Eventually, I suppose, things had to change with Xavier becoming a 3A football school. All those MVC traditions, with games at Kingston and rosters filling both sidelines and all those other trappings of 4A football, you know they couldn't last. Turns out that includes the sophomore football game being played on Fridays immediately before the varsity game.
The state has some rules about the amount of competition a football player can take part in over the course of a week, which is good for players' health, of course. Players can play in a maximum of two games in a week, with a one-day maximum of five quarters. Now that Xavier finds itself matching up with 3A schools - many of which have considerably smaller rosters than you may be used to seeing - these rules are coming into play. Particularly, a school like Charles City or Vinton-Shellsburg may need to use a significant number of sophomores to play in their varsity games. Trouble is, if those sophs play a full game, they can only play one additional quarter in the varsity game (five quarters per day).
We noticed an effect from this at last year's Regina game. Quite a few of the Regal players from the evening's sophomore game also played in the varsity game, and the Regina coaching staff had to do some well-planned substitutions to make sure nobody played more than five quarters. Well, in 2016, too many of Xavier's opponents found those restrictions too tough to handle while still allowing adequate rest/rotation/playing time for everybody.
So - we are only going to see one sophomore game for Xavier on a Friday night this year, October 2, when the Saints play 4A Linn-Mar. For all the following weeks, the Xavier freshman team will take the field on Fridays at 5:00 pm to warm things up for the following varsity game at 7:30. It's just different, that's all - the sophomores will end up playing Monday evenings most of the season (although it does appear Charles City is not mounting a sophomore/JV team this season, so there's only 8 sophomore games on the schedule).
For most of these 3A teams, it can be a challenge to put together a full freshman and a full sophomore squad. Back in my day, at a 2A school, we only had junior varsity and varsity. I imagine some of Xavier's opponents this year might be stretching a bit to have three full teams (which does explain the moving of the sophomore or JV game away from Friday, since many of those kids are going to have to fill roles for the varsity as well).
Anyway, a quick look at the season:
VARSITY (all Fridays, of course, except semifinal and championship)
August 26 Iowa City Regina H 7:00
September 2 Linn-Mar A 7:30
September 9 Benton Community A 7:30
September 16 Charles City H 7:30
September 23 Decorah A 7:30
September 30 Independence H 7:30
October 7 Waverly-Shell Rock A 7:30
October 14 Vinton-Shellsburg H 7:30
October 21 South Tama A 7:30
October 28 First-round playoff TBA 7:00
November 4 Second-round playoff TBA 7:00
November 10 Semifinal UNI Dome 5:36/8:21
November 17 Championship UNI Dome 7:06
SOPHOMORE
Thur August 25 Iowa City Regina H 6:00
Fri September 2 Linn-Mar A 5:00
Mon September 12 Benton Community H 6:00
Mon September 26 Decorah H 6:00
Mon October 3 Independence A 6:00
Mon October 10 Waverly-Shell Rock H 6:00
Mon October 17 Vinton-Shellsburg A 6:00
Mon October 24 South Tama H 6:00
FRESHMEN
Thur August 25 Iowa City West A 6:00
Thu September 1 Linn-Mar H 6:00
September 9 Benton Community A 5:00
September 16 Charles City H 5:00
September 23 Decorah A 5:00
September 30 Independence H 5:00
October 7 Waverly-Shell Rock A 5:00
October 14 Vinton-Shellsburg H 5:00
October 21 South Tama A 5:00
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