Sports

The Waukon volleyball team played through an undefeated week on the court this past week, winning all eight of its matches played in both dual and tournament action on the way to a repeat tournament championship and a climb up the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) ladder. The net Tribe opened the week sweeping a pair of UIC Small School Division teams in two sets each at a UIC quadrangular hosted by West Central Tuesday, September 30 before handing fellow Northeast Iowa Conference squad now competing in the UIC, New Hampton, its first UIC match loss, also in sweeping fashion, at home Thursday, October 2. The Lady Indians carried their winning ways over into the weekend, where they wrapped up their busy week with five more match victories on the way to claiming the team title at the Oelwein Tournament for the second season in a row.

The Kee volleyball team played a total of six matches in a busy past week, including three each in both dual and tournament competition, and came up shy of the win column in all six of those matches but did secure the Lady Hawks’ first set victory of this season in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play. Kee’s netters first fell to a pair of UIC teams from the Large School division of that conference in a home quadrangular Tuesday, September 30, falling to both South Winneshiek and MFL/MarMac in two sets each, before playing their closest dual match of the season at Postville Thursday, October 2 in first falling behind in two sets before splitting a pair of 25-23 set final results to earn this season’s first UIC set victory for the Hawks but ultimately surrendering the match in four sets.

In a battle of teams still undefeated in Class 2A District 3 play heading into their Friday, October 3 match-up, the 3-2 Waukon football team traveled to the home of still overall undefeated and top-10 rated Osage. With the Green Devils having yet to surrender more than eight points in a game to any of its previous five opponents on the season, the Indians put together a strong 12-minute stretch throughout the middle of the contest for 24 points contributed to by all phases of the game, with those 24 points nearly equaling the entire point total Osage had allowed in its previous five games combined.

A strong start to their Friday, October 3 District 4 match-up at Springville looked to have the Kee football team in position to create its first win streak of the season, as the Hawks erupted to an 18-0 headstart over the host Orioles within the game’s first six minutes after capitalizing on three consecutive turnovers to start the game. However, Kee’s grid squad returned that turnover favor throughout the game’s remaining three-and-a-half quarters, with the host squad also scoring on three of those miscues while also racking up four scoring plays of 40 yards or more to completely turn the tables on that initial Hawk headstart and deal Kee a 50-18 defeat.

The Waukon boys cross country team hosted 12 other teams in its Waukon Invitational Tuesday, September 23, ultimately running to a second-place team finish in a field of what turned out to be eight teams able to compile a team score. The Indians had their top six varsity runners finish within the top-20 individuals in the meet’s 61-runner field, scoring 55 team points to finish behind Decorah’s championship total of 19 points compiled by the Vikings’ five scored runners finishing within the top-six individuals.

The Indians were next scheduled to compete in the Jesup Invitational Tuesday, September 30. They will then take part in the South Winneshiek Invitational Tuesday, October 7 before preparing for their Upper Iowa Conference Meet Thursday, October 16 at Elkader to wrap up their regular season schedule.

In a game between two teams that have been headed in somewhat different directions in this season’s first half, including differing results in their Class 2A District 3 openers a week earlier for the 2-2 Waukon football team and 1-3 North Fayette Valley (NFV), it looked early on as if the two teams were reversing those directions in their Friday, September 26 Homecoming match-up for the host TigerHawks. Falling into an initial 14-0 hole and facing a 28-14 deficit just over a minute into the second quarter, the football Indians made the adjustments necessary to stop an early successful run game for their NFV hosts to all but shut down the TigerHawks over the final three quarters of play for a 36-3 outscoring that launched Waukon to a 50-31 victory and continued an undefeated start to the grid Tribe’s District 3 season.

Senior pair of Elle Wilkins and Willa Troendle each reach the 500 mark of their respective specialties - assists for Wilkins and kills for Troendle

The Waukon volleyball team’s lone night of competition on this past week’s schedule had a bit more riding on it than just a win or loss, as the Lady Indians traveled to Crestwood Tuesday, September 23 in a bit of a rubber match marking the third time the two teams have faced off this season. The two previous match-ups had both been in weekend tournament play, with one team beating the other at the other team’s home tournament, and the most recent of those stolen victories being a Cadet win over the net Tribe in what ended up being the championship match of the Waukon Tournament the Saturday prior to their September 23 Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) match-up.

Coming off a streak of three consecutive losses to teams that currently stand at the top of the Eight-Player District 4 standings with combined season records of 13-1, the Kee football team made a long, unique trip of nearly three hours to Calamus-Wheatland Friday, September 26 for a battle between two teams still in search of their first District 4 victory of the season. That uniqueness involved a rare “matinee” late afternoon start time of 4 p.m. due to the host Warriors not yet having lights installed on their new football field, but the two teams put on an entertaining show in trading blows and leads throughout the entire contest well into the game’s final couple minutes when the grid Hawks had the final say with their ultimate go-ahead score and game-clinching defensive stand to earn their first victory in District 4, 48-43.

The theme for Waukon High School’s 2025 Homecoming was “Battle of the Tribes: Two Tribes, One Victor,” as the Waukon football team hosted the other Indians from this season’s Class 2A District 3, Forest City, Friday, September 19 in the District 3 season opener for both squads. Despite more than a two-hour weather delay due to storms and lightning that pushed the game’s end time near midnight, the host Indians proved early they would be that one victor in the happiest of Homecoming wins by a 46-0 final margin.

As if being matched up against its third consecutive undefeated opponent wasn’t enough of a challenge, the Kee football team also faced weather delays, wet field conditions and early turnovers when the Hawks hosted Central Elkader for their Homecoming football game Friday, September 19. Still, despite having the game delayed for nearly two hours late in the first quarter and again during an extended halftime, Kee’s grid squad fought through two first quarter fumbles - that ended up being the only two turnovers of the ballgame - and a 16-0 early deficit to, basically, win the remainder of the ballgame, playing to a 28-28 tie near the middle of the third quarter before ultimately surrendering a 36-28 defeat to the 3-0 Warriors.