PLAY TONIGHT IN GJ FOR PLAYOFF SPOT
East Greene upended a favored Coon Rapids-Bayard football team Friday, Oct. 14, in Grand Junction and positioned itself favorably for a possible 8-Man State Playoff spot.
EG ended years of frustration at the hands of the Crusaders with a convincing 39-14 win. The Hawks took command early and never let up.
Quarterback Tory Beger was an offensive force, passing for four touchdowns and running for another. Beger was 27 of 46 through the air with one interception for 304 total yards. He ran for 59 yards on 16 carries. Reed Ostrander had another outstanding night with 12 receptions for 135 yards and three touchdown catches. TJ Lint had 8 catches for 78 yards and 1 touchdown. Harrison Johnston caught 7 passes for 66 yards, and Broc Timm had 1 reception for 25 yards.
Johnston had an outstanding game returning a CRB kick for a touchdown and two interceptions, one returned for a 48-yard TD. Johnston added to the EG cause with a 2-point conversion, and Zach Hiller capped off the evening with a successful PAT kick.
The Hawk defense put the clamps on CRB early and did not let up. Beger led the attack with 8 solo and 5 assisted tackles with Ostrander handling 10 solos and two assisted. Hiller had 9 solo and 2 assisted; Johnston 4 and 6; Broc Timm 4 and 7; Cody Hidelbaugh 6 and 3; Alex Gordon 5 and 4; and Lint 5 and 2.
EG completely shut down the Crusaders’ passing attack. In addition to Johnston’s two interceptions, Ostrander also snagged two CRB passes. Overall, the “Hawk D” held Crusader QB Keaton Schlatter to just 9 completions in 29 attempts for 94 yards passing. The Crusaders were held to 71 yards rushing for 165 yards total. EG racked up 104 yards on the ground to add to its 304 yards passing for 408-yard offensive total for the night.
EG takes on Ar-We-Va in the final regular season game tonight, Friday, Oct. 21, at Karber Field. Kickoff is 7 p.m. EG and Ar-We-Va have identical 4-4 records, but the Rockets are 4-1 in District 7 and have already clinched a playoff spot. After the win over CRB, the Hawks are deadlocked with the Crusaders at 2-3 with each team in contention for the fourth of four playoff spots in D7. A win gives Ar-We-Va the No. 2 seed and a possible No. 1 seed if Glidden-Ralston should fall to Coon Rapids-Bayard tonight in Coon Rapids. A win would pretty much give EG the No. 4 spot.
GR, unbeaten in D7 play (5-0) and 7-1 overall, will be a heavy favorite over CRB. Woodbine is 1-4 in D7 but takes on winless Charter Oak-Ute. If CRB and EG both lose and Woodbine wins, all three teams would be tied for the No. 4 spot and the tie-breaker system would be used based on the average point differential in each team’s six division games.
Heading into tonight’s games, CRB and EG are knotted up at -2.6 tie-breaker points. Woodbine is -6.4 but a win would improve that number while losses for CRB and EG would drop them further into the minus category, so unless those two teams’ losses were very, very close, Woodbine would most likely get the No. 4 playoff spot. But if COU should make it close against Woodbine in losing, it could come down to a single point in the scores being the difference.
Boyer Valley (Dunlap) has concluded district and season play at 4-2 and 6-3, and is guaranteed no worse than the No. 3 playoff spot. If EG gets by Ar-We-Va, that would tie up the Rockets and BV at 4-2 in the league for second. The No. 2 playoff spot would be decided by the points differential tie-breaker. BV finished the season with 5.3 points while AWV has 6.67 through 5 games. AWV could lose to EG and keep the No. 2 spot, but only if the Rockets lose by 1 point. A loss of 2 points or more would cut into their total point differential and drop them below BV’s point total differential.
District 7 Standings:
Glidden-Ralston 5-0 7-1
Ar-We-Va 4-1 4-4
Boyer Valley 4-2 6-3
Coon Rapids-Bayard 2-3 4-4
East Greene 2-3 4-4
Woodbine 1-4 2-6
Charter Oak-Ute 0-5 0-8
Oct. 14 Results:
EG 39, CRB 14
GR 62, COU 28
BV 48, WDB 6
AWV open
Games Tonight:
AWV @ EG
GR @ CRB
COU @ WDB
BV open
EYE ON GJ SAYS: At this point of the season there are two things at play—the actual games in GJ, Coon Rapids and Woodbine tonight and the mathematical promulgations that could determine who heads where next week for the first round of the post-season playoffs.
Either way, the Hawks really did themselves proud with a big win over CRB. It was the first win ever in 8-man football over the Crusaders. It was even sweeter to have it come on the Hawks' home field in Grand Junction.
Beger and Ostrander continue to rank high in the passing and receiving stats compiled each week and featured in the Friday morning prep preview in the D.M. Register. Each has been among the Top 10 and climbing. This week, Ostrander is No. 2 among all Iowa high school receivers with 68 receptions for 1,094 yards and 14 touchdowns.
The No. 4 seed in D7 will travel next Wednesday to the No. 1 seed in D8. Fremont-Mills (Tabor) and East Mills (Malvern) are both 5-0 in D8 and meet tonight in Malvern for the district championship. Fremont-Mills (7-0) is ranked No. 2 in the state in 8-Man Football while East Mills (8-0) is ranked No. 5.
Showing posts with label 8-Man football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 8-Man football. Show all posts
Friday, October 21, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Going “Greene”?
NO WAY, JOSÉ, IT’S “LINCOLNWAY”!
Is there something that Tommy Birch down at the Des Moines Register knows that we don’t?
Tommy put together a nice recap of East Greene’s big Homecoming win over Charter Oak-Ute in a prep wrap-up in Sunday’s Register sports section Sept. 18 with a subhead entitled, “GOING GREENE.”
Earlier that weekend, some swag bags were handed out at the East Greene Homecoming Parade in GJ emblazoned with that awful beak-nosed bird they used for the [current] school logo and the words, “GO GREENE.” Hmmm? Twice in the same weekend with this mono-syllabic “GREENE” shows up. No longer “EAST,” cuz we’re headed west? Coincidence? I wonder. If this is someone’s idea for a new name for a possible reorganized East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton school district in the near future--something like Greene United or Greene County—I vote No . Without Paton-Churdan in a “reorg” it is only two-thirds to three-fourths or so of Greene County.
I suggest something that truly unites us across the board and helps this area stand out from the crowd: Lincolnway Community School District. Yes, the Lincoln (highway and president), with the statue of honest Abe on the courthouse square—on the county-owned side!—as our rallying point for all of Greene County, or at least all the towns and townships that would be inclusive of a reorg of the current J-S and EG districts.
Lincolnway cleanly ties together the three largest towns of the [proposed] district which are also the three largest towns of the county—Scranton, Jefferson and Grand Junction. The school district and the Lincoln served by the three towns also embrace these townships: Scranton and Kendrick Townships and the city of Scranton; Bristol, Jackson, Hardin and Grant Townships surrounding the city of Jefferson; and the super-size Junction Township and the city of Grand Junction, the second largest town in Greene County with Scranton being third, both trailing Jefferson, the county seat and proposed site of the high school.
Well, that will be then and this is now, so let’s give some applause to the EG Hawks for their showing in GJ at Homecoming on Sept. 16. Tommy Birch wrote:
“GOING GREENE: East Greene had a pair of strong performances in 66-28 victory over Charter Oak-Ute. Reed Ostrander hauled in five passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns. He also had two carries for 50 yards, including a 48-yard touchdown. He had a 51-yard punt return for a touchdown. Quarterback Tory Beger completed 20-of-29 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns. Beger also rushed for two more scores.”
The following Monday, Sept. 21, the “Little Hawks” of the EG Junior High School in GJ posted a big 44-6 win over Adair-Casey in a game suspended in the middle of the third quarter as AC ran out of players. They started with 10 but injuries whittled that down to 7 which is one less needed to play 8-man football.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: Take it or leave it Paton-Churdan, or be on your “way.” If you don’t want to be a part of a county-wide school system, then don’t. But don’t expect any panting, open door “we’ll give it a name you can use too” reality going forward. And since you rebuffed the outreach from EG for any sports sharing, don’t expect us to hold some gild-edged invitation for sports sharing along the likes of Lincolnway/Paton-Churdan. It will be Lincolnway and Lincolnway only. Period. You had your chance(s). You took a pass.
Come on, folks! We need to market that Lincolnway. Make it educational….President Lincoln, early day highway transportation, Floyd Mahany and his legacy with the tower, and our beautiful historic courthouse…. emblematic of our pioneer forebears. Hey! There’s a great team nickname….the Pioneers….Lincolnway Pioneers! Green and Black school colors….green of East Greene and the black of Scranton’s black and gold and Jefferson’s black and red. Honor the heritage….
Is there something that Tommy Birch down at the Des Moines Register knows that we don’t?
Tommy put together a nice recap of East Greene’s big Homecoming win over Charter Oak-Ute in a prep wrap-up in Sunday’s Register sports section Sept. 18 with a subhead entitled, “GOING GREENE.”
Earlier that weekend, some swag bags were handed out at the East Greene Homecoming Parade in GJ emblazoned with that awful beak-nosed bird they used for the [current] school logo and the words, “GO GREENE.” Hmmm? Twice in the same weekend with this mono-syllabic “GREENE” shows up. No longer “EAST,” cuz we’re headed west? Coincidence? I wonder. If this is someone’s idea for a new name for a possible reorganized East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton school district in the near future--something like Greene United or Greene County—I vote No . Without Paton-Churdan in a “reorg” it is only two-thirds to three-fourths or so of Greene County.
I suggest something that truly unites us across the board and helps this area stand out from the crowd: Lincolnway Community School District. Yes, the Lincoln (highway and president), with the statue of honest Abe on the courthouse square—on the county-owned side!—as our rallying point for all of Greene County, or at least all the towns and townships that would be inclusive of a reorg of the current J-S and EG districts.
Lincolnway cleanly ties together the three largest towns of the [proposed] district which are also the three largest towns of the county—Scranton, Jefferson and Grand Junction. The school district and the Lincoln served by the three towns also embrace these townships: Scranton and Kendrick Townships and the city of Scranton; Bristol, Jackson, Hardin and Grant Townships surrounding the city of Jefferson; and the super-size Junction Township and the city of Grand Junction, the second largest town in Greene County with Scranton being third, both trailing Jefferson, the county seat and proposed site of the high school.
Well, that will be then and this is now, so let’s give some applause to the EG Hawks for their showing in GJ at Homecoming on Sept. 16. Tommy Birch wrote:
“GOING GREENE: East Greene had a pair of strong performances in 66-28 victory over Charter Oak-Ute. Reed Ostrander hauled in five passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns. He also had two carries for 50 yards, including a 48-yard touchdown. He had a 51-yard punt return for a touchdown. Quarterback Tory Beger completed 20-of-29 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns. Beger also rushed for two more scores.”
The following Monday, Sept. 21, the “Little Hawks” of the EG Junior High School in GJ posted a big 44-6 win over Adair-Casey in a game suspended in the middle of the third quarter as AC ran out of players. They started with 10 but injuries whittled that down to 7 which is one less needed to play 8-man football.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: Take it or leave it Paton-Churdan, or be on your “way.” If you don’t want to be a part of a county-wide school system, then don’t. But don’t expect any panting, open door “we’ll give it a name you can use too” reality going forward. And since you rebuffed the outreach from EG for any sports sharing, don’t expect us to hold some gild-edged invitation for sports sharing along the likes of Lincolnway/Paton-Churdan. It will be Lincolnway and Lincolnway only. Period. You had your chance(s). You took a pass.
Come on, folks! We need to market that Lincolnway. Make it educational….President Lincoln, early day highway transportation, Floyd Mahany and his legacy with the tower, and our beautiful historic courthouse…. emblematic of our pioneer forebears. Hey! There’s a great team nickname….the Pioneers….Lincolnway Pioneers! Green and Black school colors….green of East Greene and the black of Scranton’s black and gold and Jefferson’s black and red. Honor the heritage….
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Hawks Defuse AWV Rockets, 50-0
IT’S ON TO STATE (AND STANTON)!
East Greene shut down Ar-We-Va 50-0 tonight in Westside to put an exclamation point on an amazing 2010 football season.
But the Hawks are not done yet. The 50-0 blitzing of Ar-We-Va is just icing on the cake of a season that saw the Hawks clinch a playoff berth several weeks ago. By finishing third in Division 7 of 8-Man football, the Hawks will get the No. 3 seed and face off on Wednesday against the No. 2 seed from Division 8—the Stanton Vikings. Game time is 7 p.m. in Stanton.
Friday, Oct. 22 Scores:
East Greene 50, Ar-We-Va 0
Glidden-Ralston 32, Coon Rapids-Bayard 27
Boyer Valley 53, Walnut 12
Woodbine 66, Charter Oak-Ute 21
Final Division 7 Standings:
Glidden-Ralston 7-0, 8-1
Coon Rapids-Bayard 6-1, 7-2
East Greene 5-2, 7-2
Boyer Valley 4-3, 6-3
Woodbine 3-4, 3-5
Ar-We-Va 2-5, 3-6
Walnut 1-6, 1-8
Charter Oak-Ute 0-7, 0-9
Friday, October 22, 2010
Hawks Head to Ar-We-Va
LOOKING FOR FIRST WIN EVER AGAINST ROCKETS
Three points and three seconds. It could not have much closer, unless maybe it had been 1 point and 1 second.
Either way, East Greene suffered a heartbreaking loss to longtime rival Coon Rapids-Bayard in Coon Rapids Friday night as the Crusaders scored with just 3 seconds left to beat EG 29-26 and remain unbeaten in Division 7 at 6-0 while the Hawks fell to 4-2.
Of course, the loss was tempered somewhat by EG having clinched a spot in the 8-Man Football playoffs. It’s the Hawks’ first-ever playoff appearance in 8-Man football and the first since qualifying 21 years ago after three straight appearances (1987-89) in Class A (11 man).
East Greene heads to Ar-We-Va (2-4, 3-5) tonight to close out the regular season. The Hawks have qualified for the State Playoffs as the No. 3 team in Division 7 and will be waiting for the results to come in tonight from games in Division 8 as to determine that division’s No. 2 seed. That school—which could be Fremont-Mills (Tabor), East Mills (Malvern) or Stanton—will host the Hawks on Wednesday with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.
Coon Rapids-Bayard takes a perfect D7 mark (7-1 overall) to Glidden where it will face Glidden-Ralston (also 6-0 in D7 and 7-1 overall) to determine the Division winner and top-seed in the playoffs. First-place bragging rights will be determined in the “Lincoln League” (D7) right on the Original Lincoln Highway (today’s U.S. 30), where the GR gridders play, although both teams will host playoff games next week against the No. 3 and 4 seeds from Division 8.
Boyer Valley has already nailed down the No. 4 spot in Division 7 and will head to the top-seeded team in D8 on Wednesday.
CRB 29, EG 26: East Greene has had a fierce rivalry in boys and girls sports with CRB over the years, and this game was more of the same. It was a thriller from start to finish. According to the website of KCIM radio station in Carroll, CRB QB Michael Schwenk left the game in the first half with an injury, but returned to action in the second half. His top receiver, Jacob Esdohr, filled in at QB during his absence.
East Greene went into halftime with a 1 point lead but CRB went back in front after the break. But the Hawks kept battling and it looked like victory was in hand when they scored with just 35 seconds left in the game to go up 26-21. A two-point conversion would put them up by eight points forcing CRB to run the field in just 35 seconds, score a TD and then either kick to tie or add a two-point conversion to win.
But EG’s two-point conversion attempt was stopped and then the unthinkable happened. The Crusaders drove the length of the field in just 5 plays and scored with just 3 seconds on the clock. They added insult to injury by succeeding on their two-point conversion.
The Hawks only had time left to get the kickoff after the touchdown and return the ball all the way to payday, but that did not happen, so CRB got the win and the chance to host a playoff spot at home, in addition to setting up a somewhat expected CRB-GR finale for the Division title.
EG did everything it could to keep itself in the driver’s seat for a possible three-way tie atop D7. The Hawks certainly had the firepower, amassing a whopping 465 total yards to CRB’s 298. EG was clearly moving the ball as it had 27 first downs compared to just 12 for the Crusaders.
But four fumbles and an interception by QB Tory Beger really did the Hawks in. This is a problem that plagued the Hawks last year throughout the season but not as much this year, so that level of miscues in a big game was troubling.
The Hawk defense again rose to the occasion, limiting Schwenk to 13 completions in 27 attempts for 210 yards and intercepting him twice. Schwenk is one of the state’s all-time leading quarterbacks, and these numbers were way below his season average. EG’s Schyler Bardole showed why he is one of the state’s all-time best running backs as he racked up 268 yards on 48 carries and scored three touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
QB Tory Beger went 5-9 for 73 yards and the interception. Beger also carried the ball 18 times for 53 yards and a TD. Tyler Cooklin rounded out the offense with 12 carries for 68 yards.
Bardole, Beger and Cooklin all had good efforts on defense. Bardole led the Hawks with 9 tackles and he intercepted a pass and ran it back 12 yards. Cooklin intercepted a pass and ran it back 22 yards while Beger recovered a fumble.
Ar-We-Va gave D7 co-leader Glidden-Ralston a very tough game on Oct. 8, losing 24-13, and the Rockets fell to Boyer Valley by just one, 28-27, earlier in the season. The Rockets are 2-4 in Division 7 and 3-5 overall.
Most of the attention in D7 will be on the game in Glidden however, as the Wildcats are ranked 8th in state by the D.M. Register and the Crusaders are among a handful of teams right behind the top 10.
UPDATING THE RECORD BOOKS: Bardole ranks No. 4 for all-time career touchdowns in 8-man football, and the three scored at CRB moved him to 88, just one TD behind Shane Nicholson who played at Melcher-Dallas from 2005 to 2008. One touchdown against Ar-We-Va will move him into a tie and two or more touchdowns will move him past Nicholson into the No. 3 slot. Bardole is fifth in most points scored in a career (574) and four more points will move him to No. 4 past Jared Bruce (577) who played at Aurelia from 2007 to 2009. Nine points scored will move him into the No. 3 slot, now filled by Nicholson at 582. In career rushing yards, Bardole is fourth at 4,296 and closing in on Jeff Struecker (4,377) who played for Sentral (Fenton) from 2000 to 2003. Bardole has a been a starter in the backfield since his freshman season in 2007.
District 7 Standings
Coon Rapids-Bayard 6-0, 7-1
Glidden-Ralston 6-0, 7-1
East Greene 4-2, 6-2
Boyer Valley 3-3, 5-3
Woodbine 2-4, 3-5
Ar-We-Va 2-4, 3-5
Walnut 1-5, 1-7
Charter Oak-Ute 0-6, 0-8
Oct. 22 Results:
Ar-We-Va (Westside) 55, Walnut 22
Boyer Valley (Dunlap) 54, Woodbine 13
Glidden-Ralston 92, Charter Oak-Ute 6
Coon Rapids-Bayard 29, East Greene 26
Oct. 29 Games:
Coon Rapids-Bayard at Glidden-Ralston
East Greene at Ar-We-Va
Walnut at Boyer Valley
Woodbine at Charter Oak-Ute
EYE ON GJ SAYS: If the Hawks need any incentive for tonight’s game, they need only think back to July and the susbstate baseball championship game in Denison where Ar-We-Va edged the Hawks 3-2 and advanced to the state tourney at Principal Park in Des Moines. Most of the Hawk starters—Beger, Cooklin, Aaron Lyons, Zach Dearborn and Wes Onken with the exception of Bardole, a non-baseball player—played key roles on that Hawk baseball squad.
Or some of the pummelings taken in years past at the hands of the Rockets should get them psyched up. In 2007, when Bardole was a freshman, the Hawks were whipped 57-7 as Ar-We-Va rolled up an 8-1 record and 4-1 in Division 2, losing only to GR. Both teams qualified for the playoffs that year and posted first-round wins. In a quarterfinal rematch, Ar-We-Va drubbed the Wildcats 44-6 to get revenge for the regular season loss and advance to the semifinal round, where they lost a heartbreaker to Armstrong-Ringsted, 45-42, in overtime. In 2008, EG closed the gap, falling to AWV 39-20 in a non-division game in Grand Junction. Last year, the Hawks traveled to Westside in the season opener, but fell in a tough, hard-fought game, 15-2. The game goes back to Westside again this year as both teams are back in the same division again, this time it’s D7 whereas in the mid 00s it was D2. Next year the Hawks will host.
EG @ ?? ON WED.: Teams vying for the top spots in Division 8 are first-place Fremont-Mills (6-0, 8-0), along with East Mills (5-1, 6-2) and Stanton (5-1). Fremont-Mills hosts East Mills tonight in Tabor while Stanton is at home against winless South Page (College Springs). The most likely scenario tonight is that Fremont-Mills prevails over East Mills, claiming the D8 crown at 7-0 and dropping East Mills to 5-2 and third place in the district with Stanton easily dispensing of South Page to grab the No. 2 spot at 6-1. EG would then travel to Stanton next Wednesday in a first-round playoff game.
If, however, East Mills should beat FM, ranked seventh in the state in 8-man, one spot ahead of Glidden-Ralston, and Stanton should prevail, then all three of those teams would end up deadlocked for first at 6-1 and they would have to go the points differential tie-breaker. FM has an advantage there, however, as they have won all their games by 13 points or more, so a close loss would not drop their points down too much. Stanton’s point difference is presently at 8.17 but most likely they will beat South Page by more than 13, so their differential would increase slightly while a win by EM, which stands at 9.17 with the tie-breaker, would also increase, based on how many points it would score in the win against the points it would give up, so a 2-, 3- or 6-point win might not really shift its differential by much, so it really all comes down to the points, and that might leave FM in first, and allow EM to keep it advantage over Stanton.
But seriously, EG fans might want to get their maps out and start planning their route down to Stanton, which is in southeastern Montgomery County, six miles from Red Oak, the county seat.
If EG does get by its D8 opponent in round one, it would meet the winner of the game between the No. 1 seed in D7 (GR or CRB) and the No. 4 seed in D8 (Nishnabotna). The way the playoffs are constructed in the second round, if a team that travels in the first round meets a team that had the home field in that round, then the traveling team gets to host in round two—that would be East Greene, versus [most likley] GR or CRB
Clearly, EG matches up well with CRB as noted in the 29-26 squeaker from last week but the incentive would be there to get one back from GR, too, as the Hawks are a much better team than the squad that ended up at the wrong end of this year’s Homecoming game with the Wildcats, 40-8.
Three points and three seconds. It could not have much closer, unless maybe it had been 1 point and 1 second.
Either way, East Greene suffered a heartbreaking loss to longtime rival Coon Rapids-Bayard in Coon Rapids Friday night as the Crusaders scored with just 3 seconds left to beat EG 29-26 and remain unbeaten in Division 7 at 6-0 while the Hawks fell to 4-2.
Of course, the loss was tempered somewhat by EG having clinched a spot in the 8-Man Football playoffs. It’s the Hawks’ first-ever playoff appearance in 8-Man football and the first since qualifying 21 years ago after three straight appearances (1987-89) in Class A (11 man).
 |
East Greene came up short, 15-2, in last year's game at Ar-We-Va, but running back Schyler Bardole, one of the all-time leading career rushers in 8-man football in Iowa, will look to lead the Hawks to a win tonight in Westside. (Photo from AWVCSD.com) |
Coon Rapids-Bayard takes a perfect D7 mark (7-1 overall) to Glidden where it will face Glidden-Ralston (also 6-0 in D7 and 7-1 overall) to determine the Division winner and top-seed in the playoffs. First-place bragging rights will be determined in the “Lincoln League” (D7) right on the Original Lincoln Highway (today’s U.S. 30), where the GR gridders play, although both teams will host playoff games next week against the No. 3 and 4 seeds from Division 8.
Boyer Valley has already nailed down the No. 4 spot in Division 7 and will head to the top-seeded team in D8 on Wednesday.
CRB 29, EG 26: East Greene has had a fierce rivalry in boys and girls sports with CRB over the years, and this game was more of the same. It was a thriller from start to finish. According to the website of KCIM radio station in Carroll, CRB QB Michael Schwenk left the game in the first half with an injury, but returned to action in the second half. His top receiver, Jacob Esdohr, filled in at QB during his absence.
East Greene went into halftime with a 1 point lead but CRB went back in front after the break. But the Hawks kept battling and it looked like victory was in hand when they scored with just 35 seconds left in the game to go up 26-21. A two-point conversion would put them up by eight points forcing CRB to run the field in just 35 seconds, score a TD and then either kick to tie or add a two-point conversion to win.
But EG’s two-point conversion attempt was stopped and then the unthinkable happened. The Crusaders drove the length of the field in just 5 plays and scored with just 3 seconds on the clock. They added insult to injury by succeeding on their two-point conversion.
The Hawks only had time left to get the kickoff after the touchdown and return the ball all the way to payday, but that did not happen, so CRB got the win and the chance to host a playoff spot at home, in addition to setting up a somewhat expected CRB-GR finale for the Division title.
EG did everything it could to keep itself in the driver’s seat for a possible three-way tie atop D7. The Hawks certainly had the firepower, amassing a whopping 465 total yards to CRB’s 298. EG was clearly moving the ball as it had 27 first downs compared to just 12 for the Crusaders.
But four fumbles and an interception by QB Tory Beger really did the Hawks in. This is a problem that plagued the Hawks last year throughout the season but not as much this year, so that level of miscues in a big game was troubling.
The Hawk defense again rose to the occasion, limiting Schwenk to 13 completions in 27 attempts for 210 yards and intercepting him twice. Schwenk is one of the state’s all-time leading quarterbacks, and these numbers were way below his season average. EG’s Schyler Bardole showed why he is one of the state’s all-time best running backs as he racked up 268 yards on 48 carries and scored three touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
QB Tory Beger went 5-9 for 73 yards and the interception. Beger also carried the ball 18 times for 53 yards and a TD. Tyler Cooklin rounded out the offense with 12 carries for 68 yards.
Bardole, Beger and Cooklin all had good efforts on defense. Bardole led the Hawks with 9 tackles and he intercepted a pass and ran it back 12 yards. Cooklin intercepted a pass and ran it back 22 yards while Beger recovered a fumble.
HAWKS vs. AR-WE-VA: The Hawks will need to bounce back for a road trip to Westside to take on a tough Ar-We-Va Rockets squad. Ar-We-Va has a strong tradition, having qualified for the playoffs four straight years in 8-Man (2006-2009) and three times in the 1990s in Class A.
 |
Nic Nicoliasen heads down the sideline toward the goal line after hauling in a pass deep in Rocket territory in last year's game at Ar-We-Va. (Photo from AWVCSD.com) |
Ar-We-Va was eliminated from a playoff spot a few weeks ago, but will be playing for pride and upholding its advantage over EG, as the Hawks have never beaten the Rockets since Ar-We-Va moved to 8-Man in 2002, a year after EG made the switch.
Ar-We-Va gave D7 co-leader Glidden-Ralston a very tough game on Oct. 8, losing 24-13, and the Rockets fell to Boyer Valley by just one, 28-27, earlier in the season. The Rockets are 2-4 in Division 7 and 3-5 overall.
Most of the attention in D7 will be on the game in Glidden however, as the Wildcats are ranked 8th in state by the D.M. Register and the Crusaders are among a handful of teams right behind the top 10.
UPDATING THE RECORD BOOKS: Bardole ranks No. 4 for all-time career touchdowns in 8-man football, and the three scored at CRB moved him to 88, just one TD behind Shane Nicholson who played at Melcher-Dallas from 2005 to 2008. One touchdown against Ar-We-Va will move him into a tie and two or more touchdowns will move him past Nicholson into the No. 3 slot. Bardole is fifth in most points scored in a career (574) and four more points will move him to No. 4 past Jared Bruce (577) who played at Aurelia from 2007 to 2009. Nine points scored will move him into the No. 3 slot, now filled by Nicholson at 582. In career rushing yards, Bardole is fourth at 4,296 and closing in on Jeff Struecker (4,377) who played for Sentral (Fenton) from 2000 to 2003. Bardole has a been a starter in the backfield since his freshman season in 2007.
District 7 Standings
Coon Rapids-Bayard 6-0, 7-1
Glidden-Ralston 6-0, 7-1
East Greene 4-2, 6-2
Boyer Valley 3-3, 5-3
Woodbine 2-4, 3-5
Ar-We-Va 2-4, 3-5
Walnut 1-5, 1-7
Charter Oak-Ute 0-6, 0-8
Oct. 22 Results:
Ar-We-Va (Westside) 55, Walnut 22
Boyer Valley (Dunlap) 54, Woodbine 13
Glidden-Ralston 92, Charter Oak-Ute 6
Coon Rapids-Bayard 29, East Greene 26
Oct. 29 Games:
Coon Rapids-Bayard at Glidden-Ralston
East Greene at Ar-We-Va
Walnut at Boyer Valley
Woodbine at Charter Oak-Ute
EYE ON GJ SAYS: If the Hawks need any incentive for tonight’s game, they need only think back to July and the susbstate baseball championship game in Denison where Ar-We-Va edged the Hawks 3-2 and advanced to the state tourney at Principal Park in Des Moines. Most of the Hawk starters—Beger, Cooklin, Aaron Lyons, Zach Dearborn and Wes Onken with the exception of Bardole, a non-baseball player—played key roles on that Hawk baseball squad.
Or some of the pummelings taken in years past at the hands of the Rockets should get them psyched up. In 2007, when Bardole was a freshman, the Hawks were whipped 57-7 as Ar-We-Va rolled up an 8-1 record and 4-1 in Division 2, losing only to GR. Both teams qualified for the playoffs that year and posted first-round wins. In a quarterfinal rematch, Ar-We-Va drubbed the Wildcats 44-6 to get revenge for the regular season loss and advance to the semifinal round, where they lost a heartbreaker to Armstrong-Ringsted, 45-42, in overtime. In 2008, EG closed the gap, falling to AWV 39-20 in a non-division game in Grand Junction. Last year, the Hawks traveled to Westside in the season opener, but fell in a tough, hard-fought game, 15-2. The game goes back to Westside again this year as both teams are back in the same division again, this time it’s D7 whereas in the mid 00s it was D2. Next year the Hawks will host.
EG @ ?? ON WED.: Teams vying for the top spots in Division 8 are first-place Fremont-Mills (6-0, 8-0), along with East Mills (5-1, 6-2) and Stanton (5-1). Fremont-Mills hosts East Mills tonight in Tabor while Stanton is at home against winless South Page (College Springs). The most likely scenario tonight is that Fremont-Mills prevails over East Mills, claiming the D8 crown at 7-0 and dropping East Mills to 5-2 and third place in the district with Stanton easily dispensing of South Page to grab the No. 2 spot at 6-1. EG would then travel to Stanton next Wednesday in a first-round playoff game.
If, however, East Mills should beat FM, ranked seventh in the state in 8-man, one spot ahead of Glidden-Ralston, and Stanton should prevail, then all three of those teams would end up deadlocked for first at 6-1 and they would have to go the points differential tie-breaker. FM has an advantage there, however, as they have won all their games by 13 points or more, so a close loss would not drop their points down too much. Stanton’s point difference is presently at 8.17 but most likely they will beat South Page by more than 13, so their differential would increase slightly while a win by EM, which stands at 9.17 with the tie-breaker, would also increase, based on how many points it would score in the win against the points it would give up, so a 2-, 3- or 6-point win might not really shift its differential by much, so it really all comes down to the points, and that might leave FM in first, and allow EM to keep it advantage over Stanton.
But seriously, EG fans might want to get their maps out and start planning their route down to Stanton, which is in southeastern Montgomery County, six miles from Red Oak, the county seat.
Interestingly, no matter which D8 team EG takes on, should the Hawks win, they would then meet the winner of the first-round game matching the D7 winner (CRB or GR) with the D8 No. 4 team, which is Nishnabotna, presently at 3-3 in fourth place with a game tonight at Essex (1-5, 1-7). Villisca and Sidney are both 2-4 and they face off in Sidney, but even if Nishna were to lose tonight and drop to a tie with the Villisca-Sidney winner, Nishna would get the No. 4 spot in the head-to-head tiebreaker, as it has beaten both teams this season.
Clearly, EG matches up well with CRB as noted in the 29-26 squeaker from last week but the incentive would be there to get one back from GR, too, as the Hawks are a much better team than the squad that ended up at the wrong end of this year’s Homecoming game with the Wildcats, 40-8.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
EG-GR Game Highlights Homecoming Week
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).
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).
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
Friday, October 16, 2009
FINAL HOME FOOTBALL GAME
Hawks Battle Walnut To Stay Out Of D7 Cellar
East Greene looks to get back on the winning track against Walnut tonight in the final home game of the 2009 season.
Both EG and Walnut are winless in District 7 football. EG takes an 0-4 district mark (2-5 overall) into the game while Walnut is 0-3 and 3-5 on the season.
The Hawks dropped another hard-fought contest in D7 last Friday night in Grand Junction to Coon Rapids-Bayard, 46-28, falling prey to the aerial assault of Crusader quarterback Michael Schwenk who scored five of his seven touchdowns through the air.
Schwenk connected on 24 of his 44 pass attempts for 261 yards. He was also the bulk of the CRB ground game, amassing 105 years on 18 carries and two TDs.
Hawk QB Tom Beger had a big night too, connecting on 14 of 33 passes for 290 yards and two touchdowns. Beger was intercepted twice, while the Hawk defense snared one of Schwenk’s passes.
CRB pretty much shut down the Hawk ground game, though, limiting Beger to a minus 22 yards in 15 carries and holding running back Schyler Bardole to 50 yards in 11 carries. Bardole had rolled up 148 yards and 6 touchdowns in just 13 carries in the Hawk’s homecoming win over Meskwaki Settlement School (Tama), 80-14, the week before.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: EG should have the advantage here as Walnut must travel all the way from Pottawattamie County to Grand Junction. Both teams have faced four common opponents--Meskwaki, CAM, Adair-Casey and Glidden Ralston--and EG has fared slightly better than the Warriors. EG fell to CAM by 24 points but the Walnut lost to the D7 leaders by just 8 points. On the flip side, GR rolled over Walnut by 40 points last week but beat East Greene by just 8, and the game was at Glidden in both teams’ D7 opener. AC beat the Warriors by 15 but the difference in the Bombers’ game with the Hawks was just six points. EG has the edge in head-to-head comparison with Meskwaki winning by 56 points to Walnut winning by 50.
Walnut’s other wins came against Hamburg (2-7) and Essex (0-7) while EG’s second win was against Charter Oak-Ute (2-7).
WALNUT TO PLAYOFFS? It would take some major upsets but Walnut, although 0-3 in district action, still has an outside shot of making the playoffs if the Warriors get by EG tonight and then beat CRB in their home finale next week. As it stands, both AC and CRB have played just 3 games in D7 and each is 2-1 and they face-off tonight. Next week, they close out D7 play with AC hosting CAM and CRB traveling to Walnut. So if AC upends CRB tonight to go 3-1 that drops CRB down to 2-2, and Walnut would head into the game next week at 1-3 if they beat the Hawks tonight. Then, next week, if Walnut were to beat CRB, both teams would end up tied in D7 at 2-3 and Walnut would get the nod for the fourth spot in the standings because of its head-to-head win over CRB.
A more likely scenario is that EG wins tonight as does CRB, and CRB dispenses with Walnut next week to finish as D7 runner-up to CAM at 4-1. CAM would get by AC next week to finish at 5-0 and AC drops to 2-3 behind GR (3-2) but still qualifies for the playoffs because 2-3 would put the Bombers in fourth place, giving them the fourth of four playoff spots. Even if AC upsets CAM and ends the season tied for third with GR at 3-2, they would still end up fourth as GR would get the edge in a tie-breaker, having beaten AC 42-6 on Oct. 2.
EG closes out the 2009 season with a road game in Exira against Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira in a D7 game that does not count in the standings. EHK/EX upset CAM last week 43-20 to hand the Cougars their first loss of the season.
D7 STANDINGS Through Oct. 9:
CAM (Anita) 4-0 6-1
Coon Rapids-Bayard 2-1 6-1
Adair-Casey 2-1 5-2
Glidden-Ralston 3-2 5-2
Elk Horn Kimballton/Exira 0-0* 5-2
Walnut 0-3 3-5
East Greene 0-4 2-5
Oct. 9 Games:
CRB 46, EG 28
GR 46, WAL 6
EHK/EX 43, CAM 20 (non-district)
AC 80, MESK 30 (non-district)
Oct. 16 Games:
AC @ CRB
GR @ EKH/EX
MESK @ CAM
WAL @ EG
Oct. 23 Games:
CAM @ AC
CRB @ WAL
EG @ EHK/EX
MESK @ GR
*EHK/EX not eligible for playoffs
East Greene looks to get back on the winning track against Walnut tonight in the final home game of the 2009 season.
Both EG and Walnut are winless in District 7 football. EG takes an 0-4 district mark (2-5 overall) into the game while Walnut is 0-3 and 3-5 on the season.
The Hawks dropped another hard-fought contest in D7 last Friday night in Grand Junction to Coon Rapids-Bayard, 46-28, falling prey to the aerial assault of Crusader quarterback Michael Schwenk who scored five of his seven touchdowns through the air.
Schwenk connected on 24 of his 44 pass attempts for 261 yards. He was also the bulk of the CRB ground game, amassing 105 years on 18 carries and two TDs.
Hawk QB Tom Beger had a big night too, connecting on 14 of 33 passes for 290 yards and two touchdowns. Beger was intercepted twice, while the Hawk defense snared one of Schwenk’s passes.
CRB pretty much shut down the Hawk ground game, though, limiting Beger to a minus 22 yards in 15 carries and holding running back Schyler Bardole to 50 yards in 11 carries. Bardole had rolled up 148 yards and 6 touchdowns in just 13 carries in the Hawk’s homecoming win over Meskwaki Settlement School (Tama), 80-14, the week before.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: EG should have the advantage here as Walnut must travel all the way from Pottawattamie County to Grand Junction. Both teams have faced four common opponents--Meskwaki, CAM, Adair-Casey and Glidden Ralston--and EG has fared slightly better than the Warriors. EG fell to CAM by 24 points but the Walnut lost to the D7 leaders by just 8 points. On the flip side, GR rolled over Walnut by 40 points last week but beat East Greene by just 8, and the game was at Glidden in both teams’ D7 opener. AC beat the Warriors by 15 but the difference in the Bombers’ game with the Hawks was just six points. EG has the edge in head-to-head comparison with Meskwaki winning by 56 points to Walnut winning by 50.
Walnut’s other wins came against Hamburg (2-7) and Essex (0-7) while EG’s second win was against Charter Oak-Ute (2-7).
WALNUT TO PLAYOFFS? It would take some major upsets but Walnut, although 0-3 in district action, still has an outside shot of making the playoffs if the Warriors get by EG tonight and then beat CRB in their home finale next week. As it stands, both AC and CRB have played just 3 games in D7 and each is 2-1 and they face-off tonight. Next week, they close out D7 play with AC hosting CAM and CRB traveling to Walnut. So if AC upends CRB tonight to go 3-1 that drops CRB down to 2-2, and Walnut would head into the game next week at 1-3 if they beat the Hawks tonight. Then, next week, if Walnut were to beat CRB, both teams would end up tied in D7 at 2-3 and Walnut would get the nod for the fourth spot in the standings because of its head-to-head win over CRB.
A more likely scenario is that EG wins tonight as does CRB, and CRB dispenses with Walnut next week to finish as D7 runner-up to CAM at 4-1. CAM would get by AC next week to finish at 5-0 and AC drops to 2-3 behind GR (3-2) but still qualifies for the playoffs because 2-3 would put the Bombers in fourth place, giving them the fourth of four playoff spots. Even if AC upsets CAM and ends the season tied for third with GR at 3-2, they would still end up fourth as GR would get the edge in a tie-breaker, having beaten AC 42-6 on Oct. 2.
EG closes out the 2009 season with a road game in Exira against Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira in a D7 game that does not count in the standings. EHK/EX upset CAM last week 43-20 to hand the Cougars their first loss of the season.
D7 STANDINGS Through Oct. 9:
CAM (Anita) 4-0 6-1
Coon Rapids-Bayard 2-1 6-1
Adair-Casey 2-1 5-2
Glidden-Ralston 3-2 5-2
Elk Horn Kimballton/Exira 0-0* 5-2
Walnut 0-3 3-5
East Greene 0-4 2-5
Oct. 9 Games:
CRB 46, EG 28
GR 46, WAL 6
EHK/EX 43, CAM 20 (non-district)
AC 80, MESK 30 (non-district)
Oct. 16 Games:
AC @ CRB
GR @ EKH/EX
MESK @ CAM
WAL @ EG
Oct. 23 Games:
CAM @ AC
CRB @ WAL
EG @ EHK/EX
MESK @ GR
*EHK/EX not eligible for playoffs
Friday, September 18, 2009
HAWKS FALL TO GR
EG Looks To Even Record Tonight Against AC
Glidden-Ralston got the upper hand in a defensive struggle at Glidden last Friday night, posting a 14-6 win over East Greene.
The Hawks put up a stalwart effort, playing the Wildcats even throughout the contest. EG outgained the Wildcats in total yardage, 276 to 244, but GR had the edge in scoring with two TDs and one 2-point conversion. GR had 15 first downs to the Hawks' 12.
Tyler Gathercoal, who rushed 3 times for 46 yards, scored EG’s lone touchdown. Schyler Bardole rushed 25 times for 108 yards and QB Tom Beger had 7 carries for 7 yards. Beger was 11-for-26 in passing for 129 yards but was intercepted 3 times.
EG had another fine defensive performance and kept the GR air game in check, limiting QB Wade Hoyle to just 4 completions in 11 attempts for 24 yards. The Hawks picked off 3 of Hoyle’s passes.
GR clearly had the advantage in the ground game however, amassing 220 yards rushing compared with EG’s 147. Taylor Hackett and Stuart Conner were hard to stop as they ran for 101 and 88 yards, respectively. Conner scored both GR’s touchdowns and a 2-point conversion.
Beger led the defensive effort with 8 solo tackles and 2 pass interceptions, Rob Ritchie had 7 solo tackles and Zach Beyerink had 6 solos and intercepted a pass.
The loss dropped EG to 1-2 on the year and 0-1 in District 7. The Hawks host Adair-Casey tonight at Karber Field. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: This was a tough loss for the Hawks and clearly the best 8-Man game they’ve ever played against Glidden-Ralston, which has a storied football history dating back to the days of Glidden High School. GR and CAM, both winners last week, will face off in key battle for D7 supremacy tonight on CAM’s home field in Anita.
EG will face another stiff challenge in Adair-Casey, last year’s D7 runner-up. AC beat Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 46-40 last week in a D7 game that does not count in the standings as EHK/EX is not eligible for the playoffs. AC has a deep history in 8-Man football too, but the Hawks are clearly playing at the caliber of teams like GR and Ar-We-Va, which had been ranked until GR beat them two weeks ago. AC (2-1) opened the season with a 41-8 win over Farragut (2-1) and then dropped a close game to No. 4-ranked and undefeated Stanton, 32-28.
EG has given up an average of just 14 points a game in three contests to some pretty formidable competition. If the offense can generate just a little more heat tonight, EG can get the win over the Bombers. A victory would put the Hawks at .500 in both D7 and on the season.
Overall, D7 is looking very balanced this year as no team won by more than 8 points in the three games played last week (including EHK/EX-AC). It looks like the D7 championship and the four playoff spots could go right down the last week of the season.
District 7 8-Man Standings (District, Overall)
CAM (Anita) 1-0, 3-0
Glidden-Ralston 1-0, 3-0
Adair-Casey 0-0, 2-1
Coon Rapids-Bayard 0-0, 3-0
EHK/Exira 0-0, 2-1
East Greene 0-1,1-2
Walnut 0-1, 2-1
Sept. 11 Results:
AC 46, EHK/EX 40
CAM 20, WAL 12
CRB 78, Meskwaki Settlement School 8
GR 14, EG 6
Tonight’s Games:
AC at EG
CRB at EHK/EX
GR at CAM
MESK at WAL
Glidden-Ralston got the upper hand in a defensive struggle at Glidden last Friday night, posting a 14-6 win over East Greene.
The Hawks put up a stalwart effort, playing the Wildcats even throughout the contest. EG outgained the Wildcats in total yardage, 276 to 244, but GR had the edge in scoring with two TDs and one 2-point conversion. GR had 15 first downs to the Hawks' 12.
Tyler Gathercoal, who rushed 3 times for 46 yards, scored EG’s lone touchdown. Schyler Bardole rushed 25 times for 108 yards and QB Tom Beger had 7 carries for 7 yards. Beger was 11-for-26 in passing for 129 yards but was intercepted 3 times.
EG had another fine defensive performance and kept the GR air game in check, limiting QB Wade Hoyle to just 4 completions in 11 attempts for 24 yards. The Hawks picked off 3 of Hoyle’s passes.
GR clearly had the advantage in the ground game however, amassing 220 yards rushing compared with EG’s 147. Taylor Hackett and Stuart Conner were hard to stop as they ran for 101 and 88 yards, respectively. Conner scored both GR’s touchdowns and a 2-point conversion.
Beger led the defensive effort with 8 solo tackles and 2 pass interceptions, Rob Ritchie had 7 solo tackles and Zach Beyerink had 6 solos and intercepted a pass.
The loss dropped EG to 1-2 on the year and 0-1 in District 7. The Hawks host Adair-Casey tonight at Karber Field. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: This was a tough loss for the Hawks and clearly the best 8-Man game they’ve ever played against Glidden-Ralston, which has a storied football history dating back to the days of Glidden High School. GR and CAM, both winners last week, will face off in key battle for D7 supremacy tonight on CAM’s home field in Anita.
EG will face another stiff challenge in Adair-Casey, last year’s D7 runner-up. AC beat Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 46-40 last week in a D7 game that does not count in the standings as EHK/EX is not eligible for the playoffs. AC has a deep history in 8-Man football too, but the Hawks are clearly playing at the caliber of teams like GR and Ar-We-Va, which had been ranked until GR beat them two weeks ago. AC (2-1) opened the season with a 41-8 win over Farragut (2-1) and then dropped a close game to No. 4-ranked and undefeated Stanton, 32-28.
EG has given up an average of just 14 points a game in three contests to some pretty formidable competition. If the offense can generate just a little more heat tonight, EG can get the win over the Bombers. A victory would put the Hawks at .500 in both D7 and on the season.
Overall, D7 is looking very balanced this year as no team won by more than 8 points in the three games played last week (including EHK/EX-AC). It looks like the D7 championship and the four playoff spots could go right down the last week of the season.
District 7 8-Man Standings (District, Overall)
CAM (Anita) 1-0, 3-0
Glidden-Ralston 1-0, 3-0
Adair-Casey 0-0, 2-1
Coon Rapids-Bayard 0-0, 3-0
EHK/Exira 0-0, 2-1
East Greene 0-1,1-2
Walnut 0-1, 2-1
Sept. 11 Results:
AC 46, EHK/EX 40
CAM 20, WAL 12
CRB 78, Meskwaki Settlement School 8
GR 14, EG 6
Tonight’s Games:
AC at EG
CRB at EHK/EX
GR at CAM
MESK at WAL
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
