Metro Sports Report

Metro football teams put in districts

The Iowa High School Athletic Association shuffled the deck a little Wednesday with its district football assignments for the 2016 and 2017 campaigns.

Kennedy, Linn-Mar and Prairie were placed in District 8 in Class 4A along with Iowa City West, Burlington and Ottumwa.

Washington and Jefferson were placed in District 5 in Class 4A with Cedar Falls, Mason City, Waterloo West and Waterloo East.

Xavier landed in District 3 in Class 3A with Benton Community, Charles City, Decorah, Independence, South Tama, Vinton-Shellsburg and Waverly-Shell Rock.

Marion was placed in District 4 in Class 3A with Davenport Assumption, Center Point-Urbana, DeWitt Central, Clear Creek Amana, Maquoketa, Dubuque Wahlert and West Delaware.

4A football stays put, but 3A sees changes

BOONE - Dealing with differing opinions from the eastern and western sides of the state on the recommended number of teams in Class 4A districts, the Iowa High School Athletic Association's Board of Control took control of the issue during its monthly meeting Tuesday.

The group approved a recommendation from the Football Advisory Committee that Iowa's largest class remain at eight districts for the 2016 and 2017 seasons with six teams in each district.

No. 4 Eagles pull away from Blackhawks

The Kirkwood Eagles played only one good quarter of basketball Wednesday night, but it was good enough to collect an important victory.

The fourth-ranked Eagles came alive in the fourth quarter and finally subdued Southeastern, 65-50, in an ICCAC women's basketball game at Johnson Hall.

The victory lifted Kirkwood to 17-4 overall and 4-0 in the league. The Blackhawks fell to 14-6 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

The Eagles trailed, 39-37, late in the third quarter before they finally got untracked. Cyerra Hutchins hit a 3-pointer to give Kirkwood a 40-39 edge, then Rylee Voss scored for the Eagles to make it 42-39 heading into the fourth period.

Kirkwood popped in the first 10 points of the final stanza, finishing a decisive 15-0 spurt that gave them a comfortable lead at 52-39. The Eagles outscored Southeastern 23-11 in the final 10 minutes to take command.

Kirkwood opened an 18-point lead late in the game before settling for the 15-point victory.

Cougars hit low point in 56-37 loss

It's nearly late January and the Cedar Rapids Kennedy boys basketball team is still searching for answers.

Coach Jon McKowen is beginning to wonder if they'll find them in time.

The Cougars hit a power outage Tuesday night and were stuffed by Johnston, 56-37, in a non-conference game at Kennedy that dropped the Cougars to 5-and-7 for the campaign following two straight trips to the state tournament.

Kennedy made only four field goals in the first half and shot poorly for the entire game, finishing 13 of 51 for 25.5 percent, and their output of 37 points was the lowest in McKowen's three years as head coach. The previous low was 43 points in a 53-43 setback to Ames earlier this season.

The Cougars trailed 29-14 at halftime Tuesday and never caught up.

"As players we're not messing, but as coaches we're also not meshing with each other," McKowen said outside the quiet Kennedy locker room. "Now is the time. Our backs are against the wall and it's kind of desperation time. We have to figure each other out pretty quick."