Sports

Waukon High School graduated senior Peyton Hesse threw three touchdown passes and amassed 152 yards in converting eight of 12 passes in the 2016 Iowa Shrine Bowl played in the UNI-Dome at Cedar Falls Saturday evening, July 23. Hesse’s three touchdown passes helped the North Squad to a 49-35 victory in the annual football classic that also serves as the biggest fundraiser for the Shrine hospitals of Iowa.

After the North squad fought its way back from an early 21-7 scoreboard deficit, Hesse connected on a 58-yard touchdown pass with Gladbrook-Reinbeck graduated senior Colton Dinsdale to help the North keep pace. Hesse then connected on touchdown passes of 19 and 23 yards in the second half with Cedar Rapids Washington graduate Isaiah Nimmers, who scored three total touchdowns on his way to being named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

The Kee softball team has reached the pinnacle of Class 1A, capping off a three-game sweep of Class 1A's elite this past week with a 7-3 triumph over Class 1A powerhouse Akron-Westfield Friday evening, July 22 in Fort Dodge. In a rematch from the 2014 State Championship game, the Hawks answered an early 1-0 deficit right away and then added a two-run fourth inning and four more runs in the sixth to pull away to the victory, all while junior pitcher Courtney Cooper and her defensive counterparts handcuffed the traditionally strong Akron-Westfield bats to just three hits to bring to an end a 13-game State Tournament winning streak for the Westerners and begin a Kee Hawk reign.

Full details of the Hawks' climb to the top can be found in the July 27 edition of The Standard, complete with photos and descriptive game action. Don't miss this piece of Hawk history!

The Kee softball team has played its way back to the Class 1A State Championship game with a 5-2 semifinal round victory over fourth-rated Martensdale-St. Mary's Thursday evening, July 21 at Harlan Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge. That win sets up a rematch two years in the making between the second-rated Hawks and top-rated Akron-Westfield, a team that defeated Kee for the Class 1A State Championship two seasons ago.

After neither team made the State Tournament field last season, the two have played their back to a State Championship rematch that will begin at 4:55 p.m. Friday, July 22. That championship battle can be seen on Iowa Public Television as part of a five-game championship series to be broadast throughout Friday.

Catch all the action of all three Kee softball games at this year's State Tournament in words and photos in the July 27 edition of The Standard!

Mariah Hancock and Kate-Leigh Wilson selected to Cheer Squad; Peyton Hesse to play for North Squad in football classic

Waukon High School will be well represented once again for the 2016 Iowa Shrine Bowl All-Star Football Classic being played this Saturday, July 23 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

Graduated senior Peyton Hesse will represent Waukon football as a member of this year’s North football squad, while fellow schoolmates Mariah Hancock and Kate-Leigh Wilson have been chosen to represent Waukon cheerleading as members of the cheerleading squad as well. Wilson, however, will be unable to participate in her second year of being selected to take part in the annual classic.

The team from New Albin pictured above won the 12 and Under division of the Stars of Tomorrow Tournament held in La Crosse, WI Friday-Sunday, July 8-10. The tournament consisted of three pools of five teams each, with the top-finishing team and one wild card team from each pool advancing on to a final championship bracket. The New Albin team first went undefeated in four pool play games, defeating East Dubuque, 13-5, and Osage, 5-1, Friday and Holmen, 8-2, and Shelby, 5-2, Saturday to advance to Sunday’s final championship round, along with Shelby as the pool’s wild card team. After defeating that Shelby team once again in its first championship bracket game Sunday, 9-5, New Albin then went on to claim the tournament crown with a 15-5 ten-run rule victory in four innings over Janesville, WI in the championship game.

The Waukon baseball team had its season ended with a loss at third-rated New Hampton in the semifinal round of Class 2A District Tournament play Tuesday, July 12, but somehow that 2-1 shortcoming certainly doesn’t feel like a defeat. Having played the highly-regarded Chickasaws on three occasions earlier in the regular season during Northeast Iowa Conference play, the Tribe had yet to last more than six innings or score a run against the back-to-back Northeast Iowa Conference champions, actually having been outscored by a 40-0 margin in those three previous contests - including losses of 16-0 in four innings and 14-0 in five innings exactly one week earlier.

The Kee baseball team had its 2016 season brought to a close in one of the most unexpected fashions, bringing a more typical Kee baseball season of 20-plus wins to an end in not so typical Kee baseball fashion. After a rare first-round postseason tournament loss to Wapsie Valley last season, the Hawks opened this summer’s postseason tournament with a bit of revenge, paying back those Warriors with a 7-1 defeat in the Class 1A District 7 quarterfinals Tuesday, July 12 at home. That win matched the Hawks up with fellow Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) squad Edgewood-Colesburg, a team Kee had swept in two previous UIC contests but that soundly turned the tables on the Hawks to hand them their worst defeat of the season, a 19-0 season-ending loss in four innings in a District 7 semifinal game played at Jesup Thursday, July 14.

The second-rated Kee softball team began its Class 1A State Tournament journey with an opening-round triumph, 11-4, over unranked Belle Plaine Monday, July 18. The Hawks used a seven-run first inning and a pair of homeruns by sophomore first baseman Chloe Severson to overcome an early 2-0 deficit and pull away to victory.

Kee will next compete Thursday evening, July 21 at 5 p.m. against fourth-rated Martensdale-St. Mary's, 8-0 first-round winners over unranked Charter Oak-Ute, with that winner advancing on to the Class 1A State Championship game Friday, July 22 at 4:55 p.m. Other first-round winners also taking their first step toward the Class 1A championship game were top-ranked Akron-Westfield, 13-1 in four innings over unranked West Harrison, and ninth-rated Newell-Fonda, 2-1 winners over fifth-rated New London.

Full coverage of all three of Kee's State Tournament games will appear in the July 27 edition of The Standard.

by Val Meyer

It’s been two years since the unranked Kee softball team sent shockwaves through Class 1A by playing their way to a State Runner-Up finish in the Class 1A State Tournament, and after a year’s absence the now second-rated Hawks are ready to make waves again in Fort Dodge. It is last year’s absence that likely fueled this year’s return trip to the season grand finale for the Hawks, as a one-run loss in the regional finals last season has been a motivating factor for what played out this past week to be a three-game sweep through this season’s Class 1A Region 3 Tournament bracket and another trip back to Fort Dodge.