Sports

The top-rated and top-seeded Waukon football team will open its Class 2A State Play-Off journey with a home game this Friday, November 1 against Tipton in a game beginning at 7 p.m. The Tigers hold a 6-3 season record and come out of a tie for the best record, 4-1, in Class 2A District 5 after having their own undefeated district season denied by a 14-13 loss to West Liberty at home this past Friday. With both teams finishing with identical records - West Liberty’s District 5 loss coming to Mount Vernon, Tipton’s loss to those Comets Friday dropped the Tigers to a number-14 seed in the 16-team Class 2A State Play-Off bracket.

The Waukon girls cross country team has earned a third consecutive trip to the Iowa High School State Cross Country Meet to be run at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course located about seven miles north of Fort Dodge this Saturday, November 2. The State Meet consists of four classes of competition, beginning at 11 a.m. with the Class 4A girls race and proceeding with the Class 4A boys at 11:30 and about every half hour after that with respective girls and boys races for each class. The Waukon girls are scheduled to compete at 1 p.m. and will be looking to improve on their 11th-place team finish from last season’s Class 2A State Meet. The Indians return six of their seven competitors from last season’s State Meet team. They will be occupying Box 21 on the 22-box starting grid. The team and individual awards ceremony for Class 2A is slated to begin at approximately 2:20 p.m.

FreedomBank presented a check in the amount of $1,316.00 to the Allamakee Athletic Booster Club from proceeds the bank received through its annual Homecoming Tailgate Party held Friday, October 4 at Waukon High School. Serving hamburgers and hot dogs grilled by the Allamakee County Cattlemen, the bank accepted free will donations with all proceeds being donated to the Allamakee Athletic Booster Club. Pictured above at the donation check presentation are, left to right, Barb Shull of FreedomBank, Amy Opperman of the Allamakee Athletic Booster Club, Mary Jo Goodman of FreedomBank and Joel Courtney of the Allamakee Athletic Booster Club. FreedomBank has donated a total of $13,079.08 to the Allamakee Athletic Booster club in the 10 years this event has been held. Submitted photo.
 

The Kee football team brought its season to a close Friday, October 25 at Midland, but not before giving that host Eagle team fighting for extension of its own season a strong challenge that eventually waned away in the final frame to a 36-18 Hawk defeat. The Kee gridders answered Midland nearly blow-for-blow to just a 20-18 deficit through three full frames but had that pace derailed in the fourth quarter to result in a final 16-0 Eagle outburst that provided a majority of the game’s final doubled-up margin.

The loss ends Kee’s football season at a 2-7 overall record that included a mark of 2-5 that placed the Hawks sixth in the final eight-team standings of Eight-Man District 3. The Midland victory allowed the Eagles to improve to 7-2 overall and a third-place record of 5-2 in District 3 play that all proved to be good enough to land them one of the final State Play-Off seeds and a first-round date at HLV-Victor this Friday, November 1.

Waukon girls cross country team earns third consecutive qualification for Class 2A State Meet with runner-up finish at State Qualifier

For the third consecutive season the Waukon girls cross country team has proven itself among the Class 2A elite, running to its third straight State Meet qualification Thursday, October 24 at the Class 2A State Qualifying Meet hosted by North Fayette Valley High School in West Union. In an 11-team field where they were one of three ranked teams vying for a top-three finish to earn State Meet qualification, the 13th-rated Indians benefited from having all five of their scored runners finish within the top 23 individuals overall, and within the top 20 scored runners, to score 60 team points and firmly secure a runner-up team result and advancement to this year’s season grand finale once again.

Despite the Waukon football team’s Friday, October 25 final game of the regular season at North Fayette Valley featuring the already State Play-Off clinched Indians taking on a transitioning TigerHawk team bringing its season to a close, there was still plenty to play for besides the natural rivalry that seems to have developed between the two squads over the last several seasons. The Indians had a chance to gain further play-off advantage with a pending top billing in the final Class 2A State Play-Off seeding process resulting in hosting their first two postseason games and an even more historical motivation of being the first Indian grid squad in the Iowa high school football play-off era to complete an undefeated regular season and the first such season since the grid Tribe played to unblemished marks under Coach Walter “Red” Rixen in both 1953 and 1957.

Kee cross country girls run to third consecutive State Meet qualification in championship fashion; Junior Chris Wagner becomes first Kee boys State qualifier since 1994 season

A trip to the season grand finale was on the line at the Class 1A State Qualifying Cross Country Meet hosted by Cedar Falls High School Thursday, October 24, and for the first time since anyone can recall, and quite possibly ever, both the Kee girls and boys cross country programs will each be represented at the season-climaxing Class 1A State Cross Country Meet in the same year. The Hawk girls earned their third consecutive State Meet team qualification in championship fashion at the Cedar Falls State Qualifier, while the Hawk boys were headlined by the individual State Meet qualification earned by junior Chris Wagner.

A win this Friday would complete first undefeated regular season since the 1950s

The Waukon football team put on quite an offensive display for its hometown fans in the Tribe’s final regular season game at home Friday, October 18, scoring on every one of its first-half possessions to bolt to a 60-0 lead by the halftime break on the way to a 66-0 victory over an Anamosa squad coming off its first win of the season last week. Those 66 points are the most scored by a Waukon football team since a 67-6 home victory over Fillmore Central out of Minnesota to start the Tribe’s 2007 campaign and the most scored by a team under the guidance of Indian head coach Chad Beermann since his final season at Valley CEW, where his Tigers defeated Cedar Valley Christian by a 72-0 result in Eight-Man play during the 2012 season.

Friday, October 18 was the final time the Kee football team would play in front of its hometown fans for this 2019 season, the final time this season’s nine seniors would compete on their home football field. That final home stand of 2019 proved to be one to remember for both those fans and those seniors, as the Hawks erupted for the most points they’ve scored since the 2012 season, finding the end zone on all but two of its offensive possessions in the ballgame on the way to rolling to a 72-6 triumph in Eight-Player District 3 play over a Central Elkader team still in search of its first win of the season.