3A/4A/5A Quarterfinals

[KidSilverhair]

In 5A, straight chalk as all the higher seeds won. Here’s next Friday’s games:

8 Dowling, WDM at 1 Southeast Polk
7 City High at 2 Cedar Rapids Kennedy
6 Pleasant Valley at 3 Valley WDM
5 Ankeny at 4 Prairie

In 4A, Decorah’s upset of North Scott ensures a team seeded 8 or 13 will make the semifinals.

13 Decorah at 8 Winterset (winner will be the 4 seed in the semifinals)
7 Webster City at 2 Xavier
5 Bondurant-Farrar at 3 Waverly-Shell Rock
6 Lewis Central at 4 Indianola

In 3A, the undefeated Solon Spartans will have to travel to 9-1 West Delaware. The Hawks’ only loss came to 4A Xavier, 23-21 in Week 2.

7 Sergeant Bluff-Luton at 1 Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley
8 Independence at 2 Humboldt
6 Nevada at 3 Harlan
5 Solon at 4 West Delaware

 

[Gridiron24]

3 hour drive on I-80 for Pleasant Valley to WDM

 

[KidSilverhair]

3 hour drive on I-80 for Pleasant Valley to WDM

It’s 4 hours from Decorah to Winterset. They’ll get back around 2 am next Saturday morning.

 

[Minnesotaref]

Bondurant farrar at Waverly shell rock. Well be a war. Two good running team and passing team. It's who ever don't make mistakes will win that one.

 

[CF_93]

It’s 4 hours from Decorah to Winterset. They’ll get back around 2 am next Saturday morning.

At the end of the day, not that big of a deal, compared to what it used to be when they played playoff games on Wednesday's and Monday's, and the kids had to be back in school the next day.

Of course if gas prices keep skyrocketting as they are, long trips will definitely become more burdensome on the travelling schools and their fans.

 

[KidSilverhair]

Oh, yeah, it’s a long trip, but it is a Friday night. This would be inexcusable on a Wednesday or Monday under the old system.

I still remember some years ago pre-districts when the state had a Marshalltown at Sioux City regular season game scheduled on a Thursday night. Ridiculous.

 

[ronsss]

winterset is a tough team, will give decorah a tough time and probably should have beaten lewis central. lewis central won over winterset 38-37, but winterset was driving towards lewis centrals goal line with time running out... i am taking winterset in thismatchup...watched the 2nd half of this game'

winterset 21 decorah 20

waverly shell rock 35 Bondurant-Farrar 21
lewis central 21 indianola 20
xaiver 28 webster city 14

interesting matchups, see if there are any upsets, very possible

 

[KidSilverhair]

In 5A I think Pleasant Valley is probably going to have more than they can handle at Valley … but any of the other six teams winning would not surprise me in the least.

Dowling over Southeast Polk? Why not, it took a Hail Mary for the Rams to win the first time with Dowling’s starting QB out.

City High over Kennedy? Sure, could happen, Kennedy’s toughest opponents were Bettendorf & Dubuque Senior while City High beat Dowling and outscored the other 8 teams they beat by an average of almost 50 points.

Ankeny over Prairie? Ankeny is only the defending champion and a darn good team, that could easily happen.

As someone covering CR metro teams on the radio this year, we could have Kennedy and Prairie each playing in separate semifinals on the 12th, or just one of them playing, or possibly even playing against each other, or neither of them making the Dome. Any of those could happen and I would just nod and say, makes sense.

 

[PNation]

I wouldn't mind seeing the state going to neutral sites for quarterfinal games, especially if both teams are deserving of hosting, or if there is a crazy distance to travel.

 

[Reasoned]

In 5A I think Pleasant Valley is probably going to have more than they can handle at Valley … but any of the other six teams winning would not surprise me in the least.

Dowling over Southeast Polk? Why not, it took a Hail Mary for the Rams to win the first time with Dowling’s starting QB out.

City High over Kennedy? Sure, could happen, Kennedy’s toughest opponents were Bettendorf & Dubuque Senior while City High beat Dowling and outscored the other 8 teams they beat by an average of almost 50 points.

Ankeny over Prairie? Ankeny is only the defending champion and a darn good team, that could easily happen.

As someone covering CR metro teams on the radio this year, we could have Kennedy and Prairie each playing in separate semifinals on the 12th, or just one of them playing, or possibly even playing against each other, or neither of them making the Dome. Any of those could happen and I would just nod and say, makes sense.

I tend to agree concerning the PV vs Valley matchup, only catch is if Valley can learn to defend the triple option in less than a week.
At the beginning of the year it was assumed to be SEP’s year but they’ve struggled in several games, who knows maybe the postseason will kick them into gear, that Dowling game could be a dandy.
On paper the “weakest” matchup is the CRK vs City (for reasons stated above), not sure CRK has really been tested and City dropped a lopsided decision with PV just a couple of weeks ago, you just never know.
Prairie is a solid team but once you’ve figured out that goofy offense (and if you’ve got a solid front seven), it can be stopped.
I must say, I do like the new PO format thus far, using the RPI for not only which teams get in but setting up pods with little regard to geographic concerns. That gives you the closest to 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15 etc which is the way it should be.

 

[studman1]

Oh, yeah, it’s a long trip, but it is a Friday night. This would be inexcusable on a Wednesday or Monday under the old system.

I still remember some years ago pre-districts when the state had a Marshalltown at Sioux City regular season game scheduled on a Thursday night. Ridiculous.

i remember osky having to go to glenwood on a wednesday for the playoffs in 1994. we didnt get home to about 2:20 in the morning. i think glenwood played at pella in the next round

 

[paednoch23]

I wouldn't mind seeing the state going to neutral sites for quarterfinal games, especially if both teams are deserving of hosting, or if there is a crazy distance to travel.

I agree with this 100%. It is done with Basketball. At least it used to be done that way. I could easilty see the Audobon vs WACO game being played at Norwalk or Carlisle

 

[Minnesotaref]

winterset is a tough team, will give decorah a tough time and probably should have beaten lewis central. lewis central won over winterset 38-37, but winterset was driving towards lewis centrals goal line with time running out... i am taking winterset in thismatchup...watched the 2nd half of this game'

winterset 21 decorah 20

waverly shell rock 35 Bondurant-Farrar 21
lewis central 21 indianola 20
xaiver 28 webster city 14

interesting matchups, see if there are any upsets, very possible

That's pretty good close to my prediction are here

Winterset 28 to decorah 21
Waverly shell rock 24 Bondurant farrar 21
Lewis central 21 Indianola 14
Xaiver 35 Webster City 21

I've seen both Waverly shell rock and Bondurant farrar play. Bondurant farrar doesn't really have kicker. Cram does the kick off for us. Are back up kicker does PAT. Very similar style of play. Both teams like to run the Ball well usually same package. I will say whoever don't make mental mistakes Bondurant farrar kill them shelf on that. That newsoma is good probably will be the best back and linebacker Bondurant farrar. It's who can ever stop the run. But if it becomes I passing game I'm giving Bondurant farrar that game. They will have a little more depth. On of their receiver comes back from injury and he the speed receiver. He been injured since the Boone game. Haven't played.

 

[woodsiding]

I didn't think Kennedy's schedule was as weak as everyone mentioned. They beat 5 playoff teams. City High was 1-1 in their games against playoff teams. Granted, they beat Dowling which is a heck of a win.

 

[KidSilverhair]

I didn't think Kennedy's schedule was as weak as everyone mentioned. They beat 5 playoff teams. City High was 1-1 in their games against playoff teams. Granted, they beat Dowling which is a heck of a win.

Good points. Those five playoff teams Kennedy beat were all seeded in the bottom half and went on the road for their playoff games, and all of them lost.

Kennedy defeated Bettendorf (by 3 TDs), CR Washington (a rout), Dubuque Senior (a game that was tight all the way), Cedar Falls (another blowout, this is where CF's quarterback Jacobsen was injured), and Johnston (Johnston had Kennedy on the ropes for a good portion of this game). So they dominated Wash and Cedar Falls, beat Bettendorf easily, and had trouble with Senior and Johnston (although they dispatched Senior in a rematch last Friday).

City High has rolled eight of the ten teams they've played, beating them by an average of almost 50 points. They beat Dowling by four (with a late TD) and lost to Pleasant Valley by 17. None of their other games were close, including four shutouts, and they romped over a good Urbandale team last week.

 

[Reasoned]

City High has rolled eight of the ten teams they've played, beating them by an average of almost 50 points. They beat Dowling by four (with a late TD) and lost to Pleasant Valley by 17. None of their other games were close, including four shutouts, and they romped over a good Urbandale team last week.

I suspect the challenge City had with PV was as I mentioned above, when you don’t face a good triple option team it causes you fits. Which is why a Bett team (which was well below their standard) was able to limit the PV offense production….they see it every year and know how to defend it. I hope for Valley’s sake they watched the Bett defense and learned.