Metro Sports Report

French enjoyed trip to Army Bowl

Kennedy senior Christian French throughly enjoyed playing in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio on Jan. 8.

He stayed in a plush hotel, got to play before 37,893 fans in the Alamodome and had a chance to test his skills against some of the top high school football players in the country.

"Ate well, too," he said.

No. 8 J-Hawks upend No. 7 Central

DAVENPORT -- It didn’t take long for Jefferson to regain its winning ways.

The J-Hawks traveled east Tuesday to take on Davenport Central in a tough non-conference battle featuring two top-10 teams and narrowly escaped Marshall Gym with a 59-56 victory.

No. 8 Jefferson improved to 9-2 overall. The seventh-ranked Blue Devils fell to 8-2 with their first home loss of the season.

After struggling Friday night in a loss at Kennedy, the J-Hawks were able to get their shots to fall early. Within the first couple minutes Jefferson had a 7-0 lead.

Jarrod Uthoff nearly matched his game total against Kennedy in the first quarter, scoring nine of the J-Hawks' 18 points as Jefferson grabbed an 18-10 lead.

High school bowling is here to stay

Iowa’s newest sanctioned high school sport isn’t like the rest. There are no two-a-day practices in the heat of August. No cheerleaders or pep band. No tickets sales at the door.

High school bowling hasn’t exactly captured the imagination of student bodies, nor the general public. But it’s a sport that is taking off in Iowa. It’s a sport highly competitive but also perfect for the student who just wants to participate.

Every Metro school has a boys’ and girls’ bowling team now. Actually, several local schools have assembled bowlers the past couple decades, but it is only recently that the sport has been sanctioned by the Iowa High School Athletic Association (last year) and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (2005).

Over 80 schools now field varsity bowling teams in Iowa, separated into two classes (by enrollment) for post-season competition. They are as small as Mormon Trail of Garden Grove, with a pool of 59 students, and as large as West Des Moines Valley (over 2,000 students).

Albaugh leads Indians past Clippers

MARION -- Dusty Albaugh is a man for all seasons for the Marion Indians.

Winter, spring, summer, fall. Basketball, track, baseball, football. You name it, he does it.

It was basketball Tuesday night and Albaugh helped the Indians trim Clear Creek Amana, 57-53, in a key Wamac Conference game at Marion.

Albaugh tossed in three 3-pointers and scored 13 points. Of equal importance, he drew the key defensive assignment against hot-shooting Clay Miller with the game on the line and made sure Miller did not get good looks at the basket.

The night began with Marion, Clear Creek Amana and Vinton-Shellsburg all tied for the West Division lead in the Wamac Conference with 7-3 records, so the Indians left the gym with at least a share of the lead in their trousers.

Marion blew a 21-point lead and lost in overtime at Vinton-Shellsburg on Friday, so the Indians got a little antsy when they squandered an 11-point advantage against Clear Creek Amana.

"We're not repeating that again," Albaugh thought. He was right.

Albaugh, a 6-foot-1 senior, excels at all four sports at Marion and will get a chance to play in college, based on the number of recruiters who are calling him.