Metro Sports Report

Kirkwood spikes Grand View JV

Halle Lueck collected 37 assists and Erin Wenzel had 22 kills Tuesday night as the Kirkwood volleyball team topped the Grand View junior varsity, 3-1, at Johnson Hall.

Morgan Grimm had 16 digs and Madsy Richards had 10 digs for the Eagles. Natalie Demmel contributed 11 kills.

Kirkwood raised its record to 3-2.

Lions have chip on their shoulder

The standard equipment for the Linn-Mar football team this year includes a helmet, shoulder pads and a chip on their shoulder.

The Lions finished with a 9-2 record last season and reached the second round of the Class 4A playoffs, but almost all of the starters graduated and there are few recognizable "names" on the squad this year.

The expectations for this year's club might be fairly modest, at least among some fans and the general public, but the "no-name" Lions are determined to make a name for themselves.

"They've got a little chip on their shoulder," Coach Bob Forsyth said Wednesday before practice. "I hope they're hungry to make a name for themselves. This is their football team now.

"There was a lot of talk about what a great senior class we had last year, which we did," he said. "But that grates on you a little bit. They want to prove themselves.

"That's how we're coaching them and they're really responding well. They're pretty smart kids. So we're going to try and figure out what we can do to win."

Bliss brings 4 state titles to Prairie

Mark Bliss won 62 straight football games and four straight Class 3A state titles at Conway Springs High School in Kansas from 2001 to 2005, but he reluctantly walked away from that job for a very simple reason.

It had to do with basic family economics.

"It was hard, believe me. I could have stayed there the rest of my life," the new Cedar Rapids Prairie coach said Tuesday after practice. "But quite frankly, I have four daughters and I was only getting paid $38,000 a year."

Bliss heard about a better-paying job at a new high school in Naples, Fla., and went for it.

"It was double my salary and free insurance," he said. "So when you're almost borderline food-stamps, you basically have to do the right thing and better your family. So when that job came open in Florida I took advantage of it."

Bliss, 51, grew up in Oklahoma and has coached in Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Florida, Missouri and now Iowa. He came to Prairie from a high school in Ozark, Mo., where he made three straight trips to the playoffs.

Patrick, Dobbs pack punch for Wash

Thunder & Lightning hope to cook up another storm for the Cedar Rapids Washington football team this year.

Thunder is 220-pound running back Johnny Dobbs, who powered his way for 17 touchdowns and 838 yards last season when the Warriors went 13-1 and reached the Class 4A championship game.

Lightning is 165-pound scatback Tavian Patrick, who scooted for 1,191 yards and eight TDs. Between them, they ran for 2,029 yards and found the end zone 25 times during a magical campaign.

Dobbs and Patrick normally traded spots in the backfield last year. When one of them was in the game, the other rested, keeping both men fresh. That could be changing this season with both of them even bigger, stronger and faster as seniors.