Several Area Football Teams Still Have Playoff Pulse Heading Into Stretch Run

Posted on October 9, 2017October 9, 2017 by Rick Watts

The football season is winding down with just two weeks of the regular season remaining. Even though there’s just two games left for most teams, there’s dozens of playoff implications that can come into play for several teams still hanging around for a postseason berth.

In Class 4A District 4, the Newton Cardinals improbably started their season 6-0. But a loss to Southeast Polk last week has put them in a dire position, needing to win both of their remaining games to squeak into the playoffs. With powerhouse West Des Moines Valley on deck, it would be a monumental feat for the Cardinals to be playing postseason football.

The same cannot be said for the Oskaloosa Indians, who will be looking to cinch up a playoff spot out of Class 3A District 5 in Washington this week. Osky has a very easy road map: beat Washington and you’re in, lose to Washington and you need to hope to get a wild card. A Week 9 matchup with West Burlington/Notre Dame should not deter the Indians should they get past the Demons.

Also in Class 3A, Pella is well on their way to another district title after holding off Norwalk last week. The Dutch are the only unbeaten team left in District 6 and have favorable matchups at North Polk and at home to Nevada to wrap up their season.

In Class 2A District 6, PCM is rolling through their schedule. After a tough non-district loss to undefeated Pella Christian in the season opener, the Mustangs have won six straight and are big favorites against Davis County and Clarke as they wind down a season where they’ll be named District 6 Champions.

Class 1A District 4 is pretty self-explanatory for Sigourney/Keota. There’s one open playoff spot after Iowa City Regina and the Cobras need to beat Wilton and Wapello the last two weeks of the season to clinch it. A win over Wapello this week would effectively eliminate them from the race and leave it between S/K and Wilton, and they will meet in Wilton to decide the automatic berth in Week 9.

District 5 in Class 1A is monopolized by a couple of area teams. Pella Christian is still undefeated after they knocked off Pleasantville on the road last week. PC should waltz to the district title. Pleasantville has to beat Woodward-Granger this week to clinch their spot in the playoffs.

Class A District 6 has been a fun one to follow all year and Lynnville-Sully is on their way to winning the district title. The Hawks started 8-0 last year before losing in Week 9 to Montezuma. Now, after gutsy wins over Pekin and New London, L-S gets a bye before seeing the Braves again looking for retribution on their way to the playoffs and a first round home game. Pekin faces off with New London this week to determine the #2 seed out of this district, while the loser hopes to get one of the wild cards.

Finally, 8-Player District 5 is chaotic. All we know is that HLV is sitting pretty at 5-0 in the district after a big win over Colo-Nesco. HLV faces Melcher-Dallas this week. If M-D were to drop this home game, they will likely fall out of the playoff race. Moravia is also hanging around. Their matchup this week with Colo-Nesco will factor heavily into that #2 seed. A Melcher-Dallas win this week would create even more chaos, however, as all four teams could end the week with hopes of the playoffs going into Week 9. There are no wild cards in 8-Player football so these matchups are huge for these schools.

We’ll be following the action closely the last two weeks of the season, so be sure to join us for Scores and More Presented By Bubbl’r after the games go final Friday night on 104.9 FM KBOE, 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN, kboeradio.com and radiokmzn.com.

Class 1A and 2A Area Volleyball Playoff Breakdown

Posted on October 5, 2017 by Rick Watts

Postseason volleyball is just around the corner and the matchups are set.

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released the final brackets in all five classes for the 2017 volleyball playoffs. The two smallest classes will begin play on Tuesday, October 17^th at 7 PM.

In Class 1A Region 4, four area teams are in the top half of the bracket. Lynnville-Sully (9-9) will host Collins-Maxwell (15-4). That match is in Sully even though C-M has the better record. This is their first year without Baxter as a part of the athletic teams. Winner of that matchup will face #8 North Tama (21-6) in the second round.

Also in that bracket is #9 Montezuma (19-3), who will host North Mahaska (10-12) in the first round. That match can be heard on 104.9 FM KBOE, kboeradio.com, and the KBOE mobile app starting around 6:45 PM on October 17^th. Monte is 2-0 this season against North Mahaska. Winner of that match will face the winner of Melcher-Dallas (2-8) and Grand View Christian School (19-20). M-D will host that game.

BGM is the only area team in Class 1A Region 6. The Bears (0-22) will host Meskwaki Settlement School (4-15) in the first round with the winner drawing #10 Iowa Valley in the quarterfinals.

Region 7 has a trio of teams from the area in Class 1A. English Valleys (8-11) will host Tri-County (0-13) in North English. The winner will draw #14 HLV in the quarterfinals. Also in the top half of that bracket is Keota. The Eagles (2-11) are on the road to face Winfield-Mount Union (11-18). Winner of that match will face either Iowa Mennonite School (12-9) or WACO (5-15).

Class 1A Region 8 involves Moravia and Twin Cedars. The Mohawks (9-12) will host Moulton-Udell (0-14) in the first round. Winner will play at #5 New London in the quarterfinals. Also in the top half of that Region 8 bracket, the Twin Cedars (3-10) will face Seymour (14-5) in Centerville. Winner will matchup with either #7 Holy Trinity Catholic (24-5) or Notre Dame (13-20).

In Class 2A, Pleasantville is the lone area team in Region 4. The Trojans (3-7) will play at home in the first round against Martensdale-St. Marys (4-11). Winner draws Des Moines Christian (19-8) in the quarters.

In Region 5 of Class 2A, Pella Christian (13-12) will play host to Colfax-Mingo (9-10). PC has been ranked for much of the year and their strength of schedule is one of the best in Class 2A. Also in the bottom of the bracket, Sigourney (6-10) will host Cardinal (6-16) with the winner taking on Pekin (19-11) in the quarterfinals.

We’ll be keeping close tabs with all of these games when they happen. You can check out a preview of Class 3A, 4A, and 5A in the coming days. Check out South By South Central on Wednesdays at 5:15 PM on 104.9 FM KBOE and kboeradio.com to hear more volleyball coverage as well.

Several Area Schools In Good Playoff Position at Midway Point of Football Season

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Rick Watts

Five weeks of high school football are in the books and we are starting to learn who the contenders are in every district in the state.

For our listening area, there are several teams who seem to be look to push towards the playoffs.

Oskaloosa (3-2) made the playoffs in 2016 after a great 7-2 regular season after a couple of down years. They are looking to repeat the dose here in 2017, and their road map is identical. Wins in their last four games will clinch the #2 spot in Class 3A District 5 and send Osky to the postseason. Their biggest challenge will be in Week 8 against Washington, who sits at 4-1 on the year.

Pella (4-1) also sits pretty as one of the top teams in Class 3A District 6 along with Norwalk (4-1). Those teams will battle for what will likely be the District 6 Championship in Week 7.

In Class 2A, PCM (4-1) should run away with the District 6 Title once again, following up a dominant run in 2016. District 6 is fairly weak after the Mustangs which has to door wide open for someone to grab that second spot. After EBF’s (3-3) tough loss to Albia last Friday, Central Lee seems to be in the best shape to snag that #2 slot and an automatic playoff berth. Do not rule out a wild card team either, as Centerville (2-3) snuck into the playoffs last year after having a high district point differential.

In Class 1A District 4, Sigourney/Keota (2-3) is looking to bounce back after a couple of tough weeks to start the year. Their playoff aspirations likely rest on their Week 9 matchup on the road at Wilton (5-0) as Iowa City Regina (3-2) will run away with the district. Don’t sleep on Louisa-Muscatine (2-3), as they still have a road to the playoffs they can follow as well.

Class 1A District 5 seems to be locked up for Pella Christian (5-0) and Pleasantville (5-0) to make it back to the playoffs. They will meet in Pleasantville in Week 7 to likely determine the district champion and who will get home field in the first round.

Chaos is the name of the game in Class A District 6, as Lynnville-Sully (5-0), Pekin (6-0), and New London (4-0) are all rolling so far this year. A huge matchup will be featured in our Game of the Week on 104.9 FM KBOE and kboeradio.com this Friday, as Lynnville-Sully hosts Pekin. Winner of that matchup sets themselves up nicely to get into the playoffs and potentially win the district while the loser will need to win out. New London gets their crack at the top when they host Lynnville-Sully in Week 7 and travel to face Pekin in Week 8.

In 8-Player District 5, Moravia (5-1) seemed to have the best chance to make the playoffs, but a slip up last week at HLV (4-2) has the Mohawks desperate. A Week 8 duel at Colo-Nesco (4-1) will in all likelihood decide who gets the only other playoff berth at stake barring any upsets to HLV. Melcher-Dallas (4-1) has played well this season and have a route to the playoffs, but will be a solid underdog in their matchups with HLV and Moravia in Weeks 8 and 9.

Newton (5-0) has looked great in Class 4A so far this year, but the Cardinals have benefitted from the weakest schedule in the state’s largest class. They have two top teams in Southeast Polk and West Des Moines Valley in as opponents in District 4 and will need to beat at least one of them to have a chance at the postseason. That doesn’t include tough matchups against Indianola and Fort Dodge that the Cardinals will be also find themselves as underdogs.

The playoffs begin October 27^th, but we will be able to track every single movement of our area teams between now and then. Check kboeradio.com or radiokmzn.com for weekly looks at the area playoff picture.

Sigourney, Montezuma Lead Area All-State Softball Honorees in Class 1A

Posted on August 7, 2017 by Rick Watts

Our final look at summer sports honors is today with the Class 1A All-State softball teams.

On the First Team, Sigourney junior Autum Barthelman was honored after a great season in which she used her bat and her speed. Barthelman hit .480 with 8 triples and went 43 for 43 stealing bases for the state tournament qualifying Savages.

Her teammate Kendall Streigle made the Second Team. Streigle was the pitcher for Sigourney and is the only senior the team loses from their 4^th place finish in 2017.

Two other South Iowa Cedar League players made the Second Team All-State list: North Mahaska junior Mallory Klinker and Tri-County senior Katlyn Little.

Klinker had a huge year for the Warhawks, batting .451 with a team leading 5 home runs and 5 triples. Little went huge her senior year for the Trojans, hitting .459 and doing a great job as the ace pitcher, holding an ERA of just 1.85 and striking out 154 in 136 innings.

Another trio of players made the Third Team: BGM sophomore Kelsey Lint, Lynnville-Sully senior Brenna Lanser, and Montezuma junior Cassidy Watts.

Lint was a .425 hitter in 2017 while leading the Bears with 25 RBI. She also was the ace pitcher with an ERA of 1.83 and 222 strikeouts in 176 innings.

Lanser helped the Hawks have a nice bounceback season, hitting .363 with a team leading 10 doubles, 4 homers and 27 RBI. She also struck out only eight times while going 15 for 16 in steals.

Watts was an important piece to Monte’s first ever state tourney qualifying team as the everyday catcher, but her offensive numbers were big as well. She hit .397 with a team-leading 7 triples, 4 homers, and 34 runs driven in. She also was 13 for 13 in steals on the year.

The Honorable Mention list is long as well, with a few players named from the area.

BGM senior Aimee Hochstetler, English Valleys junior Audrey Grove, the Melcher-Dallas pair of 8^th grader Riley Enfield and sophomore Emillie Krpan, Montezuma junior Hanna Jones, the North Mahaska duo of sophomore Emma Deucore and senior Jenson Kelderman, and Sigourney sophomore Summer Barthelman were all named Honorable Mention All-State.

You can check out complete lists of all five classes of players honored in our listening area on kboeradio.com and radiokmzn.com.

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