Sports

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.

The Waukon volleyball team wrapped up its regular season by solidifying sixth-place finishes in both its Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) regular season and at the NEIC Tournament this past week, completing both with 1-5 records against NEIC foes for sixth-place finishes in league play. That regular season effort was completed by a three-set sweep at home suffered at the hands of Charles City Tuesday, October 15, with the net Tribe then running through its NEIC opponents again all in one day at the NEIC Tournament hosted by New Hampton Saturday, October 19 to again defeat just one those six teams - the same winless Oelwein team the Indians beat during the regular season.

Haley Meyer and Chris Wagner each run to UIC Runner-Up honors; All five scored girls are All-UIC

The Kee cross country teams wrapped up their 2019 regular season schedule with the annual Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) Meet hosted by Clayton Ridge Thursday, October 17 in Guttenberg. Both the Hawks’ girls and boys teams boasted the UIC individual runner-up in their respective races, with the Kee girls landing all five of their scored runners within the All-Conference top 15 in their respective races to return to the top of the team summit as this year’s UIC team champions.

In its only competition scheduled for the week, the Waukon volleyball team hosted fellow Northeast Iowa Conference squad Crestwood in its annual “Think Pink” Night to raise awareness of October being designated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. With both teams adorned in pink jerseys for the night, it was the Indians who ended up on the short end of a black-and-blue battle with the visiting Cadets, falling in straight sets by narrow scores of 22-25, 23-25 and 17-25.

The Kee volleyball team continued its trend of Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) match splits for another week, adding another UIC victory to its season record before having that fate reversed in a busy week of competition. The Lady Hawks first picked up that UIC win in four sets at Postville Tuesday, October 8 before falling at home to MFL/MarMac Thursday, October 10 in three sets. The Kee netters then traveled to Riceville Saturday, October 12 for their final weekend tournament of the season, winning three of four matches on the day to sweep their way into the championship bracket round of play before having their tournament day ended in the opening round of that bracket round.