Those who attended Semi games...
- Thread starter maxstabs13
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I would strongly assume that they are the defending champions and have the best QB in the state.
If you don't like the question, will Dowling be able to compete with undefeated CR Wash?
I would strongly question that Dowling has the best Q.B in the state. Austin Simmons from Lewis Central accomplished much more with significantly less. Both players are candidates for All State and Gatorade players of the year....unfortunately I cant help but feel politics and public relations will win out with the selection committee.
The MVC/MAC teams have not defeated a central Iowa team in the finals since 2009. I grew up in the MVC and love it, but I don't know how an MVC team can be considered a favorite until they actually take care of business and win one. If you follow other classes, IC Regina is playing South Winneshiek today. Regina has a loss and South Winn is undefeated, so South Winn must be the favorite, right? I think most who follow 1A expect Regina to win handily as they have done against almost everyone. It's kind of like the SEC/Big Ten issue in college. If an undefeated Big Ten team faces a one loss SEC team, for now and the immediate future just about everyone is going to consider the SEC team to be the favorite.
I was at all the games yesterday, and Dowling definitely struck me as more physical and disciplined than Wash. They have so much depth too. However, Dowling really struggled to put the game away. They could have beat Waukee by 30 or 40 points but made some really bad mistakes and several times failed to score or settled for field goals when they got deep in Waukee territory. The Dowling QB is a great runner and tough kid, but I have to say at least yesterday I was not impressed with his arm. He overthrew several receivers and seemed to throw too hard. I saw other QB's do the same thing yesterday, too, it seems to be a common issue at the dome.
Could Wash beat Dowling, sure. They have beaten good teams. They have a lot of talent. Do I think they will? Not really, unless Dowling makes a lot of mistakes.
I was at all the games yesterday, and Dowling definitely struck me as more physical and disciplined than Wash. They have so much depth too. However, Dowling really struggled to put the game away. They could have beat Waukee by 30 or 40 points but made some really bad mistakes and several times failed to score or settled for field goals when they got deep in Waukee territory. The Dowling QB is a great runner and tough kid, but I have to say at least yesterday I was not impressed with his arm. He overthrew several receivers and seemed to throw too hard. I saw other QB's do the same thing yesterday, too, it seems to be a common issue at the dome.
Could Wash beat Dowling, sure. They have beaten good teams. They have a lot of talent. Do I think they will? Not really, unless Dowling makes a lot of mistakes.
I know everyone makes a big deal about the East side of the state not winning one of these since 2009 but other than last year, those games have been extremely close. A couple of breaks here or there in any of those games, and it may be a different story.
I'm not saying they will, but if Dowling goes into this game with any mindset besides "this is the best team we're going to face all year" Wash will win. They are rock solid at every position and yesterday made some big plays at critical times in the game, which says a lot.
If I had to bet I would pick Dowling but I think it will be "closer than the experts think" as Corso would say.
I'm not saying they will, but if Dowling goes into this game with any mindset besides "this is the best team we're going to face all year" Wash will win. They are rock solid at every position and yesterday made some big plays at critical times in the game, which says a lot.
If I had to bet I would pick Dowling but I think it will be "closer than the experts think" as Corso would say.
Last year's title game was not remotely close. However, after watching Dowling in the second half I do think it will be closer than I thought at first. I have a hard time seeing Dowling win by thirty points or something unless they get some kick or punt return type touchdowns.
This is a good point. The 2010 championship went to overtime. The 2011 game was just 17-14. In 2012 Xavier led almost the entire 2nd half and lost by just 6. Hard to establish a "West side rules, east side drools!" history with those outcomes.
Three of those were really close games though. Dowling in the years I've followed them have a Jekyll and Hyde personality. They can go from really good to really bad in a matter of a game and vice versa. They played a near perfect game against Waukee in 2012 and then got blown out by a SEP team they beat by three TDs earlier in the year. Likewise, last year they played a pretty bad game against Waukee in the quarterfinals but nearly shut out an explosive Valley team in the semis and did even better in the finals. Not sure what this means against CRW, but Dowling gave them some a wealth of information in film (the D-Ends seem to be suckers for the zone read).
I agree Kid. 2010 City High took a big gamble by running a fake punt near midfield. If that would've worked or heck they just punted the ball away that outcome might've been switched. 2011 Valley got a very late score on Bettendorf that put it away when both teams were pretty evenly matched throughout. 2012 Ankeny beat Xavier in the worst officiated game I've ever seen with some terrible calls against Xavier late. Not to mention the whole confusion on the 1st and 4th down marker on the field. 2013 Dowling was a much better overall team than Xavier and won handily.
The West has been better as of late but the margin isn't that great, especially when you examine those games on a game by game basis.
The West has been better as of late but the margin isn't that great, especially when you examine those games on a game by game basis.
Because Dowling has one loss (against a very good Valley team) and has now beaten Waukee twice. Dowling is the defending champ and the CIML/West side of the state has been better in championship games over the last 13 years.
This will be Dowling's 7th game against a team with 9 or more wins. It'll be Wash's 3rd game against a team with 9 or more. According to BCMoore's rankings, Dowling's schedule was the 4th toughest in 4A, Wash's is the 21st. Dowling's offense averages 9 more points per game and the defense only allows 2 more points per game.
I don't really understand why it's such a stretch to understand why the question was posed as such.
This will be Dowling's 7th game against a team with 9 or more wins. It'll be Wash's 3rd game against a team with 9 or more. According to BCMoore's rankings, Dowling's schedule was the 4th toughest in 4A, Wash's is the 21st. Dowling's offense averages 9 more points per game and the defense only allows 2 more points per game.
I don't really understand why it's such a stretch to understand why the question was posed as such.
The question has yet to be answered... All I see is bickering.
Cougar63... I am an East side of Iowa grad and resident. I support the MVC. I am not really a fan of the state wide rankings by newspapers and such. I pretty much live and die by the BCMoore rankings, because they are a realistic computer ranking.
The newspaper will rank teams simply based on records, because the sports reporters generally don't watch every single class and if they start ranking 1 or 2 loss teams ahead of undefeated teams they are going to hear it from the public for bias and so on...
WDM Dowling has played a significantly harder schedule than CR Wash. I don't think you can argue against that.
I personally think CR Wash will challenge Dowling for 2-3 quarters, but per usual CR Wash plays guys both ways what has shown to make teams worn out in the past. I think this is easily the most talent they have had across the board.
Cougar63... I am an East side of Iowa grad and resident. I support the MVC. I am not really a fan of the state wide rankings by newspapers and such. I pretty much live and die by the BCMoore rankings, because they are a realistic computer ranking.
The newspaper will rank teams simply based on records, because the sports reporters generally don't watch every single class and if they start ranking 1 or 2 loss teams ahead of undefeated teams they are going to hear it from the public for bias and so on...
WDM Dowling has played a significantly harder schedule than CR Wash. I don't think you can argue against that.
I personally think CR Wash will challenge Dowling for 2-3 quarters, but per usual CR Wash plays guys both ways what has shown to make teams worn out in the past. I think this is easily the most talent they have had across the board.
CRW has precedent on their side - last non undefeated state champion was in 2002. However, such an abnormally long streak has to break at some point and this would be the year for it to happen. There were plenty of close calls before hand too - Valley-CF 2005
Ankeny-Bettendorf 2007
Valley-Bettendorf 2011
Dowling by 10-14
This post was edited on 11/17 3:36 PM by DSMan
Ankeny-Bettendorf 2007
Valley-Bettendorf 2011
Dowling by 10-14
This post was edited on 11/17 3:36 PM by DSMan
Hey, Cougar63, here's another way to look at things, from a college football point of view. Last week Mississippi State was ranked number 1 in the nation with an undefeated record - yet Alabama was favored by 10 points going into their game. So this would be similar: Wash is undefeated and ranked first in some polls, but many observers and fans of Iowa high school football feel Dowling is actually the best team in the state.
As to the original question, maxstabs: I don't know. I saw Wash play last year, with a lot of those young guys back for this season. And I've seen Dowling play both last year and this season. Obviously Dowling can be beaten, with the right game plan and execution. Wash has only been challenged a couple of times this year, but they haven't really played anyone the caliber of Dowling. Linn-Mar was pretty good this year, but not superior. Bettendorf was very good, as always, but I think most would agree this wasn't quite a championship-level Bett team.
Dowling is huge and athletic. It's really hard to keep up with them. Even if you're able to hang with them in one aspect of the game (Xavier's defense did fairly well against them back in August), they'll probably smack you in other areas (Campero intercepted Schulte twice to set up TDs and the Dowling D shut down the Saints offense).
I would love to see Wash match up with Dowling and give them a battle. I think they might, for half the game maybe, but my gut feeling is that Dowling is just going to end up being too much for them. Being an east-sider/old MVC guy myself, I hope Washington can prove me wrong.
As to the original question, maxstabs: I don't know. I saw Wash play last year, with a lot of those young guys back for this season. And I've seen Dowling play both last year and this season. Obviously Dowling can be beaten, with the right game plan and execution. Wash has only been challenged a couple of times this year, but they haven't really played anyone the caliber of Dowling. Linn-Mar was pretty good this year, but not superior. Bettendorf was very good, as always, but I think most would agree this wasn't quite a championship-level Bett team.
Dowling is huge and athletic. It's really hard to keep up with them. Even if you're able to hang with them in one aspect of the game (Xavier's defense did fairly well against them back in August), they'll probably smack you in other areas (Campero intercepted Schulte twice to set up TDs and the Dowling D shut down the Saints offense).
I would love to see Wash match up with Dowling and give them a battle. I think they might, for half the game maybe, but my gut feeling is that Dowling is just going to end up being too much for them. Being an east-sider/old MVC guy myself, I hope Washington can prove me wrong.
I attended the Dowling game and saw the last quarter of the Wash game. Wash looked pretty good but without common opponents, its difficult to predict the outcome. I understand Wash has a some starters going both ways. If Dowling really goes up-tempo, I can see Dowling wearing them down.
Verbum Dei
AMDG
This post was edited on 11/19 1:51 PM by VerbumDei
Verbum Dei
AMDG
This post was edited on 11/19 1:51 PM by VerbumDei
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