Area Coaches Sound Off After 3rd Round Of HS Football Playoffs

The State Quarterfinals are now set after the round of 16 this past Friday Night. On 105.9 “The Beach” South Central Calhoun had a comeback win to knock off home standing South Hamilton. Titans trailed 8-0 after gaining just 28 total yards in the first half. South Central Calhoun would outscore South Hamilton 20-0 in the 2nd half. They would go up 14-8 after a Brennan Holder 47 yard TD run and a 2 pt. conversion. Then late in the 4th they would seal the deal with this play.

Mark Williamson on the call of Holder’s 2nd TD run to propel SC Calhoun to a 20-8 win. The Titans will mark their 4th consecutive appearance in the State Quarterfinals this week.

On “Sunny” 99.7 Southeast Valley took care of business dropping Denver 34-7 in Gowrie Friday. Jags led 14-0 at the break, after a Kolson Kruse TD run in the 1st and a TD pass from Kruse to Sam Hanson right before the break. In the 2nd half, Coach Mike Swieter and his staff would make a halftime adjustment. In the 2nd half they would go to the I-Formation “smash mouth” run game and it worked nicely. Jags caught Denver off guard with it, RB Lathe Muench would break a run for over 60 yards and FB Hunter Sorensen would rumble 17 yards for a 2 play TD drive to open the 2nd half. Later in the 3rd, Jags would put together a 13 play, 84 yard drive that ate up over 5 minutes. That drive was capped by a Lathe Muench TD run. Coach Mike Swieter says the adjustment was to counter what Denver was doing defensively.

Muench would add another TD run in the 4th and finish with 2 rushing scores and 159 yards on the ground. Here’s Coach Swieter on the play of Lathe Muench.

The stage is now set for the highly anticipated rematch between South Central Calhoun vs Southeast Valley in the State Quarterfinals with a trip to the UNI Dome on the line. Alpha Media Sports will have coverage of the rematch this Friday. The game is so big it will air on two stations, 105.9 “The Beach” and “Sunny” 99.7 starting with the pregame show at 6:45 PM.

Elsewhere Around The Area

Newell-Fonda fell at Audubon 28-6. Mustangs hung tough in the 1st half and trailed 14-6 at the break. Audubon would score twice in the 3rd quarter to pull away. With the loss, Newell-Fonda’s season comes to an end. They finish with an 8-2 record on the season with their two losses coming to teams ranked in the top 3 in the 8 player class. Mustangs won two games in the postseason in what was a bounce back season from a year ago. After the loss Coach Brian Wilken talked about his Seniors who will be moving on.

In 2A Greene County fell 42-0 at #1 PCM-Monroe. Rams couldn’t get anything going offensively and PCM-Monroe would come out on fire. They would build a 28-0 lead at the half. Rams gained less than 200 yards of total offense on the night. The loss ends Greene County’s season at 7-3. It was a season the exceeded outside expectations due to Greene County bringing back just a few starters on both sides from last year’s 8-2 squad. Rams Coach Caden Duncan says this team really grew up and bought in over the course of the season.

Webster City edged Sergeant Bluff-Luton 28-21 to advance. Coach Bob Howard’s gamble paid off as Webster City went for it on 4th down deep in their own territory tied at 21 late in the game. They got the first down and would go on to get what would be the game winning TD on that same drive. RB Trey Mathis punched it in for one of his 3 rushing TD’s on the night. Webster City hosts Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley in State Quarterfinal action Friday.

In 1A Emmetsburg fell to West Sioux 36-15 in the 3rd round. West Sioux came out hot and built a 29-8 lead at the half and would cruise from there.

OABCIG cruised past Western Christian 41-14. QB Cooper Dejean with 445 yards of total offense and 4 total TD’s in the game. OABCIG hosts West Sioux Friday in the State Quarterfinals.

Here’s all the State Quarterfinal Match Ups

8 Player

POD A
Audubon at St. Mary’s, Remsen
POD B
CAM, Anita at Fremont-Mills
POD C
Don Bosco, Gilbertville at Janesville
POD D
Easton Valley at Montezuma

Class A

POD A
St. Albert, Council Bluffs at Logan-Magnolia
POD B
Grundy Center at West Hancock, Britt
POD C
Wapsie Valley, Fairbank at Regina, Iowa City
POD D
MFL MarMac at Saint Ansgar

1A

POD A
West Sioux, Hawarden at OABCIG
POD B
South Central Calhoun at Southeast Valley
POD C
Underwood at Van Meter
POD D
Columbus Catholic, Waterloo at Sigourney-Keota

2A

POD A
West Lyon, Inwood at Central Lyon/George Little Rock
POD B
PCM, Monroe at West Marshall, State Center
POD C
West Liberty at Camanche
POD D
Solon at Waukon

3A

POD A
Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley at Webster City
POD B
Lewis Central at Harlan Community
POD C
Grinnell at Xavier, Cedar Rapids
POD D
West Delaware, Manchester at North Scott, Eldridge

4A

POD A
Iowa City, West at Pleasant Valley
POD B
Cedar Rapids, Kennedy at Southeast Polk
POD C
Ankeny at Waukee
POD D
Valley, W.D.M. at Dowling Catholic, W.D.M.