By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Softball: West Delaware Completes Two-Sport Sweep
Manchester-West Delaware has completed a sweep of summer state championships in Iowa. The Hawks have added a state softball championship to a state baseball crown won just one week before.
West Delaware's softball team edged A-D-M 2-1 in the Class 3-A state softball finals at Fort Dodge's Harlan Rogers Sports Complex last Saturday. The Hawks' baseball team upset Cedar Rapids Xavier in its Class 3-A state final at Des Moines the week previous, marking the fourth time in Iowa history that a school has won state baseball and softball championships in the same year.
Ashley Hood's RBI single in the top of the sixth inning provided the winning margin for West Delaware, which ended the season 45-8. A-D-M (Adel) ended the year 34-8.
In the other state finals for softball, West Des Moines Valley (53-3) edged Pleasant Valley (31-15), 1-0, for the 4-A title, as designated hitter Keri Patterson scored the only run of the game for Valley in the third inning. Solon (52-3) shut down Akron-Westfield (37-3), 6-0, in the Class 2-A title game, and in Class 1-A, it was Highland (34-4) over New London (31-7), 4-2.
Football: State Playoffs Expanding
The 2007 Iowa high school football playoffs will be the last where only 16 teams qualify for the postseason.
The IHSAA Board of Control has approved a plan for the 2008 year where the number of qualifiers increases to 32 in all classes. Four teams from each of eight districts in each class will qualify for the postseason.
The first round will be known as the sub-state round and will have the No. 4 team from one district play the No. 1 team of a neighboring district, and so on.
Teams will continue to play nine regular season games.
Football: Banks Among Hall of Fame Class of 2007
The Iowa High School Athletic Association has announced its 2007 class for its Football Hall of Fame.
The IHSAA says the new members of the Hall will be the late George Asleson, a 1952 graduate of Charles City; Tom Rusk, a 1975 graduate of Dubuque Hempstead; Chris Hegg, a 1982 graduate of Hudson; Lew Montgomery, a 1988 graduate of East Waterloo; Chad Shuff, a 1993 graduate of LeMars; and Tavian Banks, a 1993 graduate of Bettendorf.
Asleson also played two seasons at the State College of Iowa (now University of Northern Iowa), and is a member of the UNI Hall of Fame. He was a first-team All-American at SCI as an offensive guard in 1960.
Hegg went on from Hudson High School to Truman State, where he set 13 school and conference records in a two-year career.
Rusk went from Dubuque Hempstead to Iowa, where he set a season record for tackles at 105 in the 1977 season.
Montgomery also went on to Iowa from East Waterloo, where he was USA Today's State Player of the Year and a Super Prep honorable mention All-American on offense and defense. He was a first-team all-state selection and conference MVP as a member of the Trojans. Montgomery scored 110 points in 1986, at the time the fourth-highest in school history.
Shuff garnered the state's fourth-highest yardage total in one game, amassing 431 yards for the Bulldogs against Boone in 1991. He also scored eight touchdowns in a game against Algona in 1992, second highest in state history. In 10 games in the 1992 season, Shuff gained 2,699 yards, the fifth-highest total in Iowa history, scoring 38 touchdowns for the season, part of a total of 75 TDs in his career.
With Bettendorf, Banks scored six touchdowns in a game against North Scott in 1992. Banks gained 2,394 yards with Bettendorf in the 1992 season, when his team won the state Class 4-A title. Also that season, Banks scored 42 touchdowns, seventh-best in state history, and had 4,317 yards and 75 TDs for his high school career
They will be inducted during the Class 4-A state championship game Nov. 16 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. .
Softball: Vint Taking Over at Marshalltown
There's a new man in charge of Marshalltown's softball program. East Marshall head coach Mike Vint has agreed to take over the Bobcats' program.
The new Bobcat head coach started his career in 1971 and has a career coaching record at 1,027-323 in stops at Green Mountain, LDF, LDF-SEMCO, and East Marshall. He's one of 10 Iowa softball coaches to have reached the 1,000-win level.
At East Marshall, Vint made five state tournament appearances and won 14-straight conference championships. This year's club finished the summer 21-10.
Vint replaces Bob Matz, who coached Marshalltown for three years before taking a position in Columbia, S.C. Matz' Bobcat squad this year fashioned a record of 15-31.
Vint's appointment was subject to Marshalltown School Board approval.