By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
The Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union has announced the pairings for the first round of the state tournament, played at the U.S. Cellular Center in
Cedar Rapids.
First-round action will begin on Wednesday, Nov. 12 for Classes 3-A and 4-A. Thursday, Nov. 13 will be quarterfinal day for Classes 1-A and 2-A. Semifinals for all four classes will take place on Friday, Nov. 14 and the four state championship matches will occur on Saturday, Nov. 15.
New London is the highest-ranked team (No. 3) remaining in Class 1-A and will open Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. against Des Moines Grandview Park Baptist, which was unranked in the final IGHSAU rankings.
Top-ranked Western Christian (36-2) is still alive in the Class 2-A tournament. The perennial volleyball power will play an interesting first round match, as it faces Orange City Unity Christian (25-13). The two Sioux County private schools will travel over 250 miles to eastern Iowa to meet each other in the quarterfinals; they’re located only 17 miles apart. Unity was ranked No. 15 in the final ratings.
Last year’s finalists in Class 3-A could meet again in the state championship match, if things go right. Top-rated Mount Vernon finished second in last year’s tournament to Sioux City Heelan, which is ranked third in the final poll, and they are in opposite brackets again this season. No. 2 Marion could stand in Heelan’s way, as they potentially could meet in the semifinals.
No. 1 Johnston (28-1) is in the Class 4-A field and meets eighth-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie (24-4) in the first round. Four of the top five are in the 4-A field, with fifth-ranked West Des Moines Valley the only team of that group not to make the trip to Cedar Rapids for state.
Football: Ames Needs Four Overtimes to Advance
Probably the most exciting first round playoff game in the Iowa football playoffs Monday night came with the four-overtime win by Ames in Class 4-A. The Little Cyclones edged Southeast Polk 49-48 at Southeast Polk. The victory moves the 8-3 Little Cyclones into a quarterfinal game Friday evening on their field against 10-1 Ankeny.
Six years before, an Ames team played a regular season five-overtime thriller, prevailing over West Des Moines Valley, 55-52. That’s the second-longest overtime game in Iowa history, topped only by Starmont’s 20-14 victory over Edgewood-Colesburg in 1974.
Football: Hall of Fame Induction at State Finals
The Iowa High School Athletic Association plans to induct several former players and coaches into its football hall of fame. The induction will occur at halftime of the Class 4-A state championship game at the Cedar Falls UNI-Dome on Friday, Nov. 21.
The honorees include football players Bob Kreamer (Des Moines Roosevelt), Dave Schreck (Coon Rapids), Mike Flagg (Cedar Falls), Rob Sinclair (GMG, Garwin), Ryan Bakke (Garner-Hayfield) and Tavian Banks (Bettendorf).
Coaches being honored include Rod Hough, Neil Phipps of Cherokee, and Bob Strouse. Bedford's Bob McCoy will be the recipient of the prestigious Walt Fiegel Coaching with Character Award.
Wrestling: Don Bosco Standout Commits To Minnesota
Bart Reiter’s senior season with the Dons of Gilbertville-Don Bosco is yet to begin, but Reiter has committed to wrestling next season at the University of Minnesota.
Reiter is a three-time state champion at Don Bosco and will become the second member of the Reiter family to wrestle for the Golden Gophers. Mack Reiter was a three-time All-American in Minnesota after winning four state championships at fashioning a career high school mark of 182-3 with 134 pins. Mack is now a graduate assistant at Minnesota.
If Bart wins the state title this season, he’ll become the 18th Iowa high schooler to claim four state championships in his wrestling career. He and Mack would also become the first brother tandem to both win four Iowa titles ever.
Bart says Nebraska and Iowa State were also considered.
Basketball: Sioux City Freshman Commits to Iowa State University
It doesn’t happen very often, but a Sioux City West freshman has announced his college intentions at the end of his high school career. Wesley Staten has made a verbal commitment to the Iowa State Cyclones of the Big 12 Conference, before even playing one varsity high school basketball game.
Staten accepted a scholarship offer from Cyclone coach Greg McDermott two weeks ago. Staten is a 6-foot guard, who played for the Mokan Players AAU team in Wichita during the past summer.
Two other Iowa boys basketball players have made verbal commitments in their freshman year. They are former Hawkeye star Dean Oliver of Mason City and Rock Valley’s 6-foot-9 junior Jordan Dykstra, who has also committed to Iowa State.
