips was the top finisher with an 8th place time of 22 minutes and 5 seconds.
Van Buren County and Wapello will travel to Burlington to compete on Thursday, September 26th.
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 tomorrow, 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.
Southeastern Community College
The volleyball team finished 2-2 at the Parkland Tournament over the weekend after the Blackhawks split their Saturday matches, defeating Danville Area Community College in a sweep and despite scoring 26 and 28 points in the first and third sets, Morton College exited with the 3-0 match victory. Delaney Beard led the squad with 20 kills over the course of the two games, while Maddie Jones tabbed 46 assists. The Blackhawks will be back in action tomorrow, September 24th, at 6:30 pm on the road against Kirkwood Community College.
College Football
The Bronze Pig was returned to Iowa City over the weekend after the Hawkeyes outscored Minnesota 24 to 0 in the second half to win 31-14. Kaleb Johnson was unstoppable on the ground as he tallied 206 yards and three scores in the dominating performance. Iowa will be on their bye week.
#18 Iowa State ran up the score over the weekend, clobbering Arkansas State 52-7. The Cyclone committee collected 237 yards rushing with five touchdowns as Carson Hansen found the endzone twice. The Cyclones will start Big 12 play on Saturday, September 28th, at 6 pm against Houston. KILJ 98.5 FM and AM 1130 will have the broadcast.
This Day in Sports History
1984 – Sparky Anderson is the first manager to win 100 games in both leagues.
1988 – Jose Canseco is baseball’s first to steal 40 bases and hit 40 home runs in a season.
1992 – Manon Rheaume becomes the first woman to play in any of the major North American sports leagues when she plays goalie for the first-year Tampa Bay Lightning in a preseason game against the St. Louis Blues.