Dome-Bound with authority

You got the sense Friday night that West Des Moines Dowling Catholic had something to prove Friday night in their quarterfinal football game with Ames High School.

This was the same team that escaped in overtime against arch-rival West Des Moines Valley just five days before on the same Williams Stadium field turf. This time there was little doubt who the better team was on Friday.

By Nirmalendu Majumdar/The Tribune Ames defensive back Luke Swalla wraps up Dowling wide receiver Eric Lee during the first quarter Friday in Des Moines.

The Maroons picked off the second pass of the game and cashed it in for points 4 plays later and never looked back sprinting to a 48-10 win. Eric Lee made the big first play against and Valley and against Ames, he stepped in front of a Kyle Anderson pass to get the first turnover of the game.

The Maroons would be in the end zone just four plays later after the hero of Monday’s game, Dalton Parrott into the house. The 4 play, 55 yard drive was one 8 scoring drives for the boys in Maroon and White.

The defense came up big again on the next series forcing a punt after only 6 positive yards over 5 plays. Two of those plays were running, the first to Hansen Breitling, the other, a sack of QB Anderson. The Little Cyclones would only rush the ball 3 times in the first half. The third ‘rush’ was another sack of Anderson. KWKY Analyst Dave Marcoulier kept saying how rare that was in high school, let alone any level to not be running the football anymore than that. Ames would finish was 12 rushes for 21 yards, but 9 of those came in mop up duty in the continuous clock of the 4th quarter.

Not only was the rush defense working, but the pass defense came to play. Anderson was looking at all his receivers, but none could break free. 5 Ames receivers all caught multiple passes with Nathan Cruise, Adam Maher and Bo Brammer all catching 5 passes. But only Thomas McKiernan found the end zone for his team. Anderson would finish with 24-42 passing for 244 yards and 2 INTs. The Little Cyclones only had 21 rushing yards to push their total offense to 265 yards.

BILL NEIBERGALL/THE REGISTER Dowling Catholic's #27 Dalton Parrott, right, gave a stiff arm to Ames' #16 Jake Mills, left, after Parrott escaped from Ames's #8 Ryan Griffith, on the ground in second half action in Class 4-A football quarterfinal playoff game at Williams Stadium on Friday night, Nov. 5th.

The saying goes a great defense is a great offense, and the Maroons used that theme Friday night using sustained drives to keep the Ames offense off the field. The second offensive series covered 51 yards in 9 plays (Connor Bravard 1 yd TD run), 7 plays, 75 yards (Bravard to Dalton Parrott 45 yard TD run) to end a 21-0 first quarter.

Then the Maroons used 13 plays to cover 68 yards capped by Dalton Parrott’s 2 yard run. But that was made possible by a 20 yard pass catch by Andrew Pick. Dowling would go to the locker room leading 28-10.

BILL NEIBERGALL/THE REGISTER Dowling Catholic's #46 Andrew Pick, left, broke away from tackle attempt of Ames' #25 Jordan Best, right.

The big play machine came out in the 2nd half as it only took 4 plays to get back into the end zone as Parrott scampered 28 yards for the score. But one of the most exciting plays of the game was a great scramble by Bravard and the line holding blocks and then downfield blocks as Parrott caught the safety valve pass and then went 64 yards for the score. In reality, he ran about 84 yards as Bravard was almost back to his ten when he got rid of the ball. That fifth touchdown of Parrott’s got the continuous clock running and Bravard would end the scoring on a 5 yard run late in the 3rd quarter.

BILL NEIBERGALL/THE REGISTER Dowling Catholic quarterback #10 Connor Bravard, center, pick up big yards on a run against Ames.

Bravard would finish 13 of 18 passing for 228 yards and take 13 carries for 94 yards and two scores. Parrott has 21 carries and 151 yards. Eric Lee caught 5 of those passes for 83 yards.

Take out a couple of runs for losses late in the 4th quarter and the Maroons would have finished with 500 yards total offense.

So, for the second straight year, the Maroons go marching to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls with a 12-0 record and a date in the semi-final game. This time, it is Ankeny that awaits. The Hawks escaped the upstart Urbandale J-Hawks. Ankeny and Dowling met in week 6 (game 7) and it was not pretty for Ankeny as Dowling rolled to a 42-0 win. Turnovers were a big part of that game.

But things are different right now. The Hawks are healthy, they’ve abandoned much of the passing game and gone back to the great rushing attack they’re historically known for. Ankeny lost to Indianola, Dowling Catholic and Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln this season. It is their first trip to Cedar Falls in two seasons. They know the way, the lights, the heat, the intensity and what is at stake, date in the finals with either City High of Iowa City or Bettendorf. Either the Little Hawks or Bettendorf are also familiar with the UNI-Dome.

Friday’s 730p game will not stream on KWKY.com, but will only be heard on AM1150 in Des Moines. That is an association rule, not KWKY.

Harrison Barnes is for real

Ames hosts Mason City in CIML boys basketball. #40 is Harrison Barnes.

We, like every other media organization, have done a feature on Harrison Barnes. Ours looked at his abilities on and off the court with a side of his relationship with his coach Vance Downs.

The story also features Harrison interviewing coach Downs live on KCCI-TV back in December following a game carried live on ESPN.

Downs speaks highly of Barnes and his abilities off the court and the type of player he is to coach. The Ames High Little Cyclones are going for a second straight undefeated season and a second straight 4A title.

H, as he’s called by his friends and coaches, is a near 4 point GPA student who plans to major in international business at UNC. He’s already taken enough AP classes to be sophomore when he walks onto campus in Chapel Hill next fall.

Barnes still needs a driver’s license and says his mother will make some trips to see him play. But now it is his sister’s time to shine. She’s a 5th grader and Harrison is not pushing basketball saying it is her decision to make.

And those in Tar Heel nation like the message board CarolinaBlue.com or TarHeelForum are just clamoring to get Barnes on campus and into Carolina Blue.

Make no mistake, Barnes is impressive on the court as well. My story was shot over 2 different games, one his junior year and one his senior year. David Sprau of KASI-AM Ames said “It appears Barnes has taken his game to a new level his senior year. That’s impressive, since he’s already got his scholarship.”

There is something about Barnes’ first step that’s impressive. He is so quick on that first step. He can close a gap in a hurry, get that ball stolen and then be coming down from the dunk before you realize what’s happened.

Barnes will play for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. Coach Roy Williams got another top Iowa basketball player to leave the state and go play for him.

Here’s the link to the video story with Barnes.

If that link doesn’t work, here’s the YouTube video of it as well.

This story aired on the Iowa Journal on Thursday, March 4th, 2010. That show also featured a discussion on mental illness. The discussion went very well and should be mandatory viewing for all with fears about mental illness.

You can find the show link here.
And you can find the Des Moines Register’s page with printable faces of Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott. Doug will play at the University of Northern Iowa next season.

Quick Hits of the week Feb 22, 2010

I’m about to head out the door to Van Meter Community schools to see what they have going on there. Superintendent John Carver and I have talked a few times and he’s extremely excited about what’s happening in his hallways. Part of the fun is 1:1 ratio of computers to students. Only 12 or 13 schools are like that in the state of Iowa. And only 3 schools are virtual reality schools. Van Meter is one of them.

Monday, videographer John Torpy and I went to Ames High School to talk to standout player Harrison Barnes. Barnes has already committed to playing for coach Roy Williams at the University of North Carolina. Barnes leads the state in scoring average at 27.1 points per game. According to KASI sports director Dave Sprau, who we interviewed for our piece, Barnes has stepped up his game even more this year. That is hard to believe. We also talked to head coach Vance Downs. If Ames can win out, they’d be the first 4A team in Iowa to repeat as state champions and going undefeated. I think they’ve won 48 or 49 straight games. The story on Barnes will air March 4.

Market to Market producer Andrew Batt is headed to Decorah Tuesday to talk with author and college professor Michael Pollan. He’s an interesting guy who gets under the skin of traditional agriculture. Pollan was a main source for the guys of King Corn and several books including In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: the Secrets Behind What You Eat, Food Rules, Second Nature, The Botany of Desire, and A Place of My Own. Pollan appears in Food, Inc. a documentary on the food industry.

The link to this week’s Iowa Journal is here. We are talking about refugees in Iowa.

Copyright: Around the America's by David Thoreson

And I forgot to add we were talking with David Thoreson today. David is with Blue Water Studios. He’s West Lake Okoboji. You’ve seen him on IPTV before with his documentary “Arctic Journey in a Changing World.” That was about his travels through the Northwest Passage. He did that first trip in 2007 and now this time going a different direction with the crew of Ocean Watch. He started in Seattle in early summer 2009. Today he was in Chile. We talked to him for a web extra that you’ll be able to see on http://www.iptv.org soon. His journey is incredible.

His new site Around The America’s is impressive. There are learning opportunities for all ages, even free classroom materials available on the. The science of this trip is amazing. Also the pictures. Take a look at his Flickr stream and you can follow him in Twitter as well.