Hawks Face Colo-Nesco in District Semifinal

EG ADVANCES WITH 68-17 THUMPING OF SWG

East Greene’s tuned up for tonight’s semifinal district game against state-ranked Colo-Nesco with a 68-17 romp over Southeast Webster-Grand on Thursday night in a district basketball opening round game in Rippey.

The Hawks dominated the game from start to finish, jumping out to a 27-6 first quarter lead. EG was up 53-10 at the half, and then held SWG scoreless in the third quarter, padding the lead to 62-10.

Zach Dearborn led the Hawk scoring brigade with 16 points. Nic Nicolaisen scored 14 points and snared 8 rebounds with Aaron Lyons also in double figures with 10 points. EG shot a blistering 56% from the field, connecting on 30 of 54 shots while holding the Eagles to just 7 of 34. The Hawks forced SWG into 31 turnovers and had a big edge in rebounding, 32-23.

EG went 3-11 from the 3-point line and hit half of their 10 free throw attempts. SWG was 0-5 on 3-point attempts and 3-12 from the free throw line for 25% accuracy.

SWG closed out the season with a 3-20 mark. EG advances to the semifinal round with an 18-4 record.

The Hawks face a big challenge tonight against in Colo against No. 9-ranked Colo-Nesco (19-2), co-champs of the Iowa Star-South Conference. Colo-Nesco beat Madrid 55-28 in a quarterfinal round game Thursday in Colo. One of CN’s two losses this season came to league co-champ North Tama, 57-51, the No. 10 team in the state. CN beat North Tama earlier in the season, 49-48. Its other loss was to Iowa Star-South conference foe Don Bosco (Gilbertville), 52-29, which was avenged later in the season with a 50-48 win.

CN has also handed Northeast Hamilton (20-2), winners of the Iowa Star-North crown, with just one of its two losses of the season.

The Royals are lead by 6-1 senior forward Brandon Eley, who averages 20 points and 11 rebounds a game. Against Madrid, Eley dropped in 24 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.

Should the Hawks get by Colo-Nesco they would face either Van Meter (5-17), a surprise winner over Ankeny Christian Academy, 48-45, or Coon Rapids-Bayard (14-6), which advanced with a 35-27 win over Glidden-Ralston. Those two teams square off tonight in Coon Rapids. The district finals are Thursday in Story City.

CRB, which was one of the eight teams in the 1A state tourney field last year, is peaking at the right time as the Crusaders won their sixth straight game at Glidden.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: On paper, it looks like Colo-Nesco is the hands-down favorite. The Royals appear to have everything in their favor—home-court advantage, a lofty state ranking, and a conference championship under their belt. But all those positives could work in East Greene’s favor as the Royals could easily dismiss the Hawks and ignore their 19 wins as mostly against inferior teams of the Rolling Hills Conference. But when you look at the participants in the last two Class 1A state tournaments, the Rolling Hills has been represented by Ankeny Christian (2010) and Adair-Casey (2009). And who made it to state those two years among the 12 Iowa Star teams (two more than the RH’s 10)? No one.

In fact, the Iowa Star has not had a representative at state since Dunkerton made it to state and won the crown in 2004. Since then, the West Central, where EG competed, sent four teams to state: Des Moines Christian in 2007, Guthrie Center in 2008, and both CRB in 1A and DMC in 2A in last year’s field while the Iowa State sent none.

But Colo-Nesco has a solid basketball tradition, having made it to the district finals five of the last seven years. The Royals won the district in 2004 and then lost to Dunkerton in the substate. CN also made it to substate in 2009 and 2008. Last year, the Royals were sidelined in Colo in the semifinal round by Grandview Park Baptist, a team that went on to the district crown but then lost to Ankeny Christian in the substate.

EG’s win over SWG was just the first time since 2003 that the Hawks have advanced past the quarterfinal round. That year, EG beat CRB in Coon Rapids, 53-46, but then fell to Hubbard-Radcliffe, 52-45, in a game also played at Coon Rapids. Hubbard-Radcliffe squeaked by Northeast Hamilton, 47-45, in the district final and then beat East Union (Afton) to win the substate and advance to the state tournament.

Look for CRB to get by Van Meter in the other semifinal round game. CRB and CN both play a hard-nosed brand of defense, much like Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton, a team EG battled with twice in the Rolling Hills this year, with the Spartans winning both games and taking the league crown.

The District 12 finals are on Thursday with the winner advancing to the Substate 6 game in Marshalltown to face the winner of District 11. Semifinal games in that district tonight have North Tama hosting HLV (Victor) and Melcher-Dallas at Lynville-Sully. The winners meet on Thursday at Meskwaki Settlement School near Tama. Lynville-Sully is the No. 6 ranked team in Class 1A.

Hopefully, the Royals will be a little too confident and have their eyes on a possible showdown with North Tama in the substate, thinking they can glide by their upcoming foes from the other side of Interstate 35 on their way to substate.

CRB Ends Hawkettes’ Season

LOSE IN REGIONAL FIRST ROUND, FINISH 9-15

Coon Rapids-Bayard swept East Greene in three games, 25-19, 25-16, 25-12, in first round regional volleyball action at Coon Rapids on Wednesday. CRB (23-6) advances to the quarterfinal round in Madrid where they will face the Madrid Tigers, winners over Earlham.

EG ends the 2010 season with a 9-15 record. The Hawkettes finished in eighth place in the Rolling Hills Conference with a 3-6 mark.

Only AC and ICA were winners among the 10 conference teams in regional action on Wednesday. Adair-Casey sidelined conference foe Walnut to advance to a Region 3 quarterfinal match against Riverside (Oakland) next Tuesday in Adair. Iowa Christian beat Southeast Warren Liberty Center and will take on Martensdale-St. Mary’s on Tuesday at Melcher in Region 5. Regional quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinal round on Friday, Oct. 29.

Paton-Churdan lost on Wednesday night to Southeast Webster in Burnside in Region 2, while Jefferson-Scranton got by Ogden in Class 2A first round regional action in Ogden. The Rams (16-21) move on to face Kuemper (21-10) next Tuesday in Carroll.

In the conference tournament at Elk Horn last week, EG took on Paton-Churdan in an opening round match, beating the Rockettes to advance to a second round match against Iowa Christian Academy, the No. 2 seed in the league tourney. ICA, ranked 12th in the state in Class 1A, beat the Hawkettes 21-9, 21-18 to advance to the semifinals. The Blazers won their semifinal match but fell to Adair-Casey in the championship. In a consolation round game, EG was edged out by CAM (Anita) 21-18, 18-21, 15-11.

FINAL CONFERENCE STANDINGS
(Conf. Record, Season Record Through 10-20-10)
Iowa Christian 9-0 18-8
Adair-Casey 8-1 23-6
Ankeny Christian 5-4 12-12
CAM (Anita) 5-4 9-15
Orient-Macksburg 5-4 8-17
Glidden-Ralston 4-5 10-15
Elk Horn Kimballton/Exira 4-5 6-17
East Greene 3-6 9-15
Paton-Churdan 1-8 2-30
Walnut 1-8 8-23

EYE GJ SAYS: It was an up and down season for the Hawkettes this year. After a strong start with a season-opening win over Southeast Webster-Grand and a good showing at an invitational tournament in Coon Rapids—and starting out 2-1 in the Rolling Hills—in looked like the Hawkettes could compete for an upper division finish in their first year in the RH. But key losses to teams like Orient-Macksburg and Ankeny Christian resulted in EG falling into the lower half of the conference which was dominated all season by Adair-Casey and Iowa Christian. EG did put some together some solid performances during the season, beating former league rival Guthrie Center, last year’s West Central Conference champion, and they pulled out some close matches which showed they could play well under pressure. After EG beat Guthrie, the Tigerettes turned around and upset Adair-Casey, but both EG and GC suffered from inconsistency throughout the season.

The West Central Conference fared much better in opening round regional action than the RH with the 9 teams posting a 6-3 mark. And two of those three losses were to other WC teams. Guthrie got by CAM (Anita), a Rolling Hills team, and will next face East Union (27-7). Madrid beat league foe Earlham to also advance in Class 1A. Woodward-Granger and Des Moines Christian, which has been ranked for part of the season, advanced in 2A as did Van Meter, which beat fellow conference member West Central Valley. The only 2A team to lose to a non-league for was Panorama.

The West Central will became a 10-team league again next year, as Ogden will leave the Heart of Iowa-Small after this season and fill the vacancy created by East Greene’s move to the Rolling Hills.

Five East Greene seniors played their last match in the regional loss: Katlynn Gannon, Molly Neese, Tia Lowe, Brittanee Heaning and Jasmine Kinney. Several younger players made significant contributions to the team this year, especially Chelsi Wilkens, who had a big impact on the front line as just a freshman starter, leading the team in blocks. Wilkens and sophomore reserves Tori Lowe and Brittany Gunn will serve as the nucleus for the varsity next year.

There were no juniors on the squad, so Coach Carly Tiffany will be fielding a young team next year in a somewhat of a rebuilding phase. EG also has a strong group of 8th graders moving up to the high school level for next year’s team—including Tiffany’s daughter Bailey Godwin— who could step in and play key roles. The team that takes the court next fall will essentially be in place for back-to-back seasons, so this year’s sophomores will be called upon to show leadership for the younger team members.

2010 Volleyball Season Gets Underway

NEW ERA IN ROLLING HILLS BEGINS TUESDAY

East Greene opens the 2010 volleyball season tonight in Rippey against Southeast Webster-Grand (Burnside). The Hawkettes are coming off a 14-7 season in 2009 that saw them finish fourth in the West Central Conference at 6-3. It was one of the best seasons in East Greene volleyball history, and came on the heels of a fourth-place conference finish (6-3) in 2008.

EG will be competing in the Rolling Hills Conference this year after 14 years in the 1A-2A West Central. EG’s first-ever RH competition will be next Tuesday’s volleyball conference opener against Orient-Macksburg in Rippey.

This weekend, EG travel to Coon Rapids to participate in a tournament hosted by Coon Rapids-Bayard, ranked No. 10 in the Class 1A preseason poll by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

East Greene must replace four seniors off last year’s squad, including all-conference and all-district middle hitter Malarie Gilley; Heidi Kiner, second team all-conference; Bobbie Halterman, honorable mention; and Jessie Beaman. Gilley, 6-1, a dominant force at the net will be hard to replace. She was a two-time unanimous first-team all-league pick in addition to being all-state and all-conference in basketball the last two seasons.

Coach Carly Tiffany will be building around a nucleus of five returning seniors: Katlynn Gannon, Molly Neese, Tia Lowe, Jasmine Kinney and Britanee Heaning.

Gannon earned second team all-conference honors as a defensive specialist last year. She had 318 digs (5.4 per game), 10 assists, and was 65 of 69 serving (94%) with four aces. Neese, who garnered honorable mention merit, was 172 of 206 (84%) serving with 30 aces. At the net, she had 56 kills and nine blocks, and on defense she had 42 digs.

EG has been very solid in serving the last several seasons. Along with Gannon’s 94% clip, the Hawkettes will be looking to Lowe, who connected on 147 of 162 serves, a solid 91%, with 13 aces.

As the newcomer, EG will be the wildcard team in the Rolling Hills this year. The conference absorbed Glidden-Ralston last year, but the Wildcats weren’t much of a threat, finishing at 3-6 in the league and tied with Paton-Churdan for seventh. PC joined the Rolling Hills three seasons ago. EG now becomes the third team to leave the West Central, following PC and GR. EG’s moved to the Rolling Hills will be a reunion for the three schools, as they had been conference competitors since 1976, when they became charter members of the Central Valley Conference. All three then joined the Coon River Valley Conference in the late 1980s and then eventually the West Central in 1996.

Exira, last year’s champion with a perfect 9-0 mark, and Elk Horn-Kimballton (1-8) agreed last year to share all sports, so they will be a force to contend with this season. The EHK-Exira alliance took the league from 10 teams down to nine, which opened the door for EG’s membership. The league had also issued invitations to Coon Rapids-Bayard and Ar-We-Va to become the 10th team but both opted to stay in their respective leagues, the West Central and Western Valley South.

Exira won volleyball and basketball championships last year without EHK, which competed on its own, and then the combined EHK/Exira teams won league titles in girls track and softball, so Exira went through the year winning all four major girls’ conference crowns.

The combined EHK/Exira and Iowa Christian look to be the key contenders for the league crown, but CAM, Adair-Casey and Ankeny Christian will all be solid, along with East Greene. Glidden-Ralston had a young squad last year and can’t be taken too lightly. Orient-Macksburg will be rebuilding, and Paton-Churdan and Walnut should be improved.

Here’s a look at the Rolling Hills for 2010:

EHK/Exira: EHK was senior dominated last year with four senior starters on a team that finished just ninth in the league, beating only winless Walnut, and went 2-20 overall. But Danielle Stockwell is back from that team and her team-leading serving skills (196-202, 97%, 21 aces) will figure in nicely in the lineup the coaches will be creating for the combined EHKE team this fall. Just at East Greene lost its dominant force at the net in Gilley, Exira has graduated all-sport standout Hallie Christofferson. She was the lone unanimous first team all-conference pick last year in the conference. Ann Walker was also on the first team last year as a senior, so those two departures leave big holes to fill. But EHKE does return second-team honoree Anna Smith, and honorable-mention pick Erin Kliefoth. Both are seniors this year.

Those two along with Stockwell from the EHK side along with key reserve Maddy Peppers, who played a big role on Exira’s state championship basketball team, will serve as the core of this year’s team. EHKE will also look for significant contributions from seniors Chelsea Nelson and Courtney Peppers and junior Nora Walker from the Exira side and juniors Taylor Petersen and Cassidy Bissen and senior Lesie Waymire from last year’s EHK team.

Exira, 20-6 last year, is a tournament-tested team, having won it all in basketball and advancing to the regional semifinals in volleyball, falling to St. Albert’s (Council Bluffs), which then lost in the regional finals to Southern Cal, the team that ended East Greene’s season in the quarterfinal round.

Iowa Christian Academy: The Blazers will be looking to return to the top of the conference. ICA joined the Rolling Hills in 2002 and finished seventh the first two years, but has not finished lower than second but once since then. ICA won the league title (7-1) in 2007 and has finished as runner-up the last two seasons. The Blazers have improved their showing out of the league too. After going 11-11 in 2006—after four straight losing seasons—the teams has logged winning records of 17-9, 20-8 and 14-11 the last three seasons.

Returning to anchor this year’s squad is junior Karlie Schut. A first-team all-conference pick and one of just six underclassmen named to Class 1A West Central all-district team, Schut is one of four returning starters. She led the Blazer’s offensive attack last year with 198 kills in 465 attempts and 107 errors for a .196 per game efficiency mark and 3 kills per game. Schut had 50 blocks for the season and served 199 of 236 for 84% and 60 aces. Junior Erica Groen served at a 95% clip (223-234) with 30 aces. Groen earned honorable mention all-conference honors last season.

Ankeny Christian Academy: Senior Kaleigh Strong, also an all-district and first-team all conference pick, is back to anchor the Eagles, along with Natalie Heggen, an honorable mention pick last year as a junior. ACA had a very good year in boys athletics as its shared 8-man football team with ICA finished in second in District 6 and qualified for the playoffs, beating Melcher-Dallas in the substate before falling to Tri-County (Thornburgh) in the first round, and the ACA basketball team made it to the Class 1A State Tournament. The ACA girls will be trying to mirror the boys success and move up the ladder in volleyball, after finishing in a tie with CAM for fifth place (5-4) last year but going just 9-16 overall.

CAM: The Cougars have two keys players returning this year in seniors Angela Arp, first-team all conference libero, and Faith McCunn, a second-team all-league pick. CAM went 10-11 last year and was knocked out of the first round of the regional tournament by league rival Orient-Macksburg. CAM had a very good showing in the conference tournament last season, upsetting No. 3 seed Adair-Casey in the quarterfinal round and then upending Paton-Churdan in the semifinals to advance to the championship game against Exira. The Cougars fell again to the regular season champs, but showed they can play with anyone in the league.

Orient-Macksburg: The Bulldogs have big holes to fill as first- and second-team all-league picks Amy Waddington and Ashley West have graduated, leaving OM in a rebuilding stage for 2010. Last year the Bulldogs tied Adair-Casey for third (6-3) and won their opening round match in the conference tournament as the No. 4 seed over Ankeny Christian, but then ran into champion Exira in the semifinal round. OM beat CAM in the first round of the regional tournament but was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Stanton, which advanced to the regional final and lost to state qualifier Treynor.

Adair-Casey: AC’s season ended on a low note with a loss in its first match in the conference tourney as the No. 3 seed and a quick exit in the regionals with a loss to Exira. The Bombers had put together a 6-3 mark to finish in a tie for third in the conference with Orient-Macksburg. AC does return first-team all-conference pick Shy Terry, one of the four returning first-teamers. AC will look to build around Terry, a senior, in hopes of another upper division finish.

Glidden-Ralston: A senior dominated team in 2008 led the Wildcats to a 4-5 sixth-place finish in the West Central, while last year’s team struggled to finish 3-6 in the Rolling Hills and 5-14 overall. GR was very young last year so look for a more veteran team to be much more competitive this season. The Wildcats return juniors Jaycie David, a second-team all-conference pick last year, and Jordan Bock, honorable mention.

Paton-Churdan: PC had one of its best showings in several years, compiling a 10-18 overall mark and making the semifinal round of both the CRB and Rolling Hills Conference tourneys. PC was the surprise team at the conference event last year. PC tied for seventh in the league with GR at 3-6 but got the No. 7 seed. The Rockettes beat No. 10 Walnut in the opening round which advanced them to the quarterfinals to face No. 2 seed Iowa Christian. PC upset the Blazers to move onto the semifinal round. They were eliminated in the semifinal round by CAM and then fell in the consolation match to Orient-Macksburg, but the fourth-place finish and reaching double-digits in the win column should give the returning players a lot of confidence. PC loses its top three players from last year’s squad but does return senior playmaker Amy Gaines, who was an honorable mention pick last year. A number of younger players got some good experience last year and will be looked to step into key roles as starters this season.

Walnut: The Walnut girls athletic program has been in a rebuilding program the last few years after a couple of seasons where the school did not field a girls varsity basketball team. Last year the team went winless in volleyball and just 1-16 in basketball to finish in the league cellar in both sports, but in the spring, the Warriors finished seventh of eight teams in conference track and this past summer in softball they put together a 5-5 conference mark to finish in third place, improving upon a 2-8 mark from 2009. So, the Warriors are making progress. Back from last year’s squad are two honorable mention picks, senior Sam Jensen and junior Dakota Brockman.

East Greene: The Hawkettes are the mystery team of the league this year. Granted, they lost several key players off of last year’s team, but they have some solid veterans returning in Gannon, Neese and Lowe. EG most likely would have competed with Exira for last year’s title as the Hawkettes went 3-0 against Rolling Hills teams in non-conference competition. EG beat ICA, the league runner-up, and Paton-Churdan on its way to claiming the crown in the Coon Rapids-Bayard tournament along with a win over Elk Horn-Kimballton in the Walnut tourney, where the host team was winless.

EG has faced some very solid competition in the West Central the last several seasons. Under coach Carly Tiffany, the Hawkettes went from an “also-ran” to a contender in the West Central, which is pretty impressive as each year the West Central became a much more difficult league to compete in. Back in 2000, the league expanded from a team of seven 1A schools and one 2A school to a nine-team league with the addition of West Central Valley, a 2A school formed by the reorganization of Stuart-Menlo and Dexfield (Redfield). Two years later, the conference added Earlham, which had been a member of the Rolling Hills. As the years moved forward, some of the area 1A teams closest to Des Moines, like Earlham, Des Moines Christian and Van Meter continued to grow so that by last season in volleyball, six of the 10 teams were in 2A and just four in 1A. East Greene has always been comparable in size to Glidden-Ralston and a bit larger than Paton-Churdan, but when those two schools left the conference, EG was by far the smallest school in the West Central and by a significant margin.

But the Hawkettes moved up from a last-place finish in 2003 (0-8) and next-to-last in 2004 (1-8) to the upper division in 2005, tying with Earlham at 4-5 for fifth place. EG dropped down to 1-8 the following year, just ahead of PC (0-9) so it looked dire for the 2007 season as PC would be out of the league that year, replaced by Madrid. PC’s BEDS (Basic Educational Data Survey) enrollment is 35 while Madrid’s is 132, so that was a considerable shift in the competition. Yet EG really stepped up, improving to 4-5 for seventh place and just one game behind Madrid, Guthrie Center and Earlham who tied for fourth at 5-4. The next year EG moved up to a tie for fourth place at 6-3, beating perennial league power Des Moines Christian for the first time in many years. That was an especially tough group of teams as Coon Rapids-Bayard, league champions at 9-0, went on to win the regional tournament and become the first conference team to ever advance to the state tournament.

Another challenge came last year as GR also had moved on to the Rolling Hills and was replaced by Woodward-Granger, which was coming off a championship season in the Heart of Iowa-Small. GR’s BEDS enrollment is 102 while Woodward-Granger’s is 160. WG went 18-6 the previous season and won a predominantly 2A conference. But EG met the challenge head-on and in an even tougher 2009 league, the Hawkettes secured fourth place with another 6-3 conference record. Six of the West Central opponents were in 2A and just three in 1A. EG went 4-2 against its 2A foes, losing to just WG and league champion Guthrie Center, and 2-1 against 1A foes, beating CRB and Madrid but falling to DMC. EG came the closest of all the top teams to upending Guthrie, taking the Tigerettes to an extended fifth game in a five-game match: 27-29, 16-25, 25-22, 25-15, 17-15.

EG took a 14-6 mark into its regional quarterfinal match with Southern Cal, which had advanced to the regional finals each of the previous two seasons and moved on to state in 2007, but fell in three games to the Mustangs, who went on to beat Ar-We-Va in the semifinal round and St. Albert (Council Bluffs) in the championship to make their second trip the state tournament in three years.

EG has a solid freshman class coming into high school this year and several players who got significant experience on the JV and freshman teams last year against a tough slate of teams from the West Central, so look for some of younger players to step up and blend with the EG veterans to put a very competitive team on the floor.

Tiffany should have a pretty good idea of how her team stacks up after tonight’s season opener against Southeast Webster-Grand, a team it has beaten rather handily the last two seasons. SWG is also in somewhat of a rebuilding years as it needs to replace four players who each started for three consecutive seasons.

Saturday’s tournament at CRB should show how the conference race will fare as six of the eight teams in the event are from the Rolling Hills. Along with EG, CRB and St. Mary’s (Storm Lake) the rest of the field are conference foes EHK/Exira, Adair-Casey, Iowa Christian, Ankeny Christian and Paton-Churdan.

CRB, EG, PC and Ankeny Christian are in one pool with EHKE, AC, ICA and St. Mary’s in the other. Each team plays one best-of-three match against its other three pool opponents. Then, the top two teams in each pool advance to the championship. The top team of each pool plays the runner-up of the other in the semifinal round and the winners of those two matches advance to the finals. In the consolation round, the teams that finish third in their pools play each other as do the teams that finish fourth.

Last year, EG finished first in its pool and advanced to the semifinals against PC, which had finished second to CRB in its pool. EG beat the Rockettes to advance to the final, where it beat the Crusaders on their home court to win the championship match.

EG will return to action on Tuesday, Aug. 31 to face Orient-Macksburg in the conference opener in Rippey, and then will venture to Churdan on Thursday, Sept. 2, to take on Paton-Churdan.

In other non-conference matches this year, EG will face former West Central opponents Guthrie Center and Madrid. The Hawkettes will also travel to Walnut to compete in the Walnut Tournament on Oct. 9. The conference tournament is Oct. 14 at Elk Horn and the Class 1A regional tournament begins Oct. 18.

2010 EG Volleyball Schedule

Thurs., Aug. 26 Southeast Webster-Grand @ Rippey
Sat., Aug. 28 Coon Rapids-Bayard Tourney @ Coon Rapids
Tues., Aug. 21 Orient-Macksburg @ Rippey
Thurs., Sept. 2 Paton-Churdan @ Churdan
Tues, Sept. 7 CAM (Anita) @ Rippey
Tues., Sept. 14 Adair-Casey @ Rippey
Thurs., Sept. 16 Ankeny Christian @ Ankeny
Tues., Sept. 21 Iowa Christian @ Rippey
Tues, Sept. 28 Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira @ Elk Horn
Thurs., Sept. 30 Guthrie Center @ Rippey
Tues., Oct. 5 Glidden-Ralston @ Rippey
Thurs., Oct. 7 @ Madrid
Sat., Oct. 9 Walnut Tourney @ Walnut
Tues., Oct. 12 @ Walnut
Thurs., Oct. 14 Rolling Hills Conference Tourney @ Elk Horn
Mon., Oct. 18 Class 1A Regional Tournament

EYE ON GJ SAYS: Let the games begin! This should be an interesting season for EG as there are many unknowns. How will EG fare in the new conference? How will the team do compared to last year’s successful season? How good will the combined EHK and Exira teams be this season? How good is CRB? The IGHSAU has them ranked No. 10 in its preseason poll while Grandview Park Baptist is No. 3.

CRB has been an upper division team the last several years in the West Central and won the league title two years ago (9-0) and went on through the playoffs to win the regional tournament and secure a state berth. Grandview Park Baptist has been to state three times in the last four years, advancing last year to be sidelined by Tripoli, a dominant 1A powerhouse that went on to win its seventh state title in the last 10 years.

Grandview Park has now made six appearances in the state tournament. Back for the Defenders this year is Amanda Bell, who was first team all-state in 1A, in addition to be being named first-team all-district (West Central) and all-conference (Heart of Iowa-Small). GPB is also the defending HOI-S champion.

Another area 1A powerhouse, Southern Cal, is sharing sports with Rockwell City-Lytton as South Central Calhoun, which will be in 2A. Another very strong team the last few years, Schaller-Crestland, a former conference foe of EG, PC and GR in the Coon River Valley Conference, is now sharing with Galva-Holstein as Ridge View, also a 2A team. Ridge View is ranked No. 2 in Class 2A. Also ranked in the 2A preseason poll are Kuemper (Carroll), 5th; East Sac County, 11th; and IKM-Manning 13th.

EG will most likely be grouped in a regional that includes either CRB or Grandview Park Baptist. Three other former West Central foes are in 1A this year: Earlham, Guthrie Center and Madrid. EG will face the latter two in head-to-head non-conference matches.

Des Moines Christian moves up to 2A this year. So with all teams like Exira and EHK combining into one team and Schaller-Crestland, Rockwell City, and Southern Cal no longer competing in 1A in addition to DMC, it’s hard to determine where EG might end up when regional assignments are made. Alta remains a very strong team to the northwest and is ranked 6th in the 1A preseason poll while Martendsale-St. Mary’s to the south is ranked 4th. MSt.M had a very successful season in girls and boys sports last year with the girls advancing to state in both basketball and softball and the boys winning the 1A state baseball title. MSt.M was knocked out in the first round of the regional last year by GPB.

EG Heads Down the Homestretch

14-YEAR RUN IN WEST CENTRAL IN FINAL WEEKS

East Greene is headed down the home stretch of its 14-year run in the West Central Conference as the softball and baseball seasons enter their final weeks.

When the bats and gloves are hung up for the year, the Hawks will leave the West Central behind and begin competition this fall in the Rolling Hills Conference.

Coming on the heels of last year’s march to the State 1A Baseball Tournament, the Hawks had high hopes of winning the West Central baseball crown in their final year in the league. As last week got underway, the Hawks picked up a big win against Earlham, 5-3, in Rippey. That win came after a good showing at a tournament the Hawks hosted on Saturday. EG took on two Class 2A teams and came out with a split. EG opened the tournament with a 10-4 win over East Sac County but fell to Interstate 35 (Truro) in the championship game, 7-4. EG had the same experience at I-35’s tournament earlier this season, beating another “East” (East Union of Afton) in the first game but losing in the final to the Roadrunners.

The Earlham game was significant as the Cardinals were runner-up in last year’s WC race and one of the pre-season favorites to win the 2010 crown. The loss dropped Earlham to 4-4 in the conference while putting the Hawks at 5-2, just behind co-leaders Woodward-Granger and Des Moines Christian at 7-0 and Coon Rapids-Bayard at 6-1.

However, the Hawks fell 10-9 to Van Meter the following night, June 20, to drop to 5-3 in the league. Each of the three league losses was by just one run. EG took another hit on Thursday, falling to league co-leader Des Moines Christian in Urbandale, 4-1. The Hawks did bounce back to beat Iowa Christian, 4-2, in a big game the following night on the Blazers’ home field in Waukee. That moved the Hawks overall record to 12-6. Iowa Christian is the defending Rolling Hills champion and vying with Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira and Glidden-Ralston for this year’s title.

The win over ICA gives EG a good look at how it stacks up against RH teams as the Hawks have already beaten GR this season. EHKE leads the Rolling Hills with a perfect 9-0 mark. The Spartans, in their first year of shared baseball between EHK and Exira, are 18-0 overall and ranked 5th in Class 1A.

Rolling Hills Baseball Standings (through Wed., June 30)
Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 9 – 0 18–0
Iowa Christian Academy 8 – 2 9–6
Glidden-Ralston 7 – 4 9–6
Walnut 5 – 5 11–10
CAM 1 – 6 2–10
Adair-Casey 1 – 6 3–11
Orient-Macksburg 1 – 9 4–12

EG got back on the winning track this week with a win Monday over Guthrie Center but fell to Coon Rapids-Bayard Tuesday night in Coon Rapids, 5-2. CRB started the week at 8-1 in the league and on Monday won both games of a doubleheader against Des Moines Christian, which had been unbeaten in the conference, to tie with Woodward-Granger for the league lead at 10-1 and drop DMC to third place at 9-2.

DMC fell again on Tuesday, losing at Earlham to fall further behind the co-leaders at 9-3 while Earlham improved to 8-4, good for fourth place, with EG at 6-5 for fifth. In a make-up game from a rainout earlier this season, Woodward-Granger beat Madrid, 9-0, to move back up on top of the league standings at 12-1, a half-game over Coon Rapids-Bayard. DMC disposed of West Central Valley, 12-2, in a game shortened by the 10-run rule after 5 innings, moving its mark to 10-3 and keeping the Lions in the league hunt. Elsewhere in the league, CRB downed Boyer Valley (Dunlap) in a non-conference game, moving its season record to 17-4, and Van Meter nearly scored the upset of the season, putting a real scare into Class 1A top-ranked and undefeated Martensdale-St. Mary’s, before falling 6-5.

West Central Baseball Standings (through Wed., June 30)
Woodward-Granger 12–1 17–4
Coon Rapids-Bayard 11–1 17–5
Des Moines Christian 10–3 11–6
Earlham 8–4 12–8
East Greene 6–5 13–7
Van Meter 5–8 13–10
Panorama 5–8 6–11
Madrid 3–10 5–13
West Central Valley 2–11 4–16
Guthrie Center 1–12 3–18

Conference competition resumes tonight with EG hosting West Central Valley. In other key games Des Moines Christian hosts Woodward-Granger and CRB travels to Earlham for a doubleheader.

HAWKETTES GET BIG WINS OVER DMC, CRB

While the Hawks were getting their hats handed to them on the baseball fields at Des Moines Christian and Coon Rapids-Bayard, the Hawkettes notched big wins on their hosts’ softball diamonds.

EG left Urbandale with an 8-7 win over DMC last Thursday to pick up its second win in the conference. The Hawkettes are short in numbers this season with just 11 girls on the roster—leaving just two on the bench. But the team has made remarkable strides from the beginning of the season and has become a formidable competitor. Just two nights before beating DMC, which had been ranked as high as 14th in Class 1A, the Hawkettes nearly upset Van Meter before falling 5-4 to the [then] Class 2A 12th-ranked Bulldogs.

Earlier in the season, DMC had pummeled the Hawkettes 13-0 in 5 innings in Grand Junction just one night after Van Meter had rolled over EG 15-4, so the Hawkettes are clearly making big strides. And they play in a power-packed conference. Five of the 10 teams in the West Central have been ranked this season, and two are currently among the state’s leaders. Woodward-Granger (22-1) is ranked 4th in Class 1A (moving up from 5th last week) while Van Meter (20-6) is 13th in 2A. Earlham, last year’s West Central champion, went on to win the 2009 State 1A Championship and is competing in 2A this year. Des Moines Christian and Madrid have also been ranked in Class 1A.

Against DMC, the Hawkettes pounded out 8 hits with Malarie Gilley and Katlyn Gannon each going 2-4 with 2 RBIs and a double while Tia Lowe went 2-3 with 2 RBIs. Gilley was on the mound for EG and the Lions pounded her for 14 hits, including two home runs by shortstop Annette Bosman. Gilley struck out 3, walked 1 and hit one batter.

DMC’s offense was undone by its defense as the Lions logged 6 errors compared to EG’s 2. Leah Harris, daughter of DMC coach Howard Harris, took the loss, giving up 7 hits, striking out 7, and walking 2.

EG fell to Guthrie Center 5-1 on Monday night but came back the following night to get a big win over CRB in Coon Rapids in 8 innings, 6-4. EG pounded out 12 hits in the win and got big boost from 5 Crusader errors. The win gave EG the home-and-home sweep over CRB and moved them from 9th in the conference standings to 8th, dropping CRB down to the nine spot.

EG fell to Earlham 7-1 in Grand Junction in a makeup game last night but still remains a half-game ahead of CRB.

EG takes on West Central Valley, winless in 15 games in the conference, tonight in a home game that might be played as a doubleheader, since the two teams need to make up game rained out earlier this season. WCV is the last game on the EG schedule, but the Hawkettes still have a makeup game with Madrid.

WG clinched the title last night with a pounding of DMC, 14-2, in just 3 innings, and is now 16-0. Van Meter is in second at 13-3. Earlham moved into a tie for third place with Madrid and DMC at 10-5.

West Central Softball Standings (through Wed., June 30)
Woodward-Granger 16–0 25–1
Van Meter 13–3 20–6
Des Moines Christian 10–5 10–9
Madrid 10–5 14–9
Earlham 10–5 15–12
Panorama 8–8 10–12
Guthrie Center 5–12 8–15
East Greene 3–12 4–13
Coon Rapids-Bayard 3–13 7–15
West Central Valley 0–15 2–18

East Greene opens Class 1A Regional Tournament action against Southeast Webster-Grand (10-12) next Wednesday night, July 7, in Ogden. The winner moves on to the quarterfinal round at Glidden on Friday against the winner of Wednesday night’s first round game between Glidden-Ralston (3-14) and Ar-We-Va (4-11). The winner at Glidden moves on to the semifinal round at Fonda on Monday, July 12. The other half of the Fonda semifinal bracket gets underway Wednesday with Aurelia taking on St. Mary’s (Storm Lake) in Fonda. Newell-Fonda, ranked No. 2 in Class 1A, gets a first-round bye and will meet the Aurelia-St. Mary’s winner in quarterfinal game in Fonda on Wednesday.

The Fonda semifinal winner will go up against Spencer semifinal winner in the Regional final at Manson on Wednesday, July 14.

Teams in the Spencer side of the bracket are Ruthven-Ayrshire, Clay Central-Everly, Graettinger-Terril, Harris-Lake Park, Twin River Valley, West Bend-Mallard, Laurens-Marathon and Alta. First and second round games will be played at Milford, Lake Park, Algona and Alta.

Glidden-Ralston is in its first year in the Rolling Hills Conference, after nearly winning the West Central Crown last year while racking up a 13-5 league mark, just behind conference champion Earlham at 15-3. The teams met in the regional semifinals with Earlham prevailing 5-1 and advancing on to win the regional and the State 1A tournament in Fort Dodge the following week, finishing the year at 33-8. GR, with a number of seniors, finished at 23-8, one of its best seasons in school history. This year’s squad is in a rebuilding year with many newcomers. The Wildcats got off to a good start with a 2-2 mark in the Rolling Hills, just behind leader EHKE (4-0) and CAM (2-1) but the team has struggled as of late, dropping to 2-7 and last place in the six-team conference.

EG beat the Wildcats in a non-conference game Friday, June 11, in Glidden, 7-2. EHKE has clinched the Rolling Hills title with 9-0 record and one conference game remaining with Adair-Casey (2-5). EHKE is 16-6 overall and opens regional play on Wednesday at Avoca against AHST. Conference foes CAM, Adair-Casey and Walnut area also in the same region, along with Coon Rapids-Bayard and Woodward-Granger from the West Central.

Rolling Hills Softball Standings (through Wed., June 30)
Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira 9 – 0 16–6
Walnut 5 – 4 7–14
Orient-Macksburg 4 – 4 6–13
CAM (Anita) 3 – 4 4–11
Adair-Casey 2 – 5 2–14
Glidden-Ralston 2 – 7 3–14

EYE ON GJ SAYS: EG and GR were moved “up north” in this year’s regional alignment. With Grand Junction and Glidden on Highway 30, which forms a line cutting through the middle of the state, EG and GR are the bottom border of a region that stretches all the way to the Minnesota state line. Harris is in Osceola County and Lake Park is in Dickinson County, as are Milford and Terril. Both counties border Minnesota, as does Kossuth County, where Algona is located.

The opening round will bring together East Greene and one of its longtime rivals, Southeast Webster-Grand. Before East Greene joined the West Central Conference in 1996-97, it was a member of the Coon River Valley Conference along with Southeast Webster, Paton-Churdan, Glidden-Ralston, Newell-Fonda, St. Mary’s (Storm Lake), Pomeroy-Palmer and Schaller-Crestland. Pomeroy-Palmer is now aligned with Pocahontas in sports, and Schaller-Crestland is aligned with Galva Holstein, playing as Ridge View.

East Greene and the three schools that make up Southeast Webster-Grand—Central Webster (Burnside), Dayton and Grand (Boxholm)—were charter members of the Little Central Conference that was formed in 1959-60 when East Greene, Grand and Central Webster were newly formed “community” school districts. Stratford and Churdan rounded out the 6-team league. EG and CW along with Paton-Churdan were also charter members of the first West Central Conference in 1966-67. This being the 50th anniversary of East Greene, it is interesting to note that EG will ends its girls’ athletic presence in the West Central with an old West Central and Little Central rival in the post-season.

Comparing the two, SWG has a better overall record and is the only 1A school in the Twin Lakes Conference. The other five are all 2A. SWG is currently in third place in the league at 5-3 with two games to go. Prairie Valley and East Sac are first and second. Prairie Valley was ranked 12th in Class 2A early in the season, but then fell out of the rankings.

EG plays the same number of 2A teams (5) that SWG does and in a much stronger league. EG also plays an 18-game league schedule while the Twin Lakes teams play just 10.

The Hawkettes have performed remarkably well with such a small group (11 players) in such a large conference—10 teams and half them in a higher classification. Plus, EG is the smallest of the five smaller schools.

Anything that can happen in these tournament games, so look for the Hawkettes to give the Eagles a tough time in the regional opener.

Look for the West Central overall to make a solid mark in the post-season. The five 1A schools are playing in four different regions. EG is in Region 2 (final at Manson) while Madrid is Region 3 (final at Fort Dodge). Des Moines Christian is in Region 6 (final at Pella) along with 8th-ranked Lynville-Sully. Woodward-Granger and Coon Rapids-Bayard are both in Region 8 (final at Atlantic) with each team opening the tournament at home. If both WG and CRB advance, they would play each other in a quarterfinal game in Woodward. Tenth-ranked Treynor is in the opposite side of the Region 8 bracket, so a possible WG-Treynor match-up is possible in the regional final.

In Class 2A, Earlham, Van Meter, Guthrie Center, Panorama and West Central Valley are all in Region 8 and all in the upper half of the bracket. In the opening round on Thursday, July 8, Earlham hosts Nodaway Valley (Greenfield) and West Central Valley travels to Interstate-35 (Truro). Those winners play Friday at Truro. Also on Thursday, Guthrie Center hosts Audubon and Van Meter hosts Panorama. The winners meet Friday at Van Meter. Van Meter is also the site of the Monday night semifinal match-up between Thursday’s winners. The final is on Wednesday in Creston. Van Meter is one of the favorites in the region along with I-35, ranked 10th, and Wayne (Corydon), ranked 8th. Corydon is the site of the first two rounds with the semifinal to be played in Mt. Ayr. Other teams on Wayne’s side of the bracket are
Clarinda, Red Oak, Griswold, Shenandoah, Clarke, Pleasantville and Central Decatur (Leon).

CRB Ends East Greene's Season

HAWKS FALL IN DISTRICT OPENER, 54-36

Coon Rapids-Bayard ended the Hawks’ basketball season on Feb. 18 with a 54-36 first-round win in district action in Coon Rapids. East Greene ended the season at 9-12. The Hawks had concluded the regular season on a high note, downing Adair-Casey 61-39 in Rippey on Friday, Feb. 12. EG’s final West Conference game against Madrid had been postponed due to weather from Tuesday, Feb. 9, to Monday, Feb. 15, and then cancelled due to more bad weather that night.

Cancellations and postponements were the watchword for the 2009-10 basketball season throughout the state. Despite all the missed days of school due to bad weather, the Hawks were able to play all the games on their schedule except the final home tilt with league foe Madrid.

EG finished in seventh place in the West Central Conference at 7-10, showing considerable improvement from last year’s 4-14 mark, which tied them for eighth place with Madrid. This year’s 9-12 mark is a step ahead from the 2008-09 record of 5-17.

EG and Coon Rapids-Bayard had split during the season, with the Hawks squeaking by the Crusaders in Rippey, 39-37, and CRB getting the win on its home court in the second half of the season, 49-38.

The “rubber match” between the two teams proved to be another defensive struggle. The Hawks got out of the gate strong, taking a 17-13 lead after the first quarter, but CRB put on the defensive clamps, holding the Hawks to just 4 points in the second period while scoring 19. The 32-21 halftime lead would hold up as the Hawks could not mount a challenge, although they played even with CRB in the third quarter with each team scoring 10 points. EG got just 5 points on the board in the last stanza, and the Crusaders moved on to a semifinal round match-up against Glidden-Ralston.

CRB and GR had locked horns in the first game of the season with GR prevailing in a defensive struggle, 40-32. GR went on to post one of its better seasons in recent years, finishing 11-9 and tying with Exira for fifth place at 8-9 in the Rolling Hills Conference. GR had secured the No. 2 seed in District 13 and drew Rolling Hills foe Adair-Casey in a first round (quarterfinal) game in Glidden. The two teams had split during the regular season, but this game was all GR as the Wildcats got the win, 53-41.

Coon Rapids-Bayard got off to a sluggish start in the early part of the season. After losing the season opener to GR, the Crusaders struggled to a 3-4 mark in the West Central and 4-6 overall. But after a loss to Panorama, a Class 2A team that went on to finish second in the conference, the Crusaders went on to win 8 of their next 11 games, including a five-game winning streak. CRB’s only losses came at the hands of 2A teams Guthrie Center and Des Moines Christian. DMC is the state’s undefeated top-ranked 2A team and West Central champion, while perennial power Guthrie finished third in the league just behind DMC and Panorama. Each team was crowned champion of its 2A district tournament on Tuesday and has advanced to the substate round on Saturday night. Guthrie (19-5) takes on IKM-Manning (23-0) in Council Bluffs for the Substate 8 championship, while DMC (25-0) tangles with West Marshall (22-3) in Johnston for the Substate 7 crown. The winners advance to the State Tournament March 8-13 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

CRB MOVES ON: The Crusaders got revenge for that season opening loss with a big 40-28 win over GR last night on the Wildcats home court. CRB takes on Rockwell City-Lytton (15-4) tonight for the district championship in Guthrie Center. RCL opened tourney play with a 69-44 win over Southern Cal and then sidelined Southeast Webster-Grand last night in a semifinal game in Rockwell City, 67-54. SWG had advanced with an opening round squeaker over Paton-Churdan, 54-52, which ended PC’s season at 2-19.

RCL finished third in the tough Twin Lakes Conference at 8-4 just behind East Sac (8-3). Manson-Northwest Webster won the Twin Lakes with an 11-1 mark while Pocahontas/Pomeroy-Palmer was fourth at 7-4. RCL was the only 1A school among those upper division teams, finishing ahead of 2A Prairie Valley (3-9) and the only other 1A schools in the conference, Southeast Webster-Grand (3-9) and Southern Cal (1-11).

One of RCL’s seven non-conference wins came against East Greene, 63-53, on Jan. 30 in Rockwell City. Comparatively, CRB has two home court wins over EG of 11 and 18 points. CRB racked up a fourth-place finish in a league dominated by 2A schools as well, including the top-ranked team in the state.

The winner of tonight’s District 13 championship takes on the District 14 champion in the Substate 7 championship game on Saturday night in Denison. CAM (Anita) upset Rolling Hills foe Elk Horn-Kimballton last night in Elk Horn 32-30 to advance to the D14 championship game tonight against Boyer Valley (Dunlap) in Missouri Valley.

EG SENIOR NIGHT VS. AC: Six Hawk basketball seniors were honored at the Friday, Feb. 12, game against Adair-Casey in Rippey which was the final scheduled home game for the season, although a makeup game with Madrid was planned for the following Monday but cancelled due to the weather. Tom Beger, Zach Beyerink, Tyler Gathercoal, Josh Neese, Jesse Priest, and Joe Swanson made their last appearance on the EG court. Also honored were senior cheerleaders Kelsey Hatfield and Leah Perry along with senior girls basketball players Jessie Beaman and Malarie Gilley. The Hawkettes had already ended their regular season and had advanced in the first round of post-season play the previous night at Madrid.

Five of the senior Hawks made up the starting line up and got the team off to an 8-0 start. EG was up 11-5 at the quarter break and 25-21 at the half. The Bombers were still in it after three quarters of play, trailing 40-33 but the Hawks’ depth came through in the final period as they scored 21 points and limited AC to just 6, going on to post a big 61-39 win over a team that had advanced last year to the 1A state tournament, but was rebuilding this year.

Priest led the scoring with 16 points. All 15 members of the Hawk varsity saw action with Beger scoring 8, Neese 4, and Gathercoal 2 in their final appearance on the EG home floor. Junior point guard Aaron Lyons had a big night going 5-5 from the field and 2-2 from behind the arc for 12 points. 6-5 junior center Nic Nicolaisen put up 9 points and led the rebounding brigade with 6, with Neese also pulling down 6 boards and Priest 5.

Rounding out the scoring with 2 points each were juniors Chaz Wessels, Tyler Cooklin, Schlyer Bardole, Wes Onken, and Zach Dearborn. Freshman Tory Beger, younger brother of Tom, added 2 points, and fellow freshman Reed Ostrander, a 6-4 center, pulled down a rebound as they made their mark on the future of Hawk hoopsterdom.

The Hawks’ effort was solid all around with 23 of 44 shooting from the field for 52% and 3 of 11 from three point land for 28%. EG was 12-19 from the charity stripe, a solid 64% clip. EG pulled down 29 rebounds and turned the ball over just 9 times. EG allowed the Bombers to get to the free throw line six times, where they made 4 for 67%, and held them to 15 of 39 two-point shots, a 38% mark. The Bombers did have success behind the arc, though, connecting on half of their of 10 attempts. Senior point guard Michael Christofferson led AC with 16 points.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: CRB in Coon Rapids was a tough draw for the Hawks. Coach Dean Lyons and the entire Hawk squad are to be commended for a fine season. EG loses Jessie Priest and Tom Beger off the starting five, but returns a very solid nucleus in its returning junior class and the two freshmen on the varsity.

EG played improved ball in the latter half of the season and scored big wins over Guthrie Center, West Central Valley and Woodward-Granger in January--all teams that had topped the Hawks in the first half of the conference season. EG made a good showing against a very fine Rockwell City-Lytton team and scored big wins in its non-conference tilts against 1A schools Southeast Webster-Grand and Adair-Casey, winning by 25 and 22 points respectively against those teams from the Twin Lakes and Rolling Hills conferences.

This was a bittersweet year for several teams in the Twin Lakes and Rolling Hills. RCL and Southern Cal played their last basketball games as competitors as the two Calhoun County schools have agreed to merge all sports (wrestling and summer sports have been shared for several years) starting next year, 2010-11, although since they already share softball and baseball, the shift is really occurring now at the end of the basketball season and into track and golf this spring. The schools have also agreed to move toward a whole-grade sharing arrangement in the year following (2011-12) but are still working out the details as to which school and town (Rockwell City or Lake City) would host the high school and which the middle school, although it looks likely each town would continue to have an elementary school. RCL closed its school building in Lytton at the end of last school year. Also unknown is the fate of the Southern Cal elementary building in Lohrville, which merged with Lake City to form the Southern Cal district in the 1990s.

Similarly, Elk Horn-Kimballton and Exira will extend what began as a football sharing agreement this fall (2009). EHK and Exira will formally link together in a similar whole-grade sharing agreement and begin sharing all sports next year, although they had been sharing wrestling and girls golf the past few seasons.

As both EHK and Exira are in the Rolling Hills, the league will drop down from 10 teams to 9. Last year, East Greene had applied to the Rolling Hills but it was agreed to keep the league membership at 10, so East Greene remained in the West Central, where it has been a member since 1996-97. East Greene is the smallest of the 10 West Central Conference schools and former members Glidden-Ralston and Paton-Churdan had already left the West Central to join the Rolling Hills in 2009 and 2007, respectively. These are EG’s two longest rivals, all having been members of the same conference since the late 1970s, when East Greene and Paton-Churdan left the original West Central Conference (formed in 1966-67) and joined with Glidden-Ralston, YJB, Bayard, Coon Rapids, Scranton and Cedar Valley to form the Central Valley Conference. That league remained intact until around 1990 when another wave of school reorganizations saw the demise of Scranton, YJB and Cedar Valley, while Coon Rapids and Bayard had already merged to form Coon Rapids-Bayard. YJB merged with Panora-Linden to form Panorama and Cedar Valley merged with Prairie (Gowrie) to form Prairie Valley. Greene County rival Scranton merged with Jefferson, the county seat and largest school in the county, to form an even larger school, Jefferson-Scranton, reducing the number of high schools in Greene County to three.

East Greene, Paton-Churdan and Glidden-Ralston then joined with Southeast Webster and four northwest Iowa schools to form the Coon River Valley Conference. Conference foes Schaller-Crestland, Newell-Fonda, Pomeroy-Palmer and St. Mary’s (Storm Lake) were new to East Greene, but Southeast Webster was not, as it had been created by a merger of Central Webster and Dayton. Those were two of the original members of the Little Central Conference formed in 1959-60, the same year that Grand Community of Boxholm was formed, as was East Greene, a merger of Grand Junction and Dana, and Central Webster, the new district formed when Lehigh, Burnside and Harcourt merged together.

The original Little Central Conference participated in boys and girls basketball and baseball only, with softball and track not yet official sports in most schools in the early 60s. None of the six schools offered football, as the boys played baseball in the fall. The original six members of the Little Central were East Greene, Central Webster, Dayton, Grand, Stratford and Churdan. The league had a slight but perceptible shift in 1962-63 when East Greene and Rippey merged, expanding the size of East Greene, and in 1964-65 when Churdan merged with Paton to form Paton-Churdan, although the high school at Paton had been closed the same year Rippey was closed, 1961-62. For three years, 1959-60, 1960-61 and 1961-62 there were separate and distinct high schools--East Greene and Rippey on the east side of the county, and Churdan and Paton in the north. Debate raged among Paton town and rural residents about whether they should merge with Churdan or Jefferson. As it was, a number of families to the west and southwest of Paton aligned with Jefferson, which is why when looking at the district map of Paton-Churdan, the Jefferson district’s northern-most boundary exceeds the line drawn straight west along the paved county road that heads west out of Paton, which is the main conduit between Paton and Churdan in Paton and Dawson townships.

The official vote was not taken until 1965, although families had pretty much chosen where they were going to send their kids to school by then. So for 1962-63 and 1963-64, the record books will show competition between East Greene and Churdan, but no contests between EG and PC until 1964-65.

The Eye Guy believes that Grand Junction, Rippey, Dana, Paton and Churdan were all members of a Greene County Conference along with Cooper throughout much of the 1950s, but the Greene County Conference is not to be confused with the annual boys and girls Greene County Tournaments in basketball (and possibly baseball). Those events throughout the 1940s and 1950s also included Scranton, Jefferson and Farlin, until that school closed. The Greene County Conference was most likely disbanded after the 1958-59 season, as Dana, Grand Junction and Cooper, which merged with Jefferson and closed its high school, all would have left the conference, leaving just Rippey and Paton. No doubt those were also bittersweet county tournaments in the early 1960s as so many changes were underway among the county high schools. Records show that one of the final girls county tournaments (1961) was hosted by East Greene in the Grand Junction gym and was a win for EG (undefeated up until the district finals and led by All-Stater and Hall of Fame member Pam Slock) over Rippey. The following year would most likely have been the last tournament and marked the last appearance by teams from Paton and Rippey. It would have been just a five-team event (East Greene, Paton, Rippey, Churdan and Scranton) as Jefferson did not field a girls baskeball team until the early 1970s, after Title IX was enacted.

When EG and PC became larger schools, each introduced football. EG in the fall of 1963 (the second year after Rippey came in) and PC in the fall of 1965. The following year, 1966-67 those two schools joined six other schools to form the first West Central Conference, extending the Central from “Little Central.” Those charter members were EG, PC, Central Webster (Burnside), Prairie (Gowrie), YJB, Ogden, Story City and United (Boone). The “Boone” in United of Boone actually stood for rural Boone County, as the district had been formed in the late 1950s when three towns in eastern Boone County--Luther, Jordan and Napier--merged together to form United. The actual high school was first housed in the existing Luther school building but then a new school building was built in the country along a site on U.S. Highway 30 very close to the county line with Story County putting the new United High School closer to Ames than Boone, hence creating much confusion of who or what made up the United of Boone district. (The district still exists today as a K-6 entity with high school and middle school students open enrolling out to adjacent larger districts Ames, Boone, Gilbert and Ballard.)

Big changes will be occurring among the teams remaining in the Twin Lakes after the RCL-SC realignment, as there will be just six teams remaining: RCL-SC, East Sac, Manson-Northwest Webster, Prairie Valley, Southeast Webster and Pocahontas/Pomeroy-Palmer. Similarly, the Northwest Conference has been shrinking as the schools that formed the league after the Coon River Valley disbanded (St. Mary’s, Newell-Fonda, Schaller-Crestland and Pomeroy-Palmer) along with Alta, Aurelia and Sac City (members of the Twin Lakes up until 1996) and Albert City-Truesdale and Sioux Central to make a nine-team league, are very much in transition.

The first to go was Albert City-Truesdale, which formed an alignment (later merger) with Laurens-Marathon, also a Twin Lakes member up until a few years ago. Pomeroy-Palmer aligned its athletics with Pocahontas, dropping the Northwest down to 7 members, but then Laurens-Marathon shifted over from the Twin Lakes, making it an eight-league team again, but dropping the Twin Lakes from seven to six members. However, Southeast Webster-Grand left the North Star Conference and joined the Twin Lakes to move it to the present seven members.

Sac City merged with Wall Lake View Auburn two years ago to form East Sac, so that dropped the Northwest down to 7 teams again but kept the Twin Lakes intact at 7, occupying the WLVA slot.

This season marked the end of Schaller-Crestland, which kept is state-ranked volleyball team intact in the fall, but merged all sports thereafter with Galva-Holstein to form Ridge View, again dropping the Northwest to just 6 teams.

As the scenarios involving the Twin Lakes and Northwest teams were playing out last year, discussions got underway to form a Super Conference among the two, which at that time involved 7 teams from each league, forming a 14-team league. Now, with just six remaining in each league, a 12-team league seems more feasible.

If East Greene is accepted into the Rolling Hills, it will again compete head-to-head with Paton-Churdan and Glidden-Ralston. In addition to Adair-Casey, the other teams in the present Rolling Hills are Elk Horn-Kimballton, Exira, CAM (Anita), Ankeny Christian, Iowa Christian, Walnut and Orient-Macksburg.