New Divisions announced in 4A football

Radio play-by-play guys will have new press boxes to haunt this season.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association released the new Divisions for Class 4A football in Iowa.  These divisions will play in the 2012 and 2013 seasons.  The eastern side in 4A will remain in conferences.

This is not to be called district football like it is in the other classes of Iowa high school football.

The teams were seeded on past performances and then split into four divisions. Any thoughts on the new match ups?

Schools will submit wish lists of teams to fill out the remaining 4 games on the schedule. My understanding is, that won’t have an impact on playoff points.

Here are the divisions.

Division #1

Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson
Des Moines, Abraham Lincoln
Indianola
Sioux City, East
Urbandale
Valley, West Des Moines

Division #2
Ames
Ankeny
Fort Dodge
Des Moines, North
Johnston
Sioux City, North

Division #3
Ankeny Centennial (no varsity until 2013 season)
Des Moines, Hoover
Dowling Catholic, West Des Moines Des Moines
Marshalltown
Mason City
Ottumwa

Division #4
Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln
Des Moines, East
Roosevelt
Sioux City, West
Southeast Polk
Waukee

On first blush the Division 3 has the longest road trip with Ottumwa and Mason City grouped together. This division does not include a Sioux City or Council Bluffs team, either.

No fires or blood yet as YBHA IV hits halftime

Amy holds Noah and Levi prior to her departure.

Hard to believe we are almost half-way through the 4th installment of the Yeager Boys Home Alone. Here’s a little recap on what YBHA means (YBHA1). It is a fun distraction as I also get ready for the 4A championship game in Cedar Falls on Friday night.

This week, Amy has returned to Holland for more work. We’re just hoping there’s no volcano to delay this return home.

We are in the middle this week. Let’s get caught up on what’s happened so far.

We did the Saturday drop-off this weekend to begin the YBHA4.

Before Amy left, we did the ceremonial picture of her and the boys. The only time we didn’t take this sort of picture, Amy decided she wanted to drive 19 hours from Holland to Madrid.

The cleaner, the player and the ping-pong paddler.

Following the Des Moines International Airport, we headed for Aunt Kris‘ house. Maddox was ready to see Levi. Or Wee-vi as he calls him. Maddox only knows Levi, he wasn’t sure on what Noah‘s name was. Mad-dog will be 2 on Thanksgiving, so he and the 1 year-old, Levi, didn’t really play well together. They are still working those issues out.

But when they did invade the basement, Levi was entertained with a broom while Noah and Maddox tried to play ping-pong. Toys R Us will not using these boys for their next commercial.

Maddox, Noah and Levi are pretty worn out after an evening of playtime.

Noah was very interested in the ping-pong table and wanted to play that all night. Noah is just practicing for Thanksgiving when we’ll be back at Kris and Brian’s for a wonderful holiday experience.

 

Following the playing, the boys were tired. Actually, that’s as close as I came to getting them to pose together for a picture.

Maybe in year.

Ok, who am I kidding. They likely won’t sit still for a photo until they graduate high school.

Grandma Honey, Noah, Levi, Farmer Papa survived the night together.

Sunday brought the Jesup cavalry. Grandma Honey and Farmer Papa helped watch the boys as I had a call committee meeting. Noah just had a simple instruction, not to listen to anything Grandpa Fish had to say. Easier said that done, but my father loves kids this age, he can just tease them and get them all riled up and it is quite enjoyable to watch.

Monday put us back into preschool and day care. No big surprises there. I just needed Grandma Paula and Grandpa Wil to be on stand by as I had to go to Jefferson to talk to their Rotary. I also snuck in a quick trip to see Aunt Lynda and Barb and Uncle Harold and also my cousin Laura.

Tuesday morning was a little different as Wil and Paula got the boys to school so I could get to West Des Moines by 7a for another IPTV speaking engagement. That will hopefully be the last of the excitement.

We did make it to Kindermusik tonight without many issues. Levi was getting tired and just wanted to go home and go to bed. Hopefully he stays asleep all night.

Now time to get ready for Dowling and City High…

The Drive to the Dome begins with the Bobcats

To reach an end goal, you have to take the first step.

That step, is in front of the Dowling Catholic Maroons on Wednesday night for the first round of the 2010 Iowa High School Athletic Association’s football playoffs. This marks the 33rd time in school history the Maroons are playing a 10th game.

First, they must exercise a foe from the past, the Marshalltown Bobcats. Last year, the 2009 Bobcats were writing school history and shocked the Maroons in the UNI-Dome in the semi-final game, 28-25.

Chanse Creekmur vs. Dowling in 2009 at the UNI-Dome. T-R photo by Ross Thede.

But this is a different time, season and team. No revenge factors, but gone is Chanse Creekmur. He already had thrown for 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns coming into the semi-final game. This season, the Bobcats have yet to reach 3,000 total yards as a team and have only scored 23 touchdowns. Coming into the playoffs last year, the Bobcats were 9-0, this season, they haven’t won a game since September 3rd against Johnston.

The Bobcats have lost 6 straight. All but 1 of those losses were against play-off bound teams. That win over Johnston helped get them in the post-season, despite a 21-0 loss to Mason City last Friday night. Their wins came against Roosevelt and Des Moines North. The losses were to Valley, SC East, Waukee, Ames, Fort Dodge and Mason City.

Injuries have been one big reason for the only 4A school in Marshall County. Several spots have players with limited experience. But two of the sophomores in the starting line up, MLB Tyler Kluver and DT Pedro Gomez have started all 9 games this season.

Haven’t won since September 3rd against Johnston but that win helped get them in the playoffs. How they got in is explained in this Marshalltown Times Republican article.

Earlier this week, Marshalltown coach Dave Holdiman told the MTR that since his team got a second life, they’ve taken advantage in practice.

“We’ve come back with some resolve and have had really good practices,” said Marshalltown head coach Dave Holdiman. “Everything has been up-tempo and upbeat. It’s been an enthusiastic effort on the kids’ part, I think we’re on the rebound psychologically.”

The rest of the article is here.

Both the Maroons and Bobcats played Johnston (both teams beat the Dragons), Valley and Fort Dodge. DCHS won both while MHS lost both.

Lee Navin / For the Register (ph Marshalltown junior quarterback Austin Hauser (#11) hands off to junior running back Kyle Carnahan (#4) as the Marshalltown Bobcats (3-2) play the Waukee Warriors (2-3) during the CIML Iowa Conference Class 4-A high school Homecoming football game at Waukee Stadium in Waukee. Waukee won 31 to 14.

Austin Hauser is slated to start at QB. He’s thrown for 966 yards on 181 attempts and 89 completions. But don’t be surprised to see Blake Gimbel get some snaps. Top targets include Mark Duncan, Bryer Mason, Alex Thompson and Ty Steffensen. Many of these players have big-play potential and Maroon fans know how this team can make big plays.

Darius Zeigler is the featured running back. His 89 carries is good for 454 yards.

The Bobcats are averaging 19 points a game while giving up 25.6.

The Maroons haven’t played since October 15th when the beat Indianola 30-6. Several guys were able to take advantage of the bye week to heal and get ready for this stretch run in the playoffs. One starting change will be Nick Navin for Andrew Pick at running back.

We go on the air at 6p on AM 1150 KWKY in Des Moines or online at http://www.KWKY.com as we can stream this game and all games before the semi-finals. Then we’ll be not allowed to have a broadcast stream of the game on the internet. Romelle will be busy giving Twitter updates at Twitter.com/KWKYSports for those of you out-of-town or wanting updates.

End of an era for radio broadcaster

An era ended this week at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines at the Iowa High School Boys State Basketball Tournament. And it goes beyond the last high school game of Ames standout Harrison Barnes.

KWKY Radio Football broadcast team, Valley @ Dowling at Drake Stadium, Des Moines, Sept. 11, 2009.

This era involves a voice you may have stumbled upon during a Friday night football game or basketball game or even during the summer talking baseball or softball.

This is a voice that’s been heard for thousands of athletic contests and probably millions of minutes on KWKY Radio. Many of those words were used in covering the West Des Moines Dowling Catholic Maroons, his alma mater.

Mark Amadeo called his last Dowling Catholic game for the near future Wednesday night, while court side at Wells Fargo Arena in a state tournament game against Southeast Polk.

Amadeo is stepping aside for a couple of years to watch his oldest son play varsity sports. He’s earned the right, he’s only been behind the play-by-play mic of Maroon events for 28 seasons. During the first five, he was the “color” guy providing commentary and analysis. After the first five, it was Amadeo who was the “Voice of the Maroons. Or as he puts it, “the Zabel Chair.” Mark even spent time coaching for Dowling Catholic, so this is man who’s been on both sides of the broadcast.

Dave Marcoulier and Mark Amadeo in the Freirichs Field press box in Urbandale at UHS. 2009 photo.

Mark guesses he called close to 350 football games and around 1,400 basketball games. The majority of them were Dowling games. He says “I’m still trying to call them the right way!!”

But Mark may not be done announcing games. He may get a chance to help out some other stations that cover his son’s team. And he hopes to return to call Dowling games in a couple of years. Plus, Mark will continue to make regular stops on the Iowa Sports Connection Radio show. He’s been known to grace the airwaves on a Saturday morning.

I’ve gotten to know Mark the last couple of years as I’ve transitioned into the KWKY radio family. Mostly I was the fourth guy on the crew, chasing down CIML scores, stats, extra spotter duties and beginning last year, operating the KWKY Twitter feed.

Mark Amadeo in the pressbox at Drake Stadium on the far left. September, 2009.

Mark knows Dowling Catholic sports history better than most people know their families. He’s always prepared, emotional about wins and losses and always there to help make sure any official comments are in a positive way. You won’t hear Mark be critical of the stripes. He’s a softball umpire as well. Mark works college and high school games, even getting the attention of Mike “Suitcase Sally” Newell during IPTV’s coverage of the Iowa State High School Softball Tourney a few years back. Mark always wants the story on my IPTV co-worker. Nicknames and stories about other broadcasters is always a fun part of working in the press box.

As Mark steps aside, I hope the endless parade of treats can still find their way to the pressbox from superfan Bev Whipple. I also thank Mark for the opportunity and chance to learn from him about broadcasting.

So in August of 2010 when you turn on the Dowling Catholic Maroons football broadcast on AM 1150 KWKY-AM, it may sound a little different. We’ll still have Dave Marcoulier and Brian Morris, but go easy on the new guy. He can’t begin to fill the shoes of Mr. Amadeo, but try on a new pair and hope they break in easy.