Metro Sports Report

Plagman: Schlotterback requested leave

Byron Schlotterback will not coach the Cedar Rapids Washington baseball team this season, but his situation has nothing to do with his performance as the Washington coach.

Dr. Ralph Plagman, the principal at Washington High School, made that point Thursday morning.

"I can't say much," Dr. Plagman remarked. "What I'm officially supposed to say is he has requested a leave of absence for personal reasons and he does not wish to be contacted. That's the official line I've been given.

"We're assuming that's for the season," he said. "I've been told it's for the season."

Schlotterback, who was set to begin his fourth season as Washington's head coach, teaches at Jefferson High School where he has been the director of vocal music.

"Byron Schlotterback is on a personal leave from the school district for an undetermined length of time for personal matters," Marcia Hughes, the community relations supervisor for Cedar Rapids Community Schools, said in an e-mail.

Cougars tame Lions in a shootout

It was an exciting, fast paced boys soccer game when Kennedy met Linn-Mar on Thursday night, and both teams got their fair share of opportunities.

Neither team could separate themselves after 100 minutes of play, however. Kennedy sneaked away with a 2-1 victory on a shootout at Linn-Mar Stadium.

Both teams hit their first three shots in the shootout, but the Lions final two shots were off target and Linn-Mar keeper Justin Green could only keep one out of the net as Kennedy got the win.

“It was a tough game,” said Kennedy sophomore Sho Takaoka. “The Lions played very hard.”

With both teams stuck in a bit of a losing streak after dropping a pair to Iowa City West and Iowa City High, each team was intent on getting back on track on Thursday.

The sixth-ranked Cougars (8-3, 5-2 Mississippi Valley Conference) seemed to put most of the pressure on early, putting Green to the test, but he stepped up big for the No. 15 Lions (4-7, 2-7), making several nice saves including a one-on-one save against the Cougars' leading scorer, Garet Christianson.

“He made some good saves to keep them in the game,” said Kennedy co-head coach Mike Robertson. “He did a really good job.”

Kennedy girls top Linn-Mar, 1-0

The Kennedy girls soccer team narrowly edged out Linn-Mar 1-0 after a late goal at Linn-Mar Stadium on Thursday.

Kennedy, ranked No. 6 in Class 3A, ran its record 7-1 overall and 6-1 in the Mississippi Valley Conference. No. 10 Linn-Mar fell to 4-4, 4-4.

The game was the third annual Breast Cancer Awareness game between the schools with both teams wearing pink and the proceeds from ticket sales went to breast cancer awareness.

“It’s a good way for the girls to identify and start the volunteering that they need to learn to support the local community,” said Linn-Mar Coach Steve Dickinson. “They get up for it and they really enjoy it. It is good because the two groups play club together, they see each other every day.”

The fact that the two teams know each other so well added to the atmosphere and hyped both teams up.

“It’s a rivalry with Linn-Mar,” Kennedy's Katherine Helmlinger said. "We lost to them last year and we didn’t want to lose again. A lot of the girls on the team we play with for club, so we didn’t want to lose.”

The hype and excitement of the game seemed to get the best of the Cougars in the first half, as the Lions dominated possession and put heavy pressure on the Kennedy goal.

Former Prairie aide Hanzlik dead at 75

Craig Jelinek wasn't so sure that bringing Kenny Hanzlik into the Prairie football fold was going to be such a good idea when one of his former assistant coaches suggested hiring him in 1998.

"Kenny had just retired from the Parks Department -- he was at the Jones Park golf course for a long time -- and Ken Cooperman, who had been an assistant for us, said that Kenny really wanted to get into weight training and helping our program," Jelinek recalled. Cooperman also happened to be Hanzlik's son.

"I thought, 'Yeah, a parent. I'm not so sure this is going to work out,' " Jelinek said. "But Kenny was gold."

Hanzlik died Wednesday at age 75 after a battle with cancer. He had been the weight training and conditioning coach for the Hawks for the past 13 years.