Prairie Football

Warriors dominate all-district football

The Washington Warriors have raked in top honors on the Class 4A District 6 all-star football team.

Washington linebacker Connor Vincent was named the Defensive Player of the Year, lineman Julian Good-Jones was named the co-Offensive Player of the year and Paul James was named the Coach of the Year.

Good-Jones shared his award with Muscatine quarterback Matt Wieskamp.

Good-Jones and Landen Akers were named first team all-district on offense. Vincent, Isaiah Nimmers, O'Rien Vance, Reid Snitker and Royal Silver were named first team all-district on defense.

Johnny Dobbs, Tavian Patrick, Aries Davis and Max Podgorski of Washington were named second team all-district on offense. Sam Vincent received second-team honors on defense. Caleb Smothers, Alex Herzog, Sean Knox and Anthony Rodriguez-Bleakley received honorable mention for the Warriors.

All told, 16 of Washington's players were saluted on the all-district team. In addition, Podgorski and Gunner Lenzen were named to the all-academic team. The Warriors won the district title and are 10-0 this season.

Eleven players from Cedar Rapids Prairie were named to the all-district teams. Keagan Pinter was named first team on offense. Ben Boldt and JoJo Simpson were named first tam on defense. Bryce Meeker and Jalen Rima were named second team on offense. Coen Brown and Mason Jones were second team on defense. Conner Grade, Alex Mixon, Hunter Johnson and Kyle Castonguay received honorable mention. Boldt and Jonah Manson were named to the all-academic squad.

Pleasant Valley tops Prairie in OT

BETTENDORF - Mike Morrissey nearly had a happy homecoming Wednesday night, but his Prairie Hawks fell just short in an agonizing defeat.

Pleasant Valley tripped Prairie, 31-24, in overtime in the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs at Pleasant Valley.

Pleasant Valley scored a touchdown with 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter and kicked the PAT to forge a 24-24 tie and force overtime.

The Spartans had the ball first in overtime and scored on a 5-yard run by Chase Kipper and Austin Adamson added the extra point. Prairie was not able to respond with a touchdown and went home with a tough defeat.

JoJo Simpson rushed for 203 yards for Prairie and scored two touchdowns, including an 89-yard jaunt to begin the scoring. Prairie took a 14-0 lead in the second quarter on a 5-yard touchdown by Keagan Pinter and Sam Drysdale's PAT, but Pleasant Valley rallied in the second half.

Brendon Bormann scored on a 20-yard run and Tyler Flanders tallied on a 27-yard run as Pleasant Valley grabbed a 17-14 advantage. Drysdale tied the game, 17-17, with a 44-yard field goal for Prairie.

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Lions are 'most improved' team in 4A

Linn-Mar football coach Bob Forsyth said in August that he was "cautiously optimistic" about the 2014 season and hopeful for a good year.

He may have underplayed his hand a bit.

Quite simply, Linn-Mar is the most improved team in Class 4A this year with a good chance of making a deep run in the playoffs.

The Lions finished with a 2-7 record in 2013 and improved to an 8-1 mark for the regular season this year. That's a gain of six victories and that plus-6 mark is the best among all 46 Class 4A teams in Iowa.

Lewis Central is next on the "most improved" list at plus-4, going from four victories in 2013 to eight wins in 2014.

Two Metro teams tied for third place in the "most improved" category at plus-3. The Washington Warriors jumped from 6-3 to 9-0 and the Jefferson J-Hawks climbed from 1-8 to 4-5.

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Cougars deserve cheers, not jeers

It would be easy to make fun of the Kennedy Cougars for making the Class 4A football playoffs with a 2-7 record, but that would be a big mistake.

First of all, the Kennedy players are not responsible for the new district format this year that made it possible for 2-7 clubs to advance. Administrators did that, not the athletes.

Secondly, the Cougars should be applauded for sticking with it and playing hard after a rough 0-6 start. They had to adjust to a new head coach and new offensive scheme, and they lost a couple of games they could have - maybe should have - won.

Kennedy began the season with a 12-9 setback at Iowa City City when the Trojans threw a 33-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and-15 with 1:59 left in the game. Four weeks later, the Cougars missed a 33-yard field on the final play of the fourth quarter and fell to Jefferson, 27-24, in overtime

Two weeks ago, the Cougars scored a touchdown with 71 seconds left against Cedar Falls to pull within 21-20, but they unable to convert a two-point conversion and lost by a single point.

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