HAWKS TAKE UNDFEATED MARK INTO D7 SHOWDOWN
Homecoming spirit is in full force at East Greene as the Hawks prepare for a big homecoming game against rival Glidden-Ralston tomorrow night. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Karber Field in Grand Junction.
Homecoming 2010 got underway last Friday with the announcement of the Homecoming Court—five senior girls and five senior boys who are candidates for Homecoming Queen and King. Queen candidates are Brittanee Heaning, Tia Lowe, Jasmine Kinney, Molly Neese and Katlynn Gannon. King candidates are Zach Dearborn, Tyler Cooklin, Charlie Jacobsen, Aaron Lyons and Bret Kersey.
The football team pushed the interest in Homecoming to a higher level that night in Charter Oak with a big 68-12 win over the Charter Oak-Ute Bobcats to remain undefeated with a 4-0 mark and in a tie with Glidden-Ralston and Coon Rapids-Bayard for the lead in District 7 8-Man football. All three teams are 2-0. GR is 3-1 on the season with its only setback a triple-overtime loss to Newell-Fonda, 46-40, in non-district action.
Tomorrow night’s games will have a big impact on who takes the Division 7 crown this year and which of the four teams in the 8-team division will qualify for the playoffs. Besides the EG-GR faceoff, CRB (2-0, 3-1) will travel to Dunlap to face Boyer Valley (1-1, 3-1).
The theme of this year’s Homecoming is “Welcome to the Jungle: Let’s Get a Wildcat Takedown” and the spirit has been building all week with special dress up days for the high school students. Monday was PJ Day with the kids wearing pajamas; Tuesday was Opposite Dress Day, where they dress up as the opposite gender; and Wednesday was Throwback in Sports Day, where students don old uniforms.
Tuesday was also the traditional picture day for the elementary school in Rippey so it was “dress up days” for the younger grades.
All the grades got into the act today with Class Color Day: kindergarten—green; first—blue; second—purple; third—red; fourth—yellow; fifth—pink; sixth—yellow; seventh—orange; eighth—brown; ninth (freshmen)—purple; tenth (sophomores)—red; eleventh (juniors)—blue; and 12th (seniors)—pink.
The Homecoming King and Queen will be crowned tonight at a pep rally and coronation ceremony at the high school gym in Grand Junction. The annual parade is tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Grand Junction and the Homecoming Dance is Saturday night from 8-11 p.m. in the GJ gym.
District 7 Standings (District, Overall)
East Greene 2-0, 4-0
Coon Rapids-Bayard 2-0, 3-1
Glidden-Ralston 2-0, 3-1
Walnut 1-1, 1-3
Boyer Valley 1-1, 3-1
Ar-We-Va 0-2, 1-3
Woodbine 0-2, 1-3
Charter Oak-Ute 0-2, 0-4
Friday, Sept. 17 results:
Boyer Valley, Dunlap 28, Ar-We-Va, Westside 27
Coon Rapids-Bayard 58, Woodbine 27
East Greene, Grand Junction 68, Charter Oak-Ute 12
Glidden-Ralston 62, Walnut 0
EYE ON GJ SAYS: Glidden-Ralston has been a longtime rival of EG with both teams having been in the same conference together since the fall of 1976, with the exception of last year when GR moved to the Rolling Hills while EG was in its final year in the West Central. Most years they were grouped in the same football division with the exception of the early 00s, when EG was in 8-Man and GR was in Class A. Back in 1976, GR was coming off its Class 1A state championship the previous fall. Glidden has long been a football town and Glidden HS and Glidden-Ralston HS have won numerous football titles. The win tally in the EG-GR gridiron rivalry tilts pretty heavily toward the Wildcats. It’s possible that East Greene has not beaten GR since the Hawks’ playoff teams of the late 1980s.
GR switched from Class A to 8-man in 2004 and qualified for the playoffs that year, the first of four successive district crowns and playoff spots, punctuated by the 8-Man state championship in 2005. GR has never finished lower than fourth in the division standings. So GR brings a strong heritage into tomorrow night’s game but the Hawks’ will have the home field advantage and hopefully a big Homecoming crowd to spur them on. Look for GR to bring a good contingent too, as the Wildcat fans are looking to get back on the post-season trail after falling in the sub-state round the last two years.
Both teams have picked up votes in the Associated Press rankings for 8-man football the last two weeks and are among five or six teams just behind the ranked leaders.
This is another “battle of the Lincoln” in D7 as the two schools are both situated in towns on the historic Lincoln Highway. Karber Field is actually right on the historic original highway which runs in conjunction with Iowa Highway 144 north-south through Grand Junction (from Main Street) before turning west toward Jefferson at the southwest corner of GJ at the original Camp Cozy (known locally as Miller’s for the longtime Standard Oil service station there next to the Star Motel, a later name for Camp Cozy).
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Hawks Blank BV 26-0; Now 3-0
EG ONLY UNBEATEN TEAM IN DISTRICT 7
East Greene blanked Boyer Valley (Dunlap) 26-0 tonight in Grand Junction to win its District 7 opener. The Hawks are now 3-0 and travel to Charter Oak-Ute next week to face the Bobcats (0-3), who lost to Walnut tonight 54-25.
Friday, Sept. 10 Scores:
East Greene 26, Boyer Valley 0
Coon Rapids-Bayard 46, Ar-We-Va 7
Glidden-Ralston 58, Woodbine 14
Walnut 54, Charter Oak-Ute 25
District 7 Standings
East Greene 1-0, 3-0
Coon Rapids-Bayard 1-0, 2-1
Glidden-Ralston 1-0, 2-1
Walnut 1-0, 1-2
Boyer Valley 0-1, 2-1
Ar-We-Va 0-1, 1-2
Woodbine 0-1, 1-2
Charter Oak-Ute 0-1, 0-3
Next Friday’s Games (Sept. 17)
East Greene @ Charter Oak-Ute
Ar-We-Va @ Boyer Valley
Walnut @ Glidden-Ralston
Woodbine @ Coon Rapids-Bayard
East Greene blanked Boyer Valley (Dunlap) 26-0 tonight in Grand Junction to win its District 7 opener. The Hawks are now 3-0 and travel to Charter Oak-Ute next week to face the Bobcats (0-3), who lost to Walnut tonight 54-25.
Friday, Sept. 10 Scores:
East Greene 26, Boyer Valley 0
Coon Rapids-Bayard 46, Ar-We-Va 7
Glidden-Ralston 58, Woodbine 14
Walnut 54, Charter Oak-Ute 25
District 7 Standings
East Greene 1-0, 3-0
Coon Rapids-Bayard 1-0, 2-1
Glidden-Ralston 1-0, 2-1
Walnut 1-0, 1-2
Boyer Valley 0-1, 2-1
Ar-We-Va 0-1, 1-2
Woodbine 0-1, 1-2
Charter Oak-Ute 0-1, 0-3
Next Friday’s Games (Sept. 17)
East Greene @ Charter Oak-Ute
Ar-We-Va @ Boyer Valley
Walnut @ Glidden-Ralston
Woodbine @ Coon Rapids-Bayard
Hawks Take 2-0 Mark Into D7 Opener
EG FACES BOYER VALLEY IN 'LINCOLN LEAGUE' BATTLE
Two key wins over non-district opponents Melcher-Dallas and Twin Cedars (Bussey) give East Greene some serious momentum heading into tonight’s district opener in Grand Junction.
The Hawks can use the home field advantage to counter-act the offensive prowess of Boyer Valley (Dunlap), which has rolled by its first two opponents, 82-12 (Whiting) and 52-32 (Kingsley-Pierson). This is the first-ever matchup between East Greene and Boyer Valley in football or any other athletic contest.
Boyer Valley is in its first year of 8-man competition, dropping down from Class A where it racked up a 4-5 record and a 2-4 mark in District 8 action in 2009. BV is one of seven teams that switched to 8-man this year and so far they have a combined 11-2 record and one of those two losses was BV’s defeat of Kinsley-Pierson.
Along with BV and Kingsley-Pierson, the other newcomers to “8-ball” this year as are Newell-Fonda, River Valley (Correctionville), Fremont-Mills (Tabor), Midland (Wyoming) and Tripoli.
Last week EG racked up 336 yards and 13 first downs in beating Twin Cedars, a District 5 team, on the Sabers’ home field near Bussey. Schyler Bardole led the rushing brigade with 182 yards on 17 carries and 3 touchdowns. Tory Beger had 12 carries for 49 yards and Tyler Cooklin rushed five times for 25 yards. Beger and Cooklin split the quarterbacking duties with Beger going 3-8 for 65 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception and Cooklin good on 1 of 5 passes for 12 yards and 1 interception.
Beger and Bardole each had a big night on defense with 16 and 12 tackles, respectively. Cooklin snared two interceptions and ran one back for a touchdown. He also had a good night on kick returns with 91 yards, one of which he scored a TD.
EG is now 2-0 on the season and one of just 18 (of 65 total) undefeated teams in 8-man football.
The Hawks opened the season on Aug. 28 with a big 48-6 win over Melcher-Dallas at Karber Field in Grand Junction. The Hawks put 42 points on the board before allowing the Saints to cross the goal line. Bardole led the rushing attack with 172 yards and three touchdowns, while Cooklin passed for 99 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those were caught by Nic Nicolaisen and the other by Bardole.
EG’s defense picked off three passes from MD quarterback Robert Bingham who threw for over 2,000 yards last season. Cooklin had two of the interceptions and Nicolaisen nabbed the other. Bingham went 16-29-3 for 203 yards.
Elsewhere in non-district games, Glidden-Ralston suffered a tough triple-overtime loss to Newell-Fonda, 46-40. The week before GR had rolled over Grandview Park Baptist (Des Moines) 71-7. CRB opened its season with a loss to No. 4-ranked Northeast Hamilton, 68-27, but bounced back last Friday with a 66-25 drubbing of GPB, which is in District 5 along with Melcher-Dallas and Twin Cedars.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: Tonight's game features two real-deal, D7 “Lincoln League” schools, as the Bulldogs will be motoring east on Highway 30 to Grand Junction for this match-up of high schools located in towns on U.S. Highway 30, the historic “Lincoln Highway.”
Boyer Valley was formed when Dunlap CSD merged with Dow City-Arion CSD a few years back, and Dow City-Arion was a merger from a generation before that. All three towns are on Highway 30 west of Denison — first Arion, then Dow City (just two miles down the road) and then Dunlap. The next town west is Woodbine, also a member of D7 and a “Lincoln League” school and town. Woodbine hosts Glidden-Ralston tonight, creating another head-to-head “battle of the Lincoln.” The fifth LL team located on U.S. 30, Ar-We-Va (Westside), hosts CRB.
Tonight’s Lincoln League (District 7) slate:
Boyer Valley @ East Greene
Coon Rapids-Bayard @ Ar-We-Va
Charter Oak-Ute @ Walnut
Glidden-Ralston @ Woodbine
District 7 Standings (Non-District Games)
East Greene 2-0
Boyer Valley 2-0
Ar-We-Va 1-1
Coon Rapids-Bayard 1-1
Glidden-Ralston 1-1
Woodbine 1-1
Charter Oak-Ute 0-2
Walnut 0-2
Sept. 3 Results:
Ar-We-Va 50, River Valley (Correctionville) 20
Boyer Valley 52, Kingsley-Pierson 32
Coon Rapids-Bayard 66, Grandview Park Baptist 25
East Greene 40, Twin Cedars (Bussey) 22
Woodbine 58, Whiting 20
Newell-Fonda 46, Glidden-Ralston 40 (3 OT)
Remsen-Union 68, Charter Oak-Ute 7
Nishnabotna (Farragut) 68, Walnut 26
Aug. 27 Results:
Boyer Valley 82, Whiting 12
East Greene 48, Melcher-Dallas 6
Glidden-Ralston 71 Grandview Park Baptist 7
Kingsley-Pierson 31, Ar-We-Va 24
River Valley 55, Charter Oak-Ute 14
Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) 68, Coon Rapids-Bayard 27
East Mills (Malvern) 40, Woodbine 28
Sidney 50, Walnut 25
EG Beats PC; Ups Mark to 4-3
HAWKETTES NOW 1-1 IN ROLLING HILLS CONFERENCE
East Greene rolled over Paton-Churdan in three straight games on Thursday, Sept. 2, to up its season record to 4-3 and even its Rolling Hills Conference mark at 1-1.
The 25-10, 25-19, 25-16 win was the first head-to-head conference competition between EG and PC since 2007, when both teams were members of the West Central Conference. The two teams had met earlier this season at a tournament in Coon Rapids, where the Hawkettes prevailed in a best-of-three match, 21-15 and 21-17.
Last week’s conference tilt at Churdan saw the Hawkettes make a solid showing at the net with 18 kills in 66 attempts and 9 errors. Molly Neese, middle hitter, and Tia Lowe, outside hitter, led the charge. Neese was 5 of 21 with 2 errors and Lowe was 6 of 20 with 2 errors. Middle hitter Chelsi Wilkens had a strong showing with 4 kills in 13 attempts and two errors.
Katlynn Gannon led in digs with 15 and Neese had 12. The Hawkettes had some trouble at the service line however, connecting on just 65 of 75 for 60%, but they did score 10 aces. Jasmine Kinney went 27-28 with 4 aces and Neese was a perfect 18-18 with 3 aces.
EG opened conference play two nights earlier, Tuesday, Aug. 31, against Orient-Macksburg in Rippey. The visitors went home with the win, 18-25, 25-17, 26-25, 25-18.
The Hawkettes opened the season on a bright note on Thurs., Aug. 26, when they squeaked out a win over Southeast Webster-Grand (Burnside) in Rippey that was extended by extra points in the fifth and final set in the best-of-five-sets match. EG came back nicely after winning the first set and then dropping the next two. The final match tally was 25-20, 20-25, 24-26, 27-25, 19-17.
The following Saturday, EG went on the road to Coon Rapids where they went 2-2 on the day, finishing second in their pool play and advancing on to the semifinal round. Along with the win over PC, the Hawkettes downed Ankeny Christian 21-8, 21-11 and fell to Coon Rapids-Bayard, 21-12, 21-12 in pool play to advance to the semifinal round along with CRB, Adair-Casey and Iowa Christian Academy.
All matches in pool play and the championship round (semifinal and final matches) were best of three. The No. 1 team in each pool was matched against the No. 2 team of the opposite pool. Adair-Casey eliminated EG 25-23, 25-21 to advance to the championship match against Iowa Christian, a 25-22, 25-18 winner over Coon Rapids-Bayard. Adair-Casey went home with the trophy with a 19-25, 25-21, 15-11 win over Iowa Christian in the final.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: The tournament in Coon Rapids offers a good snapshot on the overall volleyball season and how it might unfold in the weeks ahead. CRB has had great success in past years, advancing to state and winning a West Central Conference crown, while EG entered the tournament as the defending champs but looking at many holes to fill in its lineup. CRB was ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll.
Iowa Christian returned four starters this year, led by junior Karlie Schut, an all-district and all-conference pick last year as a sophomore, so it was not that surprising when the Blazers upended CRB in the tournament semifinals. The Crusaders were coming off a 20-10 season and a fifth-place showing (5-4) in the West Central in 2009, a year beyond winning the league at 9-0 and then winning the regional to advance to state.
The big surprise though is Adair-Casey. The Bombers tied for third at 6-3 in the RH last year, but it was pretty much expected they would fall in line again this year behind ICA and especially the combined EHK/Exira squad, considering that Exira had won the league on its own last year with an unblemished mark.
Not the case, though, as AC took the title at the CRB tourney and is still undefeated on the season at 7-0, and tied for first place in the RH.
All three teams are making their mark on the area and state. AC is ranked No. 9 in Class 1A by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union while ICA is 14th and CRB is 15th.
The irony here is that in the last few years, the Rolling Hills has typically had a ranked team in volleyball and basketball (usually Exira) while the West Central has had several teams ranked in either 1A and 2A (often both) in basketball and softball, and one or two in volleyball — usually more than the RH has no matter what the sport. And now the first year that EG moves to the Rolling Hills and in its very first sports season there — two RH teams are ranked!....and just one from the West Central. Go figure. Unlucky break or spirited challenge?
Either way, coach Carly Tiffany is doing a great job of blending her five senior veterans with younger players Wilkens, a freshman, and sophomores Tori Lowe, Brittany Gunn and Liz Gunn.
After the CRB tournament, it’s clear that AC and ICA are the leading contenders for the conference crown. The real surprise is the new super-sized Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira squad, which went winless in four matches in the CRB tournament in addition to dropping a non-conference match to CRB the following Monday. EHKE lost the 7th place match to Ankeny Christian to finish last in the eight-team CRB tournament. PC lost to St. Mary’s (Storm Lake) in the fifth place game, to finish the day 1-3 and in sixth place in the tourney.
EHKE has come back, however, to win its two first conference tilts over Walnut and Paton-Churdan and a non-conference match against AHST (Avoca).
Rolling Hills Conference Standings
(Records through Saturday, Sept. 4, Conf./NonConf.)
Adair-Casey 2-0, 7-0
Iowa Christian Academy 2-0, 5-2
Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 2-0, 3-5
East Greene 1-1, 4-3
CAM (Anita) 1-1, 1-1
Orient-Macksburg 1-1, 1-1
Ankeny Christian Academy 1-1, 2-4
Glidden-Ralston 0-2, 2-7
Paton-Churdan 0-2, 1-5
Walnut 0-2, 1-8
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Hawks Vie for ‘Lincoln League’ Title
EG OPENS SEASON AGAINST MELCHER-DALLAS
East Greene opens the 2010 football season tonight with a home tilt against Melcher-Dallas. After a trip to Twin Cedars (Bussey) in another non-district game next week, the Hawks return home to open District 7 action on Sept. 10 against new district foe Boyer Valley (Dunlap).
The newly aligned District 7 could easily be tabbed the “Lincoln League” as five of the eight high schools are located in communities on U.S. Highway 30, the original Lincoln Highway. Along with East Greene, the other schools on Highway 30 are Glidden-Ralston, Ar-We-Va, Boyer Valley (Dunlap) and Woodbine. Rounding out the “League” are Coon Rapids-Bayard, Charter Oak-Ute and Walnut.
Two of those other three schools are located within less than a dozen miles of U.S. 30—Coon Rapids south of the Lincoln in eastern Carroll County and Charter Oak west of Denison and north of Dunlap in Crawford County, heading along the diagonal that starts at Arcadia and heads down to Missouri Valley. Walnut is the “orphan” of the league. Located less than a mile south of Interstate 80 in the far northeast corner of Pottawattamie County, Walnut is about 40 miles due south of U.S. 30 from Vail.
Not only does D7 encompass five high schools located on the Lincoln, those five school districts among them have 10 towns located on the highway. From east to west, they are: Grand Junction, Ralston, Glidden, Arcadia, Westside, Vail, Arion, Dow City, Dunlap and Woodbine. Grand Junction, however, is the only town to lay claim to being both on both U.S. 30 and the historic Original Lincoln Highway. The original Lincoln spans a point east of Grand Junction—site of the Historic Bridges and Welcome Center—and continues for three miles through Grand Junction along Main Street and Highway 144/Eighth Street to the southwest edge of town, and then on to Jefferson and Scranton, running parallel to “New 30.”
EG vs. Melcher-Dallas
District alignment saw the shifting of Adair-Casey and CAM (Anita) to District 6 while Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira, a D7 member last year has moved up to Class A. Filling the gap of those three departures are Ar-We-Va, Charter Oak-Ute and Woodbine from District 1. Boyer Valley, which drops down from Class A, was assigned to D7 making it a full 8-team league.
With the shift of district assignments, the non-district match-ups were adjusted too. EG faced Ar-We-Va and Charter Oak-Ute last year but as they are now D7 foes, EG will face two teams from District 5: Melcher-Dallas and Twin Cedars (Bussey).
The Hawks return nine lettermen from a squad that finished fifth of six teams in D7 at 1-4 and 3-6 overall. Co-coaches Tim Bardole and Tony Beger will be looking to the six senior returning lettermen to lead the Hawks this year: Schyler Bardole, Nic Nicolaisen, Wes Onken, Aaron Lyons, Rob Ritchie and Brett Kersey. Also back is Zach Hiller, who lettered as a junior, and sophomore letterwinners Tory Beger and Reed Ostrander.
Bardole has started in the EG backfield since his freshman year and he has been named to all-district team each of the last three years. He rushed for 822 yards on 52 carries last year and scored 14 touchdowns. He was also the Hawks’ leading receiver with 24 catches for 338 yards. Nicolaisen ran the ball 23 times for 163 yards.
Coaches Bardole and Beger will look to either Tyler Cooklin or Tory Beger to handle the QB duties. They will have big shoes to fill as Tom Beger racked up 1,262 yards last season with a 78-174 completion rate. He threw 16 touchdown passes last year and scored 2 rushing TDs.
Lyons and Nicolaisen will anchor the receiving corps this year. Lyons caught 14 passes for 210 yards and Nicolaisen snagged 9 for 137 yards.
The Hawks have some key holes to fill on defense, but have back two of their top four tacklers—Ritchie and Bardole.
Both of EG’s non-district opponents are located in southern Marion County, south of Knoxville and Pella.
Melcher-Dallas: Melcher and Dallas are not a combined school district like Paton-Churdan or Glidden-Ralston, but actually one town. But they were merged. Dallas was established first in the southwestern corner of the county on one rail line and Melcher, a coal mining town, was formed on a different rail line but the towns were less than a mile apart. The distance grew smaller over the years and they basically grew into each other. The two were officially merged in 1986, but each still maintains its own zip code.
The Saints went 3-2 and finished third in the six-team District 6 last year and 4-6 overall. MD lost to Ankeny Christian 69-28 in the substate round of the playoffs. The Saints are led by returning QB Robert Bingham, one of the top returning quarterbacks in 8-man as he threw for 2,220 yards and 31 touchdowns last season. Also back is offensive end Josh Schrader, who had 661 yards receiving and 7 TDs.
Twin Cedars (Bussey): Predominantly a rural school district, Twin Cedars encompasses six very small towns in the southeastern corner of the county. The towns are Bussey, Attica, Hamilton, Tracy, Marysville and Pershing. When the district was formed in 1961 it was a merger of the existing schools in Bussey, Tracy and Attica. Attica is the most western of the towns while Bussey and Tracy are the most eastern. Tracy is almost right on the Marion-Mahaska county line and Bussey is less than a mile west of the county line.
A new high school was built in the country east of Bussey on County Road G71 across the county line into Mahaska County in 1961, as the school district also encompasses all of Jefferson Township in the southwestern corner of Mahaska. A gym was added in 1970 and a new elementary school built on the site in 1976. The school takes its name from the north and south branches of Cedar Creek that flow through the district.
TC has a BEDS enrollment (grades 9-11 in 2009-10) of 125 while Melcher-Dallas is closer in size to East Greene (81) with a BEDS enrollment of 85. The Sabers finished fifth in D5 last year at 1-4 and were 2-7 overall.
In head-to-head competition last year, Melcher-Dallas beat Twin Cedars 70-28 in the last game of the season.
Lincoln League Title Up for Grabs
With last year’s co-champs—Adair-Casey and CAM—now over in District 6, the race for the top of “Lincoln League” is up for grabs. GR and CRB seem to be getting the most attention as they tied for third last year, ending the season with identical 3-2 and 7-2 marks. Each lost in the substate round to end the year at 7-3.
GR returns much of its punishing ground game from last year while CRB will again feature its high-octane aerial attack. Senior QB Michael Schwenk passed for 2,940 yards and 53 TD’s last year while adding another 637 yards and 13 TDs on the ground.
Ar-We-Va and Woodbine both qualified for the playoffs last year as they ended up with Remsen-Union in a three-way tie for second at 5-2 (all 6-3 overall) just behind D1 champion St. Mary’s (Remsen). But all four of the D1 teams were knocked out of the substate round to their D2 competitors. It was the worst substate performance of any of the 8 districts.
Ar-We-Va loses nine players off that squad and will be in a bit of rebuilding this phase, but the Rockets are always competitive.
Boyer Valley is the mystery team, moving down from Class A where it went 2-4 in District 8, finishing in a three-way tie for fourth. Overall, BV was 4-5. Traditionally, when teams make that first year move from A down to 8-man they do very well. EG went 7-2 in its first year in 8-man in 2001 as did CRB in 2002.
When GR made the move in 2005, the Wildcats went 8-1 and won the District 4 crown with a perfect 5-0 mark. GR did not lose a district game over the next three seasons, qualifying for the playoff each year. GR went undefeated and won the state 8-man championship in 2005 and went undefeated again in 2007 before falling to Ar-We-Va, the team it beat to win the district crown, in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.
Overall, D7 was very competitive last year as the teams went 12-3 against the other districts in the weeks before intra-district play got underway. That was topped only by District 6, which includes Lenox and Ankeny Christian, which went 13-3. D6 gets even tougher this year with Adair-Casey and CAM in the mix while Grandview Park Baptist moves over to D5.
Districts 5, 1 and 8 had the worst showings at 5-11 and that prevailed in the playoff round as those districts had the fewest teams advancing from the substate to the first round.
East Greene 2010 Football Schedule
(Game time for all is 7 p.m.)
Aug. 27: Melcher-Dallas H
Sept. 3: Twin Cedars (Bussey) A
Sept. 10: Boyer Valley H
Sept. 17: Charter Oak-Ute A
Sept. 24: Glidden-Ralston H (HOMECOMING)
Oct. 1: Woodbine A
Oct. 8: Walnut H (PARENTS’ NIGHT)
Oct. 15: Coon Rapids-Bayard A
Oct. 22: Ar-We-Va A
EYE ON GJ SAYS: Melcher-Dallas is a good first-game test for EG as the Hawks’ defense was its strong suit last year. If the Hawks can contain Bingham and his aerial attack it will stand in their favor for stronger teams that pass a lot like CRB as the season progresses.
Iowa Sports Connection has CRB ranked No. 5 in its pre-season Top 10. Northeast Hamilton from D3 is getting some attention also as ISC ranks NEH sixth. CRB and NEH square off tonight in Blairsburg in the season opener for both teams.
The online BC Moore pre-season rankings have CRB, NEH and GR at seventh, eighth and ninth. Ar-We-Va comes in at No. 20 and EG is close behind at No. 24.
BC Moore gave the Hawks some good feedback, noting that EG’s improvement over the last five years is second only to that of CWL (Corwith). EG has improved from 46th to 35th to 30th to 29th to 24th since 2006.
In the Associated Press poll released this week, NEH is ranked No. 7 at 1-0 after a season opening win over Twin River Valley (Bode) 65-6 last week. All the other teams are 0-0 as they kick off their seasons tonight. CRB is among six teams that received votes in the poll but not enough to rank in the top 10. Lenox, No. 1 in the AP poll, takes on No. 9 ranked Stanton tonight in Stanton.
The Des Moines Register poll this week has Lenox at the top and Stanton eighth and Northeast Hamilton ninth.
East Greene opens the 2010 football season tonight with a home tilt against Melcher-Dallas. After a trip to Twin Cedars (Bussey) in another non-district game next week, the Hawks return home to open District 7 action on Sept. 10 against new district foe Boyer Valley (Dunlap).
The newly aligned District 7 could easily be tabbed the “Lincoln League” as five of the eight high schools are located in communities on U.S. Highway 30, the original Lincoln Highway. Along with East Greene, the other schools on Highway 30 are Glidden-Ralston, Ar-We-Va, Boyer Valley (Dunlap) and Woodbine. Rounding out the “League” are Coon Rapids-Bayard, Charter Oak-Ute and Walnut.
Two of those other three schools are located within less than a dozen miles of U.S. 30—Coon Rapids south of the Lincoln in eastern Carroll County and Charter Oak west of Denison and north of Dunlap in Crawford County, heading along the diagonal that starts at Arcadia and heads down to Missouri Valley. Walnut is the “orphan” of the league. Located less than a mile south of Interstate 80 in the far northeast corner of Pottawattamie County, Walnut is about 40 miles due south of U.S. 30 from Vail.
Not only does D7 encompass five high schools located on the Lincoln, those five school districts among them have 10 towns located on the highway. From east to west, they are: Grand Junction, Ralston, Glidden, Arcadia, Westside, Vail, Arion, Dow City, Dunlap and Woodbine. Grand Junction, however, is the only town to lay claim to being both on both U.S. 30 and the historic Original Lincoln Highway. The original Lincoln spans a point east of Grand Junction—site of the Historic Bridges and Welcome Center—and continues for three miles through Grand Junction along Main Street and Highway 144/Eighth Street to the southwest edge of town, and then on to Jefferson and Scranton, running parallel to “New 30.”
EG vs. Melcher-Dallas
District alignment saw the shifting of Adair-Casey and CAM (Anita) to District 6 while Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira, a D7 member last year has moved up to Class A. Filling the gap of those three departures are Ar-We-Va, Charter Oak-Ute and Woodbine from District 1. Boyer Valley, which drops down from Class A, was assigned to D7 making it a full 8-team league.
With the shift of district assignments, the non-district match-ups were adjusted too. EG faced Ar-We-Va and Charter Oak-Ute last year but as they are now D7 foes, EG will face two teams from District 5: Melcher-Dallas and Twin Cedars (Bussey).
The Hawks return nine lettermen from a squad that finished fifth of six teams in D7 at 1-4 and 3-6 overall. Co-coaches Tim Bardole and Tony Beger will be looking to the six senior returning lettermen to lead the Hawks this year: Schyler Bardole, Nic Nicolaisen, Wes Onken, Aaron Lyons, Rob Ritchie and Brett Kersey. Also back is Zach Hiller, who lettered as a junior, and sophomore letterwinners Tory Beger and Reed Ostrander.
Bardole has started in the EG backfield since his freshman year and he has been named to all-district team each of the last three years. He rushed for 822 yards on 52 carries last year and scored 14 touchdowns. He was also the Hawks’ leading receiver with 24 catches for 338 yards. Nicolaisen ran the ball 23 times for 163 yards.
Coaches Bardole and Beger will look to either Tyler Cooklin or Tory Beger to handle the QB duties. They will have big shoes to fill as Tom Beger racked up 1,262 yards last season with a 78-174 completion rate. He threw 16 touchdown passes last year and scored 2 rushing TDs.
Lyons and Nicolaisen will anchor the receiving corps this year. Lyons caught 14 passes for 210 yards and Nicolaisen snagged 9 for 137 yards.
The Hawks have some key holes to fill on defense, but have back two of their top four tacklers—Ritchie and Bardole.
Both of EG’s non-district opponents are located in southern Marion County, south of Knoxville and Pella.
Melcher-Dallas: Melcher and Dallas are not a combined school district like Paton-Churdan or Glidden-Ralston, but actually one town. But they were merged. Dallas was established first in the southwestern corner of the county on one rail line and Melcher, a coal mining town, was formed on a different rail line but the towns were less than a mile apart. The distance grew smaller over the years and they basically grew into each other. The two were officially merged in 1986, but each still maintains its own zip code.
The Saints went 3-2 and finished third in the six-team District 6 last year and 4-6 overall. MD lost to Ankeny Christian 69-28 in the substate round of the playoffs. The Saints are led by returning QB Robert Bingham, one of the top returning quarterbacks in 8-man as he threw for 2,220 yards and 31 touchdowns last season. Also back is offensive end Josh Schrader, who had 661 yards receiving and 7 TDs.
Twin Cedars (Bussey): Predominantly a rural school district, Twin Cedars encompasses six very small towns in the southeastern corner of the county. The towns are Bussey, Attica, Hamilton, Tracy, Marysville and Pershing. When the district was formed in 1961 it was a merger of the existing schools in Bussey, Tracy and Attica. Attica is the most western of the towns while Bussey and Tracy are the most eastern. Tracy is almost right on the Marion-Mahaska county line and Bussey is less than a mile west of the county line.
A new high school was built in the country east of Bussey on County Road G71 across the county line into Mahaska County in 1961, as the school district also encompasses all of Jefferson Township in the southwestern corner of Mahaska. A gym was added in 1970 and a new elementary school built on the site in 1976. The school takes its name from the north and south branches of Cedar Creek that flow through the district.
TC has a BEDS enrollment (grades 9-11 in 2009-10) of 125 while Melcher-Dallas is closer in size to East Greene (81) with a BEDS enrollment of 85. The Sabers finished fifth in D5 last year at 1-4 and were 2-7 overall.
In head-to-head competition last year, Melcher-Dallas beat Twin Cedars 70-28 in the last game of the season.
Lincoln League Title Up for Grabs
With last year’s co-champs—Adair-Casey and CAM—now over in District 6, the race for the top of “Lincoln League” is up for grabs. GR and CRB seem to be getting the most attention as they tied for third last year, ending the season with identical 3-2 and 7-2 marks. Each lost in the substate round to end the year at 7-3.
GR returns much of its punishing ground game from last year while CRB will again feature its high-octane aerial attack. Senior QB Michael Schwenk passed for 2,940 yards and 53 TD’s last year while adding another 637 yards and 13 TDs on the ground.
Ar-We-Va and Woodbine both qualified for the playoffs last year as they ended up with Remsen-Union in a three-way tie for second at 5-2 (all 6-3 overall) just behind D1 champion St. Mary’s (Remsen). But all four of the D1 teams were knocked out of the substate round to their D2 competitors. It was the worst substate performance of any of the 8 districts.
Ar-We-Va loses nine players off that squad and will be in a bit of rebuilding this phase, but the Rockets are always competitive.
Boyer Valley is the mystery team, moving down from Class A where it went 2-4 in District 8, finishing in a three-way tie for fourth. Overall, BV was 4-5. Traditionally, when teams make that first year move from A down to 8-man they do very well. EG went 7-2 in its first year in 8-man in 2001 as did CRB in 2002.
When GR made the move in 2005, the Wildcats went 8-1 and won the District 4 crown with a perfect 5-0 mark. GR did not lose a district game over the next three seasons, qualifying for the playoff each year. GR went undefeated and won the state 8-man championship in 2005 and went undefeated again in 2007 before falling to Ar-We-Va, the team it beat to win the district crown, in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.
Overall, D7 was very competitive last year as the teams went 12-3 against the other districts in the weeks before intra-district play got underway. That was topped only by District 6, which includes Lenox and Ankeny Christian, which went 13-3. D6 gets even tougher this year with Adair-Casey and CAM in the mix while Grandview Park Baptist moves over to D5.
Districts 5, 1 and 8 had the worst showings at 5-11 and that prevailed in the playoff round as those districts had the fewest teams advancing from the substate to the first round.
East Greene 2010 Football Schedule
(Game time for all is 7 p.m.)
Aug. 27: Melcher-Dallas H
Sept. 3: Twin Cedars (Bussey) A
Sept. 10: Boyer Valley H
Sept. 17: Charter Oak-Ute A
Sept. 24: Glidden-Ralston H (HOMECOMING)
Oct. 1: Woodbine A
Oct. 8: Walnut H (PARENTS’ NIGHT)
Oct. 15: Coon Rapids-Bayard A
Oct. 22: Ar-We-Va A
EYE ON GJ SAYS: Melcher-Dallas is a good first-game test for EG as the Hawks’ defense was its strong suit last year. If the Hawks can contain Bingham and his aerial attack it will stand in their favor for stronger teams that pass a lot like CRB as the season progresses.
Iowa Sports Connection has CRB ranked No. 5 in its pre-season Top 10. Northeast Hamilton from D3 is getting some attention also as ISC ranks NEH sixth. CRB and NEH square off tonight in Blairsburg in the season opener for both teams.
The online BC Moore pre-season rankings have CRB, NEH and GR at seventh, eighth and ninth. Ar-We-Va comes in at No. 20 and EG is close behind at No. 24.
BC Moore gave the Hawks some good feedback, noting that EG’s improvement over the last five years is second only to that of CWL (Corwith). EG has improved from 46th to 35th to 30th to 29th to 24th since 2006.
In the Associated Press poll released this week, NEH is ranked No. 7 at 1-0 after a season opening win over Twin River Valley (Bode) 65-6 last week. All the other teams are 0-0 as they kick off their seasons tonight. CRB is among six teams that received votes in the poll but not enough to rank in the top 10. Lenox, No. 1 in the AP poll, takes on No. 9 ranked Stanton tonight in Stanton.
The Des Moines Register poll this week has Lenox at the top and Stanton eighth and Northeast Hamilton ninth.
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