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Non-district games

fmclonefan

Freshman
Nov 21, 2006
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Pella AD tweeted that:

week 1: Pella @ DCG
week 2: Harlan @ Pella

Wow. Two great games. I’m curious how the AD’s are going about trying to get games and how difficult it is to find opponents. Can they schedule teams in other classes? Could create some fun local interest games. I am surprised that Harlan is coming all the way to Pella to play. They may have had some trouble finding more local teams though that were willing to play them.

I just continue to hope that we will actually have games to enjoy!
 
DCG was already on the previous iteration of Pella's schedule.

Some schools have kept 2 of their 4 previously-scheduled opponents. A fair number of others have kept 1, and found 1 new one. Looks to be a combination of geography and home/away balance.
 
Keokuk will travel to Knoxville Week 2 as originally scheduled but still looking for a Week 1. Chiefs originally scheduled to host North Scott but neither side was very interested in playing that.
 
Grinnell Picked up Harlan Week 1. Pella without Aaron Downs is not the same pella.

Agreed. You don’t lose a stud like that and not have an impact. Pella will still be very salty though. Vast majority of starters are back. Glad Harlan is playing Grinnell! Should be a great game. Is probably fun for Harlan to get to play some teams they don’t normally see.
 
Xavier vs. Linn-Mar, that was originally a Week 4 game, will now be Week 2. I haven’t heard about Xavier’s Week 1 game, but I’d bet they’ll keep the Western Dubuque contest that was already scheduled.

(Interesting, I think, that Waverly Shell Rock has now lost both of their original first two games, Week 1 vs Grinnell and Week 2 vs Xavier. I’m not sure what the Go-Hawks are planning to do.)

The MVC released their schedule yesterday; in addition to Xavier-LinnMar other games involving 3A teams include Western Dubuque v Dubuque Hempstead Week 2 and Waterloo East v Waterloo West Week 1.
 
Waverly is playing Crestwood at home W1 and @Waukon W2.
Wondering who chose not to Play in Week 1 Waverly or Grinnell. If it was to dodge heavy competition I'm guessing it wasn't Grinnell as they are now Playing #6 Harlan instead of Waverly in W1 now.
 
Hows Xavier looking for this Fall?

I think they’ll reload, as usual. As far as returning starters, they’ve got the fullback, a wide receiver, a linebacker and two defensive backs, plus a tailback and a tight end who played a lot last year. They’ll have to find a new quarterback and develop both lines, but the coaching staff usually gets the lines up to speed pretty quick.

It’s a challenging district - Grinnell just missed the playoffs last year and return everybody, and Clear Creek Amana has a D-1 defensive player in TJ Bollers.

Coach Schulte’s next victory will be number 200 in his career, by the way.
 
Until I was putting together research for this season, I hadn't realized Brian Sauser was back in Iowa and coaching at Grinnell. He had been head coach at Muscatine and then Iowa City West from 2005-2013, then left the state for a coaching job in Oklahoma. He was then hired at West Burlington/Notre Dame in February 2017 but resigned from there the following June before he even started to go coach in Arkansas.

I guess he's been at Grinnell for a couple of years now. He's got one son (a senior this year) with a D-1 offer as an offensive lineman, and another who started at QB as a freshman last year and threw for over 1700 yards.
 
I don't know if it was necessarily Waverly dodging competition, although I do think they will be a little down again this season, I see it more them playing two NEIC schools than anything else.
 
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Until I was putting together research for this season, I hadn't realized Brian Sauser was back in Iowa and coaching at Grinnell. He had been head coach at Muscatine and then Iowa City West from 2005-2013, then left the state for a coaching job in Oklahoma. He was then hired at West Burlington/Notre Dame in February 2017 but resigned from there the following June before he even started to go coach in Arkansas.

I guess he's been at Grinnell for a couple of years now. He's got one son (a senior this year) with a D-1 offer as an offensive lineman, and another who started at QB as a freshman last year and threw for over 1700 yards.
He has completely transformed the Football Culture in Grinnell in a very short time. Grinnell's returning team is completely loaded. Scores of Athletes that dominated the 7v7 circuit this summer...mostly playing club 7v7 teams as a HS team. I realize 7v7 isn't football but Man Grinnell has some Athletes.
 
I'm not sure about the interior positions, but nearly all the stat-producers from Western Dubuque have graduated. They bring back players with about 22 varsity carries and only 8 pass attempts. Tommy DeSollar's 19 catches are most of what the Bobcats have coming back on offense.

I agree about Grinnell and Xavier probably fighting for that district title, although I'll be interested to see how Clear Creek-Amana does. They bring back a ton of talent, although I think they really underperformed last year. Oskaloosa has made the playoffs the past couple of years, too.
 
Compiled from school websites and athletics calendars:

CLASS 3A

District 1
BHRV: at Western, vs West Lyon
LeMars: at Sioux Center, vs SC East
SB-Luton: vs SC West, at Lewis Central
SC Heelan: vs SC East, at SC North
Spencer: at Webster City, vs Denison
Storm Lake: vs West Lyon, at Humboldt

District 2
Ballard: at North Polk, vs Carlisle
Boone: vs Creston, at Bondurant-Farrar
Gilbert: vs West Marshall, at ADM
Humboldt: at Algona, vs Storm Lake
Mason City: at Marshalltown, vs Fort Dodge
Webster City: vs Spencer, vs Carroll

District 3
Charles City: at New Hampton, vs Union
Decorah: vs Waukon, at Crestwood
Waterloo East: vs Waterloo West, at Wahlert
Waverly-SR: vs Crestwood, at Waukon
West Delaware: vs Wahlert, at Clinton
Western Dubuque: at Xavier, vs Hempstead

District 4
Assumption: at Dav West, at Dav Central
Central DeWitt: vs Maquoketa, vs Dav West
Clinton: OPEN, vs West Delaware
Wahlert: at West Delaware, vs Waterloo East
Marion: at Washington, vs CP-Urbana
North Scott: vs Muscatine, at Pleasant Valley

District 5
Burlington: TBA, TBA
Fairfield: vs Knoxville, at West Burlington
Fort Madison: vs West Burlington, at Centerville
Keokuk: at Clarke County (Mo.), at Knoxville
Mount Pleasant: vs CC-Amana, at Tipton
Washington: vs Marion, at Solon

District 6
Benton: vs Vinton-Shellsburg, at Williamsburg
Xavier: vs Western Dubuque, at Linn-Mar
CC-Amana: at Mount Pleasant, vs Muscatine
Grinnell: at Harlan, vs South Tama
Newton: at PCM, vs Marshalltown
Oskaloosa: vs Dike-NH, vs Ottumwa

District 7
Bondurant-Farrar: at Carroll, vs Boone
Carlisle: vs Norwalk, at Ballard
Knoxville: at Fairfield, vs Keokuk
Nevada: vs ADM, at Roland-Story
North Polk: vs Ballard, vs DC-Grimes
Pella: at DC-Grimes, vs Harlan

District 8
ADM: at Nevada, vs Gilbert
DC-Grimes: vs Pella, at North Polk
DM Hoover: vs DM North, TBA/OPEN
Norwalk: at Carlisle, vs Indianola
Perry: vs Greene County, at Saydel
Winterset: vs Van Meter, at Creston

District 9
Carroll: vs Bondurant-Farrar, at Webster City
Creston: at Boone, vs Winterset
Denison-Schleswig: at CB Lincoln, at Spencer
Glenwood: vs CB Jefferson, vs Treynor
Harlan: vs Grinnell, at Pella
Lewis Central: vs CB St. Albert, vs SB-Luton
 
Agreed. You don’t lose a stud like that and not have an impact. Pella will still be very salty though. Vast majority of starters are back. Glad Harlan is playing Grinnell! Should be a great game. Is probably fun for Harlan to get to play some teams they don’t normally see.
grinell seems to be one team that is rising above the ashes.....harlan,s big question mark is who is going to the new qb, and how good is he???? harlan returns many from a 7-3 team last yr, that included a win over district champ lewis central.....this year harlan returns 8 on defense, that included 2 starting sophs....offense returns 6, that had 2 starting sophs and another sharing starting time from last yr...its first time i ever witnessed that many sophs playing on a harlan team. looking forward to see the cyclones and grinell hit the field together again...been some time
calpreps has it :
harlan 35
grinell 20
 
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Grinnell returns 19 starters. 14 of which were starters as sophomores. 1 D1 recruit. The 3A returning rusher leader and a top passer in 3A. The difference this year is their QB hit a growth spurt and has wheels big time. Their incoming senior class is loaded and never lost a football game until they were relied upon two years ago to be the majority of the starters on varsity as sophmores.
 
Grinnell returns 19 starters. 14 of which were starters as sophomores. 1 D1 recruit. The 3A returning rusher leader and a top passer in 3A. The difference this year is their QB hit a growth spurt and has wheels big time. Their incoming senior class is loaded and never lost a football game until they were relied upon two years ago to be the majority of the starters on varsity as sophmores.
thinking it might be a close game, as i stated earlier, harlans qb is a unknown....i do think the team that will win 3a this year will come from the east side of the state...3a has some good teams on the east side
 
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Marion has to drop their opener vs Washington, due to complications from the August 10 storm. As Reasoned said, Washington was able to reschedule with Bettendorf for Week 1.

Marion will play their home games at Linn-Mar because of damage at Thomas Park.

Benton Community’s press box fell onto their stands, so the Bobcats will play their “home” games at Vinton-Shellsburg and at Williamsburg.
 
harlan,s projected gb had offseason ankle surgery, and has not been cleared to play yet,,,fah has practiced on the scout team...so he will be starting very soon... the starting qb will be a sophmore...its not clear yet who that will be, the coaches liked the way they played in scrimmage....the offense is young, loaded with sophs and juniors....the defense returns 11 starters, each position has a guy that started at one time or another last season...bladt stated that the defense could be something special this year...harlan defenitily has it hands full with grinell, pella and glenwood as their first 3 games.. the stud on the team is junior 6ft3 will mclaughlin who playes tight end and line backer..has received 4 d1 offers...
 
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Grinnell returns 19 starters. 14 of which were starters as sophomores. 1 D1 recruit. The 3A returning rusher leader and a top passer in 3A. The difference this year is their QB hit a growth spurt and has wheels big time. Their incoming senior class is loaded and never lost a football game until they were relied upon two years ago to be the majority of the starters on varsity as sophmores.
I recall watching two years ago as the Ankeny Centennial sophomore team dismantled Grinnell, but perhaps you are saying this was their JV squad that didn't include their good sophomores? Not arguing just asking...I think we ended up with Grinnell because regular Ankeny was too banged up and had to back out of our game, and Grinnell gamely agreed to play.
 
harlan will have one soph starting on defense....the offense has 2 starting because the qb is recovering from ankle surgery... and another positon it between soph and jr, not decided yet..so its possible haraln will have 4 sophs playing that is very unusaual for a harlan team..its was the same last yr, they have 3 or 4 sophs playing, and still managed a 7-3 record...sort of unusual for a team with sophs playing succed...every young
 
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I recall watching two years ago as the Ankeny Centennial sophomore team dismantled Grinnell, but perhaps you are saying this was their JV squad that didn't include their good sophomores? Not arguing just asking...I think we ended up with Grinnell because regular Ankeny was too banged up and had to back out of our game, and Grinnell gamely agreed to play.

That year Grinnell has a varsity squad full of sophomores, so you probably faced what was left. They were extremely young that year.
 
Well for a little perspective, based on 19-20 BEDS AC is 1321 vs Grinnell 378... they should “dismantle” them.
 
Totally agree, probably should have used a different choice of words. Like I said, credit to them for playing.
 
I recall watching two years ago as the Ankeny Centennial sophomore team dismantled Grinnell, but perhaps you are saying this was their JV squad that didn't include their good sophomores? Not arguing just asking...I think we ended up with Grinnell because regular Ankeny was too banged up and had to back out of our game, and Grinnell gamely agreed to play.
You are correct regarding Ankeny Game. Grinnell's JV was almost entirely Freshman that year. The 14 Sophomores that played Varsity that year (2 years ago) did not play in any JV game. Centennial's Sophmore team that Played in Grinnell was actually playing Grinnell's JV which was mostly Freshman and a few others. The number of Kis out for football 2 years ago was pretty low.
 
Well for a little perspective, based on 19-20 BEDS AC is 1321 vs Grinnell 378... they should “dismantle” them.
I was there and I would say that it was worse than dismantle it got out of hand quickly. Like you said a Big 4A school's Sophmore team against a smaller 3A school's Freshman team is a mismatch.
 
Certainly didn't mean to get off track, just didn't know about those sophomores playing up, and that their JV squad was actually comprised of freshman. I've been hearing really good things about Grinnell this year, so it will be fun to see how they do.
 
You are correct regarding Ankeny Game. Grinnell's JV was almost entirely Freshman that year. The 14 Sophomores that played Varsity that year (2 years ago) did not play in any JV game. Centennial's Sophmore team that Played in Grinnell was actually playing Grinnell's JV which was mostly Freshman and a few others. The number of Kis out for football 2 years ago was pretty low.

Believe it or not, the numbers thing is now affecting the 4a schools as well. Centennial, for the first time in my 4 years following them, will be dressing the entire group of sophomores for all varsity games this year. Without those sophomores, we barely had 40 seniors and juniors. It's just really hard to fathom the numbers in a fairly successful program dropping so quickly...
 
Believe it or not, the numbers thing is now affecting the 4a schools as well. Centennial, for the first time in my 4 years following them, will be dressing the entire group of sophomores for all varsity games this year. Without those sophomores, we barely had 40 seniors and juniors. It's just really hard to fathom the numbers in a fairly successful program dropping so quickly...
Interesting they are choosing to do that, I had read the IHSAA was encouraging teams to minimize the number of kids on the sidelines (in order to social distance) and to consider having a “travel team” similar to what you have in college (for schools with larger rosters).
 
Interesting they are choosing to do that, I had read the IHSAA was encouraging teams to minimize the number of kids on the sidelines (in order to social distance) and to consider having a “travel team” similar to what you have in college (for schools with larger rosters).
Interesting hearing about roster sizes across the state. I believe Western Dubuque only has around 28 varsity kids. Conversely North Scott has 57 kids, which only includes 1 sophomore.
 
Interesting hearing about roster sizes across the state. I believe Western Dubuque only has around 28 varsity kids. Conversely North Scott has 57 kids, which only includes 1 sophomore.
harlan has 59 kids on the varasity squad, its about average for harlan
 
Grinnell only suits 49 on their varsity squad. That includes 2 freshmen. In years past Freshman who participated completely in off season training prior to their freshman season was invited to suit varsity. I don't believe that is that case anymore. If so they would be suiting 75-80 and I don't think they have enough varsity uniforms for that.
 
Have no idea what Xavier’s roster size is this year, but I remember watching them in the dome in the past years and they had such a big roster. Was impressive. They looked like they had double the players of the other teams, exaggerated of course. Is understandable how they can reload each year.
 
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