Kennedy Football

3 Metro teams seek playoff berths

It will be interesting to see how many high school football teams with 2-and-7 records make the Class 4A playoffs this year.

The Kennedy Cougars will make the 32-team field with a 2-7 mark if they defeat Waterloo West at Kingston Stadium Friday night, but they're not the only ones who could advance with a 2-7 record.

Iowa City High, Clinton and Mason City also could "earn" spots in the Class 4A tournament with 2-7 marks. That would be an improvement for Mason City, which qualified a few years ago with a 1-8 record.

We can thank - or blame - the district format for all this. The only results that count are district games. The non-district games are simply exhibitions, as far as making the playoffs, so it's a lot easier to make the playoffs now.

You can lose all of your non-district games, finish fourth in your district with a wobbly record and march into the playoffs at 2-7 (and sometimes even 1-8).

Under the old conference format, it normally took at least four victories to make the playoffs, although occasionally a team would slip through with a 3-6 mark. The schools voted for this system, so now everyone has to live with it.

Washington, Linn-Mar and Xavier have clinched playoff berths. The top-ranked Warriors are 8-0 and rolling along. The sixth-ranked Lions are 7-1, with the only loss to Washington. The Saints are 5-3, but have struggled on offense in their losses to Dowling (24-2), Western Dubuque (7-6) and Iowa City Regina (21-7) with only one touchdown on offense.

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6 Metro teams could make playoffs

Three Metro football teams have clinched spots in the football playoffs and three more Metro clubs are still alive heading into the final week of the regular season.

Washington and Linn-Mar have clinched Class 4A district titles and the Xavier Saints can win their Class 3A district crown with a victory over Marion Friday night.

Jefferson, Prairie and Kennedy are still in contention for Class 4A playoff spots heading into decisive contests.

The top-ranked Washington Warriors and sixth-ranked Linn-Mar Lions will be No. 1 seeds for the playoffs and will face a No. 4 seed in the opening round.

The fifth-ranked Xavier Saints are tied for first place in their district with Solon and Western Dubuque, but the Saints own the tiebreaker and will draw a No. 1 seed by topping Marion.

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Cougars suffer tough loss to Tigers

CEDAR FALLS - Cedar Falls let a 14-point halftime lead get away, but the Tigers made some big plays late and posted a 21-20 victory over Cedar Rapids Kennedy Friday at the UNI-Dome.

After the Cougars tied the game 14-14 in the fourth quarter, Cedar Falls drove 75 yards for the go-ahead score, sparked by a 43-yard pass from quarterback Trey Hansen to Tra'Von Fagan.

Hansen then hit Javon Middleton with a 15-yard touchdown strike. Jacob Iehl added what turned out to be the decisive extra point and the Tigers had a 7-point lead at 21-14 with 3:43 to go in the final period.

Back came Kennedy. Quarterback Sammy Lizarraga connected with Rey'z Bell over the middle for a 30-yard touchdown pass with 1:11 left. After the Tigers went offside, the Cougars elected to pass up the PAT and went for two points.

Tyler Dralle, who scored Kennedy's first TD of the night on a 3-yard run, got the ball. But Cedar Falls linebacker Rayce Willett met him in the backfield, threw the Cougar back for a loss and preserved the Tiger lead.

Logan Mozena then recovered the onside kick to seal the victory. The hard-luck Cougars fell to 1-7 overall and 1-3 in district games.

CEDAR FALLS 21, KENNEDY 20

Kennedy        0   0  7  13 - 20

Cedar Falls    0  14  0   7 - 21

CF - Denison Harrington 1 run (Caleb Iehl kick)

CF - Harrington 1 pass from Taylen Alexander (Iehl kick)

CRK - Tyler Dralle 3 run (Mark Schulz kick)

CRK - Drake Brewster 13 pass from Sam Lizarraga (Schulz kick)

CF - Javon Middleton 15 pass from Trey Hanseon (Iehl kick)

CRK - Rey'z Bell 30 pass from Lizarraga (run failed)

Saints host Regina in premier battle

All of the Class 4A football teams in the Metro area refused to play Xavier when the Saints dropped to Class 3A this year, so the Saints had to get creative and find some willing partners.

They succeeded beyond anyone's wildest imagination.

Xavier will host Iowa City Regina Friday night at Saints Field in an intriguing showdown of state powers.

The Saints reached the Class 4A finals in 2012 and 2013 before the advent of district play in Eastern Iowa allowed them to drop safely into their proper enrollment bracket in Class 3A. The Regals, meanwhile, are the premier program in Class 1A and have won four straight state titles under Coach Marv Cook.

Regina saw its 56-game winning streak come to an end against Solon - a Class 3A club - in the season opener this year, but the Regals have won six straight games since then and are averaging 43.4 points per game.

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