Metro Sports Report

Kennedy's Riley Fergus (10) celebrates after the Cougars recovered an Iowa City High fumble during Wednesday night's Class 4A playoff game at Bates Field. Teammates Logan Simon (48), David Hynek (52) and Tommy Kaiser (84) surround the unidentified Cougar that made the recovery. Kennedy fought back from a 41-6 deficit, but lost, 48-26. (Photo by Margaret O'Banion)

Cougars claw back, but lose to City High

Wed - 26 Oct Written by Guy Martino

IOWA CITY - Often times in a high school football game, the team that outgains its opponent by 100 total yards ends up the victor.

Against Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Iowa City High said goodbye to the yards, but a resounding hello to the end zone.

That's a pretty good trade if you ask the Little Hawks.

City High ran past Kennedy 48-26 at Bates Field in the first round of the Class 4A Iowa High School playoffs Wednesday night.

The Cougar offense recorded 372 yards of total offense compared to City High’s 269.

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Saints foiled in possible 4A farewell

Thu - 27 Oct Written by Jim Ecker

BETTENDORF - Maybe the Xavier Saints are right, maybe they should quit 4A football and pick on schools their own size next year.

But if Wednesday night's playoff game was their final appearance in Class 4A - and it's still a small "if" - the Saints left with a memorable performance.

Xavier and Pleasant Valley staged a terrific game on a crisp autumn night before the home-town Spartans emerged with a 33-31 victory in a Class 4A playoff opener.

The Saints recovered a loose ball near midfield with 60 seconds remaining, enough time to drive for a game-winning field goal, but the officials ruled the play was dead before the ball popped loose. Pleasant Valley kept the ball and ran out the clock.

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A look back at an outstanding grid season

Tue - 25 Oct Written by Scott Unash

The 2011 football playoffs begin Wednesday night, but first let's take a look back at some of the top performers and games of the past nine weeks.

I'm going to focus on a few players, but by no means is this an all inclusive list. There were many fine players who made this another terrific season on the Metro gridirons.

Let's start with the most significant games of the season in my mind. While a few of these were terrific battles, each holds some significance on the outcome of the 2011 football year.

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Saints face Pleasant Valley in rematch

Tue - 25 Oct Written by Jim Ecker

Duane Schulte has gotten a quick education on the Pleasant Valley High School football team the last few days.

Films, phone calls, scouting reports.

The Xavier Saints (5-4) open the Class 4A playoffs at Pleasant Valley (7-2) Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a rematch of a 2009 playoff game.

"Based on what I've seen, Pleasant Valley is very good," Schulte said Tuesday before practice at Xavier.

Schulte has become an expert on "very good" teams this season. The Saints played a string of them in the Mississippi Valley Conference with games against Linn-Mar, Cedar Falls, Iowa City High and Iowa City West, all ranked in the top 10 when they played Xavier.

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