High school football officially kicks off this Friday evening. Seems early doesn’t it? That’s because it is. With the split of Collins Maxwell Baxter, teams from around the state had to adjust their schedules and the result is a week zero. Teams playing this week will then have a bye week during the season to ensure all teams around the state finish October 20th.
We’ll preview a few games around the Metro each week, then chop it up about those games on our BCDivide show live on Mediacom Channel 22/High Def 822 Tuesday evenings at 5pm. Then again on Friday evenings as we cover high school football from around the state. Before we get started with a few of our Week zero matchup predictions here are some Iowa High School Football Fun Facts!
Iowa High School Fun Facts:
Going into the 2017 season there have been 912 head coaches who have had at least
one team in the State Playoffs. 142 coaches and 122 schools have won at least one State Title.
Most Points Scored by Winning Team in a Play-off Game: Class A – 83 by B-G-M, Brooklyn (83) vs. Van Buren, Keosauqua (6) [1st Round], 2013
There’s be 3,532 post season football games in Iowa High School Football history. Of those, only 116 went to overtime.
First Football Game Played “Under the Lights”: The first high school football game “under the lights” was played in Iowa and was actually the first to be played in the United States. The game was played in Burlington on Sept. 27, 1929. The game featured the Burlington Bulldogs (later to be known as the Grayhounds) vs. the Mount Pleasant Panthers.
Week zero features some less than flattering match-ups. We fully expect some blowouts, but here’s some of the more notable games.
Dike New Hartford @ Independence
Class 2A District 3 Champion Dike New Hartford will jump on the bus and head 40 miles East to Independence. Dike showed zero fear as they moved up to class 2A last season.They finished undefeated in district play and got knocked out in the state semifinal game to the eventual champions Boyden-Hull Rock Valley. They do lose Trent Johnson who put up nearly 3,000 yards rushing last season but it shouldn’t matter much in this one. Independence comes into this match-up a year after going 0-9 in a tough 3A district 3. They’ll rely on junior running back Ethan Holt and Senior QB Kenyon Hosch. We have no reason to believe this one will be close as BCMoore has the Wolverines as 61 point favorites. Dike will play Denver in week 2, or week 1 as the rest of the state will call it. That looks to be a much tougher match-up as redemption will be on Dike’s mind as they were upset by Denver 25-22 in week 1 last season.
BCDivide Final Prediction:
Dike 55
Independence 6
Nevada @ West Marshall
The two schools may not be the most notable, but I think this game could potentially be one of the more competitive match-ups of this first Friday night. Nevada plays in a stacked class 3a district 6, with 3 time returning state champion Pella always leading the way it’s been tough for Nevada to see postseason play. They’ll be lead defensively by the senior duo of Trent Stahl and Jack Higgins. Those two will have their work cut out for them because West Marshall is no joke. They’re returning quarterback Cameron Bannister who threw for nearly 1400 yards a year ago and will bring back their duo in the backfield as well. Seniors Alex Dickey and Beau Coberly combined for nearly a thousand yards last season and both will be back to put some finishing touches on what they hope can end with a spot in the playoffs. BCMoore has this game nearly a pick em, we agree and think it will be tight throughout.
BCDivide Final Prediction:
West Marshall 26
Nevada 21
Cameron Bannister’s HUDL highlights:
www.hudl.com/video/3…
Roland Story @ North Polk
Roland Story was a surprise team to some last year as they took the 2nd playoff spot out of 2A District 3. They were lead by a group of seniors offensively that will be hard to replace. Coach Stensland runs a first class program and it shouldn’t take long for the replacements to start succeeding. Roland Story will be solid up front, and defensively they return their leading tackler from a year ago, Nathan Bell. North Polk will begin a rebuilding year offensively as their senior QB from a year ago has a graduated. Offensively North Polk will be lead by Mason Russell, Mason rushed for 10 touchdowns a year ago. The good news for North Polk is that they return a majority of their starters on the defensive side of the ball. This one should stay close but I expect the Class 3A lead North Polk Comets to pull away late.
BCDivide Final Predicition:
North Polk 34
Roland Story 26
Nathan Bell’s Hudl Highlights:
www.hudl.com/video/3…
Colfax Mingo @ Saydel
Saydel had a successful season last year finishing 5-4. The Eagles return a plethora of talent offensively but will need some strong efforts from a young group up front. The Eagles offense will be lead by Senior QB TJ Stephenson. Last season Stephenson passed for over a thousand yards and was also the teams leading rusher. Stephenson will have help offensively from Senior running backs Trevor Sprague and Craig Garrison. The Eagles have changed up the offensive scheme from a year ago but with all the familiar faces they should find success early and often against Colfax. Colfax was just 1 and 8 a year ago, their lone win against Grand View Christian in week 5. Colfax will need to to turn things around on the defensive side of the ball. In week 8 and week 9 of last season they were outscored 145-0.
BCDivide Final Prediction:
Saydel 42
Colfax Mingo 12
TJ Stephenson’s HUDL Highlights:
www.hudl.com/video/3…
