Sports

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.

The Friday, October 11 Class 2A District 4 match-up at Waterloo between the Waukon Indians and Waterloo Columbus Sailors held “special” meaning within its defense-dominated result.

It was a late-season match-up between two undefeated and top-five ranked teams that held considerable meaning in the final District 4 standings and, thus, automatic qualification for the Class 2A State Play-Offs. But it was special teams that proved to hold the most meaning in finally getting both teams on the scoreboard in what turned out to be a 20-7 Indian victory that put them in the driver’s seat for the District 4 season championship and automatic play-off qualification as the district’s lone remaining undefeated team.

For the second consecutive week, the Kee football team was matched up against an undefeated and top-10 ranked opponent on the road, making the three-hour trip to Preston Friday, October 11 to take on an Easton Valley squad that currently shares the Eight-Player District 3 unblemished lead with Kee’s opponent from the previous week, Turkey Valley. Also for the second consecutive week, unfortunately, a valiant early effort for the Hawks was overshadowed and overtaken by a high-powered Easton Valley offense that was further helped along by five Kee turnovers in ballooning just a 14-6 Kee early deficit into an eventual 67-14 Hawk defeat.

The Hawks will next wrap up the home portion of their schedule for this 2019 season, hosting a Central Elkader team that is still in search of its first victory of the season this Friday, October 18. The Warriors come off a 51-26 home loss to Central City this past Friday in what turned out to be its closest final margin so far this season.