Exira/EHK Ends Hawkettes’ Season

EG TAKES 2-19 RECORD INTO REGIONAL PLAY

Conference champion Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton proved to be too much to handle for East Greene Tuesday night, rolling to an easy 62-15 win in Rippey. The game closed out the Hawkettes’ regular season at 2-19. EG finished last in the Rolling Hills Conference at 2-16 while Exira/EHK took top honors with a 17-1 mark. The Spartans are 18-3 overall.

Both teams enter regional play tonight. EEHK is a favorite in Region 7, which also features Adair-Casey from the Rolling Hills and Coon Rapids-Bayard from the West Central Conference. East Greene is in Region 2 which includes teams from west central, north central and northwest Iowa. Each region has 16 teams playing for a spot in the eight-team field in the Class 1A State Tournament.

The Hawkettes travel to Burnside to take on Southeast Webster-Grand (5-16), a team EG lost to by six points in the first game of the season, 32-26. The winner tonight at Burnside faces the winner of a game in Jewell tonight between Madrid (2-19) and Northeast Hamilton (10-11) in a quarterfinal tilt on Tuesday, Feb. 14, at Burnside.

Rolling Hills Conference foes Glidden-Ralston (5-15) and Paton-Churdan (3-17) face each other for the third time tonight in Glidden. The winner advances to play the winner of tonight’s St. Mary’s (Storm Lake) and Newell-Fonda game at Newell on Feb. 14 in Newell. St. Mary’s (10-12) and Newell-Fonda (16-5) are both members of the Twin Lakes Conference. Newell-Fonda took the league crown with a 9-1 record, besting two solid 2A teams, Manson-Northwest Webster and Sioux Central (Sioux Rapids).

The Newell quarterfinal winner will meet the Burnside quarterfinal winner in a semifinal game on Friday, Feb. 17 in Manson. (If Manson-Northwest Webster plays that night in the Class 2A semifinal round, the game will be moved to Fort Dodge St. Edmond).

The semifinal winner from the Manson bracket will go up against the winner of a semifinal game in Le Mars on Monday, Feb. 20. Teams in the Le Mars bracket are Whiting (6-15), Charter Oak-Ute (10-11), Siouxland Christian (6-15), River Valley (15-7), Remsen St. Mary’s (7-13), Kingsley-Pierson (2-18), Akron-Westfield (5-15) and West Sioux of Hawarden (19-1), the No.5 team in the state.

The favorite in Region 2 is Newell-Fonda, ranked No. 7 in the state. Newell-Fonda (16-5) has been to three of the last four Class 1A state tournaments. Last year the Mustangs were sidelined by eventual champion Martensdale-St. Mary’s in the first round. Two years ago, Newell-Fonda fell to Exira in the semifinal round. Exira went on to win the state championship over Mt. Ayr. In 2008, Newell-Fonda advanced to the final, losing to Springville.

Last year Exira began sharing sports with Elk Horn-Kimballton, creating a program with recent experience at the state tournament level on the Exira side and deep tradition in girls basketball success on the Elk Horn-Kimballton side. Exira had been to state in 2008 but was highly ranked in 2009, but was sidelined the next year by Coon Rapids-Bayard in a regional quarterfinal game.

Exira/EHK has been ranked in the Top 15 in Class 1A all season but fell from 11^th to 15^th after losing to Adair-Casey, 51-44, on Jan. 17, and then dropped out of the rankings altogether after losing 59-48 to Guthrie Center (8-14) on Jan. 21. EEHK then closed out the season with five straight wins, capped by the 48-point thrashing of EG on Tuesday.

EEHK’s exit in the rankings allowed CRB (16-5) to move into the No. 15 last week, a position it held in the final poll released today by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. CRB faces CAM (9-12) in Coon Rapids tonight with the winner to face the winner of the Guthrie-EEHK battle in quarterfinal game Tuesday in Elk Horn.

The Elk Horn winner will meet the Adair quarterfinal winner in a semifinal battle on Feb. 17 in Atlantic. Orient-Macksburg (13-8) hosts last year’s champ, Martsendale-St. Mary’s (11-11), in Orient while Adair-Casey takes (19-2) takes on Earlham (8-13) in Adair in the Adair sub-bracket.

No. 2 Bedford is the favorite in the lower half of the Region 7 bracket. Bedord (20-1) will host Lenox (3-19) tonight. Bedford lost its first game to Nodaway Valley (Greenfield) on Tuesday in the regular season finale, giving Nodaway Valley a tie with Bedford for the Pride of Iowa Conference title. Nodaway Valley, a 2A team, is 19-2 but not ranked. They are in the same 2A region as No. 8 Panorama, which won the West Central Conference with a perfect 18-0 mark, and area teams Jefferson-Scranton, Ogden and Des Moines Christian.

The Bedord-Lenox winner will take on the winner of East Union (5-16) and Diagonal (3-17). Also in that side of Region 7 are Mormon Trail (6-14), Murray (15-6), Lamoni (6-14) and Mount Ayr (11-10).

This is a power-packed region with last year’s state champion, Martensdale-St. Mary’s, and both the 2010 champion and runner-up—EEHK and Mount Ayr—plus Murray, a perennial southern Iowa power, and state-ranked teams Bedford, Adair-Casey and Coon Rapids-Bayard. The final is Monday, Feb. 20 in Greenfield.

EG Prepares for ‘Second’ and ‘Third’ Seasons

RH LEAGUE TOURNEY THURSDAY; REGIONAL NEXT WEEK

East Greene dropped a tough volleyball match to Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton on Tuesday, Oct. 4 in Rippey, 25-18, 25-14, 12-25, 29-27 to fall to 3-5 in the Rolling Hills Conference. The Hawkettes were back in action on Saturday winning two matches and losing three at the Walnut Tournament, moving their season record to 7-12.

EG beat Diagonal 21-8, 21-16 and Ankeny Christian 21-6, 20-22, 15-6 while losing to Walnut 21-13, 21-14 to finish 2-1 in pool play and advance with three other teams to the championship round of the 8-team tourney. Woodbine beat the Hawkettes 21-10, 22-20 in a semifinal match. EG closed out the tourney with another loss to Walnut, 21-14, 21-19, in the third-place match to finish fourth in the tourney.

Against EEHK, the Hawkettes got off to a slow start losing the first two games but took command in the third to double up points on the Spartans winning 25-12. EG went to “extra digits” in the fourth match but fell 29-27.

The loss dropped EG from the upper division of the Rolling Hills. Coming into the contest, the Hawkettes were tied with CAM (Anita) and Orient-Macksburg for fifth place at 3-4 with EEHK just behind at 2-5. CAM upset Iowa Christian Academy that night to move to 4-4 with OM breezing by winless Ankeny Christian Academy to move to 4-4 and stay tied with CAM.

EEHK moved up to 3-5 with the win, tying with the Hawkettes for seventh place in the league. The loss to CAM was Iowa Christian’s first conference setback and allowed Adair-Casey to move into a tie for first place with ICA at 7-1.

The conference title is on the line tonight as ICA hosts EEHK in Waukee and Adair-Casey hosts Walnut. All the league games are important this time of the season as teams no longer relevant in the conference regular championship title can still jockey for a good seed in the conference tournament on Thursday in Elk Horn.

This “second season” gives some of the lower division teams another crack at each other and also at the upper division teams. The bottom four teams form a “play-in” round to create an eight-team field. The 10th place team takes on the 7th place team with the winner moving on to face the No. 2 seed. The 9th place team takes on the 8th place team with the winner advancing to face the top seed. In other quarterfinal round games, No. 3 plays No. 6 and No. 4 takes on No. 5.

A “third season” gets underway next Wednesday, Oct. 19, as regional play begins. EG travels to Southeast Webster-Grand (Burnside) in Class 1A first-round action. The winner advances to the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, Oct. 25, in Burnside to take on the winner of the Oct. 19 match in Blairsburg between CAL (Latimer) and Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg).

Adair-Casey 7-1
Iowa Christian 7-1
Glidden-Ralston 6-2
Walnut 5-3
CAM 4-4
Orient-Macksburg 4-4
East Greene 3-5
Exira/EHK 3-5
Paton-Churdan 1-7
Ankeny Christian 0-8

Tuesday, Oct. 5:
EEHK beat EG 25-18, 25-14, 12-25, 29-27
CAM beat ICA 16-25, 25-23, 25-22, 9-25, 15-12
OM beat ANK 29-27, 16-25, 24-26, 25-17, 15-5
AC beat PC 25-19, 25-13, 25-16
GR beat WAL 23-25, 25-15, 14-25, 25-20, 15-11

EYE ON GJ SAYS: It was a tough loss for EG at the hands of EEHK. A win would have moved the Hawkettes to 4-4 in the league and provide some momentum heading into the long trip on Saturday to the Walnut Tourney and the final league match of the season tonight at Glidden-Ralston. GR beat Walnut last Tuesday to take sole command of third place in the Rolling Hills at 6-2, just behind league-leaders Adair-Casey and Iowa Christian at 7-1. Should either of those teams stumble tonight, a win over EG will move GR into a tie for second place. The Wildcats will be a heavy favorite and looking to avenge two softball thumpings from EG this summer.

The conference tournament should be a very competitive event with the co-leaders as solid favorites, but some of the middle-tier teams could have an outside shot at taking the tourney title, considering CAM’s surprise win over ICA, which came on the heels of CAM falling to Paton-Churdan, 28-26, 25-23, 9-25, 20-25, 15-8. It was the Rockettes’ first league win of the season. Look for PC to prevail tonight against Ankeny Christian in its league finale.

Considering how the conference tourney shakes out, some teams could get an updraft heading into the big payoff—the “third season” or regional tournament. Every team’s eye is on the prize of a regional championship and a trip to the state tournament in Cedar Rapids.

SWG got the better of the Hawkettes in the season opener for both teams in late August. The Eagles prevailed 25-12, 12-25, 25-14, 25-21. EG will looking to make amends for that defeat. The Hawkettes play in a very competitive conference as Iowa Christian and Adair-Casey have been ranked most of the season. Two non-conference foes, Coon Rapids-Bayard and Guthrie Center, have also been ranked at different points of the season.

SWG is 1-9 in league play and 4-15 overall.

The winner of the Burnside quarterfinal bracket moves on to the semifinal round at Woodward. Teams in the opposite quarterfinal bracket are Colo-Nesco, Madrid, Ankeny Christian and Woodward-Granger.

The winner in Woodward on Friday, Oct. 28 moves on the regional final in Adel on Tuesday, Nov. 1 to face the winner of a seminal match in Guthrie Center on Oct. 28. Teams on that side of the regional bracket are Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Glidden-Ralston, Paton-Churdan, Guthrie Center, Earlham, CAM, Grandview Park Baptist and Adair-Casey.

EEHK and CRB face off in a play-in round match on Monday night with the winner advancing to a first-round match against Glidden Ralston on Wednesday. PC takes on Guthrie Center in another first round pairing in Guthrie Center on Wednesday with the winners that night meeting next Tuesday in a quarterfinal match up in Guthrie Center. Other first-round matches on that side of the bracket are Grandview Park Baptist at Adair-Casey and Earlham at CAM.

Iowa Christian Academy is in Region 4. The Trailblazers’ first-round opponent is Martensdale-St. Mary’s. Walnut and Orient-Macksburg of the Rolling Hills are both in Region 3.

The favorites to make the Region 5 final in Adel are Coon Rapids-Bayard, Adair-Casey and Guthrie Center in the Guthrie half of the bracket with Woodward-Granger as the team to beat in the Woodward side of the bracket. WG is leading the West Central Conference with a 7-0 league mark and 12-4 overall record. The Hawkettes are ranked 11th in Class 1A just behind No. 10 Adair-Casey (14-6) of the Rolling Hills and one spot in front of West Central league foe Guthrie Center (13-5). GC and WG face off on Thursday in Guthrie Center. GC is 4-3 in the West Central behind WG, DMC (7-1) and CRB and Earlham tied for third (5-2).

But Grandview Park Baptist and SWG can’t be overlooked as each plays in a predominantly 2A conference—GPB in the Heart of Iowa and SWG in the Twin Lakes. GPB has a particularly strong history in volleyball with several state tournament appearances in recent years.

Jefferson-Scranton is also in the Heart of Iowa and is in third place with a 5-2 conference record and 14-5 overall mark. The Rams host Prairie Valley (Gowrie) on Tuesday, Oct. 18, in a 2A Region 3 first round match. Roland-Story takes on winless Ogden that same night in Story City with Tuesday’s winners facing off on Tuesday, Oct. 25 in a quarterfinal match up in Story City. The winner there advances to a semifinal match up in Jefferson on Friday, Oct. 28, against either South Central Calhoun, East Sac, IKM-Manning or Kuemper. The Jefferson semifinal winner will take on the Des Moines Christian semifinal winner on Tuesday, Nov. 1, in Ames. Teams on the DMC side of the bracket are Colfax-Mingo, North Polk, CMB, Gilbert, Van Meter, Audubon, Panorama and DMC. The first four are all members of the HOI with J-S while the others are all West Central Conference teams with the exception of Audubon of the Western Iowa Conference.

Hawks Face Key League Test Tonight

CAN TIE FOR LEAGUE LEAD WITH WIN AT ELK HORN

East Greene is coming down the home stretch of one the most successful boys basketball seasons in school history. The Hawks head to Elk Horn tonight for a key battle with Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira, leader of the Rolling Hills Conference with a 15-1 record. EG is right behind the Spartans at 14-2.

The two teams met on Jan. 4 in Rippey with EHKE getting the upper hand in a tough defensive tussle, 40-37. EG has seen what the Spartans have put on the floor in the earlier matchup and can hopefully rectify that. On paper, it would seem that EHKE has the advantage as they are playing on their home floor in Elk Horn, but EG is actually undefeated in road contests, whereas all three defeats this season have come on the home court in Rippey. Another wrinkle in the mix is that EHKE actually has two home courts—the first half of the season was played in Exira and now the latter half of the schedule shifts to Elk Horn, as they are in the early stages of sports and whole-grade sharing arrangement between the two--now still separate--school districts.

Both teams sailed through their matchups last night, with EG taking care of Adair-Casey at home, 74-38, and EHKE picking up a road win at Walnut, 76-31. The fact that the second place team beat the ninth-place team in the league by 36 points and the first-place team beat the eighth-team by 35 points—each a team seven slots lower on the RH pecking order—shows that these teams are very evenly matched.

The 74 points scored was the second highest total for the Hawks all season and the most points scored in any of their 14 conference wins. It was the same for EHKE, and the first time the Spartans have topped the 70-point threshold all season. EG has the higher offensive average for the year, 58.2, the 26th best among all 1A schools (137 total) with EHKE at 53.4 points per game. EHKE gives up just 36.6 points a game, second best in all of Class 1A, while EG is hold teams to 42.9.

In other make-up games in the league last night, Glidden-Ralston beat Paton-Churdan 46-29 to stay in the hunt for an upper division finish in the conference. GR moved is conference record to 11-5, right behind Orient-Macksburg and Ankeny Christian, both at 11-4.

Paton-Churdan is winless in the RH and is 1-16 overall, with is lone victory coming against Southeast Webster-Grand. EG opens district action in a quarterfinal round game at home against SWG on Jan. 17. EG thumped the Eagles 78-23 in the second game of the season back in December, which was the highest point total and widest margin of victory all year for the Hawks, who are now 15-3 overall, the same mark as EHKE.

In girls action, Adair-Casey beat the Hawkettes, 67-39, to stay in contention for the Rolling Hills crown. AC is now 14-2, just behind CAM (Anita) which is 14-1.

After tonight’s game at Elk Horn, both EG squads end conference play against Iowa Christian at home on Tuesday. The boys host Madrid in a non-conference game at home on Friday, while the girls head to Coon Rapids-Bayard the night in a first-round regional match up the night before.

BOYS ROLLING HILLS STANDINGS
Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 15-1
East Greene 14-2
Ankeny Christian 11-4
Orient-Macksburg 11-4
Glidden-Ralston 10-5
CAM 6-9
Iowa Christian 5-10
Walnut 3-13
Adair-Casey 2-14
Paton-Churdan 0-15

GIRLS ROLLING HILLS STANDINGS
CAM 14-1
Adair-Casey 14-2
Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 13-3
Iowa Christian 10-5
Orient-Macksburg 7-8
Ankeny Christian 7-8
East Greene 5-11
Walnut 4-12
Glidden-Ralston 2-12
Paton-Churdan 0-14

Hawks Vie for Rolling Hills Title

BIG ROAD WIN TUESDAY OVER O-MACK, 48-38

East Greene picked up a big win at Orient-Macksburg on Tuesday to keep its Rolling Hills Conference boys basketball title hopes alive. EG downed the Bulldogs 48-38, keeping the Hawks just one game behind league-leader Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira.

Orient-Macksburg had just handed EHKE its first league loss last Friday in Orient, upping its own record in the conference to 10-3, and moving OM to third place, just behind E/EHK (11-1) and EG (11-2), and a game ahead of Ankeny Christian Academy, 9-3.

EHKE won a big matchup Monday night at Ankeny Christian 54-48. The Spartans then beat Iowa Christian 68-50 the following night to move to 13-1 in the conference while EG upped its mark to 12-2 with the big win at Orient. Each team has just four conference games remaining including a key matchup next Friday night, Feb. 4, at Elk Horn.

EG faces a tough Glidden-Ralston squad tonight in Rippey. The Wildcats have won 5 of their last 7 games including a 70-41 drubbing of Ankeny Christian on Jan. 18 in Glidden. GR is just behind OM and ACA (both 10-4) in the league with a 9-4 mark. (GR and PC have each played one less game than the other 8 RH teams, but will make up their snowed out game from Jan. 11 on Monday, Jan. 31, in Glidden).

EYE ON GJ SAYS: The Hawks are playing solid ball and they showed real fortitude by making a very good showing in Orient on Tuesday night after losing by just one point to Class 2A Woodward-Granger Saturday in Rippey. The Hawks got a sweep of county rival and RH foe Paton-Churdan with a big 68-34 win on the home court on Friday night. The Hawks are now 13-3.

EG girls also picked up a conference win and a sweep of PC as they downed the Rockettes in Rippey, 36-27. The Hawkettes fell to Woodward-Granger the following night, 67-44. The win over PC moved the Hawkettes' conference record to 5-9. Overall, the Hawkettes are 6-11. Besides the GR game tonight and the Feb. 4 matchup with EHKE, the other two conference games left for the EG squads are Adair-Casey next Tuesday, Feb. 1, and Iowa Christian on Tuesday, Feb. 8. Both games are in Rippey. The girls enter district action on Thursday, Feb. 10, against Coon Rapids-Bayard at Coon Rapids while the boys close out the regular season with a home game against Madrid on Friday, Feb. 11.

ROLLING HILLS
Boys Conference Standings
(through Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011)

Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 13-1
East Greene 12-2
Ankeny Christian 10-4
Orient-Macksburg 10-4
Glidden-Ralston 9-4
CAM 6-8
Iowa Christian 5-9
Walnut 2-12
Adair-Casey 2-12
Paton-Churdan 0-13

ROLLING HILLS
Girls Conference Standings
(through Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011)

CAM 13-1
Adair-Casey 12-2
Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 12-2
Iowa Christian 9-5
Orient-Macksburg 7-7
Ankeny Christian 7-7
East Greene 5-9
Walnut 3-11
Glidden-Ralston 1-12
Paton-Churdan 0-13

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.

Hawks Bag Big Win Over CRB

ADVANCE TO DISTRICT FINALS AGAINST EHKE

A big 3-1 win over Coon Rapids-Bayard in the district baseball semifinals in Coon Rapids Thursday has sent East Greene to the district championship game tonight against fourth-ranked Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira. Game time is 7 p.m. in Coon Rapids.

The winner advances to Tuesday night’s substate championship game in Denison to play for a spot in the Class 1A State Tournament at Principal Park in Des Moines. The Hawks advanced to State last year winning the district in Ames and the substate in Ankeny.

EG was a solid underdog in the game as they had fallen to CRB—co-champs of the West Central Conference—by a 5-2 score earlier in the season and then 17-6 in a game shortened to 6 innings by the 10-run rule last Friday in Rippey. That win gave the Crusaders a share of the conference title with Woodward-Granger as both teams ended league play with glossy 17-1 marks.

EG had compiled a less than stellar 8-9 league mark for fifth place, so the home fans at Crusader Field on Thursday night most likely thought the semifinal game with EG was a just stepping stone to a big CRB showdown with undefeated EHKE two nights later.

The Hawks had other ideas.

They struck quickly in the top of the first frame as Tom Beger walked and Aaron Lyons singled. A single by the next Hawk batter, Tyler Cooklin, scored Beger putting the Hawks up 1-0. When CRB pitcher Brett Carstens then threw three straight balls to Wes Onken, veteran Crusader Coach John Waddle pulled Carstens and put Gage Reis on the mound. Reis, in turn, threw a ball and Onken was on his way to first, loading the bases for EG.

Onken was then picked off at first, but Jessie Priest walked to load the bases again. Josh Neese struck out and Zach Dearborn hit one to the 2nd baseman who threw him out at first, ending the inning. EG stranded three base runners and squandered some scoring opportunities--a situation that hampered both teams throughout the game.

CRB got on the board in the bottom of the inning to knot the score at one. Leadoff batter Jacob Esdohr rapped a single off Cooklin and then stole second. Cooklin walked Carstens, and then Esdohr stole third, putting runners at the corners. Schwartz struck out but Carstens stole second. Tyler Boeke struck out, but then Gage Reis singled to center field sending Esdohr across the plate to knot the score at 1-1. Carstens rounded third and was headed to home plate but a terrific throw from Lyons in center field to catcher Tory Beger nailed him at the plate, snuffing out the rally and ending the inning.

Both teams got on base in the second inning and each stranded two runners. In the third inning, a single by Zach Dearborn sent Neese to third base with two outs, but a short chopper to the shortstop by Zach Beyerink ended the threat. CRB advanced a runner to second with just one out, but two quick outs left the game tied at 1-1 after three innings. At that point, EG had 5 hits and stranded 7 runners, but had scored just the 1 run. CRB had left 4 runners on base.

Reis bore down in the top of the fourth and the Hawks went down in order. The Crusaders threatened in the bottom of the inning on a walk to Michael Schwenk followed by a single from Caylor Deeth with just one out. But a great catch of a popup near the first base line by second baseman Alex Gordon and then a shot hit right to Neese at third base ended the threat.

Cooklin got things going for the Hawks in the fifth with a leadoff single up the middle. Onken’s infield popup was the first out, but a balk on Reis sent Cooklin to second base. Jessie Priest struck out for the second out of the inning, but Neese then smashed a line drive to left field which turned into an RBI double as Cooklin scored putting the Hawks up 2-1. A dribbler by Dearborn to the first baseman ended the inning.

Cooklin was firing on all cylinders in the bottom of the inning, striking out Carstens and Boeke with Schwartz lining one to Neese sandwiched between the strikeouts, putting down the Crusaders 1-2-3.

EG threatened again in the sixth as Reis walked the first batter, Ostrander, and then was taken out by Waddle and replace by Boeke. CRB had now rolled out all three of its top pitchers and Waddle, who entered the game with 507 career victories—all earned in Coon Rapids—was looking for a way to contain the Hawks. The three pitchers had an accumulated record of 19-2 and Reis was credited with two saves and Boeke one as CRB had rolled up 26 victories coming into the semifinal game with EG. Gordon then got a bunt off of Boeke and the throw from third to first was wide, leaving Gordon safe at first and advancing Ostrander to third. Pinch runner T. J. Lint came in for Gordon but second baseman Brendan McAlister turned a short chopper by Tom Beger into a double play. Ostrander was still a threat on third, but Lyons struck out, leaving another runner stranded in scoring position.

Cooklin picked up right where he left off from the fifth inning, striking out Reis and Zach Imler to open the sixth, giving him three strikeouts in a row. A walk to Schwenk was followed by a pop up from Deeth—sending the Hawks into the 7th inning with a 1-run lead and the hint of a possible upset.

Again, Cooklin came to the fore, this time slamming a double down the right field line as the leadoff batter, giving him a hit off of each of the three Crusader pitchers. Onken’s sacrifice bunt moved Cooklin to third, and Priest walked to put runners on first and third. Neese was intentionally walked which loaded the bases. Dearborn then hit a line drive single into the outfield, sending Cooklin home and the Hawks were up 3-1 with just 1 out and the bases still loaded. Ostrander then struck out and Alex Gordon lined out to the shortstop, giving the Hawks a key run but stranding three runners.

The pressure was on Cooklin, who walked the first batter, McAlister. Esdohr hit into a fielder’s choice which put him on first with one out, but Cooklin got Carstens to strike out for CRB’s second out and their chances fading. Esdohr advanced to second on a passed ball and Schwartz walked so CRB’s fortunes were improving, and then Cooklin hit Boeke with a pitch that loaded the bases.

Gage Reis came to the plate and got ahead of the count 1-0. He took a strike but then another ball had him up 2-1. Another ball made things tense for the Hawks but Reis hit a foul behind the bleachers to make it a full count, 3-2. Cooklin then got one right across the plate with Reis looking as the called strike ended the game, and EG was on its way to the district finals.

Cooklin had an amazing game, going 3-4 with an RBI and scoring 2 runs. On the mound, he threw 11 strikeouts, walked seven and held the Crusaders to just 3 hits. Carstens, Boeke and Reis allowed the Hawks 9 hits, walked 7 and struck out 6.

Dearborn had two singles and a RBI, Neese had a double and a RBI, and Lyons, Tom Beger and Dearborn each hit key singles.

EG heads to the final with an 18-11 record to face EHKE, champions of the Rolling Hills Conference. The Spartans blasted CAM (Anita), another RH member, 15-0 in 5 innings in the other district semifinal game in Adair. The win ran up EHKE’s season record to 26-0. CAM ended the year at 4-15.

CRB’s loss ended its season at 26-7.

The EG vs. EHKE winner (District 15) will face the winner of District 16 in the Substate 8 championship. Ar-We-Va (Westside) takes on Woodbury Central (Moville) tonight in Moville in the District 16 title game. Both teams are in the Western Valley Conference. Ar-We-Va (11-13) finished sixth in the Western Valley South (nine teams) at 7-9 and Woodbury Central (10-10) went 7-9 for fifth place in the Western Valley North (eight teams).

EYE ON GJ SAYS: EHKE is indeed a formidable opponent. There is no arguing with a 26-0 record and in conference play the Spartans dispensed 8 of their 12 opponents in games shortened by the 10-run rule.

But what EG brought to the diamond on Thursday night, they can bring again. EG is a defending state tournament qualifier and this same team has faced down the pressures of a championship district game and a championship substate game. EG is very familiar with the CR diamond too, having faced off there against the Crusaders every year since first joining the West Central in 1997 and in many years facing competition in the districts held at Coon Rapids.

EHKE’s pitching chores have been handled all season by three senior pitchers: Carson Smith (11-0), Travis Stevens (8-0) and Nolan Himmelberg (7-0). Himmelberg picked up his seventh win against CAM on Thursday, throwing a one-hitter. Smith got things moving for the offense, blasting a three-run homer in the top of the first. EHEK had 15 hits on the night.

Those are lofty marks, but EG shut down all three of CRB’s pitchers on Thursday who brought a collective 19-2 mark into the game. CRB and EG each play a tougher conference schedule—18 games against 1A and 2A teams while EHKE plays 12 games against 1A teams.

EG and EHKE both faced the same six teams—two in the Rolling Hills and four in the West Central. EHKE beat Earlham 4-3 and EG beat them 5-3. The Spartans downed Panorama 12-2 while EG split with the Panthers, winning 9-4 and losing 12-8. EHKE beat Guthrie Center 10-0; EG beat Guthrie 6-0 and 8-7. As noted, EG earlier lost two games to CRB but on Thursday rectified that in a big way in the semifinal matchup, 3-1. EHKE beat CRB 6-3 on June 9.

The Spartans clearly took it to the second- and third-place finishers in the Rolling Hills, thumping Iowa Christian 10-5 and 18-0 and drubbing GR 9-2 and 18-0. EG also faced those two teams in non-conference action, beating ICA 4-2 on its home field in Waukee and posting a 13-7 win over GR in Rippey in early June.

It looks like coach Dana Fink has the Hawks peaking at just the right time, as noted by their solid play against CRB. The Hawks weren’t sharp against winless Southeast Webster-Grand on Tuesday, as that game was deadlocked at 1-1 well into the later innings, but they came back strong and picked up one of their biggest wins over the Crusaders two nights later.

Hawks Get 16th Win of Season

TAKE ON SWG IN DISTRICT OPENER TONIGHT

An extra-inning 3-2 thriller over Madrid Thursday night pushed East Greene’s season win total to 16 games, surpassing the 15-10 mark of 2008 and last year’s 14-15 record for the 2009 state tournament team. That team entered post-season play at 10-14 and then went on a four-game streak that did not end until a loss to Newman (Mason City) in the first round of the state tourney at Principal Park in Des Moines.

A steal home by Jessie Priest in the bottom of the 8th inning got the win for the Hawks. Priest went 1-2 at the plate with an RBI and a double and Wes Onken went 2-4. Onken picked up the win, giving up 6 hits, three walks and 1 wild pitch while striking out 8. The Hawks were guilty of three errors, but Aaron Lyons was one bright spot on the defense as he made a spectacular catch in right center to rob Madrid’s Eric Simmons of a potential two-run homer in the sixth.

The enthusiasm of 16 wins was tempered however with a 17-6 drubbing the following night from Coon Rapids-Bayard. The Crusaders were playing for the league championship, as was Woodward-Granger in its tilt with Des Moines Christian in Woodward. WG came out in that one, 7-6, leaving CRB and WG as West Central co-champions at 17-1.

The EG-CRB and DMC-WG matchups were actual make-up games that were rained out earlier in the season.

The loss to CRB closed out EG’s regular season with an 8-9 mark in the conference, good for fifth place. The Hawks had a tough week overall, going 1-3 with a loss to co-champ Woodward- Granger 4-3 on Tuesday and to Panorama 12-8 on Wednesday.

Des Moines Christian had already locked up third place in the conference, but was looking for momentum heading into this week’s districts. Adding further drama to Friday’s games was that this week’s district pairings could set up another round of EG-CRB and WG-DMC matchups.

EG (16-11) opens tourney play tonight at 5 p.m. in Coon Rapids against Southeast Webster (0-24) a team it beat handily in the season opener, 12-3. In the other half of the twin bill at Coon Rapids at 7 p.m., the Crusaders (23-7) take on a much improved Glidden-Ralston (10-9) squad that finished in third place in its first season in the Rolling Hills. Tuesday’s winners advance to the District semifinal round on Thursday, also to be played in Coon Rapids.

On the opposite side of the bracket in District 12, CAM (Anita) drew a bye while undefeated Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira (21-0), ranked fourth in the state in Class 1A, takes on Adair-Casey (8-14) tonight in Adair. The winner meets CAM (4-14) in a semifinal game Thursday in Adair. Thursday night’s winners face off for the District 15 championship on Saturday in Coon Rapids.

The District 15 winner meets the District 16 winner on Tuesday, July 20, in Denison with the winner advancing to the state tournament in Des Moines. Teams in District 16 are Woodbine, Boyer Valley (Dunlap), Charter Oak-Ute, Ar-We-Va (Westside), Woodbury Central (Moville).

EHK/Exira rolled to the Rolling Hills championship with a perfect 12-0 record, with Iowa Christian (West Des Moines) in second and Glidden-Ralston in third.

Rolling Hills Final Conference Standings
(Conference record, season record)
Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 12–0, 24–0
Iowa Christian Academy 9–3, 11–7
Glidden-Ralston 7–5, 10–9
Walnut 5–7, 12–12
Adair-Casey 4–8, 8–14
CAM 3–9, 4–14
Orient-Macksburg 2–10, 6–13

With four of the top five spots in the West Central Conference going to Class 1A teams, the chances are high for several teams to make a deep run in the post-season.

Woodward-Granger (22-4) opens district play tonight against Madrid (5-18) on the Tigers’ home diamond at 7 p.m. following a 5 p.m. game that pits Colo-Nesco against Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg). The winners meet in Madrid on Thursday at 7 p.m. The opposite side of the district bracket features four teams that all have state tournament potential. Martensdale-St Mary’s gets the home field advantage and heads into its opening round game against Grandview Park Baptist with an impressive 35-0 record and the No. 1 ranking in Class 1A. Grandview Park Baptist made it to state two years ago and last year advanced to the substate before bowing out to EG. DMC (14-9) takes on Iowa Christian Academy, runner-up in the Rolling Hills Conference, in the opener at St. Mary’s. The winners square off Thursday in St. Mary’s in the semifinal round. The semifinal winners from Madrid and St. Mary’s will meet for the district title in Madrid on Saturday night.

WG looks pretty solid to make it out of first two rounds, but it could be a tall order for DMC to beat both Iowa Christian and then top-ranked MStM to set up a rematch of last Friday’s game with the Hawks in the final at Madrid.

The five 2A teams in the West Central opened district tourney action Saturday night and the only win was West Central Valley over league foe Guthrie Center, 10-5. Interstate 35 (Truro) beat Earlham, 6-2; CMB (Baxter) beat Van Meter, 7-6; and Audubon beat Panorama, 9-0.

West Central Valley advances to the semifinal round where the Wildcats will take on Audubon tonight in Guthrie Center.

West Central Final Conference Standings
(Conference record, season record)
Woodward-Granger 17–1, 22–4
Coon Rapids-Bayard 17–1, 23–7
Des Moines Christian 13–4, 14–9
Earlham 9–8, 14–14
East Greene 8–9, 16–11
Van Meter 8–10, 16–14
Panorama 7–11, 8–15
West Central Valley 4–14, 7–19
Madrid 3–15, 5–18
Guthrie Center 3–15, 5–22

EYE ON GJ SAYS: The Hawks will really need to pull it all together to come anywhere close to what they pulled off last season. The deck is stacked with both Coon Rapids-Bayard, a perennial 1A baseball power, and the newly combined EHKE—undefeated and state-ranked—in District 15.

EG does get an advantage as it faces winless Southeast Webster-Grand in the opening round while CRB takes on a solid Glidden-Ralston club. GR scored a nice win over Iowa Christian early in the season, although it lost non-conference tilts to both EG and CRB. EHKE is the hands-down favorite on the Adair side of the ledger. Adair-Casey was the winner out of the district played in Coon Rapids last year and upset the home team in the semifinal round, and then advanced all the way to the state tourney along with EG. The Hawks won the Ames district and Ankeny substate.

Pitching and avoiding key mistakes on defense will be key in the district. Iowa high school baseball pitchers are limited to 16 total innings a week (Sunday through Saturday) and no more than 9 innings in any one day or two consecutive days. And after 9 innings, a pitcher must have two complete calendar days of rest. So if a pitcher is stretched to 9 innings in, say, an opening round game on Tuesday. He must rest Wednesday and Thursday, but come pitch on Saturday in the finals, but no more than 7 innings.

CRB will need to put a solid pitcher the mound in its opener against GR while East Greene can keep its top two aces, Onken (6-2) and Tyler Cooklin (4-4) in reserve for a big semifinal game—most likely against CRB—and then a final against EHKE if they should get by the Crusaders. Onken has the better record for EG, but Cooklin was on the mound when the Hawks took on the league leaders in the conference. Look for freshman pitcher Reed Ostrander (3-2) to get the start against SWG.

The Crusaders have a veritable stable of solid pitchers: Tyler Boeke (7-0), Jay Carstens (6-1), Gage Reis (5-1) and Jacob Esdohr (4-2) and three others who pitched three or fewer games. EHKE has gone all season with three pitchers, and all are undefeated: Carson Smith (10-0), Travis Stevens (8-0) and Nolan Himmelberg (6-0).

The good news for EG is that it all three pitchers for EHKE are seniors, so that should give the Hawks an advantage when they take on the Spartans in Rolling Hills action next year. And they won’t have to face CRB in home-and-away conference tilts, but hopefully the Crusaders will be on next year’s non-conference schedule as CRB and EG have made for a great rivalry over the years. Both Cooklin and Onken are juniors and Ostrander will be back for three more seasons, giving an anchor to build future Hawk pitching around.

EHKE has the edge in hitting with a .361 average while CRB is a very solid .327 and EG is .262. EG will need to shore up its fielding too, as it was guilty of 56 errors in 27 games while CRB erred 49 times in 30. EHKE committed 38 errors in 24 games, but EG and CRB were facing much better pitching and hitting in the West Central than EHKE saw in the Rolling Hills, but then again, the Spartans won just as many non-conference games, 12, as they did league matchups, and one of those non-league games was a 6-3 win over CRB on June 9.

EG FOOTBALL SEASON FINALE

Hawks Beat Walnut, ‘Go For 2’ Tonight @ Exira

East Greene rolled over Walnut 54-14 in Grand Junction last Friday night to pick up its third win of the season and avoid the District 7 cellar. EG moved its district record to 1-4 while Walnut fell to 0-4.

The Hawks end the season tonight in Exira against Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira. The EHK/E game does not count in the D7 standings, so EG’s win over Walnut was its final "official" game in district competition for 2009, while Walnut hosts Coon Rapids-Bayard tonight and CAM (Anita) travels to Adair-Casey in the season and district finales for those teams.

EG beat both Elk Horn-Kimballton and Exira last year, but getting a win over the combined EHK/E will be a much bigger challenge as the Wolverines are 5-3 this season while EG is 3-5. EHK/E has beaten D7 leader CAM, while its two of its three losses were by just 6 and 8 points to Adair-Casey and Glidden-Ralston.

But the Hawks will be riding the momentum from the Walnut game, which they totally dominated. EG got its ground game in gear, racking up 195 yards on 35 rushing attempts. Juniors Schyler Bardole and Nic Nicolaisen put the word out to the rest of the D7 teams that they are to be reckoned with next year, as Bardole lead the rushing attack with 72 years on 18 carries and a touchdown, and Nicolaisen was right behind with 70 yards on 5 carries (a solid 14 yards-per-carry average) and 2 touchdowns.

QB Tom Beger connected on 5 of his 13 passes for 110 yards and four touchdowns. He connected twice with Bardole for scoring strikes and once each with tight ends Aaron Lyons and Jesse Priest. Beger also scored a running touchdown, as he ground out 32 yards on six carries. His total yardage for the night was 142. Beger, Bardole and Priest each ran for a 2-point conversion to round out the Hawk scoring.

Overall, the Hawks had 305 total yards and 15 first downs while limiting Walnut to 212 total yards and 8 first downs.

Seniors Josh Neese, Tyler Gathercoal and Zach Beyerink anchored the Hawk defense. Neese had 5 solo tackles and 6 assists, Gathercoal had 5 solos and 3 assists, and Beyerink had 4 solos and 4 assists. Beyerink and Bardole each picked off a pass from Warrior QB Kyler McCarty, who was held to 81 yards and a single touchdown on 7-for-16 passing. McCarty also scored Walnut’s lone rushing touchdown.

McCarty was a real workhorse for the Warriors though, as he returned seven EG kickoffs for 119 yards total and three Hawk punts for 58 yards total, an average of 20 yards for each of his 10 kick returns.

DISTRICT 7 SHOWDOWN: Adair-Casey vs. CAM will be the spotlight game in D7 tonight as the winner will get the top seed in the 8-Man state playoffs, which get underway on Wednesday night. The game looks to be a toss-up. CAM was the hands-down favorite as the season began as it returned all but 2 of its starting lineup from 2008, when it won D7 with a perfect 7-0 record. This year’s league schedule was reduced to just 5 contests as the Elk Horn and Exira games were removed when those two schools agreed to form a combined football program and their combined enrollments made them ineligible for 8-Man competition, although EHK/E played a full nine-game schedule, including all of the other D7 teams.

EHK/E surprised the league two weeks ago when it notched a decisive 43-20 win over then unbeaten CAM on the Cougar’s home field in Anita. So clearly, CAM can be beaten. And AC will be riding the momentum of beating CRB last week in Coon Rapids, 36-29.

If CAM prevails they will be the undisputed champion at 5-0, but if they lose, then they end up tied with AC at 4-1 for the championship and AC will get the No. 1 seed in the playoffs because they won the head-to-head competition, which is the tie-breaker when two teams end the season tied and in contention for playoff seeding.

Despite last week’s loss, CRB still will qualify for the playoffs--even it should lose this week to Walnut. CRB would finish fourth in D7 at 2-3, behind AC, CAM and GR, which wrapped up district play two weeks ago, rolling over Walnut 46-6 to finish at 3-2. The more likely scenario will be CRB easily beating Walnut and finishing in a tie at 3-2 with GR and possibly AC, should the Bombers lose to CAM. That would leave a three-way tie for the runner-up spot in the district with all three teams at 3-2. As each of the three teams would end up 1-1 against the other two, the seeding for spots two, three and four in the district would then go the tie-breaker point system, which is based on the average margin of difference in each of the five district games.

Heading into tonight’s games, CRB has a slight advantage with a 4.00 tie-breaker score, just ahead of AC at 3.25 and GR at 3.00. GR’s score can’t move up or down as the Wildcats have completed district play, but if AC should lose, which must happen to create a three-way tie, the Bombers would be subtracting points from their current four-game point differential total (13), and if CRB should win, they would be adding to their existing total points (16) which would easily put them past AC and vault them into second place while AC and GR’s point total differential would determine the No. 3 and 4 seeds. And if AC loses, they can’t get anymore differential points, putting them behind GR, whose give-game point total differential is solid at 15. Thus, AC would drop down to fourth place and give GR the third seed.

So, this is a critical game for AC. If they win, they are the top dog for D7, hosting the No. 4 seed from District 8 next Wednesday. If they lose, they fall from [potentially] first place to fourth, and then face the long trip down to Stanton to take on the state-ranked and undefeated Vikings, a team that rolled over all three D7 opponents last year in reaching the 8-Man state playoff semifinal round in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. This would be a pretty substantial turnaround for the Bombers, considering their big win last week over CRB on the Crusaders’ home field. AC will also have the memory of last year’s 24-22 loss to CAM in Anita on the final night of the regular season, which gave the Cougars the 2008 District 7 championship and relegated AC to runner-up status. Both teams went on to win their opening round substate games, but were eliminated in first round action.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: The Hawks must contain EHK/E’s Carson Smith if they hope to prevail tonight over the Wolverines. In EHK/E’s win over CAM, Smith completed 14 of 22 passes for 186 yards and two passing touchdowns, and he ran for 137 yards on 22 carries and another three touchdowns. Eric Johnson added 104 yards and a rushing touchdown to the Wolverines’ total output of 455 yards.

Smith also kicked three extra points and ran for a two-point conversion to give him 35 points for the evening. Final tally: Smith outscored the entire CAM team, 35-20.

EHK/E rolled up 42 points against GR last week as Smith passed for 220 yards and five touchdowns and he ran for another 65, which was the entire EHK/E offensive production. GR however rushed for an amazing 458 yards and 8 rushing touchdowns and prevailed, 54-42.

Smith was intercepted three times by the CAM defense and once last week by GR, so the Hawks really need to hone in on their pass defense to shut down EHK/E.

A win at Exira would match last year’s win total for the Hawks, and would be a fine finish for the EG seniors, giving them a two-year won-loss record of 8-10, which is a big improvement over the 3-14 they suffered through during their freshman and sophomore years. This group of Hawks was responsible for ending a losing streak that stretched from the end of the 2004 season to the first game of the 2007 season, a win over CAL of Latimer in Grand Junction.

All told, EG’s record from 2002 through 2007 was a dismal 6 wins and 41 losses. So 8-10 over two years may not look like much to the small-school powers of Iowa high school football, but it means something to EG‘ers--near and fall. So, more than anything...Go Hawks!