New 4A Districts, 2018-19...

[screwloose]

District 1
Ankeny
DM Hoover
DM Lincoln
SC East
SC North
WDM Dowling

District 2
Ankeny Centennial
DM Roosevelt
Fort Dodge
Marshalltown
SC West
SE Polk

District 3
Cedar Falls
CR Jefferson
CR Prairie
Dubuque Hempstead
Dubuque Senior
Waterloo West

District 4
Davenport North
Iowa City High
Iowa City West
Linn-Mar
Muscatine
Pleasant Valley

District 5
Bettendorf
Burlington
CR Kennedy
CR Washington
Davenport Central
Davenport West

District 6
DM East
Indianola
Johnston
Mason City
Ottumwa
Waukee

District 7
Ames
CB Jefferson
CB Lincoln
DM North
Urbandale
WDM Valley

 

[LukeFeddersen]

Thanks for posting!

 

[warriors dad]

District 1
Ankeny
DM Hoover
DM Lincoln
SC East
SC North
WDM Dowling

District 2
Ankeny Centennial
DM Roosevelt
Fort Dodge
Marshalltown
SC West
SE Polk

District 3
Cedar Falls
CR Jefferson
CR Prairie
Dubuque Hempstead
Dubuque Senior
Waterloo West

District 4
Davenport North
Iowa City High
Iowa City West
Linn-Mar
Muscatine
Pleasant Valley

District 5
Bettendorf
Burlington
CR Kennedy
CR Washington
Davenport Central
Davenport West

District 6
DM East
Indianola
Johnston
Mason City
Ottumwa
Waukee

District 7
Ames
CB Jefferson
CB Lincoln
DM North
Urbandale
WDM Valley

Thought Iowa city Liberty would be 4A.

 

[PNation]

Once they have a full high school they will be, but next year the senior class will still be small so that keeps them in 3A.

I think something that will be interesting will be how the state divides out playoffs, they have went east vs. west since 2000. Next year there will be 18 east teams and 24 west teams so will they send a couple of west teams east for the playoffs?

 

[oldtimefootball]

Great point PNation. Unfortunately, the teams in 4A playoffs don’t really change much. It doesn’t take too much imagination to see 9 west teams and 7 east teams make 2018 playoffs based solely on 2017 records.

District 1- Ankeny and Dowling
District 2-Centennial and SE Polk
District 3- Cedar Falls and Dub. Senior
District 4-Iowa City West and Pleasant Valley
District 5-Bettendorf and Dav. Central
District 6-Johnston and Waukee
District 7-Urbandale and Valley

Understanding only district champ gets auto bid, but assuming 2nd place team gets wild card bid, only leaves 2 WC spots for teams like DSM Lincoln, CR Kennedy, Indianola, CR Wash. and Waterloo West to fight for. Depending on new RPI system, State will probably get bailed out and get 8 west and 8 east teams as often as not.

 

[screwloose]

Right off the bat, Mason City and Ottumwa in the same district? Hmmm?

 

[screwloose]

What really stinks is the discrepancy of strength between the old MRAC teams and the CIML. 4A is the only class that integrates overlapping districts, geographically. Sure, it might happen in a small degree in the lower classes, but in 4A, it's full blown integration.

Why couldn't they have had a straight district of CB Jefferson, CB Lincoln, SC East, SC North, SC West and Fort Dodge? It may have been a smorgasbord for Fort Dodge, but if geography is the rule in all other classes, wouldn't it make sense to be in 4A also?

Chances are, most of those schools would be fortunate to go 2-2 in non-district play. At which point, the second place team is looking at a 6-3 record with an absolutely horrible OWP and OOWP and not qualify for the playoffs with the new RPI anyway.

Mason City and Marshalltown could have been pulled into a district with Cedar Falls and Waterloo West. The final two could have been taken from a pool of Ames, Ankeny, Ankeny Centennial or Southeast Polk. You wouldn't have the four hour drive between Wapello(Ottumwa) and Cerro Gordo(Mason City) Counties. I hope the state is smart enough to book that game Week 5 and not the season finale, when the weather can start getting ridiculous. Marshalltown and Southeast Polk playing in Sioux City? Enjoy that jaunt back and forth - three and one half hours, at least.

All the other districts look reasonable, but the state looks like they scrambled to put together Districts 2 and 6.

 

[oldtimefootball]

Not sure what was the actual priority for the State. Geographic - no, old conference alignment - no, competitive balance - they missed on this as well.

Combined 2017 records (I know not perfect, but last year’s results are still best predictor of next year):

District 6 23-32
District 7 24-30
Districts 1, 2 & 4 25-29
District 5 27-27
District 3 34-20

Makes District 3 look a lot tougher than others. Seems like a significant outlier.

 

[woodsiding]

The state decided that for a seeded playoff to work, there couldn't be any Dubuque schools involved. Thus they created district 3.

 

[KidSilverhair]

Right off the bat, Mason City and Ottumwa in the same district? Hmmm?

Yep, that caught my attention too. Certainly raised my eyebrow. Ottumwa is just isolated in 4A, that's a fact, but putting them in a district with Mason City seems, I don't know, punitive.

Also Sioux City West in a district with Marshalltown and Southeast Polk, and no other district member further west than Fort Dodge. Hmm ... I seem to recall some years ago one of the huge travel issues that caused a lot of concern and hubbub (and helped lead to establishing districts statewide in 4A) was a Marshalltown at Sioux City game that some brilliant mind in Boone scheduled on a Thursday night. The players and fans had to drive from Sioux City all the way back to Marshalltown in the overnight hours on Thursday, so they could go to school or work on Friday morning. "Hey, we'll set up districts to help fix this, we're going to work on reducing travel, it'll be great!"

So now Marshalltown and SC West are in the same district. Let's at least hope they play on a Friday the next two years ...

 

[franky1967]

It is hard to imagine Waterloo East dropping to 3A football, this could be long term. Not sure how East will handle it.

CF probable Schedule
Cr. Jefferson
Cr. Prairie
Wat. West
Hempstead
Dub Senior

Ames
IC High
Wat. East
Mason City/Ft. Dodge/Marshalltown

 

[CF_93]

Thought Iowa city Liberty would be 4A.

Boone effectively decided to "move the goalposts" on what and who is in 4A starting next season.

 

[tnobd]

Right off the bat, Mason City and Ottumwa in the same district? Hmmm?

Considering Ottumwa has lost 19 straight games, the district travel distances are the least of their worries. At least Ottumwa gets to play some of their other CIML opponents from their other sports conference . Their biggest challenge at their low end of the 4A enrollment numbers will be their participation numbers. I believe their non varsity teams improved, so that may help. I read where the director of the IHSAA didn't agree that increasing the playoff qualifiers again would help the participation numbers. IMO he is partially correct. Using Ottumwa as the example, their participation numbers will keep dropping as long as their enrollment goes down and they cannot be competitive in the regular season. I don't think teams like Newton lost players, by having winning regular season records the last two years. Curiously the IHSAA is the using the player "safety" card as a general rule with 16 teams after decades of starting opening playoff games on Wednesday nights.

 

[woodsiding]

Thought Iowa city Liberty would be 4A.

They won't have a senior class in the building next year.

 

[denverhawkfan]

↑
"Thought Iowa city Liberty would be 4A.
They won't have a senior class in the building next year."

14 woodsiding, Yesterday at 11:09 AM



I thought BEDS was based off grades 9-11 or do they use something else to determine?

 

[EHS1505]

What really stinks is the discrepancy of strength between the old MRAC teams and the CIML. 4A is the only class that integrates overlapping districts, geographically. Sure, it might happen in a small degree in the lower classes, but in 4A, it's full blown integration.

Why couldn't they have had a straight district of CB Jefferson, CB Lincoln, SC East, SC North, SC West and Fort Dodge? It may have been a smorgasbord for Fort Dodge, but if geography is the rule in all other classes, wouldn't it make sense to be in 4A also?

If this was the district, I would venture to guess that you'd end up with at least 2 in. That becomes too controllable for the ADs, especially with no class penalty. What I felt they should have done is swapped SC West with Hoover or Lincoln, whichever is the traditionally weaker football school and gone with that as D1. It would cut down on travel for the SC schools, give all 3 one more non-district game elsewhere, and you know you'll likely end up with Dowling and Ankeny running the show out of it anyway so what's the difference really?

 

[PNation]

↑
"Thought Iowa city Liberty would be 4A.
They won't have a senior class in the building next year."

14 woodsiding, Yesterday at 11:09 AM



I thought BEDS was based off grades 9-11 or do they use something else to determine?

They are based on 9-11 this year, for next year, so essentially 10-12 next year. Currently Liberty has normal freshman and sophomore classes, and tiny junior and senior classes.

 

[Kraftwerk]

Where the Hell is Waterloo East?

Districts are just stupid. Horrible for everyone. And I say this as a SC East fan who I believe gets a good draw in District 1.

My idea? Let the teams schedule who they want, go back to the old or current conference schedules, and then just vote or use a computer system to decide play-off teams. It's not like any of the fellow MRAC teams are going to win state or even make it. Why not let them play CB schools and some of the local 3A schools or even some Nebraska schools? There's absolutely no reason SC North should have to travel to West Des Moines or vice versa. Let the teams schedule who they want. If SC West plays a couple 3a schools, finishes 6-3 or 7-2 with a good year but doesn't make the play offs so be it. This is about putting the best teams on the field against each other and districts ruin that for everyone. Plus there's always a conference title to compete for.. MRAC schools are as of now isolated, and noncompetitive with much of the state. Why continue this crap and prevent competitive competition? The SC West-SC North game was great last season. East and West had a good game as well. The best teams in the state are going to play each other ANYWAY

 

[CF_93]

4A is dropping from 48 to 42 schools, and Waterloo East is among the smallest 4A schools forced to drop to 3A. Of course that could be remedied if the city of Waterloo would ever re-draw the school boundaries, and evenly distribute kids between West and East. I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen though.

 

[EHS1505]

Where the Hell is Waterloo East?

Districts are just stupid. Horrible for everyone. And I say this as a SC East fan who I believe gets a good draw in District 1.

I'm not entirely sure it's any different than the last rotation for East. Dowling is Dowling. Ankeny isn't the Ankeny of old, but still a quality program. The DM public schools were all pretty similar last year with the exception of DM North. At best you'll see a 4-1 district record "upsetting" Ankeny, but could just as easily be 1-4 if they don't play well against Hoover and Lincoln.

The other part of your post has some truths to it, but they'll never go back to conference football and they'll never exclude any team from a CHANCE, however slim, of making the playoffs. All schools have a say in their first 4 non-district games. The SC schools can/will schedule evenly matched/rival local schools those first 4 weeks I'm sure.

 

[Kraftwerk]

I'm not entirely sure it's any different than the last rotation for East. Dowling is Dowling. Ankeny isn't the Ankeny of old, but still a quality program. The DM public schools were all pretty similar last year with the exception of DM North. At best you'll see a 4-1 district record "upsetting" Ankeny, but could just as easily be 1-4 if they don't play well against Hoover and Lincoln.

The other part of your post has some truths to it, but they'll never go back to conference football and they'll never exclude any team from a CHANCE, however slim, of making the playoffs. All schools have a say in their first 4 non-district games. The SC schools can/will schedule evenly matched/rival local schools those first 4 weeks I'm sure.

I'm not saying that any team should be excluded. If any team goes unbeaten out of the MRAC or finishes with 1 lost they would be in the play-off. But let's be realistic, it only gets worse for these programs who go 0-9 if they have to play elite competition. It's a lose-lose for each side.

Things should be different for East the next few years. Watching them get out coached and beaten by Heelan every year and losing to Sgt. Bluff every year is over. They've better players and there is no excuse for that. I would agree with your statement if there no coaching change. I also believe if East becomes a top 10-15 team the other two schools will also improve.

 

[EHS1505]

Things should be different for East the next few years. Watching them get out coached and beaten by Heelan every year and losing to Sgt. Bluff every year is over. They've better players and there is no excuse for that. I would agree with your statement if there no coaching change. I also believe if East becomes a top 10-15 team the other two schools will also improve.

Again, I don't necessarily disagree with some of the points you make, and I made a similar point saying West should have replaced the lesser DM public school in D1 for a similar reason, but conference football or nonsensical schedules (like the one you posted in the "Combine SC Football" thread) are never going to happen so it's a waste of time blabbering on about it.

In regards to the point I quoted from your post... I do think West will improve, but it isn't dependent on East being a top 10 team. I think West's new coach made huge strides year 1 and I think they will continue to improve under him. I do think West got an absolutely terrible draw for a district though, both travel and competitively it's tough on them, but I think they will still show improvement, even if they go 0-fer in district play.

 

[Reasoned]

Being from the east side and ignorant of the distances involved for travel, isn't it about 3 hrs from SC to DM? Yikes, to make that trip once a season...but twice...or more!

 

[bradk6]

Yes it's all of 3 hours. By and large a complete waste of time on both ends. Sioux City was 3 and 10 last year against DM schools. SC West had the good fortune of playing at Dowling and at Centennial last season.

 

[EHS1505]

Yes it's all of 3 hours. By and large a complete waste of time on both ends. Sioux City was 3 and 10 last year against DM schools. SC West had the good fortune of playing at Dowling and at Centennial last season.

West made the trip 4 times last year. DM North and DM Lincoln were also away games.

If Lewis Central would have stayed 4A, then I think you could justify an I-29 district based off LC's success, maybe. State might need to "tweak" the ND schedule to ensure if a 2nd team from the district got in, they'd have earned their record in ND games. Alas, LC dropped and it's all moot.

 

[Reasoned]

So before the district format, the MRC had about 6 games all relatively close (even though a couple schools were in a different class) and who did the 4A schools schedule for their other 3 games?

 

[ISUChip]

So before the district format, the MRC had about 6 games all relatively close (even though a couple schools were in a different class) and who did the 4A schools schedule for their other 3 games?

Going back a little further, the Sioux City schools (East, West, North, Heelan) were in a conference with 4 Sioux Falls schools (O'Gorman, Washington, Roosevelt, Lincoln) until 1997. Council Bluffs schools played several teams from around Omaha.

 

[bradk6]

So before the district format, the MRC had about 6 games all relatively close (even though a couple schools were in a different class) and who did the 4A schools schedule for their other 3 games?

Lemars, South Sioux, Norfolk, Mitchell, Aberdeen, Yankton, are a few that come to mind.

 

[EHS1505]

Going back a little further, the Sioux City schools (East, West, North, Heelan) were in a conference with 4 Sioux Falls schools (O'Gorman, Washington, Roosevelt, Lincoln) until 1997. Council Bluffs schools played several teams from around Omaha.

With class based conference football; East, North, West, CBTJ, & CBAL played each other and the champ was an auto qualifier. The last year of it ('09) East was 1-4 entering conference play and went 4-0 in conference. They upset AL (Ebertowski) and survived a scare from West. They did play a solid NC schedule that year, but it wasn't uncommon for the MRC champ to have a lower overall record than teams being left out in the CIML. Think it played a pretty large part in western 4A for the push for district football to be honest.

Finally, you also couldn't play out of your class in this time frame so the IAHSAA set all of the schedules. AL actually played TJ and then played Fort Dodge, and then returned to conference play. Not all schedules were that jumbled, but there were some interesting things in the final years of conference football on the west side of 4A.

 

[Reasoned]

Going back a little further, the Sioux City schools (East, West, North, Heelan) were in a conference with 4 Sioux Falls schools (O'Gorman, Washington, Roosevelt, Lincoln) until 1997. Council Bluffs schools played several teams from around Omaha.

Curious, they were able to form a conference with schools from two states?

 

[ISUChip]

Curious, they were able to form a conference with schools from two states?

The Sioux Interstate Conference (4 SC + 4 SF) was boys-only competition. There was a Sioux Delta Conference created for girls competition (SC schools, LeMars, Western) because IA and SD don't line up their girls' sports seasons the same way.

Some good reading here [LINK] about the Sioux City schools trying to get into any league (even the CIML) after the South Dakota association decided to disallow cross-state competition.

The River Cities Conference was the two CB schools, South Sioux City, and four Omaha-area schools.