Metro Sports Report

Cook's little Regals upend Saints

Marv Cook never backed down from a challenge during his All-American career with the Iowa Hawkeyes, and when the Xavier Saints called last winter he gladly accepted their offer to play even though the Saints are a much bigger school with twice as many players.

Cook and his spirited "little" squad from Iowa City Regina showed Friday night they can compete with anybody on a football field - big, small or anywhere in between.

The Regals knocked off the Saints, 21-7, in an All-Catholic showdown that saw the No. 1 club from Class 1A take care of the No. 5 team from Class 3A in a classic David vs. Goliath confrontation at the Saints Field.

The Regals have won four state titles in a row in the small-school category, but Cook relished a chance to play on a bigger stage against a traditional state power.

Schmidt's 7 TDs help Lions roll

WATERLOO - When a football player puts in the time over the summer, working to get better, they think about having the perfect game.

Linn-Mar's senior duo of Ryan Schmidt and Trevor Noble had that kind of night Friday at Memorial Stadium in Waterloo.

Noble caught three touchdown passes from Schmidt and returned an interception for a score for a 24-point performance.

Schmidt finished with four TD tosses and ran for three of his own as the Lions dropped Waterloo West, 63-28, earning the Class 4A District 5 title and first-round home game in the playoffs.

The No. 6 Lions (7-1, 4-0) host Jefferson next Friday in the regular-season finale, but even if they were to lose, they hold the tiebreaker over second-place Cedar Falls, whose only district loss was last Friday at Linn-Mar.

"The district championship has been our goal since the beginning," Noble said. "Nobody thought (after going 2-7 in 2013) that we could do it. Look today, we did it. I'm proud to be a part of this team. It's a great group of guys."

Rashed nets 3 TDs as J-Hawks roll

Don't close the book on Jefferson's comeback season.

Bouncing back from one of the most discouraging losses in recent program history, the J-Hawks fought back into the Iowa Class 4A playoff picture Friday night.

A week after squandering a game-winning touchdown chance on a first-and-goal play from the 5-yard line, Jefferson returned to Kingston Stadium wiser, even more driven and in complete control from first snap to last in a no-doubt, penalty-plagued 35-0 throttling of winless and punchless Waterloo East.

Tavian Rashed turned a touchdown hat trick with scores of 13, 19 and 8 yards, Bryce Lund added a pair of touchdowns and Jefferson (4-4, 2-2 District 5) delivered a powerful rebound that kept it in contention for District 5's fourth and final playoff spot and its first postseason berth in six years.

Wahlert hands Marion 7th loss in row

Despite a dismal 1-7 season, Marion Coach Tony Perkins does not have one bad thing to say about his team.

“I love these kids,” he said Friday night after yet another disappointing loss, this time 28-14 on Senior Night at home to Dubuque Wahlert.

“I still believe they’re a good football team. They don’t believe it. And that’s the hard thing, to get them to believe in themselves.”

As has been the case all year for the hard-luck Indians, they once again gave the game away. Two first-half fumbles deep in their own territory led to Wahlert scores.

The Golden Eagles scored again early in the third quarter after yet another Marion fumble. And they came right back to go up 24-8 following a 33-yard punt return gave them a starting point at Marion’s 38.

“That’s been the way it’s been in our other games,” Perkins pointed out. “We hurt ourselves.