Sports

In its only competition of the week, the Waukon volleyball team played host to its annual Waukon Invitational Tournament Saturday, September 16. The tournament of nine total teams has typically been played in an early session of three pools of three teams in round-robin fashion, with the teams then being placed in a late session bracketed tournament according to their pool play results to play out to final placewinnings.

This season’s tournament, however, would only feature two pools of round-robin play, as limited availability of officials did not allow for the regular tournament format to be played out. Those two pools were split up between one four-team pool that played in an early-morning session of round-robin matches, with the tournament’s five other teams playing in their own round-robin pool later that morning into the afternoon.

The early-season success the Kee football team has been creating ran into a bit of a stumbling block that has been there for many teams over the years, as the Hawks traveled to Gilbertville Friday, September 15 to face a Don Bosco team rich in football and other athletic success. Taking its 3-0 season record into the home of a Don squad whose only loss this season has come to top-rated Gladbrook-Reinbeck to open this season, the Hawks used a strong second quarter flurry to fight back from a 20-0 first quarter deficit but couldn’t quite keep up that same comeback pace with their hosts in the second half, falling by a 68-34 final result.

The beginning of Class 2A District 3 play for the Waukon football team found the grid Tribe in a place where it has not been in the past five years, the short end of the scoreboard in a district football game. Traveling to West Union to open up their district schedule for the 2023 campaign against North Fayette Valley Friday, September 15, the football Indians saw an otherwise close battle, 14-7, at the halftime break get away to a 34-7 defeat for the Tribe’s first loss in a district football game since its second district contest of the 2017 season.

For those who didn’t give the Waukon football team much of a chance in hosting Class 3A top-10 rated Independence in the Tribe’s final non-district game of this regular season Friday, September 8, the Indian grid gang made believers out of many, while others may have walked away from that match-up with thoughts of “unbelievable” coursing through their mind.

Whatever the thought, there was no denying the final score, nor the effort that produced it, as the yet winless football Indians went toe-to-toe with the undefeated Mustangs from the larger school. Coming up with timely plays when they needed to, the grid Tribe slugged out just a 7-0 halftime lead and then held off a second half comeback effort by its Independence guests to claim a 28-19 triumph.

The Kee football team continued its early-season roll for 2023, remaining undefeated with a third consecutive win to start its fall campaign and doing so in convincing fashion with a 67-0 home win over Waterloo Christian in a rare Thursday night contest September 7. Even though Waterloo Christian is in its first-ever season of high school football, the Regents do have some players who have played in shared programs with other schools, and Kee football coach Chad Winters did not want his team overlooking its yet winless District 3 opponent after coming off a hard-fought victory less than a week earlier.

“The boys responded how I hoped they would, coming off of a big victory last Friday night,” Coach Winters said. “We wanted to play good football on both sides of the ball and jump out to an early lead. We were able to do that and more. We were extremely efficient on offense again. Defensively, we put in some new wrinkles this week to counter their aerial attack. ”

Taking to the course for the first time in two weeks after having its lone meet scheduled for last week called off due to dry course conditions at the golf course hosting the meet, the Waukon girls cross country team finally competed Thursday, September 7 at the Bob Scott Invitational hosted by North Fayette Valley in West Union. Led by their best finish that was just outside the top 10 individuals, and placing all five of their scored runners within the top one-third of the meet’s large field of 182 runners, the Lady Indians scored 192 points and placed seventh in the final 14-team standings that included four top-20 rated teams, including three within the distance Tribe’s own Class 2A. Freshman Reegan Benzing, who had paced the distance Tribe in its first meet of the season a couple weeks earlier, did not compete in Thursday’s meet due to illness.

The Kee cross country teams ended up competing in just one of two meets they had scheduled for this past week, having the Tuesday, September 5 Clayton Ridge Invitational canceled due to extreme heat conditions that made their way into the area during the early part of last week. In their lone meet this week, the distance Hawks competed in the very large Luther All-American Invitational in Decorah Saturday, September 9 that featured more than 30 high school teams in scoring competition in addition to middle school and college and university team competition in more than half a dozen different races throughout the day.

The Waukon football team continued to try and find its way through another challenging non-district schedule this fall, dropping down a couple classes in school size from its non-district season opener a week ago but moving several steps up in how their opponent is perceived in its class. Playing in front of their hometown fans for the first time this season, the Indians were hosting Class 1A second-rated MFL/MarMac Friday, September 1, having their hands full with another experienced and talented non-district opponent that had played its way to the Class 1A State Play-Off quarterfinals last season, with the Tribe ending up on the short end of Friday’s scoreboard result with a 34-12 defeat.

The Waukon volleyball team played to another split of its matches played this past week, this time putting two each of its four matches in the win and loss columns with splits of double-dual action on separate nights. The net Tribe first played to an even result of two home matches Monday, August 28, falling to Riceville in two straight sets before dealing that sweeping fate to Kee. The Indians suffered a similar fate in another pair of matches played in a quadrangular event played at South Winneshiek Thursday, August 31, first sweeping Central Elkader in two straight sets before falling to the host Warriors in a three-set battle.

The Indians were next scheduled to travel to Waverly-Shell Rock to begin Northeast Iowa Conference play Tuesday, September 5 before playing in the Kepros Tournament hosted by Crestwood High School in Cresco Saturday, September 9. The Tribe netters will then prepare to host their own home tournament Saturday, September 16.

The Kee volleyball team opened its 2023 season with a pair of matches on the same night, coming out on the short end of both of those matches but not without some early-season fight Monday, August 28 in a Waukon double-dual event. The Hawk netters first fell to Riceville by identical final scores of 25-11 and 25-11 in two sets before giving the host Indians a strong battle on the way to falling by just a 25-21 result and a 25-12 tally in another two-set defeat. Riceville also swept its match with Waukon in a pair of sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-19.

Kee’s net squad is next scheduled to play again this Saturday, September 9 in the Kepros Tournament hosted by Crestwood in Cresco. The Lady Hawks will then open their home schedule Tuesday, September 12 when they host Postville before taking part in the Waukon Tournament Saturday, September 16.