Metro Sports Report

Cougars could be surprise team in 2015

It's always interesting to visit the high school football camps and try to gauge what might be in store for the new season.

It's just a snapshot of the big picture, of course, but sometimes you can get a good vibration from a team that might be flying a little under the radar.

That's the sense I got from watching the Kennedy Cougars in their intrasquad scrimmage at Kingston Stadium last Thursday night. They looked like a team that could be headed for a good season and I'm picking them as my "surprise" team for 2015.

The Washington Warriors have another strong club and probably will be the class of the Metro area again this year. The Xavier Saints have an elite program and have been remarkably successful over the past 15 years under Coach Duane Schulte, even when they were playing schools twice their size in Class 4A (before their shift to 3A last season).

Kernels show feet of clay in loss

For awhile Wednesday night it looked like Sam Clay might have a good story to tell his grand-kids some day.

He learns Tuesday night that he's being promoted from Elizabethton to Cedar Rapids, hustles to Iowa on short notice and is the starting pitcher for the Kernels in their Midwest League game against Peoria at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

All goes well for awhile as Clay, a 22-year-old southpaw from Georgia who pitched for the Kernels earlier in the year. He tosses three shutout innings to begin the game and Cedar Rapids grabs a 2-0 lead.

Peoria scores three runs in the top of the fourth for a 3-2 lead, but the Kernels score twice in the bottom of the fourth for a 4-3 advantage and Clay needs just three more outs to qualify for a victory.

Mauer mulls pitchers for MWL playoffs

Cedar Rapids Kernels Manager Jake Mauer is starting to think about his pitching rotation for the Midwest League playoffs and who will get the ball in the opener against Quad Cities on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

And the winner is ... He's not sure yet.

"There's been talk," Mauer said Tuesday night. "Probably next week we'll start lining them up. We're not really set. We've got some options."

Mauer mentioned Felix Jorge, Keaton Steele, Sam Gibbons and Randy Rosario as possibilities, but was not ready to tip his hand.

Jorge pitched six innings Tuesday night as the Kernels lost to Peoria, 7-4, before 1,401 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium and has been the team's most consistent hurler all season.

Jorge allowed nine hits and three earned runs in six innings Tuesday. He has tailed off a little the past two weeks after dominating the league for most of the year, but he's still a strong possibility for the playoff opener.

Lions open with impressive win

No. 3 Linn-Mar opened its volleyball season with an impressive 25-12, 25-14, 25-17 win over Janesville on Thursday night at Linn-Mar.

Senior Amanda Ollinger led the offense with 16 kills. Freshman Megan Renner added nine kills and sophomore Carly Spies had eight.

Junior Ellie Anderson had 37 assists and junior Emilee McGowan led the defense with 17 digs.