By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Football: Peschong Sets Passing Record
Marshalltown quarterback Tyler Peschong is the first Iowa high school quarterback to pass for more than two-thousand yards in three consecutive seasons. Peschong reached the milestone with a 269 yard effort in the Bobcats' 37-31 Central Iowa Metropolitan League victory over Ames last week.
His 10-for-19 performance also helped break a four-game losing streak by the Bobcats over the Little Cyclones.
Peschong now has 2,003 yards in seven games for Marshalltown this year, adding to his 2,041 yard mark as a junior, and 2,101 yards passing as a sophomore.
The record throw came with about two minutes remaining in the game on a 6-yard pass to Kellyn Fogarty, who caught five passes for 169 yards.
Peschong also owns the career passing yardage record for the state's Class 4-A schools with a total of 6,145 yards, breaking the previous record of 5,908 yards set by Brady Foster of conference rival Mason City. That record was set between 2000 and 2002.
Marshalltown (6-1, 3-0 CIML) meets second-ranked West Des Moines Valley (7-0, 3-0 CIML) in a conference showdown this week at Valley Stadium.
The Bobcats' 6-1 record also marks the first time in 30 years that a Marshalltown team had fashioned that record.
Football: Jones Ties Iowa All-Time Passing Mark
Meanwhile, another Iowa high school quarterback is on the verge of setting a passing record for all classes of Hawkeye State prep football. In fact, Cherokee's Tyler Jones owned the record outright.for one play.
Jones broke the Iowa career passing yardage mark of 6,814 yards with a 6-yard completion to Christopher Campbell during last week's loss to top-ranked Central Lyon/George-Little Rock. However, Jones then completed the next pass, again to Campbell, but Campbell was then tackled for a 1-yard loss.
That's where Jones ended the night, tied for the state record of 6,813 yards, as the Braves fell to CL/G-LR 44-7. He's tied with former St. Ansgar quarterback Matt Sherman, who went on to quarterback the Iowa Hawkeyes in the mid-to-late 1990's.
Jones should break the record when the Braves play this week against Sioux Center.
"Just tying it is a big honor," Jones told the Des Moines Register newspaper. "I wish the record would have come, and I wish we could have had a big win."
Football: Akron-Westfield's Parkinson Among Hall of Fame Choices
Former Akron-Westfield football coach Craig Parkinson will be among the newest members of the Iowa Football Coaches Hall of Fame. Parkinson amassed 175 wins in a 33-year career, including 141 wins with the Westerners, whose 2002 team won the state Class 1-A championship with a 13-0 record. His 1988 and 1990 teams also went through the regular seasons undefeated.
The honorees will be introduced at half-time of the state Class 4-A football championship game in the UNI-Dome at Cedar Falls next month.
Parkinson started his coaching career at West Harrison, and then moved to Akron when the school near the Iowa-South Dakota was simply Akron High School, before consolidation brought in the adjacent Westfield school district.
As a coach, he was known for including a trick play or two in his offensive game plan. But, it seemed to work, as nine of his teams claimed either conference or district championships. He coached five playoff teams, finishing with a 7-4 career post-season mark.
Parkinson is now retired from teaching and lives with his wife and children in Sioux City.
Softball: Turkey Valley Standout Commits To Iowa Wesleyan
Iowa's current state softball leader in pitching wins and strikeouts has brushed aside the courting of NCAA Division One schools and says she'll ply her talents in the state for an NAIA school.
Turkey Valley's Meagan Novotny has verbally committed to play for Iowa Wesleyan when she graduates from high school next spring. Iowa Wesleyan has awarded her its Blue-Chip Athletic Scholarship.
Novotny is the current active leader in victories with 127 and in strikeouts with 1,642. If she reaches the 400 strikeout level in her senior season this summer, she'll be the first Iowa softball pitcher to reach that mark in four consecutive campaigns.
Meagan reportedly had been offered full-ride scholarships to the likes of Florida State, Michigan State and Ohio State, among others, but turned them all down.
Novotny told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier newspaper that she preferred small-town life after living in the Tampa, Florida area from age five to 12. She's also familiar with Mount Pleasant, where Iowa Wesleyan is located. It's where her father served as a sports announcer and as Iowa Wesleyan sports information director.
"After I visited, I knew that's exactly where I wanted to go," Novotny added.