1A - First Round

[Charles86]

Here are the official first round parings


4th Place at 1st Place
Eagle Grove (3-5) aAplingtonParkersburg(7-1)

Durant (5-3) at MFL MarMac (7-1)

Sumner-Fredericksburg (4-4) atSigourney/Keota (6-2)

Ridge View (4-4) at South Hamilton (7-1)

Interstate 35, Truro (3-5) at Underwood (8-0)

Pleasantville (4-4) at Van Meter (7-1)

South Hardin (3-5) at West Branch (8-0)

East Sac County (2-6) at West Sioux, Hawarden (7-1)

3rd Place at 2nd Place
Treynor (5-3) at ACGC (6-2)

Denver (6-2) at Columbus Catholic, Waterloo (5-3)

Cascade, Western Dubuque (5-3) at Dike-New Hartford (6-2)

Emmetsburg (4-4) vs. Kuemper Catholic, Carroll (7-1), Site TBD

Central Decatur (4-4) at Mediapolis (7-1)

Regina, Iowa City (5-3) at Pella Christian (7-1)

South Central Calhoun (4-4) at Western Christian, Hull (6-2)

West Central Valley (5-3) at Woodward-Granger (5-3)


A couple things…

1. What’s your favorite matchup or game(s) that could be most interesting?

2. What’s your prediction for the 4 pods of 4 teams?

 

[MepoDawg#]

Possible upsets per seeding
Denver @ Waterloo Columbus
IC Regina @ Pella Christian

How are home teams determined for second round? District finish first? Overall record?

 

[Charles86]

Possible upsets per seeding
Denver @ Waterloo Columbus
IC Regina @ Pella Christian

How are home teams determined for second round? District finish first? Overall record?

Denver/Columbus
Cascade/DNH
Regina/PC

All of these are solid matchups!

Higher seed I think host in the second round. District champs will host over a 2nd seed. I see all 1 seeds winning, so they should all host. 1 v 2 or 1 v 3 in those pods.

Example of what could happen if top seeds win..

East pod 1
(2) Wloo Columbus at (1) AP
(2) DNH at (1) MFL

East pod 2
(2) Mepo at (1) SK
(2) PC at (1) West Branch

 

[MepoDawg#]

Denver/Columbus
Cascade/DNH
Regina/PC

All of these are solid matchups!

Higher seed I think host in the second round. District champs will host over a 2nd seed. I see all 1 seeds winning, so they should all host. 1 v 2 or 1 v 3 in those pods.

Example of what could happen if top seeds win..

East pod 1
(2) Wloo Columbus at (1) AP
(2) DNH at (1) MFL

East pod 2
(2) Mepo at (1) SK
(2) PC at (1) West Branch

Yep, brain fart for a moment. There won’t be any 4 vs 1 upsets.

 

[MepoDawg#]

Anyone up for the pick ‘em contest?

 

[Prancing Ponies]

Denver/Columbus
Cascade/DNH
Regina/PC

All of these are solid matchups!

Higher seed I think host in the second round. District champs will host over a 2nd seed. I see all 1 seeds winning, so they should all host. 1 v 2 or 1 v 3 in those pods.

Example of what could happen if top seeds win..

East pod 1
(2) Wloo Columbus at (1) AP
(2) DNH at (1) MFL

East pod 2
(2) Mepo at (1) SK
(2) PC at (1) West Branch

I would guess it would be district 3 vs district 6 and 4 vs 5. That is the way they did the playoffs last year, unless they wanted to change it up this year.

 

[BlameIt]

Geographically, the most sensible R2 matchups/pods would be

(Districts)
1 v 8
2 v 7
3 v 6
4 v 5

 

[PNation]

I think Sumner Fredericksburg at Sigourney Keota could be a good game, SF played a pretty tough schedule compared to SK so that might be a game to watch. I would still take SK to win though.

For 4 team pods I would go with

West Branch vs ACGC
SK vs Mediapolis

MFL vs Regina
AP vs. Woodward Granger

South Hamilton vs. DNH
Van Meter vs Denver

West Sioux vs. Kuemper
Underwood vs. Western Christian

 

[Prancing Ponies]

I think Denver, DNH and PC win the first round. SF at SK could be interesting. If they know how to defend the the backfield spin offense of SK, then they will beat them because SK does not have a passing game. If not it will be a long night.
I think PC will go to AP and DNH will go to SK. West Branch will probably get an easier route and play lower rated teams since they are rated higher than anyone else in the east.
The games to get to the Dome are as follows:
Underwood at West Sioux
Keumper at VM
MFL at WB
Very hard to guess the next one. All pretty equal teams. AP, DNH, PC and SK.

 

[MepoDawg#]

Geographically, the most sensible R2 matchups/pods would be

(Districts)
1 v 8
2 v 7
3 v 6
4 v 5

If it’s district champs vs runner-ups across the board the best option geographically is 3 v 4 and 5 v 6. This would be 66 mile difference between shortest and farthest with the furthest being 104 miles.

3 v 6 and 4 v 5 would be 73 mile difference (not much compared to other way) but farthest 164, a 60 mile difference.

If geography plays a role and they go sister districts.

 

[Prancing Ponies]

If it’s district champs vs runner-ups across the board the best option geographically is 3 v 4 and 5 v 6. This would be 66 mile difference between shortest and farthest with the furthest being 104 miles.

3 v 6 and 4 v 5 would be 73 mile difference (not much compared to other way) but farthest 164, a 60 mile difference.

If geography plays a role and they go sister districts.

I think you are correct for the disrict mileage if they go that way. But as we have seen in the past, the IAHSAA has not put a major emphasis on the proximity of games. It is a factor, but not the main factor. There has been some crazy distances they have made teams go in the past. I think they want the better teams making the Dome which I do understand.

 

[Charles86]

DNH/SK would be a quarterfinal rematch from last year. Change is that it would be at SK this year if those two teams win this week and that’s the pairing.

The state could pair groups like they did last year, but I think they could really just go 3v4 and 5v6….would be pretty easy to have DNH at MFL and Wloo Columbus at AP. Or Cascade at AP and Denver at MFL if it goes that way.

 

[Prancing Ponies]

DNH/SK would be a quarterfinal rematch from last year. Change is that it would be at SK this year if those two teams win this week and that’s the pairing.

The state could pair groups like they did last year, but I think they could really just go 3v4 and 5v6….would be pretty easy to have DNH at MFL and Wloo Columbus at AP. Or Cascade at AP and Denver at MFL if it goes that way.

SK makes sense going with district 5. PC is in no man's land and could go to AP, WB and VM. So they could head west and have one of the teams in north central Iowa go east.

 

[Prancing Ponies]

Is it a possibility that they try and have West Branch, Van Meter, West Sioux and Underwood make the Dome since they are the top 4 teams?

 

[Charles86]

Is it a possibility that they try and have West Branch, Van Meter, West Sioux and Underwood make the Dome since they are the top 4 teams?

Would be tough unless they move WB to the NE part and slide VM over to SE. Underwood is SW with West Sioux NW.

 

[Prancing Ponies]

Would be tough unless they move WB to the NE part and slide VM over to SE. Underwood is SW with West Sioux NW.

It is possible that Mepo goes to SK and PC to VM. However that is a long haul for Mepo to head to VM if they pull the upset. But they have had teams travel farther in the past.

 

[Charles86]

It is possible that Mepo goes to SK and PC to VM. However that is a long haul for Mepo to head to VM if they pull the upset. But they have had teams travel farther in the past.

But then that would leave AP, MFL, and WB on the east side which are all 1 seeds. They can’t all be in a pod.

 

[Prancing Ponies]

I just think of West Lyon when they won it in 2019. Home vs Western Christian. Then at Osage, at Dike and then the 2 games in the Dome. Ridiculous travel and they still overcame it and won. That is why the state does not have borders for travel and we can try to come up with all kinds of scenarios. Or they may go the simple resaonable route.

 

[ronsss]

the underwood vs keumper game,,,,it was keumper the first half...in the 2nd, underwood sort of found a way , with a few more plays that worked than keumper...it was sort of a defensive battle...if they meet again, the edge probably would go towards underwook, but i would not want to bet on the game

 

[ISUfan00]

Soooo….tell me about South Hardin? I know them as the old Eldora New Providence. I can tell you how that meeting went last time WB played them. That was a great WB team too, might have won State championship if it wasn’t for E-NP

 

[GoEagles23]

Pod 1

West Sioux
Underwood
Western Christian
Woodward

Pod 2

Van Meter
South Hamilton
Kuemper
ACGC

Pod 3

AP
MFL
Dike
Columbus

Pod 4

WB
SK
Pella/Regina
Mepo

Note: not sure which poster brought it up, but ACGC is NOT traveling to WB. My great aunt lives near Guthrie Center. That's a haul, brother.

 

[BlameIt]

West Sioux vs South Ham

Is it a possibility that they try and have West Branch, Van Meter, West Sioux and Underwood make the Dome since they are the top 4 teams?

Given they are the only teams that are undefeated vs 1A teams it makes sense.

Way too much can happen beforehand, however. The playoffs will always bring an upset somewhere

 

[Prancing Ponies]

Pod 1

West Sioux
Underwood
Western Christian
Woodward

Pod 2

Van Meter
South Hamilton
Kuemper
ACGC

Pod 3

AP
MFL
Dike
Columbus

Pod 4

WB
SK
Pella/Regina
Mepo

Note: not sure which poster brought it up, but ACGC is NOT traveling to WB. My great aunt lives near Guthrie Center. That's a haul, brother.

Nothing is out of the realm of possible for distance. I know in 2019 they used RPI, but West Lyon to Osage to get to the quarters is crazy. that is 3.5 hours.

 

[MepoDawg#]

Nothing is out of the realm of possible for distance. I know in 2019 they used RPI, but West Lyon to Osage to get to the quarters is crazy. that is 3.5 hours.

They’ve got Central Decatur traveling 3 hours this week with three closer options that were non-district.

 

[PNation]

Pod 1

West Sioux
Underwood
Western Christian
Woodward

Pod 2

Van Meter
South Hamilton
Kuemper
ACGC

Pod 3

AP
MFL
Dike
Columbus

Pod 4

WB
SK
Pella/Regina
Mepo

Note: not sure which poster brought it up, but ACGC is NOT traveling to WB. My great aunt lives near Guthrie Center. That's a haul, brother.

As mentioned before the state has sent West Lyon to Osage and Dike before for the playoffs. So it is well within reason. Plus that trip would be mostly I80 so I think the state would do that.

 

[IACentralHawk73]

I'll take my stab at the pods, I'm a little more different with my thinking.

Pod #1
West Sioux
Carroll Kuemper
Underwood
Western Christian

Pod #2
Van Meter
Woodward-Granger
Sigourney-Keota
AC/GC

Pod #3
South Hamilton
Denver
Aplington-Parkersburg
Dike-New Hartford

Pod #4
West Branch
Mediapolis
MFL, MarMac
Iowa City Regina

 

[Prancing Ponies]

It also depends if they are looking at state rankings based on votes or if they look more along the lines of BCMoore. I also doubt they would put 3 teams from the same district in 1 pod. I do not think district 5 will have 3 win this week either, so that would aleviate that problem.

 

[IACentralHawk73]

I believe D3 and D5 will have 3 teams advance, Regina is more battle-tested than Pella Christian so that is why I gave them the edge.

I could maybe see Denver or Dike getting sent south, I don't think it makes sense to send Woodward-Granger north. It would be a much shorter drive for Kuemper to go play West Sioux.

 

[ISUChip]

They’ve got Central Decatur traveling 3 hours this week with three closer options that were non-district.

Look at the entire map, not just one matchup.

Central Decatur can't go to Pella Christian (same district).
Regina can't go to Mediapolis (same district).
The teams in the western half need non-district opponents, too.

 

[Prancing Ponies]

The nice thing about this year is that there is no invincible team that all the others have their sights set on. I do think that the northwest part of Iowa always gets overlooked though. They may be better than everyone gives them credit for. I have not seen any video on them but all other teams do look beatable.

 

[MepoDawg#]

Look at the entire map, not just one matchup.

Central Decatur can't go to Pella Christian (same district).
Regina can't go to Mediapolis (same district).
The teams in the western half need non-district opponents, too.

I have it all mapped out on Google My Maps. As it’s been said, obviously distance doesn’t matter. Though if it doesn’t then why not really mix it up. I would have went with if distance mattered. Maybe they had them ranked in some order and tried to keep it fairly even there and distance.

Cascade @ Mepo
IC Regina @ DNH
Denver @ Columbus
Emmetsburg @ Kuemper
SCC @ Western Christian
Treynor @ ACGC
West Central Valley @ Pella Christian
Central Decatur @ Woodward-Granger

 

[rc1963]

The nice thing about this year is that there is no invincible team that all the others have their sights set on. I do think that the northwest part of Iowa always gets overlooked though. They may be better than everyone gives them credit for. I have not seen any video on them but all other teams do look beatable.

From my perspective down here in the SE corner, I think part of it is that we don't hear much about the West teams. By and large they don't tweet anything from their games, we have a hard time knowing much about them unless you really seek out the info/review the matchups from the season.

I would agree that there is no one team - There are a handful of odds on favorites, true contenders that I think the teams in the lower rounds have to have their sites set on trying to pull off an upset.

I think Underwood, WB and Van Meter look top tier. I'll pick out the

WB - I mean undefeated is undefeated. They played arguably the toughest district, but didn't really have that one big test out of district

Van Meter - Lost a tight one early in the season to one of the best 2A Teams - If they got better in the context of 1A, they make a strong case for true contender

Underwood - Again, undefeated is undefeated, but their toughest test was a close one with Kuemper

You can take the rest our Bound's top 16 ELO rankings and each one of them has a "yeah but" consideration - some of them more than one, that puts them in the category of having something to prove.

I think there could be a couple first round upsets and 5 or 6 of the round of 16 matchups could be virtual toss-ups.

 

[rc1963]

I have it all mapped out on Google My Maps. As it’s been said, obviously distance doesn’t matter. Though if it doesn’t then why not really mix it up. I would have went with if distance mattered. Maybe they had them ranked in some order and tried to keep it fairly even there and distance.

Cascade @ Mepo
IC Regina @ DNH
Denver @ Columbus
Emmetsburg @ Kuemper
SCC @ Western Christian
Treynor @ ACGC
West Central Valley @ Pella Christian
Central Decatur @ Woodward-Granger

I'm not sure what you're trying to show with these matchups?

 

[Charles86]

From my perspective down here in the SE corner, I think part of it is that we don't hear much about the West teams. By and large they don't tweet anything from their games, we have a hard time knowing much about them unless you really seek out the info/review the matchups from the season.

I would agree that there is no one team - There are a handful of odds on favorites, true contenders that I think the teams in the lower rounds have to have their sites set on trying to pull off an upset.

I think Underwood, WB and Van Meter look top tier. I'll pick out the

WB - I mean undefeated is undefeated. They played arguably the toughest district, but didn't really have that one big test out of district

Van Meter - Lost a tight one early in the season to one of the best 2A Teams - If they got better in the context of 1A, they make a strong case for true contender

Underwood - Again, undefeated is undefeated, but their toughest test was a close one with Kuemper

You can take the rest our Bound's top 16 ELO rankings and each one of them has a "yeah but" consideration - some of them more than one, that puts them in the category of having something to prove.

I think there could be a couple first round upsets and 5 or 6 of the round of 16 matchups could be virtual toss-ups.

West Sioux is also top tier. They’re a solid team again this season.

 

[Prancing Ponies]

West Sioux is also top tier. They’re a solid team again this season.

I would completely agree with adding West Sioux. We never hear about them during the year since they are so far NW. But they always have a tough team that makes it to the Dome. It is really hard to compare since teams do not play much out of their area. NW Iowa always has tough 1A and 2A schools. But I would say there is a chance at an upset her or there for another team to crack the top 4.

 

[Prancing Ponies]

No one has picked a 1 seed to lose. If there is a 1 seed that loses, who would it be?
The only 2 possibilities I see are MFL and SK. To do that, DeLong would have to have a huge game and SF would have to figure out and stop SK's spin backfield. Is there another one I am missing?

 

[MepoDawg#]

No one has picked a 1 seed to lose. If there is a 1 seed that loses, who would it be?
The only 2 possibilities I see are MFL and SK. To do that, DeLong would have to have a huge game and SF would have to figure out and stop SK's spin backfield. Is there another one I am missing?

3 posters in the pick ‘em contest have picked SF to beat SK.

 

[IGo42]

MFL has a good defense. They've already played against the best back in 2A (New Hampton's Braden McShane 1,524 yds & 19TDs) and held him to his season low in yards. DeLong will get his 87 yards to break 2,000, but I don't see him running wild against the Bulldog defense. MFL wins by 2 scores.

SF defense is also very good. Sum-Fred held Denver to 7 pts and held MFL to 19 pts. I would not be surprised to see #4 SF beat #1 SK in a low scoring game.

 

[Pinehawk]

Why did Osage forfeit the game to MFL? Osage beat New Hampton handily and seems like they quite possibly would have beaten MFL too.

 

[MepoDawg#]

Why did Osage forfeit the game to MFL? Osage beat New Hampton handily and seems like they quite possibly would have beaten MFL too.

Osage did beat MFL 28-22, but had to forfeit due to a player playing 6 quarters in the same day as 5 quarters is the most one can play in a day.