Metro Sports Report

KCC women knock off Australians

Kirkwood Coach Kim Muhl says the Eagles are still looking for their identity as a basketball team this season, but that was better than Kirsten Larson's predicament Tuesday night.

She was looking for part of a front tooth.

Larson popped in three 3-pointers and scored 13 points but was inured in the second half during Kirkwood's 79-59 victory over the South Australia Institute of Sports at Johnson Hall.

Larson banged heads with Sophie Houral of Australia, bit through her upper lip and lost part of a tooth in the collision. Her mouth was a bloody mess and she spent the rest of the game with an ice bag on her face.

"Don't kiss anyone tonight," teased Muhl after the game.

Bentley got early start in coaching

When Josh Bentley became a high school basketball coach for the first time in 2002, he informed his players at West Central about the "no drinking" policy that applied to all the boys on the team.

That included the head coach himself, who was only 20 at the time and a junior at Upper Iowa University.

"The drinking policy was the same for all of us. All of us followed it," he said. "It's a good thing that alcohol and I don't get along anyway."

Bentley, now 32, is the new girls basketball coach at Cedar Rapids Prairie. He succeeded Steve Doser, who resigned following a 6-16 campaign last year.

The girls basketball season for Metro teams begins Tuesday night, with Prairie visiting Muscatine.

Landen Akers wins Metro Spotlight Award

Cedar Rapids Washington senior Landen Akers is the winner of the Metro Spotlight Award for high school boys this week, the Metro Sports Report announced Sunday.

Akers, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound senior, had a sensational season for the Washington football team this year as a receiver, defensive back and kick return specialist.

He accumulated 1,320 all-purpose yards and scored 11 touchdowns as the Warriors finished 13-1 and reached the championship game of the Class 4A playoffs before losing to Dowling.

Akers scored touchdowns in five different ways with five TD catches, two TDs on kickoff returns, two TDs on interceptions, one TD on a punt return and one TD on a run from scrimmage.

What if Wash and Dowling played again?

I honestly thought the Washington Warriors would give Dowling a good game in the Class 4A finals Friday night in the UNI.

Maybe they would if given another chance, but you only get one chance at something like this and you have to face reality. Dowling was simply too good.

More specifically, Dowling's linemen were too good. And Dowling's defense was too good. And Dowling quarterback Ryan Boyle was sensational.

This make two straight years that the Maroons destroyed a strong team from the Metro in the state finals. They did the same thing to Xavier last year, 44-13, and this time they easily handled Washington in a 49-14 mismatch.

The Warriors hurt their chances when they fumbled the snap on their first punt of the game, giving Dowling excellent field position and an easy touchdown.