Once one of the doormats of the Mississippi Valley Conference, Waterloo East is in the playoffs for the third straight season. Trojan coach Kody Asmus says that his players now know what to expect when the postseason rolls around. He says they are in elite company in the conference to make the playoffs for three years.
Asmus says Assumption quarterback Jake Gervase will present a challenge for the East defense. East’s spread attack is something that Assumption hasn’t seen much of this season, but Asmus says that also means that his players aren’t too sure how the Knights defense will line up either.
In just their first season in the eight-player division, Don Bosco won a district championship and enters the playoffs with an unblemished record and ranked second in the Radio Iowa poll.
The Dons feature a dual-pronged rushing attack with quarterback Jake Hogan and running back Tyler Backes. While Hogan might get more attention from defenses, Dons coach Kolby Yoder says that Backes is a big part of the offense as well.
He says a lot of people overlook Backes, and says he does a lot of blocking as well as running. The Dons face West Central tonight, and will be focused on Blue Devil running back Michael Lincoln, the leading rusher in the eight-player division.
Dons coach Kolby Yoder says Lincoln is a tough runner and he says it will be a good challenge for the defense and they will have to stop him to win the game. Yoder says that Lincoln is good enough to get a certain number of yards regardless of what the Dons do on defense, so they’ll be focused on try to limit the number of big gains he gets.
West Central enters the playoffs on a three game losing streak, but Yoder says that could just mean they’ve been unlucky in a tough district.
In class 2A, top ranked and unbeaten Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley will host Clarion-Goldfield. The Cowboys are 6-3 but a year ago rode a low seed all the way to the quarterfinal round. Nighthawks coach Cory Brandt says they won’t be intimidated by being the underdog.
Brandt says a good start would be a plus because their style of offense is not one made for catching up. Clarion-Goldfield coach Paul Hansch knows his team is facing a tough challenge. He says he likes the style of play as they are quick and run very well.
Hansch says his team needs to control the football and grind out some first downs to manage the field position or they will lose the game. Listen to Radio Iowa’s Football Friday Night Playoff edition tonight at 10 p.m. for the playoff game scores
By Doug Broek, KSOU, Sioux Center/Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls
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