Marion High School - Marion, Iowa

Big openers on tap for Metro gridders

There was no grand design. Nobody sat down and tried to fill the opening night of the 2014 high school football season with intriguing matchups, but that's how it turned out.

No matter where you look, all of the eight Metro teams will have an interesting battle on their hands when they open the campaign Friday night.

You've got the ancient rivalry of Washington vs. Jefferson at Kingston Stadium, with the Warriors looking to build on last year's momentum and the improved J-Hawks looking to accomplish big things this year with newcomer Jesse Furrow at quarterback.

You've got Linn-Mar at Prairie, where the Lions are hoping to rebound from a couple of sub-par campaigns and the Hawks are looking to improve upon a .500 season behind 300-pound lineman Bryce Meeker, a future Iowa State Cyclone.

There's Kennedy at Iowa City West, where both teams have new head coaches who were promoted from within the program.

There's Marion at Mount Vernon, where the Indians will be tackling the start of a demanding schedule.

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Marion ranked 4th in volleyball poll

The Marion Indians have been ranked fourth in the Class 4A preseason volleyball poll, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union announced Monday.

Marion finished with a 25-16 record last season.

The Xavier Saints are ranked No. 10 in Class 4A. The Linn-Mar Lions are ranked No. 9 in Class 5A.

Harlan grabbed the No. 1 spot in the 4A rankings. Ankeny Centennial was voted No. 1 in Class 5A.

The other top-ranked clubs are Holy Trinity in Class 1A, Dike-New Hartford in Class 2A and Solon in Class 3A.

CLASS 4A

1. Harlan, 2. West Delaware, 3. Indianola, 4. Marion, 5. Sioux City Heelan, 6. Clear Creek-Amana, 7. LeMars, 8. Lewis Central, 9. Charles

City, 10. Xavier, 11. Waverly-Shell Rock, 12. Boone, 13. Pella, 14. Webster City, 15. Mount Pleasant.

CLASS 5A

1. Ankeny Centennial, 2. Ankeny, 3. Dowling Catholic, 4. Bettendorf, 5. Iowa City West, 6. Pleasant Valley, 7. Waukee, 8. Council Bluffs Lincoln,

9. Linn-Mar, 10. Johnston.

Indians face tough schedule in 2014

Tony Perkins has been a football coach for more than three decades and he's never seen a rugged schedule like the one Marion has this season.

"From top to bottom, I've never seen anything like it in 31 years," Marion's head coach said last week. "It's a nightmare schedule, and you're going to have to be ready for every game or you're going to get blown off the field."

The schedule got tougher this season when the Xavier Saints moved from Class 4A to 3A and were put in the same district with the Indians after playing for the Class 4A title.

Marion has a non-district game with the Washington Demons, who finished second in the Class 3A playoffs last year with a 12-2 record. And they have a district contest with Solon, which reached the Class 3A semifinals and finished 11-2.

Marion also will face Class 3A playoff teams in its own district with DeWitt Central, Western Dubuque and Maquoketa. There's also a district game against Dubuque Wahlert, which dropped from Class 4A to 3A this year, and non-district dates with Mount Vernon and Cascade.

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3 Metro players named IHSBCA all-stars

Derek Jacobus of Kennedy, Bryce Grimm of Xavier and Quinn Cannoy of Marion have been selected to play for the Large Schools East team in the IHSBCA all-star games at the University of Iowa this Thursday through Sunday.

Grimm, a center fielder, plans to continue his baseball career at Kirkwood Community College. Cannoy, a pitcher and outfielder, plans to play at Rochester (Minn.) Community College. Jacobus, a shortstop, will run track at the University of Northern Iowa.

Cannoy originally committed to Coe College for football and track, but changed his mind and will play ball at Rochester.

There will be four teams in the all-star series with Large Schools East, Large Schools West, Small Schools East and Small Schools West.