Hawks Roll Over Coon Rapids-Bayard 39-14

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.

EG Hosts Tourneys “Under the Lights”

POST-SEASON SB, BB ACTION IN GRAND JCT. & RIPPEY

The summer ball team “spotlight” will be shining on eastern Greene County this week and next as East Greene hosts a first round game in the Class 1A Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union regional softball tournament at Dutton Field in Grand Junction and the boys baseball team hosts the first and second rounds of the Iowa Boys High School Athletic Association district baseball tournament at Walt Anderson Field in Rippey.

The girls kick things off tomorrow night when

First baseman Jolee Wessling

and the EG Hawkettes take on

Ar-We-Va in regional tourney

action Wednesday at Dutton

Park in Grand Junction.

(Photo courtesy of Shelly Juhl)

the Hawkettes host the Ar-We-Va (Westside) Rockettes in first-round softball action at 7 p.m. Admission will be charged for this game and the streets around Dutton Park will be blocked off to shift traffic through the main admission gates.

This will be the first “under the lights” EG game at Dutton Park this season.

East Greene, Madrid, Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) and Colo-Nesco will compete in the first two rounds of district baseball at Rippey. Madrid takes on Northeast Hamilton in a first-round game at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 12, with EG facing Colo-Nesco in the second-half of the first-round doubleheader at 7 p.m.

The winners of Tuesday night’s games advance to the semifinal game at 7 p.m. in Rippey on Thursday, July 14.

The Rippey semifinal winner will advance to the district finals on Saturday, July 16, at 7 p.m. at a location to be determined to face the winner of the semifinal game at North Tama (Traer). That side of the bracket has North Tama facing Northern University (Cedar Falls) on Tuesday in the first round and the winner advancing to the semifinal game on Thursday against GMG (Garwin), which drew a first-round bye.

The winner of District 10 (Rippey and Traer) will play the winner of District 9 in the substate at Marshalltown on Tuesday, July 19. That winner moves on the Class 1A State Tournament at Principal Park in Des Moines.

Teams in District 9 are Sigourney, Tri-County (Thornburg), English Valleys (North English), Keota, BGM (Brooklyn), HLV (Victor) and Belle Plaine.

The winner of the Region 7 first-round softball game in Grand Junction will advance to the quarterfinal round game in Coon Rapids on Friday, July 8. First-round action in Coon Rapids on Wednesday, July 6, has Coon Rapids-Bayard hosting Glidden-Ralston. The winner takes on Southeast Webster-Grand (Burnside) in a second round game on Thursday, July 7. The winner there advances to the quarterfinal round against the winner of Wednesday’s game in Grand Junction.

The winner advances to the semifinal round in Fonda on Monday, July 11. The Fonda bracket winner will play the semifinal winner of the Earlham bracket in the regional final in Carroll on Wednesday, July 13.

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

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 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)                  

   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.
 

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.

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.

Hawks Face Ar-We-Va in Denison

WINNER ADVANCES TO STATE; GAME ON KKRL 95.7

East Greene takes on Ar-We-Va (Westside) tonight in the substate championship in Denison with the winner advancing to the Class 1A State Baseball Tournament next week at Principal Park in Des Moines. Start time is 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on station KRRL of Carroll, 93.7 FM via live Internet streaming at www.1380kcim.com.

East Greene goes into the game as champions of District 15, after beating Southeast-Webster Grand, Coon Rapids-Bayard and No. 4 Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira. The Hawks are 19-11 and finished fifth in the 10-team West Central Conference with an 8-9 record. The Hawks finished a game behind Earlham (9-8). EG got a win over Earlham earlier in the season but their home-and-home rematch was rained out. If EG had played that game and won, they would have tied the Cardinals at 9-9 and finished fourth in the league. Coon Rapids-Bayard and Woodward-Granger won the conference with 17-1 records and Des Moines Christian finished third. All three of those teams are 1A schools, which gave the 1A teams four of the top 5 places in the 10-team conference, which was evenly divided this year with five teams each in 1A and 2A.

Woodward-Granger fell to top ranked Martensdale-St. Mary’s 4-2 in Madrid on Saturday night. MSt.M (39-0) takes on HLV (Victor) (20-3) in the Substate 5 Championship tonight at Dowling High School in West Des Moines.

Ar-We-Va brings a 12-13 record into the EG matchup. Ar-We-Va beat Charter Oak-Ute, Woodbine and Woodbury Central (Moville) to win the District 16 championship.
The Rockets finished sixth in the nine-team Western Valley South Conference with a 7-9 mark. Three of the nine teams in the WVS are 2A schools, and 2A Logan-Magnolia took the title with a 15-1 mark. The other 2A schools are IKM-Manning and West Monona (Moorhead).

Western Valley South Conference
Logan-Magnolia 15-1
West Harrison (Mondamin) 13-3
IKM-Manning 13-3
Woodbine 9-7
West Monona (Onawa) 10-8
Ar-We-Va (Westside) 7-9
Boyer Valley (Dunlap) 4-12
Charter Oak-Ute 1-15
Whiting 1-15

Ar-We-Va and EG had two mutual opponents this past season, Earlham and Glidden-Ralston. Earlham beat the Rockets 9-6 and Glidden-Ralston beat them 7-4. GR and Ar-We-Va faced each other again in the consolation game of GR’s four-team tournament on July 3 with the two teams ending the game in a 7-7 stalemate when it was ended due to rain. That game goes into the record books as a non-completed game and is not included in either team’s season record.

EG advanced with a big 8-5 upset of undefeated EHKE. The Spartan’s ace hurler Carson Smith struck out 15 Hawks but he gave up six hits and walked five.

“He didn’t have his good stuff and everything was flat,” EHKE coach Tony Peterson told the Atlantic News Telegraph. “And they were ready from the beginning.”

Three Hawks got key extra base hits off Smith. Tom Beger lead the Hawk barrage with a home run in the sixth inning that drove in two runs. Jessie Priest had a two-run triple in the first and Reed Ostrander slammed an RBI double.

Wes Onken started on the mound but was beaned accidentally in the helmet while batting. Through three innings he gave up three runs on four hits, walked two, hit one batter, had one wild pitch, and struck out three. Tyler Cooklin came on in relief to start the fourth inning and pitched the rest of the way, giving up two runs on two hits, one hit batter, four walks and striking out seven.

Aaron Lyons came through with another key defensive play when he nabbed a running catch in the sixth inning.

Ar-We-Va beat Woodbury Central in Moville 3-2 on Saturday night to take the District 16 title. Ryan Schurke got the win, giving up six hits, three walks and striking out six.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: These two schools are pretty familiar with each other as they square off in 8-man football each season and run in many of the same track meets in the spring. The last two seasons Ar-We-Va has been a non-conference football opponent but in previous years both teams were in District 2 along with Glidden-Ralston and Coon Rapids-Bayard. These same four teams will be reunited again this fall in District 7, where EG has played the last two seasons. Other schools in the 8-team district are Walnut, a holdover along with EG, GR and CRB from the D7 the last two seasons and Western Valley South members Charter Oak-Ute, Woodbine and Boyer Valley.

Hopefully all the beatings EG has taken on the gridiron from the Rockets will be enough of a motivating factor for the Hawks on the diamond tonight. Interestingly, Denison is on the other side of the three towns on Highway 30 that makeup the AWV district—Arcadia, Westside and Vail—so hopefully driving through this “Rocket territory” will get the Hawks extra-psyched by the time they reach the field in Denison. This will truly be a “Battle of the Lincoln” (Highway) as both schools are located in towns on the original Lincoln Highway as is Denison, site of the substate championship game.

EG rolled into last year’s substate game with a “losing” record (13-14) so they will not be taking the Rockets lightly. Their big wins over CRB and EHEK are of no consequence now because if the Hawks want to head back to the Principal they will need to put all their focus and intensity in beating the Rockets—the standard one game at a time clearly applies here.

Hawks Take District Title Over EHKE, 8-5

FACE AR-WE-VA TUESAY IN SUBSTATE

East Greene continues to march forward to another berth in the Class 1A State Tournament, upending Elk Horn Kimballton/Exira tonight 8-5 in the district championship game in Coon Rapids. EHKE was the state's No. 4 ranked team in 1A and undefeated in 26 games before running into "Green Machine" tonight. EHKE bows out at 26-1.

The Hawks take a 19-11 record into Tuesday's substate championship game in Denison against Ar-We-Va (Westside). The Rockets (12-13) advanced to substate with a 3-2 win over Woodbury Central in Moville. Woodbury Central bowed out with a 10-11 season record.

SEASON FOOTBALL OPENER

Hawks Fall At No. 8 Ar-We-Va, 15-2

A valiant defensive effort against one of the state’s top teams wasn’t enough to overcome a sluggish offense performance as East Greene dropped its season opener to Ar-We-Va 15-2 last Friday night in Westside.

The Hawks held the highly regarded Rocket offense, which averaged 42 points last season, to just two touchdowns, a big improvement over the 39 points that Rockets racked up against EG last year and the 57-7 and 63-14 drubbings from the previous two seasons.

EG gave up an average of 38 points a game last year, so to hold Ar-We-Va, ranked No. 8 in 8-Player Football by the Des Moines Register, to just 15 points is impressive. Ar-We-Va is the returning co-champions of District 1 and advanced to the second round of the state playoffs last year. In 2007, the Rockets made it to the state semifinal round. Since joining 8-player football earlier in the decade, Ar-We-Va has never finished a season lower than third place in district play.

The Rockets returned the backfield tandem of seniors Ryan Schurke, running back, and Jeremy Ehlers, quarterback, both first-team All-District 1 picks in 2008. The EG defense held them in check though, limiting the explosive Schurke to just 80 yards on 21 carries. The Hawks’ pass defense was especially stingy, shutting down Ehlers to just 3 completions in 8 attempts for 12 yards. Overall, AWV was held to just 125 yards total offense.

Schurke was responsible for all the Rockets’ scoring: a touchdown on a running play; an interception; and a 16-yard field goal. He also attempted both 2-point conversions for the Rockets, but the EG defense stopped him both times. EG’s defense was so stellar, it generated the team’s only offensive points: a safety for 2 points.

EG looks to get its offense in gear tonight in the home opener against Charter Oak-Ute in a non-district contest. Charter Oak-Ute (0-1) is also a District 1 team, finishing seventh last year at 1-6 with an overall season mark of 1-8. The Hawks downed CO-U last year in Charter Oak, 52-30. Last week, the Bobcats were drubbed by Coon Rapids-Bayard, a District 7 team, 68-0. Kickoff for the tonight’s game at Karber Field is 7 p.m.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: EG was the lone blemish on the opening night for “the Magnificent 7” District 7 teams, as Adair-Casey, CAM (Anita), Coon Rapids-Bayard, Glidden-Ralston, Walnut and the newly formed Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira shared team all posted victories. Besides CRB’s 68-point shutout drubbing of CO-U, GR pummeled Whiting 80-16, and CAM and Walnut beat their opponents by 54 and 50 points respectively. Granted, the combined record of these six opponents last year was just 11-43, but still those are pretty lofty numbers and any time 7 teams from the same district go 6-1, hey, that’s impressive.

Look for EG to get its offense untracked and for the defense to put in another solid performance against CO-U, helping the Hawks get all the kinks out before they open District 7 play with a road game next week against Glidden-Ralston.