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Class A Preview- 2021

Nov 9, 2011
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Because why not......

Here is my district breakdowns for 2021 and playoff predictions (7 teams in 8 districts and top four get in the playoffs). I'm not spending five to ten minutes researching each team and returners. Just based on what I remember last year.

District 1:
1st- H-M-S- 7-3 last year. Lost in first round to West Hancock. Return a decent group.
2nd- South O'Brien- 6-4 last season. Lost quite a bit but a few nice kids returning.
3rd- Alta-Aurelia- 4-4 last season. Did some nice things offensively against WH. Some kids returning.
4th- Hinton- 1-5 in Class 1A last season. That experience could help them.
5th- Gehlen Catholic- 3-5 last season
6th- Akron-Westfield- 2-6 in 2020.
7th- MMCRU- 1-7 last year. Been not good since the merger and not being in 8man anymore.

District 2: THIS SHOULD BE THE BEST DISTRICT IN CLASS A!
1st- West Hancock- 9-2 last season. State Quarterfinalists. I'm a homer yes but this team should be better than last year. Lost some very good seniors but have a lot of experience returning but a good group coming up.
2nd- Saint Ansgar- 10-1 last year. Semifinalists- Always reloading. Lost some top talent but doesn't seem to matter much to them. Well coached.
3rd- Newman- I could see them upsetting SA or WH in the regular season. Lots of talent returning from a 6-3 team last season. Well coached.
4th- Lake Mills- 5-4 last year. Lost the Bacon kid to ISU but have some good kids coming back.
5th- West Fork- 5-3 in 2020. They tend to surprise a top team or two each year. Might not always win but competitive.
6th- North Butler- 3-5 last season
7th- North Union- 1-7 in 2020

District 3:
1st- Grundy Center- 11-1 in 2020. Last two runner ups. Still have some talent. Well coached. Weaker district minus Wapsie Valley
2nd- Wapsie Valley- 9-2 in 2020. Great tradition but will have a new coach. Haven't heard who that will be yet. Doesn't look like there's a lot returning but hard to tell.
3rd- AGWSR- 5-4 in 8man last season. They are lucky to be in a weak district but may be a tough transition back to 11 man.
4th- Hudson- 2-6 in Class 1A last year. Lost some of their top stat guys. The drop and weak district will help.
5th- North Tama- 2-6 last year
6th- BCLUW- 1-7 in 2020
7th- Nashua-Plainfield- 2-6 in 2020

District 4:
1st- South Winn- The only team in this district with a winning record in 2020. They were going to play WH and that would've been a great game! No competition here I'm afraid
2nd- Belluvue- I really don't know how to rank the rest of this district. Best guessing going on from here on out! 3-3 last season
3rd- East Buchanan- 3-6 in 2020
4th- Clayton Ridge- 3-6 last season
5th- North Linn- 2-6 in 2020
6th- Maquoketa Valley, Delhi- 2-7 last year
7th- Starmont- 0-7 in 2020

District 5:
1st- Lisbon- 7-3 in 2020. Always seem to be decent. Looks like they return enough
2nd- Alburnett- 6-3 in 2020. Purely going by last year's record and they return some
3rd- Wapello- 4-4. Know nothing about them
4th- Pekin- 3-4 in 2020. Tradition school but average lately. I just don't see any team better than them from here on out.
5th- North Cedar- 1-6 last year
6th- Columbus Community- 2-6
7th- Highland, Riverside- 1-6 in 2020

District 6:
1st- Belle Plaine- I just don't think much of this district. Some former traditional powers but they all seem to be down right now. 6-3 last year with some kids returning. Enough to give them the nod.
2nd- Madrid- Got a taste of the "postseason" last year. Lost to WH but had some nice athletes. I see them improving this season from last. 3-4 last year
3rd- Ogden- 4-3 last year. Don't know much about them. Feel like they should always have some athletes based on location.
4th- North Mahaska- 3-5 in 2020. I really want them to rebound and have some success. Been done for quite a while.
5th- Lynnville- Sully- 1-5 in 2020. Always well coached but low on talent. They could very well though take the 4th spot.
6th- Colfax-Mingo- 0-8 in 2020
7th- Wayne, Corydon- 0-5 last season. Nothing changing here more than likely.

District 7: This is the second best district in Class A!
1st- St. Albert- hard to pick against them being a Catholic school from a large city playing against small towns. Too much talent. 8-3 last year
2nd- Mount Ayr- 8-2 in 2020. Could give SA a run for their money. Always solid. I believe their coaching staff changed though.
3rd- Riverside, Oakland- 8-2 last year. Not typically a strong team but had success last year. Should boil over into 2021
4th- Southwest Valley- struggled between them and Earlham for 4th but went mostly off of last year's records. Were 6-3 in 2020
5th- Earlham- could see them sneak in. Caskey is a good coach. 4-3 last year.
6th- AHSTW- 2-3 in 2020
7th- Sidney- 0-8. Transitioning back from 8man

District 8:
1st- Logan-Magnolia- 8-2 last season. Made a decent run in the playoffs. Strong most years; don't see that changing.
2nd- Woodbury Central- typically competitive for a decade plus now. The game against L-B should be a good one. 5-4 in 2020
3rd- Lawton-Bronson- 5-3 in 2020.
4th- IKM-Manning- 3-6 last season. Has had some success in recent years. Played WH in 2019 playoffs and I feel like they had some younger kids playing.
5th- Missouri Valley- 1-7 in 2020
6th- Tri-Center- 2-5 last year
7th- Westwood Sloan- 2-5 in 2020

Again, used last year's records a lot but just wanted to get the conversation going!!

I just think that Class A is down this year looking at everything. The top five will be solid but everything after that drops significantly. The bulk of good teams are in Districts 2 and 7. My four Dome teams are: Saint Ansgar, West Hancock, St. Albert, and Logan-Magnolia. SA and WH can only happen if they separate them out with a system they used last year. I could easily see them play in the quarterfinals though for the sake of geography. Grundy Center and Mount Ayr will be right there as well. Other teams I see winning a playoff game or two are: H-M-S if they don't have to travel east, Wapsie Valley if they make the right hire, Newman Catholic could do some damage, South Winn. That's about it though.

Go ahead and tear this apart and let's have a fun, civil conversation!!!
 
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I think your predictions are pretty good here is how I see it

District 1
H-M-S should win the district, they had a nice season last year and appeared to be young. After that I see it being a complete toss up. I don't know about South O'Brien as they lose almost everyone it appears. I really think that Gehlen and A-W could finish a lot higher in this district. Both were very young, and Gehlen I thought would be better last year after playing a bunch of sophomores the year before. Hinton is kind of the wildcard, with playing in 1A last year.

District 2
I agree this is the deepest district in the state. I also agree that there are 3 teams that should challenge for the title with WH, STA and Newman. Personally I might take Newman with what they return, but I can understand picking any of the 3. For the 4th spot I would actually take North Butler, they return a ton of production and should have the best lineman in the district with the Buss kid. West Fork lost their QB who did a ton, and the Bacon kid for LM was the reason their defense was good. Finally I wonder why North Union can't get it going, all of the former schools that make up North Union had success in 8 man before combining.

District 3
I agree with Grundy winning it, they return their QB, and most of their recievers. I will say though that they lost most of their offensive line, defensive line, and RB so they do have to find some pieces. However, I think they have been just as good at lower levels. After that there are a bunch of question marks. Wapsie should be #2 but lost so much, my guess is that they knew who their next coach would be so that won't matter a lot. Hudson has been up in 1A after a nice run in A, but they weren't all that good and don't return a ton either. AGWSR was decent in 8 man with returning players, but that jump back to 11 man has been hard for schools that had more success than them. North Tama is a traditionally strong program but struggled last year and don't appear to bring back a ton. BCLUW has struggled for 15 or so years now. Nashua Plainfield was bad last year but does appear to bring a few pieces back. After Grundy I wouldn't be shocked if any team made the playoffs and I would be shocked if any team missed them either. My gut says Grundy, Wapsie, Hudson, North Tama though.

District 4
District 4 is a toss up. On paper South Winn has to be the favorite, but they also lost some pieces. However with the core that they return and tradition they should win the district. Bellevue is a solid second choice, they were successful for quite a while up in 1A then last year had a bit of a down season but I think they are well enough coached to be chosen second. After that I am taking Clayton Ridge, I don't know what the story was with the former coach and his son, but even though they played lesser competition after both left they also started winning more games and return enough of their core. I would probably give the 4th spot to North Linn, they have been very good in almost every other sport and I think are getting more of those athletes to come out for football and return most of their production from last year. However just like district 3 I don't think anyone is completely out of the playoffs but just going off of what is returning I think those will be the four.

District 5
Lisbon is the favorite, they had a nice season last year and return quite a bit, I know there has been rumblings of problems with the coaching staff but I don't know if any of that is true or not. After that I like Wapello, they have to replace some pieces on defense but return a pretty good quarterback and appear to have some size. After that it is Alburnett and Pekin, Alburnett lost more than you are saying, but have had strong athletics for a while, Pekin was up in 1A and has some traditon. The bottom three I would put them as Highland, North Cedar and the Columbus, Highland has been alright in the past and could maybe slip into the #4 spot.

District 6
This is kind of a weird district to me, I agree with Belle Plaine, of the schools in the district they have been the most consistent over the last 5 years and are usually well coached. After that who knows, I think Madrid is the safe pick, eventually you have to think they will get back to their winning ways. I will actually take North Mahaska next, again a program with tradition but has been down for a while, I think that they return more than Ogden, and if you compare scores Ogden's record may have been about their easier schedule. I'll agree with the last 3. Overall this has to be the weakest district I would think.

District 7
This is the district that I think is the second deepest, there are a bunch of talented teams here, I really think that the top 6 could make the playoffs and if you put the top 6 teams into many of the district they would not only qualify but possibly host a playoff game. I will go with your same order because because I think it makes sense. The only think I would say is that St. Albert does lose more than some think and they could sort of come back to the back.

District 8
LoMa has to be the clear favorite here. They return a bunch from last year's nice season and are always well coached. After that I think it is Central Woodbury, they have been a consistent program, and return some pieces. I don't know where to go next. Lawton Bronson I have always thought should be better than they are, they have a new coach and don't return much. IKM-M is well coached, but I wonder if the talent is drying up for them. Westwood and Tri Center have been good recently but didn't show much last year, and Missouri Valley is a 1A drop down. Overall I think this district is messy.

As you mentioned their isn't a ton of depth in class A this year, my top 10 would be the following

1. Grundy Center- They have to replace talent up front but I think they get back to the dome and win it this year.
2. LoMa- I like what they bring back and have been their before as a program.
3. Newman- They were young last year and still gave St. Ansgar and Wapsie good games, I think they will be a tough out.
4. Lisbon- They have a few questions but the talent is there
5. HMS- Again a young team that had success
6. St. Albert- Good tradtion, will have to rebuild but I expect them to be their in the end
7. Saint Ansgar- They have just such a good program that it is hard to not put them in the top 10
8. West Hancock- They would win many districts but may struggle with their own.
9. Mount Ayr- 1A drop down that returns quite a bit, the new coach does make me nervous though.
10. South Winn- Good program, benefits from a weaker district but still a solid team.

Next 5
Riverside
Wapello
Southwest Valley
Belle Plaine
Woodbury Central
 
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