This is one of the most exciting groups of 1st round pairing I can remember in awhile. Makes me a little sad for next year. Look at the good group of 3's and a couple of the good 4s. Now imagine them not having the opportunity to play in the playoffs. That's what next year is.
1st round excitment
- Thread starter Iabeastmode
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Take care of your business and you don't have to worry about missing out on the playoffs. Yes, each year there will be a couple of good teams in tough districts that are left out, however, I still see that as better than allowing teams with losing records into the playoffs. It's no longer impressive for teams to have a long playoff streak when all they have to do is be in the top half of the district to make it in. I'll use Madrid for an example. Their playoff streak was impressive when they were making the playoffs every year in the old format, however in this new watered down format, teams from all over the state are being rewarded for mediocrity. Playoff qualification means nothing under this current format and I am grateful that teams will once again have to earn the privilege of making it in the playoffs next year again. Any playoff streaks that include years under the current format should have an asterisk by them if the team did not get 1st or 2nd in the district.
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I disagree. I'd rather see a 3-6 team in the playoffs then a 8-1 team not in the playoffs. It's for the kids. Not for the association or board of education.
The boy$ in Boone benefit from a 3-6 team making the playoffs. Gate money vs. the expense of a banner. Not sure I could brag about being 3-6 and telling people I made the playoffs.
Yup.
The ONLY two actual issues with the 32 team format were that it was ridiculous for 4A, and that too many people complained about not enough rest in between games.
Part of that is on the State, wanting to be done by a certain time, and part of that is on UNI.
Great night! D2 & D4 flexed their muscles. Was expecting a little more out of a few #3s. Only 2 close games. I guess I was proven wrong on my not wanting to go to 16 team playoffs. I was right however, on my call that D5 would only win 1 game.
Big night for D2! Playing against tough defenses every Friday pays off.
Western/West Lyon game was interesting, starting with blizzard flurries @ kick-off, which cleared quickly.
Game was dominated by the defenses. West Lyon did a great job of preventing big pass plays & forced Western to grind out yards.
Field position and a couple big plays made the difference. West Lyon was forced to leave their ground-pound game & scoring quickly is not their strong suit.
Lots of flags thrown. I agreed with the holding calls on both sides. A couple personal fouls were also justified for both sides as tempers started flaring.
WL got the short end on a couple sideline calls, along with a forced fumble on a return that was incorrectly ruled down. Probably weren't game changers, but definitely destroyed their momentum.
Looking forward to seeing Poky come to town.
Western/West Lyon game was interesting, starting with blizzard flurries @ kick-off, which cleared quickly.
Game was dominated by the defenses. West Lyon did a great job of preventing big pass plays & forced Western to grind out yards.
Field position and a couple big plays made the difference. West Lyon was forced to leave their ground-pound game & scoring quickly is not their strong suit.
Lots of flags thrown. I agreed with the holding calls on both sides. A couple personal fouls were also justified for both sides as tempers started flaring.
WL got the short end on a couple sideline calls, along with a forced fumble on a return that was incorrectly ruled down. Probably weren't game changers, but definitely destroyed their momentum.
Looking forward to seeing Poky come to town.
Honestly, this was one of the worst officiated games I have seen in some time. Both ways. West Lyon definitely was on the short end of more calls but had too many costly miscues on their own.
D2 has three good teams still alive. It's nice to see that they all got split up.
Average margin of defeat last night was 27 points in 1A.
Two close games
Panora 21, Ogden 20
Hudson 28, Sigourney 26
Next closest game was 18 - PC 42, Wilton 24
And the reward for Panora, Hudson, and PC? 2nd round dates with Dike, Regina, and West Branch.
#IAH$AA
Two close games
Panora 21, Ogden 20
Hudson 28, Sigourney 26
Next closest game was 18 - PC 42, Wilton 24
And the reward for Panora, Hudson, and PC? 2nd round dates with Dike, Regina, and West Branch.
#IAH$AA
I got told by a veteran official that the whistle does not kill the play. The player being down does. I was arguing a fumble as well. This guy has worked playoffs for 25+ years and done several state finals. So I am assuming he is right.
Once again if he was blocking till the whistle that is fine, but if the player is down and the whistle blows, and he is still blocking then its a PF. Its a gray area with these calls, but sometimes the officials warn the player before the penalty (most guys do i assume).
I wasn't at the game and could care less what the outcome was. But to come on a message board and call out officials is a little over the top. I realize your upset that your teams season ended and I understand that. But there is no need for calling out officials by name. They do not get paid a lot of money to do that job and to have people coming online and basically calling them cheaters is low.
My one suggestion to you is, get a striped shirt and take the test and get into officiating if your unhappy with how the game was called. God knows they need officials, quite complaining and start doing something about it.
Pretty much in agreement, calling them out by name is a little over the top, hopefully you have also sent something in writing to the state to voice your displeasure. I however am tired of the 'take the test' response, following that logic you would not be allowed to criticize your investment broker who loses all your money unless you are an investment banker, never complain about your meal in a restaurant unless you cooked there and it goes on and on. There are times that it is clear when a game is poorly officiated whether it is due to a lack of skill or other issues. I don't need to be an official to recognize that. Still wouldn't call them out by name on a message board and hope the 'old boy' network isn't in effect for those officials.
I understand that the player being down ends the play and not necessarily the whistle. I am all for a defender getting flagged for hitting a downed player late just because the whistle hasn't been blown.
What I hate seeing is a ref throw a flag at an offensive lineman for blocking until the whistle. They are not responsible for watching the play and don't know then the ball carrier is down. They should be engaged with their defender. If they are watching the play, normally they find the bench and get instructed by their coaches not to do so. Let's not penalize lineman for being the aggressor and dominating an opponent.
What I hate seeing is a ref throw a flag at an offensive lineman for blocking until the whistle. They are not responsible for watching the play and don't know then the ball carrier is down. They should be engaged with their defender. If they are watching the play, normally they find the bench and get instructed by their coaches not to do so. Let's not penalize lineman for being the aggressor and dominating an opponent.
My question is this on West Lyon did the officials call some kind of penalty that gave western points? did the officials make tackles in the back field? were they dropping passes or over throwing receivers? I get being mad about calls but a 21-0 game isn't all on the officials that's on players too. I understand you're mad that your team lost but to sit here and claim how the officials made it that way is taking away from what Western last night. To come on here and start calling guys out and making it some kind of personal thing between you and some officials really making you look like a sore loser and trying to make excuses. I am sure at no time has West Lyon ever had a game where they had more calls go their way right? Did you come on here and rip officials and say how terrible they were and how West Lyon deserved to win or did you just tell people like we are saying now it's part of the game.
That sounds like an exciting and unpredictable race to the finish!............................because usually it's been a one team race.
Don't recall a lot of big plays from WL. So must not have been many flags.
Were the officials questionable? Absolutely. Were they bad both ways? Absolutely. Was WL on short end of a few calls? Possibly. I do remember one fumble by Western in front of there bench. Sieperda whistled play dead i believe before he saw the ball laying between Western players legs. Nothing to do with Western coaches "persuading" the call.
Did the officials calls determine the game? Can't say that. Officials don't account for 21-0 score. The weather was PERFECT for WL ground and pound style football vs western pass first offense. Western defense came to play not allowing WL to get ground game going. Once they were forced to throw the ball WL was in trouble.
Your correct in saying you sound a little sour, especially considering most WL fans I talked to kind of expected to lose. Including some of the coaching staff ...
I agree, there should not have been names exchanged here and those will be deleted. Western played well and did a great job against the WL offense. My biggest qualm is the fact that the officials affected the score of the game.
1.) Western had two fumbles recovered by West Lyon on Western's half of the field. Both were obviously out and everyone there saw that the ball was out. Officials ruled the runner down on both occasions. Not saying West Lyon would have scored but getting the ball inside the 35 twice would help. I believe one of these drives resulted in a Western TD. So, points.
2.) WL interception called back do to roughing the passer. Questionable call and subjective. West Lyon fans will say no call Western will say late. From what I saw, QB was running sideways, reached back to throw and contact was initiated as the ball was leaving his hand leading to the high duck that was intercepted. Again drive led to TD. More points.
I am not going to complain much about the holding calls because it happens every play and I'm not on the field to see it right in front of me.
Clock management late in the game was also awful for the officials. Letting the clock run on a WL drive while an official walks back 20 yards to pick up his flag while the white hat holds the ball? This tape should and will be seen.
Western is a good team and outplayed WL, but they were not 21 points better.
But hey at least NW Iowa has a chance to advance multiple teams further in the playoffs amirite? Now they just need to figure out how to make it an all-NW Iowa final and it'll be just like basketball! 
But hey at least NW Iowa has a chance to advance multiple teams further in the playoffs amirite? Now they just need to figure out how to make it an all-NW Iowa final and it'll be just like basketball!
No, Regina was also in the basketball finals last year...
You make very valid points. Couple additional thoughts.
1.) I am pretty sure WL punter fumbled the snap on their first drive giving Western the ball around the 30-40 yd line. Western scores on short field. WL gets punt off Western has longer field probably doesnt score. Score could have been 0-0 heading to half
2.) WL first drive of 2nd half. They were moving the ball. QB fumbled snap around the 20-30 yd line. Can't recall for sure. If WL continues drive and scores. Score could be 8-7. Or possibly WL up 7-0. (If WL doesnt fumble first punt) Now we have a whole different ball game.
Regarding the Roughing the QB and interception. My viewpoint (which you said Western and WL will disagree). Was Kooima was scrambling. Running right at me actually. I saw him throw hoping he was throwing it away. Turn my head to witness him throwing a perfect pass to WL. After interception I noticed flag. Based on that I would say little late. Just my opinion. As we see with all levels of football, dont touch the QB when he is throwing the ball. Most roughing passers in all levels are bad, but they are called. Next play in TD i believe.
Yes the clock management was brutal late in the game. Wouldnt put that all on the referees though. Western clock people were brutal. Multiple times we had the ref and all of Western coaches telling them to re-adjust clock because they forgot to stop it or start it. They were brutal. Time for some new ones.
Basically we can play the coulda shoulda woulda game all day. It came down to 2 teams playing great defense. Western was just able to get a few more plays offensively. WL took away western passing game but western was able to gain some yards on the ground. When Western took away WL running game, WL didnt have the passing game to keep up. That and Western made their fumbles a little less obvious ... haha
To bad they had to play each other first round. Would have been to fun to play someone from different district.
There are so many rules that the common fan does not know, its mind boggling. That is why I said it. When I used to coach football, our head coach made us all take the rules test that officials had to take (he had a guy who was a certified official, and would print it off for us to take). If you didn't get a certain score, he would send you home with the rulebook and re-take it. He was very strict on this, because he didn't like having coaches who would scream at the officials for no reason. He said, "If your going to criticize someones work, you better damn well know what your talking about."
I hate to say it, but the state of Iowa is going to be in a world of hurt here in a couple of years. There are not enough officials to go around. We had to at the JH level cancel or postpone some of our games this year because they could not find officials. We even had 2 games where there was only 1 official there. I do not know how to get more people into it, but it sucks for our kids. Not being able to play games because there is a shortage of officials.
Agree, in both hoops & FB! I see a lot of gray hairs running the field/court (and some of them can't keep up anymore, but feel pressed to continue because AD's are so hard up to find officials).
In theory, it would be a great gig for the young, college-age guys who miss playing & want to be around the game yet.
Too many just don't want to take the abuse from the crowd/coaches.
Would love to see some veteran refs host officiating camps & have the IASHAA subsidize/recruit for them.
This is the best i've ever seen
I was at youth basketball game the other night.. and the official was getting grief from a parent spectator...
the ref went to the table & grabbed a clip board that had an application on it to become a ref, he gave it to the parent & told him "they are taking applications"
I believe the ref has heard from this parent before & was ready for it. It was amazing to see.
From what I heard the officials had a tough night. I Agree, officials names shouldn't be posted on here. This crew took a pic posting themselves on Facebook and Twitter, so not difficult in NW Iowa where everyone knows everyone. That probably says it all. I've been reffing for years and don't have one pic of me or my crew. Why? Cause it's about the athletes not me!
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Thank you for being an official, an under appreciated and difficult endevour
Beast officials are the ones that you don't notice... there is a reason why you don't.
Yes and no. While I agree that yes good officials will not make themselves the show, I know some very good officials who I can remember because of calls they made that did affect a game and guess what, they were the right call. Just because you remember an official making a controversial call doesn't mean they are a bad official. The best officials are the ones who do their job right no matter the score, teams, or situation is in a game. I see how good officials should just let the players play, yes they should but if there is a penalty it needs called.
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