District 5

[Zowwy21]

Sumner/Fred is actually playing really well right now, so I give them the nod over MFL. Kelby Olson is a stud. I also like Alburnett in the their game. Highland will roll over Lisbon. (Man talk about a fall - they fell hard.)

Agree, EdCo/NL game will be fun game to watch.

 

[troutstamp1]

I had heard the Barnett kid from ALB who signed with SDS is out for the season and Wickman is out for quite awhile yet also but they hope to get him back before the end of the season. I think to that CR will have a say before its said and done as their 4 non district games are brutal, WV, EB, Beckman and Bellvue, they will be 0-4 but definitely battle test before districts start. Plus I heard they get some kids eligible that have been out.

 

[Sev393]

Agree, EdCo/NL game will be fun game to watch.

From pure selfish standpoint, I am interested to see if North Linn can hang with Ed-Co. I think ed-co will have have a more diverse attack against North Linn defense than anyone they have seen to this point. I would have expected a fairly wide open game both ways prior to ed-co throwing a goose egg up against East Buc. North Linn had a crap ton kids dressed. They might have more kids on their sideline than any small school that I can recall in recent memory (except Regina). They might be able to use their depth to wear down Ed-Co late , like they did against Alburnett ?

 

[Anonymous2002]

I had heard the Barnett kid from ALB who signed with SDS is out for the season and Wickman is out for quite awhile yet also but they hope to get him back before the end of the season. I think to that CR will have a say before its said and done as their 4 non district games are brutal, WV, EB, Beckman and Bellvue, they will be 0-4 but definitely battle test before districts start. Plus I heard they get some kids eligible that have been out.

Looks like CR’s QB (#18) went down on Friday night... whats the status on that??

 

[Anonymous2002]

The time has come... start of district play, as well as rivalry week in District 5!! Who do ya’ll got??

Maq Valley vs ED-CO
MFL @ Clayton Ridge (CR’s homecoming)
Alburnett @ Lisbon

 

[Zowwy21]

EC, Alburnette for sure. The intriguing one for me is the CR/MFL game, although don't think it is going to have an impact on district winner.

 

[Sev393]

The time has come... start of district play, as well as rivalry week in District 5!! Who do ya’ll got??

Maq Valley vs ED-CO
MFL @ Clayton Ridge (CR’s homecoming)
Alburnett @ Lisbon

Ed-Co rolls, CR should win at home but i would think its a 1 or 2 score game. Alburnett should win at Lisbon, but I saw the Lisbon game with Highland and came away more a little surprised about how Lisbon looked given their scores up to that point. I think Highland was pretty vanilla that game, so may have had something to do with it. If the pirates get off to customary slow start and lions create some turnovers, it could be closer than most would think.

 

[JustCurious3]

Ed-Co rolls, CR should win at home but i would think its a 1 or 2 score game. Alburnett should win at Lisbon, but I saw the Lisbon game with Highland and came away more a little surprised about how Lisbon looked given their scores up to that point. I think Highland was pretty vanilla that game, so may have had something to do with it. If the pirates get off to customary slow start and lions create some turnovers, it could be closer than most would think.

ALB is in a do or die situation going into Lisbon. Based on what I have watched, their defense is struggling at best when a team gets outside the box or more than 10 yards down field on a pass play. On the other side of the ball, the O line is leaking defenders like a sieve. All of the high hopes for a successful season are currently riding on the coaches backs to make adjustments on both sides of the ball or it will be another mediocre season for a very talented group of players.

Creativity is what took them so far last year and it looks like they need to do it again this year!

 

[Anonymous2002]

You failed to mention that their 3 best players have been out the last 3 weeks...all all-state caliber players so when/if they get them back healthy, it may be a whole different story!!

Ps. Most defenses struggle when others players get outside the box, and their run game just went for 600 yards last week so unsure of that assessment.

 

[Sev393]

ALB is in a do or die situation going into Lisbon. Based on what I have watched, their defense is struggling at best when a team gets outside the box or more than 10 yards down field on a pass play. On the other side of the ball, the O line is leaking defenders like a sieve. All of the high hopes for a successful season are currently riding on the coaches backs to make adjustments on both sides of the ball or it will be another mediocre season for a very talented group of players.

Creativity is what took them so far last year and it looks like they need to do it again this year!

Every game in district play is going to be do or die for Alburnett. Doubtful RPI will get them in if they don’t win district. And coach’s can’t play, so up to players to make plays regardless whether all-state or a back-up. There is no other choice at this point!

 

[Sev393]

week 5 results for D5

Ed-Co 21 Maq Valley 7
Alburnett 35 Lisbon 12
Clayton Ridge 33 MFL 29

Probably no surprises as far as who won. But perhaps the scores were a little closer than anticipated. Reading between the lines, it sounded like Ed-Co's coach felt the Vikings did not put forth their best effort? But i would suspect coach Evers was holding some things back for district play and likely caused some problems for Ed-Co.

Alburnett got off to a quick start offensively, which was nice to see. But on defense they had a hard time with Lions QB , Waters, early on. it was 14-12 about mid way through first quarter. After that, pirates really controlled things. Alburnett turned it over on downs 2-3 times inside Lisbon 30 and I don't think Lions had a first down in the second half. Lisbon is very young up front though. If Lions find someone to replace Waters , they will be back in a year or two.

Entertaining, back and forth game in Guttenburg. CR did most of its damage on the ground behind their back, Van Handorf. MFL had a nice mix of ground game and some timely passes. It was 33-29 early in the 4th. MFL turned it over on downs deep in in Eagles territory twice in the last 5-6 minutes.

 

[Anonymous2002]

Thoughts on Week 6 games??

Alburnett (3-2,1-0) at Clayton Ridge (1-4, 1-0)
-this figures to be the first “Big” game in the District. Alburnett coach returns to Guttenberg to coach against his former team.
Prediction: Depends on if Alburnett can stay consistent and keep their momentum...

Lisbon (0-5, 0-1) at ED-CO (4-1, 1-0)
-Can Lisbon bounce back from last years loss after Krob and Williams ditched their team or does ED-CO roll em’ at home??
Prediction: ED-CO rolls em...

Maq Valley (0-5, 0-1) at MFL (2-3, 0-1)
- something has to give here... can Maq Valley get their offense rolling and bounce back from a tough ED-CO loss?!
Prediction: Maq Valley in a close one

 

[Football211]

Wow this district is pretty bad. Alburnett Lisbon and CR all way under performing

 

[Zowwy21]

I’m going with Alburnett, Ed-Co and MFL.

 

[Sev393]

Wow this district is pretty bad. Alburnett Lisbon and CR all way under performing

Again,

Alburnett is playing without their starting backfield. QB had surgery about 2 weeks prior to season starting and is out for the year. Sophomore replaced him, and the last couple games has started to looked more comfortable. RB/ rush end and WR/RB/OLB both had significant lower body injuries early in week 2. One was back for Lisbon but was still did not look 100%.
So after half of Highland game, it became apparent it was going to be more of a struggle for the Pirates. Otherwise, I think they are 5-0 and a top 10 team.

But even before that Ed-Co , I felt , was likely going to go oar for oar with Alburnett.

Lisbon and Clayton Ridge both lost a lot. Lisbon , perhaps more than any team in the state. I think anyone that followed those teams suspected it might a re-building year. Lisbon is very young , and like a lot of young teams lack consistency and seem to play alot better on their home field. They have a nice challenge with Ed-Co this week again.

 

[Football211]

Still doesn't change the fact that they are under preforming. Every team has injury, some have more than others, you've got to play with what you have.

 

[Anonymous2002]

When 3 all-state caliber players are not playing... that changes things... especially in small schools. Who is your team again??

 

[troutstamp1]

Not sure 1 team has 3 legitimate all state players especially in class A but then again the way the all state teams were picked last year was a joke as far as who got on and left off in all classes. Talked to someone from Alb a few days ago and didn't have a lot of good things to say and ill leave it at that. Ill take Clayton Ridge just based on the strength of their non district schedule and will take EdCo over Lisbon but it will be much closer than you expect.

 

[Football211]

Hard to believe that they are all three all-state caliber players

 

[Sev393]

All-state voting is in the eye of the beholder...But pretty sure all 3 were all district team last year as juniors.
Barnett is committed to SDSU and still getting looked at Iowa / Iowa St. Pretty sure D1 recruits dont just get replaced by JV players at class A. Wickman led class A in sacks last year. And Luke Smith would have been a 3 year starter at QB . All 3 are two way players. Pretty sure if any team loses 3/4th of the starting backfield AND key cogs on defense, its going to experience some drop off. It would be ridiculous to argue otherwise.

@troutstamp, whoever you talked to from alburnett I would take with a grain of salt. See above. If that person (s) expected the backups to step in and everything to look fantastic, well I wouldn't value that opinion very much. Hows it working out in Lisbon this year, losing all that talent?

 

[Kevin7216]

I agree sev sometimes losing 1 good player can make a team have a drop off let alone 3

 

[troutstamp1]

All-state voting is in the eye of the beholder...But pretty sure all 3 were all district team last year as juniors.
Barnett is committed to SDSU and still getting looked at Iowa / Iowa St. Pretty sure D1 recruits dont just get replaced by JV players at class A. Wickman led class A in sacks last year. And Luke Smith would have been a 3 year starter at QB . All 3 are two way players. pretty whatever team loses 3/4th of the starting backfield is going to experience some drop off. It would be ridiculous to argue otherwise.

@troutstamp, whoever you talked to from alburnett I would take with a grain of salt. See above. If that person (s) expected the backups to step in and everything to look fantastic, well I would value that opinion very much. Hows it working out in Lisbon this year, losing all that talent?

Sev, I never said the person was upset with the players or the subs that took those starters spots. I just said they didn't have good things to say, nothing about the players. And for what its worth they are pretty connected to Alb athletics. In class A football if you lose just 1 key starter its a huge issue as you don't have the depth to just throw someone in like a bigger class school can. I get what you are saying but just remember just because your are all district doesn't mean your an all state caliber player, depends on strength of district for one. I hope all your kids get healthy and make a run as these last 4 weeks are going to be fun to watch.

 

[Sev393]

Sev, I never said the person was upset with the players or the subs that took those starters spots. I just said they didn't have good things to say, nothing about the players.

Sorry to put words in your mouth Trout. But I cant otherwise comment on a vague statement . Is someone unhappy with FB, athletics in general? the math teacher, how green the grass is, popcorn too salty?

 

[troutstamp1]

Unhappy with a certain thing within football and its not the players, ill leave it at that.

 

[Sev393]

sorry for the lateness of this since everyone hangs on my D5 posts...Life gets in the way sometimes

Week 6 results

Clayton Ridge, Guttenberg 24, Alburnett 15
Edgewood-Colesburg 41, Lisbon 8
MFL MarMac 26, Maquoketa Valley, Delhi 21

Alburnett was horrible in Guttenburg. Must have put the ball on the ground about 10 times, losing 3-4 of those. Eagles did change up their offense and run some different things. But pirates were up 15-6 after 1 and then stumbled around for 2nd/ 3rd quarters, letting CR steal it late on a long run, then snapped ball over punter's head for safety .

ED-Co ran/passed through Lisbon at home. Looking more like the class of the district again after allowing MV to hang around the week prior.

Competitive game with MFL and MV as expected.

week 7

Clayton Ridge at Maquoketa Valley
Edgewood-Colesburg at Alburnett
Lisbon at MFL MarMac

Ed-Co @ Alburnett was pre-season game of the year in d5. Now Pirates will be lucky to stay within 3 TDs. Only interest for the rest of the state would be a pirate upset and then d5 could easily end in a 3 way tie, and some more deserving playoff teams might get shafted by that. Ed-Co win this week likely sets up week 9 D5 title match at Clayton Ridge .

 

[JustCurious3]

Will the rain be the great equalizer in Alburnett tonight?

 

[Sev393]

Will the rain be the great equalizer in Alburnett tonight?

Clayton Ridge 14 Maquoketa Valley 15
Edgewood-Colesburg 35 Alburnett 7
Lisbon 0 MFL MarMac 21

Well this district is pretty much done and dusted. You can argue CR could still beat Ed-Co at home week 9, but I just don't see that happening.

CR was the better team against MV but Wildcats took advantage of a fumble recovery at Eagles 5 for a score and then got a 2nd TD right before half on a ball that might have deflected on 2 DBs and the receiver before falling into receiver's hand for eventual winning TD. MV was pretty solid on D, maybe helped by wet conditions, Stopped ridge on 4th n short at their ~25 with a few minutes remaining.

EDco came out flat against Alburnett. Pirates controlled the first quarter but couldn't finish (again). Turned it over on down at Ed-co 20 and 30 on first two drives. Then had had 1st and goal at 9 to start 2nd quarter , when rain / lightning hit. After the delay, pirates had penalty and threw incomplete 3 times, and from there it was all vikings. they drove 80 yards for a score. Pirates tried an ill advised fake punt late in first half at midfield . Vikes went down and scored with 10 seconds left, the got 2nd half kickoff and and scored. Got a 3 n out on defense and scored. Rochford doing the damage on the ground, streicher with several nice touch throws deep to really open things up. Then rain unleashed again in 4th quarter...

Lisbon- MFL looked pretty close, but appears MFL took advantage of several lIon fumbles in the wet conditions and otherwise kept Hagen waters bottled up. Not sure if he is battling an injury at this point, as it looked like freshman QB was in for Lisbon as well.