Sports

The Waukon football team accomplished more than just another victory with its 44-24 road win at Anamosa Friday, October 12. That win also earned the grid Tribe automatic qualification for the Class 2A State Play-Offs and a chance at what’s believed to be its first outright district championship in program history.

“We are pleased to know we have a play-off berth with one game to go,” Waukon football coach Chad Beermann said. ‘However, we want to win the district outright. Monticello or Columbus could tie us in district wins, though we have the head-to-head (advantage for play-off qualification). We are gunning for what we believe to be Waukon’s first-ever outright district title. That would be quite the feather in the cap for this year’s seniors.”

The Waukon volleyball team put together its greatest week on the court when its beginning to matter the most, wrapping up its final week of the regular season with five wins in seven matches, all against Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) opponents. That success began with the net Tribe’s first dual match win in more than a decade over a traditionally strong but currently struggling Charles City team at the home of the Comets, 9-25, 25-19, 25-19 and 25-23, Tuesday, October 9 before winning four of six matches at the Northeast Iowa Conference Tournament hosted by Decorah Saturday, October 13, defeating that same Charles City team, Decorah, Oelwein and Crestwood but also falling to the NEIC’s top two teams from the regular season, Waverly-Shell Rock and New Hampton, to finish third at the tournament.

In a battle of teams with 1-6 season records, the Kee football team looked anything but that as the grid Hawks rolled to a 54-8 triumph at Central Elkader Friday, October 12. Setting the tone on both sides of the ball early with both an offensive and defensive touchdown, the Hawks jumped to a 28-0 first quarter headstart and pitched a 54-0 shut-out until Central finally managed its lone scoreboard production in the fourth quarter.

“We challenged the boys to get off to a good start and set the tone early in the game,” Kee football coach Chad Winters said. “They rose up to the challenge and played a dominating first half.”

The Kee volleyball team wrapped up its regular season with a split of its final two dual matches of the season, picking up its first Upper Iowa Conference victory of the season along the way. The Hawk netters opened the week with a home victory Tuesday, October 9 over a Postville team they had lost a pair of weekend tournament matches to, falling in the first set by just a 24-26 result before bouncing back to sweep the final three sets, 25-12, 25-20 and 25-21. The Kee volleyballers then wrapped up their regular season with a loss at MFL/MarMac Thursday, October 11, falling by sweeping scores of 25-19, 25-11 and 25-16.

The Kee girls and boys cross country teams wrapped up their 2018 regular season at the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) Meet hosted by North Fayette Valley High School Thursday, October 11, a meet originally scheduled for Turkey Valley but moved due to soggy course conditions. Ranked sixth and eighth, respectively, in Class 1A, the South Winneshiek girls and boys claimed both crowns at the UIC finale, edging the third-rated Lady Hawks to place them second by four points and the Kee boys finishing fourth.

The Kee cross country girls were paced by a trio of All-Conference top-15 finishes and had all five of their scored runners finish within the top 20 of the 46-runner varsity field to tally 45 team points. South Winneshiek, however, claimed six of the top-15 All-Conference placewinnings, with all five of the Lady Warriors’ scored runners finishing within the top 14 individuals to tally just 41 points and deny the Lady Hawks defense of their UIC crown won last fall.

The Waukon Wellness Center will be holding its Fifth Annual “Turkey Trot” 5K Run/Walk Thanksgiving Day, November 22 at 8:30 a.m., beginning and ending at the Waukon Wellness Center. The Center is located directly across from Waukon High School at 1220 Third Avenue NW in Waukon.

All runners and walkers are welcome to join in this traditional pre-feast workout. The event is being held in part this year to help fund the new community tennis court project planned for location diagonally across the street from the Wellness Center near the new concession stand.

The Kee volleyball team played through a busy week full of two dual matches followed by a weekend tournament. Those two dual battles were in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play and left the Hawk netters still in search of their first UIC win this season, Kee falling at Clayton Ridge by scores of 12-25, 17-25 and 11-25 Tuesday, October 2 before also falling at home to South Winneshiek by sweeping finals of 19-25, 13-25 and 22-25 Thursday, October 4. The Hawks then split two matches reported from the Riceville Tournament Saturday, October 6, defeating the host school but falling to Postville, both in three-set battles.

The Waukon volleyball team came within a few points of breaking a now month-long dual match losing streak this past week before finally breaking a similar overall streak of three weeks with a weekend tournament match victory. That dual match close call came in a Northeast Iowa Conference match at Crestwood Tuesday, October 2 where the net Tribe fell by scores of 16-25, 11-25, 25-21, 25-19 and 13-15, with the Indians then winning one of three pool play matches at the Hudson Tournament Saturday, October 6, defeating Don Bosco, 21-19 and 21-14, and falling to South Tama, 19-21 and 17-21, and to Aplington-Parkersburg, 17-21 and 12-21.

Controlling rights for the top of Class 2A District 4 were on the line - along with a happy Homecoming, when the Waukon football team played host to Waterloo Columbus in a match-up of Class 2A top 10-rated teams Friday, October 5. Despite identical records of 5-1 and 2-0 in district play, the experience of the more recent winning Waukon program matched up against a Columbus program experiencing its first winning season - and more than two wins in a season - since 2010 made for a not nearly as similar final result, as the Indians posted a 20-0 second quarter burst on the way to a 38-12 Homecoming victory.

A rain-soaked field did not allow for much traction Friday, October 5 when the Kee football team hosted Easton Valley in this season’s Homecoming contest, at least not enough traction for the Hawks to get on to the scoreboard in falling by a 34-0 final result to the visiting River Hawks. Having moved the game’s start time up an hour to avoid what was forecasted to be the worst of Friday night’s weather, the previous and existing weather conditions and some hard-grinding football action made for some challenging conditions that left the Hawks’ home field and both teams a muddy mess.

Those conditions resulted in four Kee turnovers, two of which were returned right away for Easton Valley touchdowns. The Hawks also found enough traction to get themselves to the scoreboard door step, but suffered another of those turnovers and two fourth down denials within just a step or two of the goal line.