Prairie Football

J-Hawks squash Prairie, 55-37

Last week against fifth-ranked Washington, Jefferson played the Warriors to a 14-14 tie for more than three quarters until fatigue admittedly set in and Washington collected a 27-14 victory.

On Friday night in a game that started late and was prolonged by a series of heat-related cramps on both sides, the J-Hawks never let up and poured it on Prairie, 55-37, on Prairie's home field.

"This was a huge, huge win for us,” fourth-year Jefferson coach Brian Webb said. “It’s been 14 years since we’ve beaten Prairie. And I know we haven’t scored this many points against a Mississippi Valley team since I’ve been here.

“I’m so proud of these kids," he said. "Tonight, they just pushed and pushed and kept pushing.”

Jefferson controlled the ball most of the night, running twice as many plays as Prairie and piling up 28 first downs.

Read more...

Hawks a winner in Bliss' debut

Mark Bliss' first quarter as Prairie's head football coach didn't go all that well.

But the final three of his first game were nothing but pure bliss for the first-year coach.

Bliss' Hawks fell behind Linn-Mar 10-0 and were in danger of falling down 13-0 late in the quarter as the Lions lined up for a field goal attempt.

Martavian Borseth broke through and blocked Alexy Boehm's 43-yard attempt and it was a different game from that point on.

“That was huge,” Bliss said. “Absolutely huge. It switched the field and gave us the field position in which we could go down and score.”

Read more...

Xavier cancels game; 3 others postponed

None of the high school football games that were scheduled for the Metro area were played Friday night due to the heavy thunderstorms and lightning that passed through the area.

Xavier High School canceled its home game against Dowling Catholic. The game will not be rescheduled. Dowling is unable to make another round trip from West Des Moines on Saturday for a possible makeup date.

The other three games in the Metro area were postponed until Saturday.

Washington will face Jefferson at 2 p.m. Saturday at Kingston Stadium.

Prairie will play Linn-Mar at 5 p.m. Saturday at Linn-Mar Stadium.

Marion will host Mount Vernon at 7 p.m. Saturday at Thomas Park.

Bliss brings 4 state titles to Prairie

Mark Bliss won 62 straight football games and four straight Class 3A state titles at Conway Springs High School in Kansas from 2001 to 2005, but he reluctantly walked away from that job for a very simple reason.

It had to do with basic family economics.

"It was hard, believe me. I could have stayed there the rest of my life," the new Cedar Rapids Prairie coach said Tuesday after practice. "But quite frankly, I have four daughters and I was only getting paid $38,000 a year."

Bliss heard about a better-paying job at a new high school in Naples, Fla., and went for it.

"It was double my salary and free insurance," he said. "So when you're almost borderline food-stamps, you basically have to do the right thing and better your family. So when that job came open in Florida I took advantage of it."

Bliss, 51, grew up in Oklahoma and has coached in Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Florida, Missouri and now Iowa. He came to Prairie from a high school in Ozark, Mo., where he made three straight trips to the playoffs.

"Iowa is probably the last place I was cut out to be, because I was pretty happy in Missouri," said Bliss, who speaks with a distinctive Oklahoma twang.

Read more...