Metro Sports Report

Drake Allen hopes to make his father proud

Drake Allen missed wrestling. That part of the story is fairly simple, but the rest is not.

After deciding not to wrestle at Jefferson High School this season, he changed his mind and rejoined the team in mid-December and made a big splash last week when he began competing in meets again.

He collected two pins in a double-dual against Iowa City West and Dubuque Wahlert last Thursday, then won the 220-pound title at the Ottumwa tournament on Saturday.

"That's a nice way to start, huh?" Jefferson Coach Dick Briggs said Tuesday with a smile.

Aggressive Saints march past Warriors

The Xavier Saints arrived in an ornery mood for their basketball game at Cedar Rapids Washington Tuesday night.

They vented their frustration on the winless Warriors.

The Saints attacked all night and belted Washington, 58-42, in a Mississippi Valley Conference blowout.

Xavier was drubbed in its last two games by Cedar Falls (71-40) and Western Dubuque (55-39) and thought it was time for someone else to suffer a stinging defeat.

"We kind of took Cedar Falls and Western Dubuque a little personal," said Kevin Hosch, who helped lead the charge Tuesday. "We wanted to take it out on Wash."

Xavier played an aggressive game, attacking the rim and turning turnovers into points. The Saints (3-7, 2-3) looked passive at times last Saturday night against Western Dubuque, but they turned that around against Washington.

Linn-Mar boys roar to 5th straight win

There was no basketball “hangover” for the Linn-Mar boys Tuesday night when the Lions returned to their home court after a pair of wins last weekend in Sioux City.

The fifth-ranked Lions rolled to their fifth straight win, routing Dubuque Hempstead, 70-37, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game.

Linn-Mar (7-2, 3-2 MVC) was paced by three Lions in double figures. Marcus Paige had 25 points, Matt Meier notched 14, and Andy Henry added 10.

Could history repeat itself?

The Iowa High School Athletic Association released the district basketball assignments for the Class 1A and 2A tournaments Monday afternoon. The 3A district and 4A substate assignments will be released next Monday.

Cedar Valley Christian will make its IHSAA debut in Class 1A District 11, which also counts Iowa Mennonite and Lone Tree among its members.

I would like to examine Class 4A. As always, the big question will be "Who goes where?" Some years it is easy to envision what the IHSAA is thinking, some not.

This appears to be one of those "not" years.

Last year the Metro was outstanding, chock full of great teams with great talent. It didn't take a mathematician from MIT to figure out the state was going to try and separate the Metro teams to get the best field possible to the state tournament. This year, the records are not quite as glossy and the question is what will happen, which direction will teams go?