Kee football team gives top 10-rated Midland all it wants, has upset bid snatched away in closing seconds to end season with 46-44 loss at home
Senior stop and so much more ... Kee football seniors Shawn Wild (#21 at left) and Josh Walleser (#6 at right) combine their efforts to bring down this Midland ballcarrier in the Hawks’ 46-44 near upset of the top 10-rated Eagles Friday, October 19. In their final games in a Kee football uniform, Wild led Kee’s defense with seven solo and six assisted tackles and also caught a 25-yard touchdown pass. Walleser had four each of solo and assisted stops and also hauled in career-high totals of 13 passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns. Photo courtesy of the Kee High School Yearbook. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this website.
It might be said that the Kee football team saved its best for last, as the grid Hawks’ final game of the season looked to be an upset of Eight-Player top 10-rated Midland at home Friday, October 19. Unfortunately, the visiting Eagles also saved their best for last, as they scored a final touchdown with just 23 seconds left to play to avoid the upset loss, instead stealing a 46-44 victory away from the Hawks.
“Not many people gave us a chance coming into the game,” Kee football coach Chad Winters said of his 2-6 team’s final 2018 match-up against the 8-1 Midland squad vying for an Eight-Player District 3 championship and State Play-Off qualification. “At the end of the night, it ended up being a heartbreaking loss on senior night. I can’t thank my five seniors enough for all they have done over the years (Josh Walleser, Dylan Walleser, Shawn Wild, Tony Martin and Aidan Winters). It would have been one heck of a way to send the seniors out, but we just couldn’t get that last stop. The boys battled back and played a great second half of football after being down 16 at halftime.”
The Hawks ended their season with a 2-7 overall record that included a 2-5 mark in District 3 play that placed Kee in sixth place in the eight-team final district standings, ahead of the single-win Central Elkader and winless West Central squads that accounted for both of Kee’s wins this season. Midland ended in a three-way tie for the Eight-Player District 3 championship with a Central City team the Eagles defeated and a Turkey Valley team responsible for the Eagles’ lone loss, all three of those teams ending up with a single loss in the regular season. Midland will now open State Play-Off competition this Friday, October 26 at the home of undefeated Iowa Valley, a team that has Waukon High School 2007 graduate Cody Snitker as its head coach.
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