D7 Preview

[fmclonefan]

Well, most of the time early season predictions are worthless, but why let a little thing like that stop me! I'm ready for some high school football to start, so thought I might as well start looking at some of the districts that I'm familiar with, albeit some more then others. Will start with D7.

D7 consists of (with last year's record in parenthesis):

ADM (3-6)
Atlantic (1-8)
Carroll (7-4)
Creston (6-5)
Denison (0-9)
Glenwood (8-2)
Harlan (8-2)
Winterset (3-6)

Most are holdover's from last year's District 8 (minus DCG). Carroll and Denison are now added to the mix. Seems to be divided into two groups. Bottom 4 (ADM, Atlantic, Denison, and Winterset). Top 4 (Carroll, Creston, Glenwood, and Harlan) who all ended up beating each other last year. Carroll got smoked by Harlan, but beat Glenwood in playoffs. Creston lost to Harlan in regular season but handled them well in playoffs. Glenwood ran over Creston, but lost to Harlan (granted stud QB was out for that game). So, should be some great games between the top 4 and any could win on any given night, especially considering injuries, weather, etc... I didn't see each of these teams play last year, but did see half of them.

Predictions:

1. Glenwood -- Have skilled players back and are the most explosive team in D7. Rolling along last year until injuries slowed them. Wilwerding is an excellent QB. They can score points in bunches. Seem to be blessed with lots of great all around athletes at this time. If key players stay healthy, will be a tough out.

2. Creston -- QB is back. Shiltz only ran for 2500 yards last year, not a bad year, and he is back. They also have about 2000 lbs of humanity up front. They will run the ball up and down the field, no question about that. The question is if they can stop anybody. Gave up an average of 32 points a game last year, which included over 50 points 3 times (Glenwood, Harlan, Pella).

3. Carroll -- Welcome to D7! Carroll does lose stud RB (Pauk) but has most of skilled players back. Molinsky had a nice year at QB and does have good WR talent back. Not sure if they have the horses to get past Glenwood and Creston, but should be a very good team.

4. Harlan -- Is weird to pick them 4th at any time. But, lost lots of talent. Juhl is gone. Most of the defense is gone. I'm sure that they have talent in the wings ready to play, but may be a tall order this year. Don't see them dominating this district, by any means. But, as soon as I say that they will probably have a big year.

5. Winterset -- Don't really expect them to be much improved this year, but probably the best of the rest here. Winterset traditionally have solid teams and don't expect that to change.

6. ADM -- Losing Weiland at QB really hurts from a team that struggled to score last year. The running game was essentially non-existent. They will probably struggle mightily to move the ball against the better teams. Defense will have to keep them in games.

7. Atlantic -- Most likely another long year, but playing quite a few young guys, so hopefully the future will be brighter.

8. Denison -- Atlantic beat them last year for only win, so hard to move Denison up any.

So, my best guesses for D7. Some of you, I'm sure, have more insight into this district then I do and agree or disagree. Thoughts?

 

[Cyclone1968]

Your thoughts on D5 and D6.

 

[ronsss]

fmclonefan.

great insight to the year, enjoyed reading it. .it does appear this might be a very tough district this year, lots of talent from last year. .harlan did loose their qb, but they do return their running back i blieve...the juniors this year, especially the linemen,,,look to be promising...they are huge, 9 , going from 6ft 1 on up, lot of em at 6ft 4, and all in the 200s,..that could be the difference for the cyclones this year...i look for it to be a 2 or 3 team race for the title in this district. the 2 going into the playoffs should represent the district nicely...glad to see dension back in the district, that is where they belong..they have been in southwest iowa for decades..not sure why the boone boys want to move them up north..they sure have slipped a notch or 2 in the years, they use to be harlan,s tough game

 

[oldschoolram1995]

Not being biased but I think with what glenwood has they will make a deep run and should take D7 pretty handily....


Glenwood - best there is in this group. Again not being biased but the best athletes in the district here with great speed and an experienced QB that did some pretty good things last year as a soph

Caroll is going to be better than last year even without Pauk. Some pretty good lineman up there. They give Glenwood a run

Creston is huge up front but I think the philosophy of attacking them will come this year. Huge yes but not the fleetest of foot and speed against them will take down the run game. Defense won't be as bad as you think.

Harlan - Tarney is not going to be carrying the ball and has moved to LB. Don't get taking an all state guy and taking him away but it sure makes us happy not having to hit him...I have heard a lot of interest from D2 and a few 1AA to play LB. QB situation is bad at best and if they don't adapt to what they have there they will be sub .500. Having said that if they do adapt putting 9 in the box will put a stop to the run game with whomever they put there. As for the size of harlan the big boys there aren't playing line. They have 3 guys over 250 and 6' 2" but none of them play as of yet.

 

[ronsss]

..if you go to iowa quick stats, the roster from last year has a whole slew of sophmores there...unless my eyes are not working good...well, if tarney moved...why is he on the cyclone baseball team?

 

[oonfoofoo]

I think you're pretty much on with your rankings here. Glenwood and Carroll at the top with Creston and then the rest. Harlan, ADM and Winterset should be in the middle and it could be any of those three in any order. I think Denison will be better but don't think they return enough to be near the top. Atlantic needs stability before they will be above .500.

Harlan will struggle with replacing QB, new TB and an entirely new defense. That means two key guys will be new in QB and TB and that is never a good combination to start the season. Getting that in sync early on will be a problem and they could wind up going 1 - 3 and the playoffs will be out.

Glenwood should pretty much walk through this district but I don't think it's worthy of being one of the better districts. I think the east side of the state will take it this year.

 

[ronsss]

where is nick tarney playing football this season? is it avoca......if u go to iowa quick stats, nick tarney is on the football roster for 2016 for harlan

 

[oonfoofoo]

where is nick tarney playing football this season? is it avoca......if u go to iowa quick stats, nick tarney is on the football roster for 2016 for harlan

he is still in Harlan but he moved from tailback to linebacker.

 

[ronsss]

he is still in Harlan but he moved from tailback to linebacker.

i got to believe that they must have someone come up that is very good at tailback, otherwise they would go 2 ways with tarney

 

[Amons1956]

Does Harlan have the magic this year?

 

[El_Doce]

I agree with fm, I don't think anyone in the district has the D to stop Glenwood, as long as they stay healthy

 

[oonfoofoo]

Does Harlan have the magic this year?

Doesn't look like it. Defense might not be all that bad. Sounds like the new D coordinator has put in a new defense and brought a new mindset around speed and movement and not trying to take on guys head on. More of react and not read.

Offense on the other hand might struggle. New QB, new TB, new center....not a good recipe with very little varsity experience.

 

[Amons1956]

From what im hearing Harlan's offense could be something special this year

 

[oonfoofoo]

From what im hearing Harlan's offense could be something special this year

Just have to see - by special do you mean good special or special Ed special?

Honestly they could be 1 - 3 and Greene County wasn't out of any games with a young team last year so 0 - 4 is not out. Then again if things work they could 3 - 1. I don't see them beating Glenwood.

As for special, they don't have a QB picked as of yet...sound like 3 or more are in the mix. Losing Juhl is a big loss as can be seen when he went down two seasons ago. A new TB that is prone to injury, a young center taking place of a guy that was there for 3 years. And the OLine was short of decent last year.

 

[oonfoofoo]

i got to believe that they must have someone come up that is very good at tailback, otherwise they would go 2 ways with tarney

Bladt is not a two way guy when not necessary and going both ways at TB and then running the defense doesn't happen at all.

 

[ronsss]

bladt went t-ways with the hoch kid, ,but who would not i quess....yea, i know running tb and then playing defense would be a load on anyone..should get some info the harlan paper soon, thought they would have something in there by now..i have read a review on glenwood allready, coach faust thought the rams would be better than last year.. the rams coach stated the kids hit the weight room hard during the year, and it shows

 

[oldschoolram1995]

bladt went t-ways with the hoch kid, ,but who would not i quess....yea, i know running tb and then playing defense would be a load on anyone..should get some info the harlan paper soon, thought they would have something in there by now..i have read a review on glenwood allready, coach faust thought the rams would be better than last year.. the rams coach stated the kids hit the weight room hard during the year, and it shows

Not sure which Hoch you're referring to but Matt was not a fulltime fullback. And of course it was Matt Hoch.

 

[ronsss]

Not sure which Hoch you're referring to but Matt was not a fulltime fullback. And of course it was Matt Hoch.

not real sure, the last hoch cyclone..he played linebacker and fullback..i got him on dvd against heelan..he was in there most of the time...harlan beat heelan to win the championship, otherwise heelan probably would have been state champs that year

 

[oonfoofoo]

not real sure, the last hoch cyclone..he played linebacker and fullback..i got him on dvd against heelan..he was in there most of the time...harlan beat heelan to win the championship, otherwise heelan probably would have been state champs that year

that would be matt. he played some fullback throughout the year but played that entire game both ways against heelan. had over 100 and 15 or so tackles that game.

dan and matt both went on to Mizzou and had very good 4 year careers....btw both are now coaching Iowa high school teams....not in Harlan mind you. Dan is even at a rival a half hour away

 

[ronsss]

where are they coaching at? the one must be at denison or atlantic

 

[ronsss]

i have just read the harlan paper, football edition this week. i quess that cyclone offense is loaded with speed, and expect a high scoring unit....bladt stated the tailback, nick floss, can go the distance everytime he touches the ball. the coaches are excited about foss,s backup too, austin smith, a burner too..offensive coach korhorst stated austin smith brings speed that harlan had not seen in some time. ...austins brother, grant smith , will start at fullback,...the 2 smith brothers are transfers from ankeny centenial... the offense line has size, 4 out of 5 at 240lb. its got experience and talent...the qb spot is still in question, 3 guys in the run. the coaches are happy with the qb play, and said sophore brett sears is very athletic, and a winner. offesive coach korhorst if very excited about the offense, and said it will make the denfese cover side line to side line...stated that this may be the best reciever group in the area ....on denfense, new look, 4x4 most of the time with new winkles...the new coach stated with offenses today, u cannot just sit back and let them come at u...u got to keep them quessing..tarney, lasts year all district fullback, is at linebacker and big things are expected..tarney has been very impressive...also, the defensive coach stated the defensive end might be the best in the state....sounds very postive for cyclone fans...oh ,. tarney may see limited action at fullback along with grant smity...and a few guys will go both ways this year. .....a interesting footnote, all the games harlan plays this year will be on articial turf, except 1...creston game will be on grass. going to be interesting to see if this is all hot air, or reality

 

[oonfoofoo]

I am kind of in the middle with kids in the lewis central system and wife from Harlan. We made it to the Harlan scrimmage because we pretty much know what LC has. I will say that I know it's a scimmage but Harlan didn't look that great. They threw the ball a lot and I am assuming it's to iron out kinks or determine the starting QB - they will miss Juhl. Running the ball nothing special - difference this year is the new TB doesn't deliver a blow like Tarney did and I think they will struggle to run inside. I expect Tarney will be in short yardage. Defense again nothing fancy. they pretty much played read only and didn't do anything new so either they are hiding it or the defense is the same. A few DEs looked good and Tarney is a good run stopper, DBs look very weak. So the MO goes 9 in the box and make them throw and throw on them.

By the way Dan Hoch is here at LC and Matt is at Clear Creek Amana

 

[ronsss]

figured the dan hock might leave...just not enough room for all that want to coach at harlan...thanks for the info...i am sure harlan would not be showing there bread and butter in the scrimmage. ...the first game is lewis central, should peg down the success of each team for the remainder of the season.

 

[moneyman83]

Harlan should be decent. Replacing qb will be tough as backup play wasn't that good last year and people that went to the scrimmage said Harlan didn't look that good but thats part of the plan maybe.

From what i hear Creston will probably win the district this year and Harlan or Glenwood will take second. Harlan also has a new D coordinator. Murtaugh the wrestling coach is taking over for Carstens. Sounds like Tarney will play linebacker this year instead of running back. They have a three year center to replace. They will have someone new at tailback.

I'm kind of suprised the computer rankings have harlan ranked third and creston only ranked thirty second which is right in the middle of all the teams. Schiltz ran the ball all over harlan in the playoff game which they won in harlan even though Creston lost to them during the regular season. It is worth noting Schiltz only played half the regular season game due to injury. Creston returns quite a few players.

Theres some pretty good teams in the district that will battle for two playoff spots. Come playoff time whichever the top two teams are could be a little banged up.
I agree Denison will be a little better shouldn't be hard to improve though as the last three seasons they have only come up with two combined wins. The qb play improved quite a bit towards the end of the season. They won't compete with the top teams in the district but they could get two or three wins this season.

I don't think Tarney will go both ways. He won't go out for wrestling because he is afraid he will get injured again for baseball or football. I can't see Bladt having him go both ways and risk losing him come playoff time. Carroll is suppose to be pretty good this year to. You'll have Carroll, Harlan, Creston, and Glenwood battling for two playoff spots. I'll probably head to denison this week for denison tj then head to carroll the following week for what should be a good game in Carroll and Heelan.

 

[ronsss]

harlan may have a tough test with lewis central , due to the qb they have...max duggan, coaches son, a sophmore allready being looked at by division one schools...he played as a freshman last year, and he is lighting quick. his only pick last year was by dowling, and completed over 60 per cent of his passes as a freshman... also, already projected as the #8 dual qb for 2019 class...