Metro Sports Report

Atwater wins $2,000 scholarship at Shrine Bowl

AMES - Linn-Mar graduate Mark Atwater left the 40th Annual Shrine Bowl with two souvenirs Saturday night, one good for his bank account and one painful to his body.

Atwater received a $2,000 scholarship from the Iowa Football Coaches Association based on his desire to become a coach some day, but he also left Jack Trice Stadium with a rib injury. He thinks he may have suffered a broken rib when he was tackled in the first quarter.

"I crunched it and cracked it pretty good," he said. "We're going to see how it feels in a couple of days. It's pretty painful right now."

It was a painful night all around for Atwater and the North squad.

Iowa City West quarterback Charles Rogers put on a show with his legs and arms as the South drubbed the North, 40-7, in the annual all-star game on the Iowa State campus.

Linn-Mar thrives with 3 head coaches

This has been a magical season for the Linn-Mar baseball team and Coach Chad Lechner with a school record for victories, a Mississippi Valley Conference title and now a trip to the Class 4A state tournament next week.

It's also been a magical season for Linn-Mar's two other "head" coaches who have helped guide the Lions this year.

Lechner quickly credits Kyle Rodenkirk and Brent Henry for the pivotal roles they've played as assistant coaches with the Lions. A year ago, Rodenkirk was the young head coach at Anamosa and Henry was the interim head coach at Cedar Rapids Washington.

They've joined forces with Rob Sturenfeldt, the fourth member of the varsity staff, to help produce one of the best seasons in school history.

Tip of the fedora to Cougars and Lions

You know football is just around the corner when it's time for the championship round of the summer baseball tournament at Principal Park in Des Moines.

It should be mentioned that Iowa is one of the few states that has a summer championship rather than spring. For the high school baseball teams, I think this is a very good idea, although there is disagreement about that.

At the beginning of the year, Cedar Rapids Kennedy was rated No. 1 in Class 4A and slipped slightly to No. 2 in the middle of the season behind Ankeny. The Cougars had a super season and will be a team to be reckoned with in next week's state championships.

A tip of the fedora to Bret Hoyer on winning his 600th game in 23 years as a head coach and qualifying for the state tournament by taking out Cedar Falls.

Former Metro preps in pro baseball

RYAN SWEENEY (Xavier, Boston Red Sox) -- Started in right field Sunday and was 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored in Boston's 15-7 loss to the Blue Jays. Year to date -- BA - .272, AB - 191, R - 22, H - 52, RBI - 14, 2B - 18, 3B - 2, HR - 0, SB - 0.

SCOTT SCHEBLER (Prairie, Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers), MWL) -- Started in left field Sunday and was 2-for-5 with a run scored in the Loons' 10-7 win at Beloit. Scott is 9-for-19 in his last four games, boosting his average 11 points. Year to date -- BA - .268, AB - 373, R - 50, H - 100, RBI - 51, 2B - 27, 3B - 6, HR - 5, SB - 15.

KELLEN SWEENEY (Jefferson, Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays), NWL) -- Started at third base Sunday and was 1-for-3 with an RBI and run scored in Vancouver's 5-2 win over Spokane. Kellen has a five-game hitting streak that has boosted his average 21 points. Vancouver totals -- BA - .184, AB - 114, R - 17, H - 21, RBI - 15, 2B - 6, 3B - 0, HR - 2, SB - 1.