The most memorable moments from the 101 events I covered in the 2018-19 sports season. Part III

I get bored without having high school sports to cover and I tend to write when I'm bored. You might have heard, but the 2018-19 sports season is officially over (for me). During this past season, I covered 101 events in a tri-state area and racked up thousands of miles while doing so, but it was the most fun I've ever had and I can't think of anything else I'd have rather done and that includes sleeping and spending more time with my beautiful girlfriend, Gentry.

The awesome part about covering 101 different events is that you get to see a lot of really awesome things and boy, did I this year. I covered so many awesome things that I decided to write about them (again). I originally planned on just feature 10 events, but there's no way I could whittle the list to 10, so I settled on 15 events. I've already document 10 of the 15 most memorable moments. You can view those here.

PART I: Moments 11-15

PART II: Moments 6-10

Now it's time for the five most memorable moments that I covered in the 2018-19 season. They truly were spectacular.

#5: Darby dominates Drake 

My first trip to the Drake Relays was one I won't soon forget. The entire experience was awesome and the area runners did a great job representing southwest Iowa. There were many great performances from the likes of Jerry Jorgenson, Emma Lucas, Janette Schraft, Chase Mullenix, Logan Jones, and others, but nobody impressed more than Abraham Lincoln star Darby Thomas.

The Nebraska commit began the event with her third consecutive title in the long jump. That alone would have been an impressive weekend in my book, but she was not done. Thomas edged Peyton Stiva of Iowa City West by just .03 of a second in the 100-meter hurdles for her second gold of the weekend and collected another piece of hardware with a runner-up finish in the 100-meter dash. She also helped guide AL's 4 x 200 relay team to an 18th place finish.

Dominant performances for Thomas were common during her career, but it was the first time that I got the opportunity to watch her perform in person and she put on a show for me and everybody else at Drake Stadium. It was such a good show that she was named the Most Outstanding Female High School Athlete of the Drake Relays.

#4 Lewis Central boys soccer wins quarterfinal thriller on way to a state championship

The first state tournament appearance for Lewis Central boys' soccer in 22 years was 10 minutes from ending in the quarterfinals but concluded with a state title. The Titans were a defensive masterpiece all season, allowing just 11 goals all season thanks to who I believe was the best goalkeeper in the state, Cole Jensen. The Titans avenged a regular-season loss to Harlan with a 4-0 victory in the substate game, qualifying for state for the first time since 1997.

Up next was a date with Storm Lake. The Tornadoes scored the first goal of the match, Lewis Central responded with a goal on a penalty kick, but Storm Lake quickly marched down the pitch and scored within moments to take a 2-1 lead. Storm Lake had an opportunity to take a 3-1 lead on a penalty kick, but the kick bounced off the crossbar and back to the Storm Lake player who scored what was later ruled to be an illegal goal because he could not touch it two consecutive times.

 Lewis Central's Connor Lancial found the net in the 70th minute to keep the Titans' season alive and send the game to overtime. LC and Storm Lake played 20 minutes of sudden death soccer, but neither team could score, setting up the thrilling, winner-take-all penalty kicks. Jensen did what he does best and made some insane saves while the LC offense stepped up and sealed the victory.

Obviously, the Titans don't win a state title without the win, but the drama they and their fans had to endure as well as the excitement they provided me, made this a top-five worthy moment. I have not seen many soccer matches, but it's going to take something insanely great to top what I saw on that hot day at James Cownie Park.

3. Mound City and Worth County stage an 8-man title game for the ages 

This game can be chalked up under the "things I suggested to Derek that I cover" category. I have never covered a state football game in Iowa, but I was fortunate enough to do so in the Show-Me State. Two area teams, Mound City and Worth County competed in the state title game or the "Show-Me Bowl" as they call it in Missouri. We had covered both teams all season, I had a friend who was also covering the game and I love football, so I felt like it was worthy of my coverage and oh boy, it was.

The two teams played contrast styles of offense. Mound City threw the pigskin all over the place, but also had some speedsters they could hand the ball off to. Worth County played a more smashmouth style of football. They threw the ball when needed but did not pose the vertical threat that Mound City did. Contrast styles did not matter. The 48 minutes of football these two northwest Missouri powers played was some of the finest I've ever seen.

This game had everything. More than 700 combined yards, a star player battling through an injury. a fake punt for a touchdown (legend has it the fake was called at the line of scrimmage and the coach did not know about it), an improvised touchdown pass Brett Favre would be proud of, seven combined turnovers and six lead changes, three of which occurred in the fourth quarter. Mound City took over on their own 12-yard line, down 32-28 with just 3:40 remaining and marched 68 yards on eight plays, scoring the go-ahead score with 1:25 remaining. Worth County tried to string a comeback but turned it over in Mound City territory in the final seconds. That game and the fourth quarter, in particular, left me stunned the entire four-hour trek home.

#2: Emma Lucas, Janette Schraft and Logan-Magnolia claim cross country titles.

I'll be honest, I had way more fun at state cross country than I ever imagined. The whole day was an exhausting, exciting treat. The morning began with Glenwood's Janette Schraft dominating the second half of her race to claim the state title that had been so elusive during her career. That alone would have put my fun in Fort Dodge on this list, but it was not done.

A pair of area runners, Bedford's Emma Lucas and Tri-Center's Peyton Pogge finished first and second, but it was Lucas that claimed the gold and avenged a loss to Pogge at the state qualifying meet. There were only eight state champions and I was fortunate enough to cover two of them and a team champion.

Logan-Magnolia came into the meet as the favorite to win the title and they did not disappoint. The Panthers posted four runners in the top 21 and were led by third and fourth place finishes from sisters Taylor and Courtney Sporrer. That means I covered and interviewed the top four finishers in Class 1A, which is pretty darn cool.

I also cannot forget to mention the impressive performances from Taylor McCreedy (Atlantic), Noah Jorgenson (Sidney), Jerry Jorgenson (Treynor), Alexis Post (Riverside) and Joshua Baudler (Nodaway Valley). All those fantastic performances made me hope I am fortunate enough to once again cover state cross country.

Who's Number 1?

#1 Jefferson basketball completes the gauntlet, puts the Jefferson jersey away with a state title

"We're putting the Jefferson jersey away in a good way."

That's what Jefferson junior Chase Farnan just moments after the Eagles captured their fifth state title in school history.

 It had completely escaped my mind throughout their entire postseason run that Jefferson was combining all sports with South Nodaway at the end of the season to form the Platte Valley co-op. Farnan's comments and the reaction from the Jefferson faithful brought back memories from my sophomore year when the Villisca girls' basketball squad made a miraculous run to the 2013 state tournament in the school's final year of existence. Villisca's "Final Flight" did not end in a state championship, but Jefferson's did. This part of the story alone would probably put the Eagles atop my list, but their journey to get there was the icing on the cake.

Sometimes championships are more about the journey than the actual game and I feel like that was definitely the case for Jefferson. The Eagles had to beat a one-loss Mound City squad, who had beat them three times during the regular season and an undefeated Winston team just to qualify for the Show-Me Showdown. They then defeated Linn County and booked a state title showdown with a 30-1 Dora team that a 28 point-per-game scorer named Isaac Haney. When it was all said and done the Eagles final four opponents had a combined record of 98-9 (7 of those losses were Linn County's) and they still somehow to win every game by at least 10 points.

I was fortunate enough to cover all four of the aforementioned games on Jefferson's magical title run and it was the most fun I had covering sports all year which is saying a lot. I don't know that I'll ever see a run through the state tournament like the Eagles did. It's the type of story that you usually only see in movies.

Now the question is, can I one-up myself and cover 102 events this next year? I am going to try.

The most memorable moments from the 101 events I covered in the 2018-19 sports season. Part II

The 2018-19 sports season is in the books, which means I have nothing to do. I stayed busy this sports season by covering 101 total events. Those events ranged as far west as Lincoln, Nebraska, as far north as Sioux City, as far south as Springfield, Missouri and as east as Iowa City. It was exhausting at times, but a ton of fun.

The beauty of covering so many events was that I was fortunate to see many awesome things. I saw so many awesome things that I decided to write about some of them. I wish I could have wrote about all 101 events I covered, but instead, I chose to highlight the top 15 in a three-part series. You can view the first part with moments 11 through 15 here. 

Now it's time to dive into moments 6 through 10.

DISCLAIMER: This list only includes events that I physically covered. I did not cover Treynor girls basketballs' state title run or state track, so those are not on the list. 

#10 Sami Jahde comes oh-so-close to a state golf title

If the 1A Girls state golf meet would have been reduced to one day because of weather, Sami Jahde would have won a state title. The CAM junior posted an 18-hole score of 77 on day one and led the leaderboards through the day. She also posted a 77 in day two but was outdueled by Alta-Aurelia's Annika Patton, who shot a 70 on the second day to snag the state title.

Jahde had an amazing front nine and nearly managed a hole-in-one, unfortunately, Patton posted a stronger back nine and relegated Jahde to second place. The most impressive part to me about the whole day was that according to her coach, Joe Wollum, Jahde had no clue how she was doing the entire day and she just assumed she was behind when she actually led until the final holes. It might not have ended how she hoped, but she was just a junior and will be even more motivated next year to win the whole dang thing.

#9 CAM plays postseason spoiler with emotional win dedicated to the Wollum family

2019 was a memorable year for CAM athletics. Jahde's aforementioned state title quest and the girls' basketball teams' first state tournament appearance since 1997 probably stick out in the minds of the Cougar faithful, but it was a regular-season football game that stuck out the most to me.

I'm going to prefix this by saying you will be hard-pressed to find a nicer person than CAM's Joe Wollum. Wollum coaches multiple sports (football, girls basketball and golf), is also their AD, does a tremendous job at all the above and is an all-around great person. This year, Wollum and his family experienced a tragedy nobody should ever have to experience (DMart wrote a great piece on Coach Wollum, check it out), despite all this, Wollum stayed strong and showed who he and ultimately the CAM community really are.

I covered the Cougars' final regular-season game against Audubon in Anita. CAM came in 5-3 and had already been eliminated from the playoffs while their opponent Audubon would clinch a playoff spot with a win. The Cougars were also without their Coach Wollum that night because he was tending to something way more important than any football game ever will be. The task of guiding a team that hoped to be playing postseason spoiler fell on former Red Oak coach Barry Bower.

It would have been really easy for CAM to pack it in and call it a year. They were led by a handful of impactful seniors and their season and their careers were coming to a close. Nobody would have blamed them, but that's not what they did.

 Instead, the Cougars raced to an early 28-7 lead. Audubon then stormed back, scoring 25 unanswered and taking a 32-28 lead with just seven minutes remaining. The Cougars responded to the adversity and quickly answered with a score of their own and forced a late turnover to seal the victory and dash Audubon's playoff hopes. The postgame speech delivered by Coach Bower as well as the celebration from the entire CAM community gave me chills. That win was bigger than just a football game.

#8 Glenwood girls' track dominates Hawkeye Ten, takes 3A state title

I mentioned in the disclaimer that I didn't cover state track, but I did cover multiple meets that included the 3A champion Glenwood Rams. The Rams were coming off a stellar 2018 campaign and had high hopes for the 2019 season thanks to many returning pieces and the acquisitions of Janette Schraft and Coryl Matheny.

Cory Faust's squad set the tone early in the season with a dominant victory at the Hawkeye Ten South meet in Creston. The Rams won 16 of the 19 events, finished 1-2 in five events and scored 95 more points than runner-up Creston. I expected the Rams to win the meet, but not even I predicted that level of dominance.

The dominance continued into every meet I covered them in. They cruised to a large school title at the Lady Tiger Relays in Red Oak, posted their fifth Hawkeye Ten Title in six years and made a statement at their state qualifying meet by automatically qualifying in 14 events. The state meet obviously ended up being their most competitive meet, winning the title by only half a point, but the road to get there was paved with dominance.

#7 Shen tennis competes with the big dogs and takes third 

I knew nothing about tennis prior to May 2019. I still don't know much, but I know some and the fine folks of Shenandoah are responsible for almost all the tennis knowledge I acquired. The Shenandoah tennis team has been a contender for quite some time. The Fillies posted a third-place finish in 2017 and had reached state three of the last four years prior to 2019. Shenandoah's path to the Final Four was not easy. They first had to beat Hawkeye Ten foe Glenwood for the second time in a season. The Fillies did so 5-2. Then they made the trek to Osceola where they defeated Pella 5-1 to advance to the state quarterfinals.

In the state quarterfinals, the Fillies made the two-and-a-half-hour trek to Norwalk and shutout Pella Christian for another Final Four berth. The Fillies were joined in the Final Four by Waterloo Columbus, Cedar Rapids Xavier, and Dubuque Wahlert. Three cities with an average population of 84, 123 opposed to Shenandoah's population of 5,150. The Fillies fell in the semifinal to eventual champion Xavier, but responded with a 5-0 win over Wahlert to claim third. The Fillies return three members from the 2019 lineup and tennis a really big deal in Shenandoah, so I would not be surprised to see them do it again in 2020.

#6 Gabe Pauley battles through woes, doubles down with another dramatic state title

While Justin McCunn was the most impressive wrestler I covered, AHSTW' 182 pounder Gabe Pauley might have been my favorite. Pauley came into each match with a no bs, street-fight mentality and he won. A lot. Pauley posted an undefeated 2017-18 junior campaign where he did not allow a takedown until the state title match but won anyways with a late escape.

Pauley's quest to repeat got off to a rough start with a loss to a state-ranked wrestler from Nebrask in ultimate-tie breaker because of what I felt (and still feel) was a missed stall call on his opponent. Pauley then buckled up and took down everyone else in his way until a meeting with eventual 2A champion Kyler Fisher from Southeast Valley, where Pauley lost the match in overtime due to a second stall call. Two weeks later, Pauley lost his district finals match in a bizarre manner. He was attempting to throw Southeast Warren's Colby Page, but lost the match by a fall and was not the district champion.

During the state tournament, Pauley made a remark about "kicking the crap out of whoever was next". Some people, like myself, loved Pauley's comments and thought they exemplified the type of mindset he has (which is a winning mindset btw), many, however, took his remarks as brash and rooted against him, but do you think Gabe Pauley cared? Heck no, he didn't. He took down everyone in his way to set up a state title match with Thomas Even (Don Bosco).

A fellow media member said before the match that they were picking Even to win. I told him it was not wise to pick against Pauley and I was right, but it took some dramatics. Late in the match, Pauley was issued what I thought was a bad stall call that tied the match and sent it to sudden victory. Pauley promptly responded with a takedown on Even to capture his second consecutive state championship. Pauley's second state title certainly did not come as easy as the first, but maybe that made it that much sweeter. Either way, it was a pleasure to cover.

The most memorable moments from the 101 events I covered in the 2018-19 sports season. Part I

Sometimes I stop and think about how fortunate I've been. The 2018-19 high school sports season has officially come to a close, I covered a total of 101 events between September 6th and July 27th ranging everywhere from Lincoln, Nebraska to Springfield, Missouri to Iowa City and it was a ton of fun. There were many long nights and early mornings during that 324-day span as well as a lot of caffeine consumed, fast food stops and oil changes. Now let me end this by saying that I was never forced to do any of this. Every event I covered, I agreed to and in some cases I suggested I cover it. It was completely worth it if you ask me.

This year was so awesome that Derek Martin decided to highlight the top 25 area sports from this past season rather than the usual 10 and I thought it would be cool to sift through the 101 events that I covered in the 2018-19 season and list the top moments. Like Derek, I originally intended to just include 10, but there were just too many to choose from, so I decided to go with 15. I would love to write about all 101 events (again), but that's a lot of writing and you probably don't want to read all of that. So instead, I will divide this list into three parts. Moments 1-5, 6-10 and 11-15. 

Before I dive into my 15 favorite moments from the 2018-19 school year, I have a confession to make. I vastly underappreciated the lesser publicized sports such as cross country, soccer, and tennis prior to this season. The only high school sports I cared about growing up were football and basketball, but that has since changed. I covered many tennis, cross country, track, and wrestling meets this season and had a blast doing it. I hope to cover many more throughout my career and will hopefully learn more, too. 

Now to the list, here are the 15th through 11th most memorable moments from the 101 events that I covered this season.

DISCLAIMER: This list only includes events that I physically covered. I did not cover Treynor girls basketballs' state title run or state track, so those are not on the list. 

#15 The most exciting (and exhausting) week of my young career

Covering postseason sports is as close as I will ever get to drug addiction. I love covering postseason events regardless of the sport. There's just something about postseasons that gives me a huge jolt of excitement. It nearly kills me to sit at home of an evening during the postseason, especially when it's postseason basketball. I did not have to worry about that on the week February 25th-March 1st. Here is what I did. 

Monday, Feb. 25: Class 4A Substate Semifinal: Lewis Central at Sioux City East

Tuesday, Feb. 26: Three Missouri postseason games at the St. Joe Civic Center; Worth County/Wellington-Napoleon girls, Mound City/Jefferson boys, and North Andrew/Stanberry girls.

Wednesday, Feb 27: Missouri Postseason: Maryville vs. St. Michael the Archangel boys at Excelsior Springs. 

Thursday, Feb 28: Four Nebraska girls state tournament basketball contests; CWC/Sterling, Falls City Sacred Heart/Ewing, Pleasonton/Weeping Water and Fillmore Central vs. Lourdes Central Catholic. 

Friday, Mar 1: Worth County/Stanberry girls and Jefferson/Winston boys at the St. Joe Civic Center.

That equals approximately 1,000 miles and 11 games in a five-day span. The entire week was fun, but the Nebraska state tournament might have been the most memorable because of the challenge. The first game I covered began at 9 a.m and the final game did not begin until 8:45 p.m. I left my house at 6:15 a.m. and returned home at nearly 1 a.m, but it was a blast. 

Challenge and exhaustion aside, there were also a handful of great games during this week, which is ultimately why it made the list. On Tuesday, Worth County had to hold off a Well-Nap comeback and Jefferson avenged three regular-season losses to Mound City. Wednesday saw Maryville squander a 17-point halftime deficit to a hot-shooting St. Michael the Archangel. Thursday's edition of the Nebraska state tournament was nuts. Sterling relied on a pair of sisters (Ella and Malayna Wingert) to squeak out a nailbiting victory, Falls City Sacred Heart relied on a pair of freshman to avoid an upset. Weeping Water's Grace Cave gave it her all with an awesome 32-point performance in defeat while Lourdes ultimately fell short despite a valiant effort.

 I wish every week was like that week, sleep is overrated anyway.

#14 Ryan Leath three-peats as Hawkeye Ten Golf champ

Glenwood's Ryan Leath is good at golf. You have to be to become a Hawkeye Ten champ, but doing it three times means you are really good. I, unfortunately, could not find any documentation as to how many three-time conference champs there have been, but I'm guessing it's not very many. Leath had to win his first two conference championship by a playoff, but there was no playoff needed in 2019. Leath played an amazing round in Council Bluffs and finished with a score of 71, but it was his front-nine score of 34 that ultimately clinched his third conference title in four years. 

#13 Treynor/Atlantic play the most exciting and crazy basketball game I've ever seen 

This should have just been an ordinary game to end the regular season for a red hot-Atlantic and state-ranked Treynor, it was anything but. I broadcasted this game despite barely having a voice and the excitement of the game did not help my problem. Atlantic raced out to a double-digit lead and led 59-49 with only a minute remaining. The ensuing 60 seconds were the most insane and awesome basketball I've ever seen. Treynor clawed their way back into the game with a pair of low-percentage, tough three-point shots from Jack Stogdill and Tim Zimmerman to trim the deficit to 62-60. 

Treynor had an inbound pass intercepted in the waning seconds, only for the Atlantic defender to step out of bounds and give the Cardinals the ball across half-court with two seconds remaining. The problem was, that officials were not certain how much time was remaining, so they chose to discuss the issue with the scorers' table. During this time, a confusing technical was then assessed to Treynor during their defacto timeout. The technical allowed the Trojans to run out the clock and grab the upset. I'm still confused and appalled by the final 60 seconds of that game. I'm not sure anything will ever top it. 

#12 Johnson-Brock dominates anyone and everyone en route to a title

While Treynor and Atlantic played the most exciting, crazy basketball game I've ever seen, Johnson-Brock played one of the most dominant football games I've ever seen with a 76-0 win over Allen in the D2 state quarterfinals. The Eagles scored five touchdowns in their first 13 plays and put up 64 first-half points. They also recovered six fumbles and turned all of those turnovers into touchdowns. 

I did not know what to expect when I rolled into Johnson, Nebraska on that chilly Halloween evening, but the complete domination I saw certainly was not what I expected. The Eagles then followed up that performance with a 72-32 state quarterfinal win over Bloomfield and were never really threatened in that game. Johnson-Brock then pulled away late in their state semifinal against Humphrey St. Francis and turned a 20-0 deficit against Mullen into a 56-26 victory and their first state championship in school history. This year's Eagles' team is one of the most dominant teams I've ever seen, along with the 2011 Fremont-Mills and 2017 Worth County squads.

#11 Justin McCunn's magical run to the state finals

No wrestler impressed me more this year than Red Oak 160 pounder Justin McCunn. I had predicted prior to the state tournament that McCunn would make it to the finals. I don't know that many people agreed with my prediction, but McCunn proved all the doubters wrong. The junior, who was two years removed from not even qualifying for districts, won his first-round and quarterfinal matches by major decision and fall. He then became Red Oak's first finalist since 2012 with a 7-1 semifinal victory over Osage's Zach Williams. It was in that match where McCunn hit the sickest fireman's I have seen in my four years of covering wrestling. 

McCunn's run might have come to an end one spot shorter than he would have wished after dropping an 8-3 decision to Ballard's Skyler Noftsger, but it was still an impressive weekend. However, it might not have been as impressive as the respect and class that McCunn showed me during his interview after the match. He could not have been happy about the end result, but he gave me his full attention and answered all of my questions with the utmost respect. He will be motivated next year and he's been putting in the work this offseason, so it should not be a surprise when he's in the finals next year.

SW Iowa High School Football: A look at returning offensive production for area Class 3A & 4A teams

The success of many teams can often be attributed to how much production they return from the prior year or how much they graduated. It's not alway's a guarantee for a more successful season, but it is a strong indicator. For example, last year I pointed out that Treynor returned every single rushing yard from the 2017 season. The Cardinals went on to an 8-2 record in 2018 and claimed the district championship. Red Oak also returned every single rushing yard from their 2017 season and saw a three-win improvement last season.

As you may have read, I attempted to quantify the offensive production that each team in area districts return. Area Districts are defined as Districts 1, 6, 7 and 8 in 8-Man, Districts 2, 8, 9 and 10 in Class A, Districts 8 and 9 in Class 1A, District 9 in Class 2A, Districts 1 and 9 in Class 3A and District 7 in Class 4A. I've already gone through the area districts in Class 8-Man, A, 1A and 2A, so now it's time to finish it off with Class 3A and 4A.

You can view the previous breakdowns by clicking on the links below.

CLASS 8-MAN

CLASS A

CLASS 1A & 2A

For this project, I calculated the percentage of passing touchdowns, passing yards, rushing touchdowns, rushing yards, receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and points that were accumulated by non-seniors. I then averaged the percentages of those eight categories to get an "average" percentage of production that each team returns. It's not a perfect system, but it's the best I could think of.

Now, onto the numbers and the districts. Teams' 2018 record is posted in parentheses. The percentage listed is the number of returning production calculated through the average of the eight categories.

DISCLAIMER: I went solely off QuikStats. This project does not calculate for incoming freshman or production last year that came from underclassmen who may not be playing this year. I have no way of knowing about these situations and cannot factor them into this.

CLASS 3A District 1: 1. Denison-Schleswig (5-4) 90%, 2. Spencer (8-3) 68%, 3. Storm Lake (4-5) 61%, 5. Sergeant Bluff-Luton (10-2) 48%, 6. Bishop Heelan (7-3) 34%

This is one of three Class 3A districts in which every team won at least three games. It's also the only district I've previewed where every team returns their starting quarterback, which makes this district even tougher to gauge. Perennial favorites Sergeant Bluff and Bishop Heelan lost the most production offensively, but Sergeant Bluff returns star quarterback Daniel Wright and Bishop Heelan probably won't have any problem replacing the production they lost from the Sioux City area.

Denison had an impressive 5-4 season and returns nearly everything from that campaign including signal-caller Charlie Wiebers and running back Terrance Weah. Spencer returns it's starting quarterback and all of it's rushing production, but will be forced to replace all but 25 percent of their receiving production. The Tigers' offense will likely circle around Isaiah Spencer, who ran for over 1,500 yards and 20 scores last year.

CLASS 3A District 9: 1. Creston (3-6) 79%, 2. Glenwood (4-5) 72%, 3. ADM (5-4) 69% 4. Harlan (8-3) 36%, 5. Winterset (3-6) 21%, 6. Lewis Central (11-1) 13%

Lewis Central will be forced to replace a legendary senior class that included current TCU quarterback Max Duggan. The Titans also running back Mike Gittins and receiver Josh Simmons, but those losses will most likely mean increased production from Brady Miller and Thomas Fidone. Harlan will be forced to find a new signal-caller this year, but they do return 72 percent of their rushing production that was paced by Alex Schechinger. Whoever the signal-caller is for the Cyclones will have 35 percent of the 2018 receiving production to work with. ADM returns dual-threat quarterback Tate Stine-Smith (2,206 total yards and 8 TD's). ADM also returns half of their rushing production and 64 percent of their receiving but lost leading pass catcher Lucas Heitz.

Creston loses multisport standout Kylan Smallwood but still have the versatile Eli Loudon to fall back on. The Panthers return some really nice pieces outside of Loudon including Rylan Luther and Andy Mills in the run game as well as the receiving duo of Cael Kralik and Luke Latham. In total, the Panthers return 100 percent of their passing, 99 percent of their rushing and 55 percent of their receiving. Glenwood returns 99 percent of it's passing thanks to the return of quarterback Zach Carr but the Rams return just 41 percent of their rushing production and graduated their top two rushers from last season. Winterset will be forced to replace 1,000-yard passer Casey Kleemeier and 1,000-yard rusher Hunter Pashek and will have an entirely new backfield this season.

CLASS 4A District 7: 1. Ames (5-4) 87%, 2. CB, Abraham Lincoln (1-8) 65%, 3. Urbandale (6-4) 63%, 4. Des Moines North (0-9) 55%, 5. WDM Valley (10-1) 43%, 6. CB, Thomas Jefferson (3-6) 20%

Ames' super exciting air-raid attack should be just as fun and exciting as it was last year. The Little Cyclones return virtually all passing and rushing production as well as 86 percent of their receiving and 75 percent of the points they scored in 2018. WDM Valley will once again be forced to replace a lot including quarterback Beau Lombardi and 1,200-yard rusher Tre Fugate, but the Tigers still return 42 percent of their rushing and 68 percent of their receiving production. AL returns most passing and receiving production but will return only 22 percent of rushing production and lost their top three rushers from last season.

TJ's run-heavy offense lost the beasts that were Cameron Baker and Cameron Lukavsky and return just 16 percent of their rushing from last year. The losses of Baker and Lukavsky will likely mean an increased workload for Jermaine Green (640 yards, 3 TD's) and someone else that I don't know about yet. Urbandale returns its' signal-caller Ty Langenberg as well as leading-rushing and Northern Illinois commit Harrison Waylee. The J-Hawks will be forced to replace all but 38 percent of their receiving production from a year ago. Des Moines North returns 98 percent of their passing and 51 percent of their rushing from an 0-9 team, so the pieces are there for the Polar Bears to snap the 25-game losing skid they're currently on but it won't be easy in this district. 

SW Iowa High School Football: A look at the returning offensive production for area Class 1A & 2A teams

The first week of high school football season is just 38 days away, which means I think it's an appropriate time to start preparing for the 2019 season.

The success of many teams can often be attributed to how much production they return from the prior year or how much they graduated. It's not alway's a guarantee for a more successful season, but it is a strong indicator. For example, last year I pointed out that Treynor returned every single rushing yard from the 2017 season. The Cardinals went on to an 8-2 record in 2018 and claimed the district championship. Red Oak also returned every single rushing yard from their 2017 season and saw a three-win improvement last season.

I attempted to quantify the offensive production that each team in area districts return. Area Districts include Districts 1, 6, 7 and 8 in 8-Man, Districts 2, 8, 9 and 10 in Class A, Districts 8 and 9 in Class 1A, District 9 in Class 2A, Districts 1 and 9 in Class 3A and District 7 in Class 4A. I've already looked at Class 8-Man and Class A, now it's time to double down and focus on Class 1A & 2A.

For this project, I calculated the percentage of passing touchdowns, passing yards, rushing touchdowns, rushing yards, receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and points that were accumulated by non-seniors. I then averaged the percentages of those eight categories to get an "average" percentage of production that each team returns. It's not a perfect system, but it's the best I could think of.

Now, onto the numbers and the districts. Teams' 2018 record is posted in parentheses. The percentage listed is the number of returning production calculated through the average of the eight categories.

DISCLAIMER: I went solely off QuikStats. This project does not calculate for incoming freshman or production last year that came from underclassmen who may not be playing this year. I have no way of knowing about these situations and cannot factor them into these numbers.

Class 1A District 8: 1. Mount Ayr (7-3) 77%, 2. ACGC (3-6) 75%, 3. Van Meter (11-1) 67%, 4. Panorama (5-4) 58%, 5. Clarinda (3-6) 50%, 6. West Central Valley (1-8) 4%

Van Meter might return the third-most production in the district, but they will be the favorite to win the district and might be one of the favorites for a state title. The Bulldogs return the dynamic duo of quarterback Anthony Potthoff and running back Ian Abrahamson. Abrahamson posted 2,005 yards and 24 scores last year while Pothoff threw for 1,300, ran for 1,000 and played a hand in 37 total touchdowns (24 passing and 13 rushing). The biggest loss for the Bulldogs comes in the wide receiver department where they return just 32 percent of production. Mount Ayr returns a lot of pieces from a playoff team including quarterback and leading rusher Payton Weehler. The Raiders also return their top three rushers (Weehler, Keelan Klommhaus, and Reas Knapp) and two-thirds of their 2018 receiving production.

 ACGC's returning production is a bit deceptive. The Chargers completed just two passes last year for 41 yards and one score. All parties involved in the pair of receptions return, but the Chargers' offense primarily focuses on the ground game where they will return just 31 percent of their rushing production and will have to replace 1,000-yard rusher Ben Kingery. Clarinda comes into 2019 with a new head coach, former Northwest Missouri State, and Creston standout Collin Bevins. Bevins will be forced to replace the production of William Shull in the run game but will have Shull's younger brother, Michael to rely on in the passing game and the running game. Michael Shull will likely be complemented by Conner Brown, who is coming off an injury-shortened 2018 season, but produced well in 2017. Panorama returns all 1,590 passing yards that came from the duo of Luke South and Alejandro Mendez, 62 percent of it's rushing production and 31 percent of it's receiving production. West Central Valley will have many holes to fill from its 1-8 team, including quarterback Carson Wadle.

This district looks as if Mount Ayr and Van Meter will be the teams to beat again, but will there be a breakthrough team?

Class 1A District 9: 1. Treynor (8-2) 86%, 2. Cherokee, Washington (2-7) 83%, 3. East Sac County (5-4) 68%, 4. Underwood (5-4) 61%, 5. MVAOCOU (1-8) 18%, 6. Missouri Valley (4-5) 17%

Last year Treynor returned a large portion of its production, including 100 percent of it's rushing. They don't return quite that much this season, but the Cardinals are still sitting in a really good position. The Cardinals graduate 1,000 yard-rusher Kyle Christensen, but they return the dual-threat quarterback Jake Fisher, who threw for 880 yards and ran for 776 yards. Expect to see Fisher make even more improvements in the passing game because the Cardinals return 99 percent of their receiving production.  Cherokee was rather young last season and took some bumps in their 2-7 season. The Braves return their starting quarterback as well as 96 percent of their receiving from their pass-happy offense. East Sac County will be forced to replace Garrett Bruce, who ran for over 1,700 yards and 19 scores, but the Raiders return quarterback Griff  O'Neil and most of his receivers.

Underwood's explosive passing game will return quarterback Nick Ravlin as well as three of their top four receivers. The Eagles will be forced to replace leading rusher Kyler Rodenburg, but he's the only rusher they lose from 2018, so they have options. MVAOCOU returns one-third of it's rushing production, but they will have a new quarterback and new receivers in 2019. Missouri Valley loses Duke Kyle's presence in the ground game, but the Big Reds do return Nick Haynes, who was a beast in his own regard last year with 1,666 yards and 12 scores. The Big Reds return just 2 percent of their passing production and none of it's receiving production, but their offense is more ground-oriented, so the impact could be minimal.

Class 2A District 9: 1. Shenandoah (0-9) 83%, 2. Greene County (8-2) 63%, 3. Kuemper Catholic (5-5) 42%, 4. Atlantic (4-5) 40%, 5. OABCIG (7-3) 30%, 6. Red Oak (4-5) 23%

Shenandoah returns a lot from a team that was pretty young and transitioning into a new head coach. I expect the Mustangs to make a serious improvement this season thanks to the return of quarterback Kyle Cerven, 77 percent of the receiving production and 76 percent of their rushing production.
Greene County won a share of the district title last year, but I think they're the outright favorite this year. The Rams lose leading rusher Clint Dennhardt (851 yards and 15 touchdowns), which will likely mean increased production from Colby Kafer (776 yards and 8 touchdowns). The Rams also return signal-caller Brent Riley (2,242 yards and 22 touchdowns) and 51 percent of their receiving, including leading receiver Carter Morton (36 catches, 800 yards, 7 touchdowns). Greene County split the district title with Kuemper Catholic, who returns all of its' passing production, but just 42 percent of it's rushing and 5 percent of it's receiving.

Atlantic will be forced to replace the dynamic Chase Mullenix at quarterback, but the Trojans return two-thirds of their receiving production for whoever their next signal-caller is. OABCIG's air-raid offense will have a new signal-caller due to the graduation of Kaden Ladwig. Ladwig threw for 3,027 yards and 32 touchdowns in 2018 and was also the Falcons' leading rusher. Red Oak will return two-thirds of their headed rushing attack that racked up 2,186 yards in 2018. The Tigers lose Thomas Bentley, but they return Justin McCunn and Carter Maynes. They will also have a new signal-caller, but this is an offense that focused on pounding the rock, so the return of McCunn and Maynes is huge.

SW Iowa High School Football: A look at the returning offensive production for area Class A teams

The first week of high school football season is just 38 days away, which means I think it's an appropriate time to start preparing for the 2019 season.

The success of many teams can often be attributed to how much production they return from the prior year or how much they graduated. It's not alway's a guarantee for a more successful season, but it is a strong indicator. For example, last year I pointed out that Treynor returned every single rushing yard from the 2017 season. The Cardinals went on to an 8-2 record in 2018 and claimed the district championship. Red Oak also returned every single rushing yard from their 2017 season and saw a three-win improvement last season.

I attempted to quantify the offensive production that each team in area districts return. Area Districts include Districts 1, 6, 7 and 8 in 8-Man, Districts 2, 8, 9 and 10 in Class A, Districts 8 and 9 in Class 1A, District 9 in Class 2A, Districts 1 and 9 in Class 3A and District 7 in Class 4A. I've already looked at Class 8-Man, now it's time to focus on Class A.

For this project, I calculated the percentage of passing touchdowns, passing yards, rushing touchdowns, rushing yards, receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and points that were accumulated by non-seniors. I then averaged the percentages of those eight categories to get an "average" percentage of production that each team returns. It's not a perfect system, but it's the best I could think of.

Now, onto the numbers and the districts. Teams' 2018 record is posted in parentheses. The percentage listed is the number of returning production calculated through the average of the eight categories.

DISCLAIMER: I went solely off QuikStats. This project does not calculate for incoming freshman or production last year that came from underclassmen who may not be playing this year. I have no way of knowing about these situations and cannot factor them into these numbers.

Class A District 2: 1. Alta-Aurelia (7-3) 69%, 2. St. Edmond (3-6) 52%, 3. IKM-Manning (5-4), 44%, 4. Ridge View (3-6) 30%, 5. Manson-Northwest Webster (0-9) 29%, 6. Sioux Central (7-2) 3%

Alta-Aurelia was a missed field goal away from defeating state runner-up AHSTW last year and advancing to a state quarterfinal. Good news for the Warriors is they return a lot of production from last season including quarterback Logan McCoy and leading rusher Anthony Krier. St. Edmond's run-heavy offense returns most of it's passing production but will have to replace over half of its' rushing productivity. IKM-Manning returns signal-caller Kyler Rasmussen, but loses leading rushers Keaton Grimm and Keaton Allmon.

Ridge View returns just 5 percent of it's passing and only 8 percent of their rushing production, but returns nearly two-thirds of it's receiving. The Raptors will also be forced to make a big replacement on the front-line after losing current Iowa Hawkeye Ezra Miller. Sioux Central posted a 7-2 record last season, but missed the playoffs because of a Week 9 loss to Alta-Aurelia. The Rebels lose all their passing and receiving production from 2018 and return just 8 percent of their rushing, but lost their top three rushers. The numbers suggest this district runs through Alta-Aurelia this season, how the rest of the district shakes out is a major question mark.

Class A District 8: 1. North Mahaska (1-8) 79%, 2. Martensdale-St. Mary's (0-9) 69%. 3. Wayne (5-4) 59%, 4. Central Decatur (4-5) 55%, 5. Lynnville-Sully (5-4) 34%, 6. Grandview Christian (3-6) 13%.

North Mahaska and Martensdale-St. Mary's were both young last year and took their share of bumps. Now both teams return a lot of production and will look to make a leap. North Mahaska returns their starting quarterback and nearly 75 percent of their rushing yards from last season while Martensdale-St. Mary's returns two of the three quarterbacks that saw significant playing time, 41 percent of their rushing production and 86 percent of their receiving production. Wayne returns Chase Keifer, who posted a state-best 2,191 rushing yards. The Falcons also return signal-caller Brett Whitehall, but he will need to find some new weapons because all but 3 percent of his receiving production from last year graduated.

Central Decatur started 0-4 before finishing the season 4-1. The Cardinals return future Iowa State linebacker Cole Pedersen, but Pedersen is good on offense, too. Pedersen threw for over 1,000 last year and ran for 925 and 12 scores. CD returns Pedersen's favorite target, Haden Leymaster (27 receptions, 393 yards and 4 touchdowns). District champion Lynnville Sully returns just 25 percent of it's passing, 36 percent of rushing and 34 percent of receiving production. Grandview Christian will be forced to replace all of it's passing and rushing production, but does return 30 percent of it's receiving production for whoever the new QB is for the Thunder. This district is really intriguing. The champ has a lot of production to replace, the bottom two teams from last year return the most and the two most productive players return. This district will be fun to watch.

Class A District 9: 1. St. Albert (5-4) 100%, 2. Nodaway Valley (0-9) 90%, 3. Earlham (4-5) 75%, 4. Southwest Valley (5-4) 28%, 5. Riverside (4-5) 20%, 6. AHSTW (12-1) 4%

Last year AHSTW rode a senior-heavy lineup all the way to a state championship game, where they fell to Hudson. This year they have to replace the likes of Drake Partridge, Brayton Tuma, Gabe Pauley, Korbin Martin and their coach Davis Pattee. I'm sure AHSTW has some dudes that are ready to step up and make an instant impact, but we just don't know about them yet. Many people might have considered last year a "down" year for St. Albert, but the Falcons were extremely young and replacing a legendary senior class. St. Albert is slated to return basically all of their offensive production from 2018 and appears poised to return back to its customary spot atop the district, but Earlham might have something to say about it. The Cardinals return workhorse rusher Caleb Swalla (1669 yards, 14 touchdowns) and signal-caller Alex Caskey.

Nodaway Valley is one of the more intriguing teams to me entering 2019. The Wolverines return nearly all of their offensive production and will come into the opening night on an 11-game losing skid. The Wolverines will also have a new coach in 2019, Flynn Heald and it sounds like he's going to try to utilize the athleticism the Wolverines return by installing a new offense. Southwest Valley started 2018 4-0 but fell victim to multiple injuries. The good news for the Timberwolves is that it forced them to play many younger players and prepare them for 2019. They will have to replace signal-caller Dustin Lund, but Anthony Donahoo's philosophy focuses on smashmouth running and stellar defense. The T-Wolves will most likely provide an increased workload for sophomore Brendan Knapp and junior Blaine Venteicher.

Year one of the Darrell Frain era saw a two-win improvement for Riverside, but Frain will have to replace the entertaining Valentin Andrusyshyn, leading rusher Hunter Hodges and leading receiver AJ Dillon. Coach Frain will have his work cut out for him, but I'm not doubting him. This district appears to run through St. Albert, but I don't know what to expect after that.


Class A District 10: 1. Lawton-Bronson (4-5) 76%, 2. Woodbury Central (6-3) 69%, 3. West Monona (4-5) 66%, 4. Tri-Center (6-3) 62%, 5. Westwood (8-2) 56%, 6. Logan-Magnolia (1-8) 45%

I believe this is the district that returns the most from top-to-bottom. Lawton-Bronson returns its signal-caller Connor Smith, 71 percent of their rushing and 66 percent of it's receiving production. Woodbury Central returns a nice amount of production but will be forced to replace quarterback Garrett Arment. West Monona returns their starting quarterback and 68 percent of their rushing touchdowns from their run game. The Spartans also return 50 percent of their receiving production from 2018.

Tri-Center's passing game was the most prolific in the district last year and they very well could be the most prolific this year thanks to the return of quarterback Bryson Freeberg. but Freeberg will have to find new targets because top receivers, Wyatt Andersen, Bryant Barrier, Kyle Siebels and Trevor Nelson graduate. The Trojans also return 91 percent of their rushing from their 2018 attack that was paced by Freeberg and Trevor Carlson. District champion Westwood loses quarterback and 1,000-yard rusher Sean Westergaard, but they do return leading rusher, Braulio Munoz. The cupboard won't be bare for whoever replaces Westergaard because the Rebels return almost all their receiving production. Last year was an unusually tough year for Logan-Magnolia. The Panthers lost six in a row to finish the season 1-8. This year the Panthers return their signal-caller Gabe Walski but return just 28 percent of their rushing and 29 percent of their receiving production. I have a feeling that Matt Straight has some dudes that are going to step up and make some plays.

SW Iowa High School Football: A look at the returning offensive production for area 8-Man teams

The beginning of high school football season is just 44 days away, which means I think it's an appropriate time to start preparing for the 2019 season.

The success of many teams can often be attributed to how much production they return from the prior year or how much they graduated. It's not alway's a guarantee for a more successful season, but it is a strong indicator. For example, last year I pointed out that Treynor returned every single rushing yard from the 2017 season. The Cardinals went on to an 8-2 record in 2018 and claimed the district championship. Red Oak also returned every single rushing yard from their 2017 season and saw a three-win improvement last season.

I attempted to quantify the offensive production that each team in area districts return. Area Districts include Districts 1, 6, 7 and 8 in 8-Man, Districts 2, 8, 9 and 10 in Class A, Districts 8 and 9 in Class 1A, District 9 in Class 2A, Districts 1 and 9 in Class 3A and District 7 in Class 4A. This blog will focus solely on Class 8-Man.

For this project, I calculated the percentage of passing touchdowns, passing yards, rushing touchdowns, rushing yards, receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and points that were accumulated by non-seniors. I then averaged the percentages of those eight categories to get an "average" percentage of production that each team returns. It's not a perfect system, but it's the best I could think of.

Now, onto the numbers and the districts. Teams' 2018 record is posted in parentheses. The percentage listed is the number of returning production calculated through the average of the eight categories.

DISCLAIMER: I went solely off QuikStats. This project does not calculate for incoming freshman or production last year that came from underclassmen who may not be playing this year. I have no way of knowing about these situations and cannot factor them into these numbers.

District 1: 1. Harris-Lake Park (3-6) 100 %, 2. St. Mary's-Remsen (6-3) 100%, 3. Newell Fonda (8-2) 83%, 4. River Valley (2-7) 49%, 5. Kingsley-Pierson (5-4) 42%, 6. Clay Central-Everly (0-9) 36%, 7. West Bend-Mallard (5-4) 14%, 8. Ar-We-Va (10-1) 6%

Ar-We-Va's undefeated regular season was led by the dominant senior duo of Keegan Simons and Drew Schurke. The Rockets graduated all 2,308 passing yards from 2018 and will return just 232 rushing yards and 216 receiving yards. Meanwhile, district runner-up Newell Fonda returns almost all of it's production and most importantly, a dual-threat quarterback in Bryce Coppock, who threw for 1000 yards, ran for another 1,600 yards, threw 12 touchdowns and ran for 12. The Mustangs also return many other contributors around Coppock and will likely be the favorite in the district. Harris-Lake Park had zero seniors and just six juniors last year while St. Mary's Remsen went 6-3 with zero seniors on the roster thanks to monster production from soon-to-be junior Blaine Harpenau.

District 6: 1. Lamoni (5-4) 100%, 2. Murray (3-6) 55%, 3. Lenox (7-3) 49%, 4. Mormon Trail (5-4), 45%, 5. Seymour (1-8) 33%, 6. Southeast Warren (12-1) 29%, 7. Moravia (3-6) 26%, 8. East Union (5-4) 16% 

Southeast Warren's move down to 8-man could not have come at a better time for the Warhawks. Last year they rode a veteran-heavy, high-tempo offense all the way to a state semifinal. Many of the pieces from that team are gone, but they do return a handful of nice pieces. Lamoni had a five-game winning streak book-ended by a pair of two-game losing streaks in 2018 and had just three seniors on the roster. Patrick Savage ran or threw for 42 total touchdowns to lead the Demons' offense last year, and he's back and ready to do it again in 2019. Murray went from 0-9 in 2017 to 3-6 in 2018. The Mustangs return over half of their 2018 offensive-production, so another win improvement is certainly possible.

I think Lenox is the most intriguing team in this district coming into the season. The Tigers lost their quarterback, Carter Still, but they did not throw the ball much anyways (just 7 TD's and 376 yards). Still's impact will be missed way more on the ground where he ran for 861 yards and 17 scores. The good news for Lenox is they return the beast that is Colton Gordon (1,548 yards and 26 yards.) and every other rushing yard and touchdown aside from Still. If Lenox can quickly replace Still, then they might become the favorite to win the district.

District 7: 1. Bedford (3-6) 81%, 2. East Mills (7-2) 66%, 3. Griswold (2-7) 60%, 4. Stanton/Essex (7-3, 1-8) 51%, 5. Fremont-Mills (10-2) 34%, 6. Sidney (5-4) 8%. 

There are two very important things of note in this district. Essex and Stanton will share football this season, I added their returning offensive production together to receive their total, also Clarinda Academy is also in this district but did not have any stats available on QuikStats, also it's tough to predict whether or not they will return anybody from year-to-year.

I am very intrigued by the combination of Stanton and Essex. Stanton's offense relied heavily on Drake Johnson last year, but he's since graduated. Luckily Essex has a young man named Colton Thornburg, who could certainly fill the void Johnson left. Thornburg was the signal-caller in Essex last year, but I think he will be used in a running back/wide receiver role for the Vikings due to the return of junior signal-caller Keygan Day. In total, the combo of Stanton and Essex return 98 percent of their passing production and 49% of their rushing. The biggest void comes in the receiving category, but like I said, Thornburg might fill that.

Bedford returns the dynamic duo of Cooper Nally and Brennan Sefrit along with the productive duo of Eli Morris and Jacob French. In total, the Bulldogs return 100 percent of their passing production and 92 percent of their rushing production   Griswold returns 80 percent of their run production and if you aren't familiar with Griswold, running the ball is pretty much all they do, so 80 percent is a huge number for the Tigers.

East Mills narrowly missed the playoffs last season, but good news for them is that they return the passing and receiving combination of Michael Schafer and Nic Duysen. Fremont-Mills lost a very productive senior class, but they return Division I prospect Seth Malcom and have been able to groom many underclassmen for this situation by giving them valuable minutes in many blowout victories. Sidney will be forced to rely on almost entirely new faces in 2019, but they've done it before with success, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them do it again.

District 8: 1. Glidden-Ralston (6-3) 94%, 2. Audubon (6-4) 92%, 3. Boyer Valley (1-8) 78%, 4. Coon Rapids-Bayard (4-5) 72%, 5. Woodbine (5-4) 62%, 6. West Harrison (0-9) 44%, 7. CAM (6-3) 30%, 8. Exira-EHK (9-2) 9%

Two of the top four teams from last year (Glidden-Ralston and Audubon) return the most production while the other top two (Exira-EHK and CAM) return the least. Glidden-Ralston returns all of its' passing production, 96 percent of it's rushing production and it's top four leading receivers from a 6-3 team while Audubon returns all of its' passing and rushing production from last year, led by quarterback Skyler Schultes. Boyer Valley returns some really nice pieces and should be expected to improve from their 1-8 2018 campaign. Coon Rapids-Bayard will look to replace over half of its receiving production but returns 84 percent of its' passing and 93 percent of rushing production. Woodbine returns the dynamic Pryor brothers, Wyatt and Lane, but will be forced to replace l,000-yard rusher Tyler Colberly.

West Harrison returns almost all of its' passing production but will have to make up ground in the running game, which returns a negative total of rushing yards due to a large number of sacks on quarterback Colby Neill. CAM will be forced to replace the likes of Preston Murphy, Isaac Bower and Mitchell Williamson, but they have pieces such as Nate Hensley and Lane Spieker that should be able to fill that void. Exira-EHK rode the veteran presence of Josh Pettepier, Cole Burmeister and Jayden Goodwin to a district title, but all three are gone and the Spartans are left with just six percent of their rushing production. Good news for them is Tyler Petersen saw action in 2018 because of injuries and should be prepared to take over. Plus, I never doubt a Tom Petersen coached team.

This district was crazy last year, I think there are two favorites (Audubon and Glidden-Ralston) coming into the season, but that doesn't mean it won't still be crazy.