Class 3A Nondistrict Musings

We are through the first two weeks of the 2015 season, and Class 3A has completed the exclusively nondistrict part of the schedule (everybody plays just nondistrict games the first two weeks; from week three on, district play is in effect - although with 7 teams per district, one of those 7 will have a nondistrict game each week). What conclusions can we draw from the first two weeks?

The obvious thing to me is, District 3 looks like a powerhouse. Their teams went 10-4 in nondistrict play, including two wins over 4A teams and a win over last years' 2A champion. Everybody but Decorah, in fact, went 10-2 in that district (Crestwood lost to New Hampton and Vinton-Shellsburg lost to South Tama). It is true a lot of those wins came against 2A competition, but you can't deny two 4A victories and the win over North Fayette Valley as showing some real strength in that district.

Both districts 7 and 8 also went 10-4, but several of those decisions were against each other (Dallas Center-Grimes played Pella and Carlisle, Winterset played Oskaloosa and Norwalk, Creston played Norwalk). So that makes it tougher to judge, I think. Pella, in District 7, is the odds-on favorite to repeat as state champion, but they did lose one of their key players to an ACL injury. That probably won't be enough to slow them down much. In District 8, Harlan (after a down year last year) is 2-0 and has given up only 7 points in two games, both against other 3A teams.

A couple of the poorest-performing districts are in eastern Iowa. District 5 has only 3 nondistrict victories, while District 4 only has 4. The two districts combined went 1-5 against 4A teams, and only 3-7 versus 2A competition. In District 5, Fort Madison did defeat a 4A Burlington ... but they also lost to a 1A team in West Burlington Notre Dame. Clear Creek-Amana, near the top of the district last year, lost to two 2A opponents. In District 4, Maquoketa rang up 53 points on 2A Cascade, but then gave up 45 to West Delaware. Central-DeWitt, who just missed the playoffs last year, has been outscored 81-24 in two games. Western Dubuque had to rally late to come back and defeat 2A Dyersville Beckman, after getting steamrolled by West Delaware in week one.

So, I just thought this was interesting, to take a quick look at how 3A did in the nondistrict. None of these results matter for playoff consideration or anything like that ... district games are going to be the key from here on out. We'll see if teams change their outlook now that they play their district foes.