Just some quick thoughts after the initial week of District 4 results. I have to say, it was fortunate college football hadn't started yet, what with all the Saturday high school games finished/made up because of Friday's wacky weather.
* Still can't say anything about Xavier, since we haven't seen them on the field against any competition. I think they're going to be pretty good this year, but the jury is still out (heck, the jury hasn't heard any evidence yet). Both the freshmen and sophomore teams beat Dowling, so they've got that going for them, which is nice.
This week: The Saints face Davenport Assumption, who lost to Bettendorf 35-28. If the Knights stay healthier than they did in 2014, they should be challenging for the District 5 title.
* Solon lost to Regina 21-13. Not a bad loss by any means, against a 1A powerhouse (and longtime Solon rival) that's lost just one game in, what, five years? The somewhat surprising thing here was how sloppy this game was. Both teams turned the ball over with abandon, which you wouldn't expect. Although, not only the first game out of the box, but they were also just a minute from kicking off Friday before the lightning forced them to postpone until Saturday. So it was weird for all concerned. Solon is going to be all right. They're good.
This week: Solon takes on Mt. Vernon, who beat Marion by three touchdowns.
* Western Dubuque got pounded by West Delaware 50-12. West Delaware is a really, really good football team, with a lot of talent back from last year's quarterfinal squad, so it's not surprising they won. But scoring 50 points and just obliterating the Bobcats, that's a little surprising. I think Western Dubuque lost a lot of good players from last year's team that beat Xavier, so they may not be quite up to their performance from 2014.
This week: The Bobcats are at 2A Dyersville Beckman, who won their opener.
* Dubuque Wahlert lost to Dubuque Senior 21-6. Senior is expected to do well in Class 4A this year, and people think Wahlert might be improved, too. I'm not sure I'm sold on Wahlert getting a lot better (they have to install both a new quarterback and new running backs from last year), but it's hard to tell from one game against a 4A opponent. Seems like they did okay, although I'm sure the Golden Eagles were hoping for better.
This week: Wahlert faces another metro 4A squad in Dubuque Hempstead, who were upset by Muscatine.
* Central-DeWitt was pasted by Clinton 40-10. This was a game the Sabers won last year, which got a lot of people's attention, beating a 4A school. Not so this year. I don't know what Clinton's prospects are in 4A, but I was wondering about Central-DeWitt's year with all the good players that graduated last spring. I guess a loss isn't terribly surprising, but a 30-point loss is kind of concerning.
This week: The Sabers host Benton Community, who dropped a 14-13 decision to Vinton-Shellsburg (interesting point here: Benton Community will travel through Cedar Rapids, past Xavier, to play at DeWitt in a nondistrict game. Why isn't Benton playing Xavier? They're only 14 miles apart, for crying out loud).
* Maquoketa got their season off to a great start with a 53-0 shutout of Cascade. Cascade is a 2A school, so there's that, but running up 50-plus points on anybody is impressive. As I've said several times, the Cardinals have a lot of guys back from last year. If that experience can couple with improved performance, Maquoketa might have a shot at making the playoffs once again.
This week: Maquoketa gets a much tougher test traveling to West Delaware, in a matchup of teams that both put up 50 points in Week 1. I think WD is going to be far better than Cascade was, though.
* Marion lost their opener to Mt. Vernon 37-14. This is troubling in a couple of aspects: Mt. Vernon is a 2A squad; and this was the only game Marion won last season. Dropping this one in 2015 is not a sign of good things to come for the Indians.
This week: Marion takes on Washington (Iowa) (not [Cedar Rapids] Washington). While they lost to state champion Pella last week, the Demons have playoff wins the past couple of seasons. Marion will have their hands full.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Friday Night Lightning
Well, I guess I know now what areas of western Iowa have gone through over the past couple of Augusts. We've had weather/lightning delays with Xavier football before - heck, we've had them the past two seasons in the opening game - but we've never had a complete cancellation like we had this past Friday night.
The forecast was for pretty widespread rain and scattered thunderstorms, although 1) the NWS seemed to indicate the conditions weren't all that great for thunderstorms and 2) the local meteorologists were saying Friday morning that most of the rain/action would be north of Cedar Rapids, along Highway 20, and that things would be letting up by evening.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. While we had steady, light rain most of the day, it had stopped by mid-afternoon and the sky actually looked pretty good. Right about 5:00, though, the skies got really dark and the rain started. And then it got heavy. Then it let up for a while, but got heavy again. Then it really poured. No lightning, though, so the sophomore game played on.
Then, with just under 10 minutes to go in the sophomore game (right around 6:30, I think), a bolt of lightning. The game was stopped, the stadium was cleared, and we settled in to wait out the required 30-minute delay. Which was extended when another lightning bolt was seen about 20 minutes later. And extended again for more lightning 15 minutes after that. Repeat ad infinitum ... just occasional lightning (and basically torrents of rain - north of Highway 20, riiiiiiiiight) spaced far enough apart to keep officials from getting things started up again.
So, Xavier and Dowling never got going, and will never get going. In one of the side effects of district play, you have a situation where you had a non-district game, with opponents from different parts of the state and long travel times, facing a potential rescheduling requiring long travel again within the next couple of days (since the next 8 weeks are already taken up with other games). Even though the state athletic association says suspended/postponed games must be completed, the only penalty for not doing so is losing out on points for playoff qualification. Hey, guess what? We don't use points for playoff qualification anymore. All that matters is district records and district finish, and since this was a non-district game with zero district implications .... canceled. Xavier and Dowling are going to have only 8 games this season.
It's unfortunate for everybody - the players lose a chance to get their season started and play some football, the coaches lose a chance to evaluate where they stand and how the guys are performing, and the fans lose out on watching what could have been a pretty darn good game. But, there was absolutely no way a game was getting played in Cedar Rapids on Friday night. There was still occasional lightning after 10 pm, which means even if they had been able to start the game by then, it would have been stopped. Now you're pushing the end the game past midnight, with one team and fan contingent still looking at a 2-hour drive back to Des Moines.
So, phooey on the start of the 2015 season. Pretty much all the other games around eastern Iowa either never started or got stopped during play, and will be completed on Saturday. But Xavier and Dowling just have an empty space where this game result would be. (Or a Blank Space if you're a Taylor Swift fan, I suppose.)
Onward to next week, and Davenport Assumption coming to Saints Field. The Knights are expected to be very good this year, among the favorites in District 5. They dropped their first game to 4A power Bettendorf on Friday 35-28, although Assumption's final TD came with only seconds left to play. Still, Assumption brings back a lot of talent from 2014, when they were hit hard by injuries, and it should be a good test of both the Knights and the Saints this coming Friday.
The forecast was for pretty widespread rain and scattered thunderstorms, although 1) the NWS seemed to indicate the conditions weren't all that great for thunderstorms and 2) the local meteorologists were saying Friday morning that most of the rain/action would be north of Cedar Rapids, along Highway 20, and that things would be letting up by evening.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. While we had steady, light rain most of the day, it had stopped by mid-afternoon and the sky actually looked pretty good. Right about 5:00, though, the skies got really dark and the rain started. And then it got heavy. Then it let up for a while, but got heavy again. Then it really poured. No lightning, though, so the sophomore game played on.
Then, with just under 10 minutes to go in the sophomore game (right around 6:30, I think), a bolt of lightning. The game was stopped, the stadium was cleared, and we settled in to wait out the required 30-minute delay. Which was extended when another lightning bolt was seen about 20 minutes later. And extended again for more lightning 15 minutes after that. Repeat ad infinitum ... just occasional lightning (and basically torrents of rain - north of Highway 20, riiiiiiiiight) spaced far enough apart to keep officials from getting things started up again.
So, Xavier and Dowling never got going, and will never get going. In one of the side effects of district play, you have a situation where you had a non-district game, with opponents from different parts of the state and long travel times, facing a potential rescheduling requiring long travel again within the next couple of days (since the next 8 weeks are already taken up with other games). Even though the state athletic association says suspended/postponed games must be completed, the only penalty for not doing so is losing out on points for playoff qualification. Hey, guess what? We don't use points for playoff qualification anymore. All that matters is district records and district finish, and since this was a non-district game with zero district implications .... canceled. Xavier and Dowling are going to have only 8 games this season.
It's unfortunate for everybody - the players lose a chance to get their season started and play some football, the coaches lose a chance to evaluate where they stand and how the guys are performing, and the fans lose out on watching what could have been a pretty darn good game. But, there was absolutely no way a game was getting played in Cedar Rapids on Friday night. There was still occasional lightning after 10 pm, which means even if they had been able to start the game by then, it would have been stopped. Now you're pushing the end the game past midnight, with one team and fan contingent still looking at a 2-hour drive back to Des Moines.
So, phooey on the start of the 2015 season. Pretty much all the other games around eastern Iowa either never started or got stopped during play, and will be completed on Saturday. But Xavier and Dowling just have an empty space where this game result would be. (Or a Blank Space if you're a Taylor Swift fan, I suppose.)
Onward to next week, and Davenport Assumption coming to Saints Field. The Knights are expected to be very good this year, among the favorites in District 5. They dropped their first game to 4A power Bettendorf on Friday 35-28, although Assumption's final TD came with only seconds left to play. Still, Assumption brings back a lot of talent from 2014, when they were hit hard by injuries, and it should be a good test of both the Knights and the Saints this coming Friday.
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