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
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.
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