Metro Sports Report

Klein wins Metro Spotlight Award

Dallas Klein of Xavier is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school boys this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Klein, a senior, kicked a 35-yard field goal on the last play of the game Friday night to give the Saints a remarkable 38-35 victory over Iowa City Regina before a packed house at Regina.

Xavier trailed, 35-7, at halftime before staging one of the greatest comebacks in school history. Regina has won five state titles in a row and has a 76-2 record in its last 78 games.

Cougars shine at MVC swim meet

CEDAR FALLS - Cedar Falls Coach Dick Marcussen has won so many Mississippi Valley Conference swimming titles during his legendary career that he's lost track.

"Twenty-five?," he guessed Saturday after winning another, trying to remember the exact number.

The Kennedy Cougars made Marcussen and the Cedar Falls girls work for this one.

Kennedy and Cedar Falls waged a see-saw battle all afternoon at Holmes Junior High School before the Tigers emerged with a slim 5 1/2-point victory, edging the Cougars 413.5 to 408 in a two-horse race.

Marcussen, 79, has won nine girls state titles since starting the program at Cedar Falls in 1967. He plans to retire from coaching after this season and has another strong club.

Prairie takes flight at MVC volleyball

DUBUQUE – This is the state's proving ground of whether a team is playoff ready. History's proven if you win at the Mississippi Valley Conference volleyball tournament, you can win anywhere, even under the bright high-pressure lights of the U.S. Cellular Center at the state meet.

“This is the end of a battle of attrition,” said Iowa City High coach Craig Pitcher. “The conference has been rock, paper, scissors all year.”

“It's a long, trying day,” Linn-Mar all-state outside hitter Amanda Ollinger said. “You know going into every game it's going to be a battle, especially since you're playing the teams you face all year.”

“It's the longest day of the year,” Kennedy setter Anna Fluent said.

And after the way they dug, set, spiked and weaved their way to the title match of Saturday's rigorous and taxing nine-hour MVC Tournament, the surging Prairie Hawks – who've already captured their first MVC divisional crown since 2008 – look ready for anything the road to the Class 5A state tournament may bring their way.

“I told them if this doesn't help your confidence beating all these ranked teams, I don't know what will,” a thrilled Hawks Coach Lynnette Stecklein said. “It was a great day.

“This team got better today.”

Costly mistakes haunt Coe in loss

For Mark Atwater, it was a story that has played out too many times for the Coe football team in 2015.

The senior linebacker from Linn-Mar couldn't hide his disgust and disappointment Saturday afternoon at Clark Field where the Kohawks played host to Iowa Conference rival Simpson for Homecoming."We've done this too many times this season," Atwater said after the Kohawks' 18-15 loss before an overflow crowd of 4,876 fans. "We just didn't play well enough. We couldn't get off the field and we made too many mistakes.

"It's kinda been the tale of our season," he continued. "We just continue to shoot ourselves in the foot. It's frustrating."