By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Baseball: "The Final Season:" Depicts Iowa Prep Baseball
A new movie hitting the screen this weekend showcases the final season of Norway High School's baseball team, a squad from a tiny Iowa town that produced 19 state championships and a major league star in former Baltimore Orioles' pitcher Mike Boddicker. At the same time, the school's success kept the community knitted together in a common hometown pride and oneness.
After 25 years as a baseball power, the 100-student school closed and merged with another eastern Iowa district in 1991. With a new coach replacing the legendary Jim Van Scoyoc (played by Powers Boothe in the movie), the expectations for the final year were not high. But, at the end of it all, the Tigers were back in the state finals, playing for another state championship.
Boddicker was a consultant for the film, which was shot in three Iowa locations, including Norway. Iowa native Tom Arnold played a role in the movie, and told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier after a screening in Cedar Rapids last weekend, "It's just a great portrayal of what small town is like, and why things like baseball are important to those communities."
Boys Golf: Dowling's McCoy Claims State 4-A Medal
West Des Moines Dowling senior Nate McCoy used two solid rounds of golf to claim the state individual medalist honors at the Class 4-A championships last weekend in Mason City.
McCoy shot a first-day four-under par 68 and followed that with a second-day two-under score of 70 to win the title by eight shots over cross-town rival Cade Nichol of West Des Moines Valley.
Nichol's Valley Tigers won the state team title by one shot over Ames, 606-607. Dowling finished in third, three shots behind Valley.
Football: Tigers Claim 11th-Straight Over West Waterloo
Friday night's 28-13 victory by Cedar Falls over West Waterloo at the UNI-Dome marked the 11th-straight victory for the Tigers over their cross-metro rivals, dating back to 1996.
Long-time Cedar Falls coach Pat Mitchell entered game-week preparations concerned about how to stop the Wahawks' explosive offense. Mitchell told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, "We can't hope for rain in the Dome, so that's out."
The unbeaten Tigers did it by holding West (3-3) to 196 total yards, while gaining 342 yards total offense themselves. CF signal-caller Kyle Bernard threw for 206 yards and three touchdowns in the victory. Meanwhile, Wahawk quarterback Ryan Edwards was held to just 94 yards passing and was sacked five times.
Fourth-ranked (Class 4-A) Cedar Falls has won every game this season by at least two touchdowns. The difference in the score has been more impressive in games between the Tigers and Wahawks during the 11-game winning streak, where the average score has been 38-10 in favor of the Tigers in those head-to-head matchups.
Football: East Waterloo Claims First Win in Double OT
On the other side of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metro, East Waterloo savored a moment the Trojans have not enjoyed often in over seven years.
Winless with five double-digit losses this year, and with just one win in seven-plus seasons, East scored a thrilling 29-28 double-overtime victory over Cedar Rapids Jefferson at Waterloo Memorial Stadium for Antonio Mays' first victory as head coach in his first year at the helm.
Trailing 28-27 in the second overtime after scoring a touchdown, East elected to go for two points and the win, with running back Trice Scott producing the needed three yards on the conversion attempt for the victory. Scott had already scored three touchdowns and had carried the ball 30 times in the game.
As a team, East Waterloo fashioned a season-high 365 yards offense against the 2-4 J-Hawks, including 271 on the ground.
East held the Mississippi Valley Conference's leading rusher, Terrell McBride, to 116 yards on 24 attempts.
The East players and coaches especially savored the moment, because several players had left the program in the middle of the trying year, including the team's leading rusher. Mays had to bring up several players from the junior varsity and sophomore teams to fill out the roster.
Football: No Changes at the Top
Heading into the final third of the regular season, the top teams in Iowa remained the same in the state Associated Press rankings.
After six games, Bettendorf remains the team to beat in Class 4-A, getting 15 of the 17 first-place votes. West Des Moines Valley received the other first-place markers in Class 4-A. The 3-A leader remains Harlan, a unanimous No. 1 ahead of No. 2 Marion.
The 2-A pacesetter remains northwest Iowa power Central Lyon-George-Little Rock, who earned 12 first-place votes to Solon's three. In 1-A, it's Aplington-Parkersburg again at the top, getting eight first-place markers in a split vote over four other teams. And, in Class A, Fairbank-Wapsie Valley stands alone at number-one with 15 of the 17 first-place nods over second-place Madrid.
In eight-man football, Blairsburg-Northeast Hamilton is No. 1 ahead of No. 2 Stanton.
