Metro Sports Report

Saints handle Charles City in playoffs

Xavier co-captains Jay Kortemeyer and Nic Ekland have been waiting for a night like this for a long time.

“The two of them have been pals in the weight room together since the sixth grade,” Saints Coach Duane Schulte noted Wednesday night after his team dispatched Charles City, 35-6, in the opening round of the Class 3A playoffs.

“They have been preparing ever since for their high school football career.“

Xavier will host Waverly-Shell Rock in the second round Monday night.

Kortemeyer, used mostly as a blocking back last year who didn’t touch the ball much, reached the coveted 1,000-yard rushing milestone for the season on his second carry Wednesday.

Mustangs pay tribute to absent teammate

There will be an empty chair for Mount Mercy men's basketball games this season at the Hennessey Recreation Center in honor of Danny DeBacker, a member of the team who was killed in a car crash by a drunk driver last month.

DeBacker's white home No. 20 jersey will be displayed on the bench in his memory and the team's shooting jerseys say "DD No. 20" on them.

He's gone but certainly not forgotten.

"I still struggle sleeping a little bit at night, because that's when I think about him," Mount Mercy Coach Paul Gavin said Tuesday after practice. "He was a great kid."

It's been a stressful year for Gavin and the Mustangs. He kicked four players off the team during the season last year, contributing to a rare 12-20 overall record and 3-9 finish in the Midwest Collegiate Conference.

"For the first time in my career I had to dismiss players," he said. "All four of them were starters. It was all at the same time. It changed things."

Mount Mercy women eye next step

Aaron Jennings never wrote down "women's basketball coach" when he was asked for his career goals while attending Northwestern University.

He knew he wanted to coach when his playing days were over, but women's basketball? It never entered his mind.

Now Jennings is beginning his seventh year as the women's basketball coach at Mount Mercy and loves it. "Honestly, I don't think I ever thought about being a women's basketball coach until I applied for the job," he said Tuesday.

Jennings was not being chauvinistic at the time. He spent four years as an assistant coach for the men's basketball team at Mount Mercy and figured he'd become a head coach for a men's team somewhere when the time was right, but he enjoys working at Mount Mercy and saw no reason to move when the women's basketball job became available.

He has compiled a 119-76 record with the Mustangs, including a trip to the quarterfinals of the NAIA Division II national tournament in 2012.

Lions are 'most improved' team in 4A

Linn-Mar football coach Bob Forsyth said in August that he was "cautiously optimistic" about the 2014 season and hopeful for a good year.

He may have underplayed his hand a bit.

Quite simply, Linn-Mar is the most improved team in Class 4A this year with a good chance of making a deep run in the playoffs.

The Lions finished with a 2-7 record in 2013 and improved to an 8-1 mark for the regular season this year. That's a gain of six victories and that plus-6 mark is the best among all 46 Class 4A teams in Iowa.

Lewis Central is next on the "most improved" list at plus-4, going from four victories in 2013 to eight wins in 2014.

Two Metro teams tied for third place in the "most improved" category at plus-3. The Washington Warriors jumped from 6-3 to 9-0 and the Jefferson J-Hawks climbed from 1-8 to 4-5.