Big Games this Week- FD at Waukee

[DarkThunder#61]

There are some big Week 8 contests will help settle several district races on Friday, but perhaps the most intriguing matchup of them all will feature unbeaten Fort Dodge facing their toughest challenge of the season in a Waukee team, whose only two losses on the year were against WDM Dowling and Valley. Waukee, a State semifinalist from a year ago, is looking to claim another district title, while Fort Dodge is hoping to back their unprecedented start with what would be one of their biggest regular season wins in school history, along with their first district title since 2010.

Coincidentally, the last time Fort Dodge beat Waukee was in that 2010 season, at Waukee. Of course, the Warriors, who went 4-7 that year, returned the favor by upsetting the Dodgers in the 1st round on their own field, 10-7. Fort Dodge has not won a playoff game since 1994 and only has one other playoff victory in its school history (1978). So regardless of how the Dodgers fare to end the regular season, they still have that specter to deal with once the playoffs begin.

Among the other notable Week 8 contests are:

CB Lewis Central (5-2) at Johnston (5-2).....battle for second in D2

Ankeny Centennial (5-2) at WDM, Valley (6-1).....winner gets District 3 title

Cedar Falls (5-2) at Cedar Rapids, Kennedy (7-0).....a win by Kennedy clinches the title, while a CF victory opens the door for Linn-Mar, creating a potential three-way tie heading into Week 9.

Cedar Rapids, Washington (6-1) at Iowa City High (5-2).....if Washington wins, they get the district title; if City High pulls off the minor upset then that sets up a potential showdown with Muscatine in Week 9 for the district title.

Pleasant Valley (5-2) at Dubuque Hempstead (5-2).....PV needs a win to set up a Week 9 showdown with surprise co-leader Iowa City, West, who visits Dubuque North this week.

Thoughts?

 

[hawkod]

Okay Dark:
As requested, I'm replying to your comment asking why I put Ft Dodge outside the 4A top 10. First off, I have no grudge against the fine folks from Ft Dodge. I think it's great they're off to this 7-0 start. That being said, on a neutral field I see 9 teams that I'd bet would defeat Ft Dodge and another 4 that I feel would have a good chance to do the same.

Top 9: Dowling, Valley, Bettendorf, CR Kennedy, CR Washington, Waukee, Johnston, SE Polk, and Ankeny.

Next 4: Urbandale, Centennial, Muscatine, and Pleasant Valley.

So maybe I'd put the Dodgers in the 'tied for 10th' category with those last 4 teams. The nice thing is we'll find out tonight and next Friday when they face Waukee and Urbandale where they really stand.

Good luck to Ft Dodge the rest of the way.

 

[GoBigD6788]

I've seen this movie before. Fort Dodge goes undefeated while playing the likes of Mason City, the Sioux City schools, and some DM Metro teams. They'll wilt now like they did then. I remember when Dowling went up to Fort Dodge my senior year and played a previously undefeated team, shellacked them pretty handily.

 

[DarkThunder#61]

I've seen this movie before. Fort Dodge goes undefeated while playing the likes of Mason City, the Sioux City schools, and some DM Metro teams. They'll wilt now like they did then. I remember when Dowling went up to Fort Dodge my senior year and played a previously undefeated team, shellacked them pretty handily.

And, uh.....just how long ago was that?

The last time a Dowling team played an undefeated Fort Dodge team was in 2010...at Dowling. FD was 3-0 going into that game. They haven't been 7-0 since the 1940s.

The rest of 4A is also fighting an uphill battle to keep up with the growing DSM suburb schools, so yeah it is a big deal when teams from outside the major city/suburb powers do very well. Here's some fun facts about the circle jerk 4A has become:

- Since 2000, 11 of the last 15 champions were either Dowling, Valley, or Ankeny (once). The other four were from Bettendorf (traditional 4A power from the Quad Cities, only Harlan and Emmetsburg have more State titles), Iowa City, City High (traditionally upper tier program and hometown of U of I, also 5th largest city in the state) and Cedar Rapids Xavier.

Xavier's lone title in 2006 is probably the most impressive, despite coming from the 2nd largest city in Iowa, when you consider they did so as one of the smallest schools competing in 4A at the time. Their current BEDS total is less than half of what Dowling's enrollment is, which is part of why Xavier is in 3A now.

- The last time a non-traditional power "4A" team from a major metropolitan area won State was in 1984 when Sioux City East won their lone championship. Two years later Cedar Falls would win their lone State title, but they have also played in 4 others.

- 1983 was the last time a Davenport school won or played for a State title in 4A. Davenport Central claimed the title, beating Sioux City Heelan. 1979 was the last time a Dubuque school won or played for a State title. Hempstead beat Valley, after coming in 2nd the year before.

- And if you want to go even a step further, the only "isolated" 4A schools to win a State title were 1980 Newton and 1978 Mason City, coached by Barry Alvarez. The last just to play for a State title was in 2009 when Marshalltown fell to Iowa City High, which is also the last time a team from the East won the title.

- Also, along with Marshalltown, Southeast Polk is the only other team not named Ankeny, Dowling or Valley to play for a State title since 1996. SEP lost the title game in 2006. Ames lost their only championship appearance in 1996. So in other words from 1997 to 2014, only twice in that time span was one of those 3 formerly mentioned schools not in the State title game.


/tl;dr......because I'm sure most 4A fans already knew all this stuff, right? Although it's not quite as bad as 1A right now with just one team winning State every year.