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Your summer Class 3A champion prediction is.......
Pella will crush their way to a title... Again....
Assumption has 13 returning starters and a healthy quarterback this year. The seniors on the team were MAC conference champs when they were freshmen and undefeated MAC champs when they were Sophs. They will definitely be in the mixPella, Solon, Helen or CRX.
I don't see anyone else close to them.
So much of this depends on injuries. Last year, a very good team like West Delaware got derailed due to injuries while Pella was able to stay very healthy. I think Pella will be the favorite, but the others listed already could do it as well. I think Assumption will be much improved this year. Solon will obviously be very good again, don't expect a drop off there. CRX will be good every year and with Schulte having a year of experience now at QB, he will be very good this year. That CRX, Solon, Assumption triangle is tough to come out of to get to the dome. Heelan lost a lot and will have a new staff. Not sure if they will be quite as strong this year, but I'm guessing they will still make the dome, as usual, unless somebody else from western Iowa can step up. DCG will also be strong this year. Their QB is very athletic and DCG has many other great athletes as well. Pella will be at DCG week 2, that should be a very good game.
Will be interesting to see if some traditional powers such as Decorah and Harlan will be able to bounce back this year.
Maybe I might be a bit optimistic about DCG, but that program seems like a sleeping giant that could be among the elite in the future. It really has everything going for it as a community, school, and program. DCG has really upgraded the Little Hawkeye Conference in most every sport.
Xavier will be good, but other than Schulte they don't return a whole lot, but when they will have 100 varsity players they will be ok.
Maybe I might be a bit optimistic about DCG, but that program seems like a sleeping giant that could be among the elite in the future. It really has everything going for it as a community, school, and program. DCG has really upgraded the Little Hawkeye Conference in most every sport.
I wasn't so much referring to one "great" season for DCG as I was the school, community, favorable location and such. They are among the elite in basketball and baseball most years. It isn't a big stretch to see where the football program is heading. I'm not saying they are going to be state champs this year. What I am saying is that, I think, in the upcoming 5 and 10 years will turn into a power program.
In 5-10 years, Dallas Center-Grimez will have outgrown 3A and have to compete with the Ankenys, Waukees & West Des Moines. So it's unlikely we will be referring to them as a power program.
Not sure why you think Boone will be going to 4A. They've almost always been in the upper part of 3A enrollment and usually have little fluctuation. I looked at the BEDS chart on iahsaa.org from the last three years. Here are the six 3A schools, near the top...
SCHOOL.....2013.....2014.....2015
Newton.....622.....639.....616
Norwalk.....605.....599.....633
DC-G.....508.....564.....558
Boone.....563...548...559
W-SR.....489.....526.....553
W Dubuque.....577.....624.....654
Just looking at those numbers, Newton and Boone seem pretty stagnant, as their overall movement has been minimal. Norwalk looks like it could be in the beginning of a large boom. Dallas Center-Grimes looks like it just had one but smoothed out again. Waverly-Shell Rock and Epworth Western Dubuque have each had steady, big gains. EWD would be 4A very soon(maybe two years) with continued growth like they've been experiencing. W-SR is a little behind that and other than an actual absorption of Janesville and/or Clarksville, it will take more than five years to really get close.