Metro Sports Report

Mauer picks pitchers for playoffs

A crowd of 2,509 showed up for the final night of post-game fireworks for the Cedar Rapids Kernels at Veterans Memorial Stadium Saturday and saw the home team top the Clinton LumberKings, 9-3, in the opener of the final series for both teams.

The real fireworks for the Kernels, however, begin on Wednesday night when they host the Quad Cities River Bandits in the first game of the Midwest League playoffs.

The River Bandits and Kernels have known they were playoff bound since they finished first and second, respectively, in the first half of the MWL season in June. That has allowed Kernels Manager Jake Mauer and his coaching staff to spend the final week of the season preparing for their postseason series with Quad Cities.

Mauer named his starting pitching rotation Saturday.

“(Felix) Jorge will go game 1 and then Gibby (Sam Gibbons) will go game 2,” Mauer revealed. If a third game is necessary on Friday, Mauer said Saturday night’s winning pitcher Keaton Steele (7-4) will get the call.

“We really haven’t decided on a fourth yet,” Mauer added. “We’ve got (Randy) LeBlanc and (Randy) Rosario and some options. We’ll kind of feel how they throw these next couple nights and lock one down.”

Cougars top Warriors in thriller

The Kennedy Cougars have supplanted the Washington Warriors as the new kings of Metro football.

By a whisker.

The ninth-ranked Cougars edged the fifth-ranked Warriors, 28-24, in a see-saw thriller Friday night at Kingston Stadium in a battle of Metro powers.

Washington rallied from a 21-3 deficit to grab a 24-21 lead in the fourth quarter, but Kennedy responded and scored the winning touchdown on a 3-yard run by Shaun Beyer with 5:22 left in the game.

The Cougars and Warriors could meet again in the Class 4A playoffs in two months, but for now the Cougars have bragging rights against a club that reached the state finals last year.

Beyer switched from tight end to wildcat quarterback to score the winning touchdown, leaning his 6-foot-5 body over the goal line for his first victory over Washington in four tries.

J-Hawks squash Prairie, 55-37

Last week against fifth-ranked Washington, Jefferson played the Warriors to a 14-14 tie for more than three quarters until fatigue admittedly set in and Washington collected a 27-14 victory.

On Friday night in a game that started late and was prolonged by a series of heat-related cramps on both sides, the J-Hawks never let up and poured it on Prairie, 55-37, on Prairie's home field.

"This was a huge, huge win for us,” fourth-year Jefferson coach Brian Webb said. “It’s been 14 years since we’ve beaten Prairie. And I know we haven’t scored this many points against a Mississippi Valley team since I’ve been here.

“I’m so proud of these kids," he said. "Tonight, they just pushed and pushed and kept pushing.”

Jefferson controlled the ball most of the night, running twice as many plays as Prairie and piling up 28 first downs.

Saints beat Assumption in opener

The Xavier Saints had to wait an extra week to play their first football game this season, but it was worth it.

Xavier forced five turnovers Friday night and trimmed Davenport Assumption, 14-7, in a Class 3A non-district game at Saints Field.

The Saints were supposed to open the season last week, but a thunderstorm wiped out their game against Dowling Catholic and kept them chomping at the bit for another seven days.

The Saints intercepted three passes and recovered two fumbles in the victory.

Assumption (1-1) took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 7-yard run by Joe Argo, but the Saints kept the Knights off the board the rest of the game.

"Our kids eventually settled down after the first series of plays," Xavier coach Duane Schulte said. "You could tell they played a game and we hadn't. We did get used to their speed."