The 8-0 Lenox Tigers football team are focused and ready for their matchup this Friday against the 3-5 Exira-EHK Spartans in the first round of the 8-player playoffs. Lenox has seamlessly cut through the regular season with their closest game being a 28-point victory against a talented Bedford program.

Co-Head Coach Cole Bonde noted that the Tigers have seen large amounts of success from the leadership of their senior class with athletes like Gabe Funk and Jordan-Martin-England.

The Lenox offense has been nearly unstoppable this year thanks to the arm and decision making of Funk. Funk has thrown for 957 yards, 15 touchdowns, and only one interception on the year. Combined with the ground game of Martin-England’s 81 carries, 735 rushing yards, and 17 scores the duo have been hard to contain.

Defensively the Tigers have been led by Brody Brokaw with 37.5 tackles and 7.5 tackles for a loss. Laramie Stoaks is another defensive back who leads the team in interceptions with four and has minimized most teams passing attacks.

While studying film in preparation for Friday, coach Bonde noted that Exira-EHK tends to be creative with their schemes. That creativity lends the Spartans numerous opportunities to score and take momentum away.

One of Lenox’s main focuses heading into Friday is to quickly create explosive plays and get an early lead. This offensive mentality has kindled a Tiger offense that is scoring 55-points a game.

KJAN will have the coverage for Friday’s contest with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m.

Drake coach Todd Stepsis says the Bulldogs will focus on the run game during their bye week. Drake has ridden the arm of quarterback Luke Bailey to a 5-1 overall record and 4-0 start in the Pioneer Football League race, but the Bulldogs are only averaging 88 yards on the ground and only ran the ball 20 times in last week’s 19-16 overtime win at Presbyterian.

Drake blocked a potential walk off field goal to send the game to overtime and survived despite several redzone turnovers.

Drake continues to excel in close games. The Bulldogs have won 15 straight PFL games dating back to 2022 and 10 of them have been by a touchdown or less.

Stepsis says they are using the bye week to get the starters some rest and prepare for the stretch run.

The Bulldogs return to action at home on November second against Marist.

Iowa had lofty goals coming into the season but only seven games in the Hawkeyes’ hopes of competing for a Big Ten title and a spot in the expanded college football playoffs are gone. They take a 4-3 record into Saturday’s game at home against Northwestern.

That’s Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara who believes the Hawkeyes have what it takes to bounce back.

McNamara was 11 of 23 from 150 yards in a 32-20 loss at Michigan State and knows he needs to be better going forward.

Tight end Luke Lachey says the Hawkeyes are not going to quit.

Lachey says despite his struggles for much of the season he remains confident in McNamara.

Northwestern coach David Braun says Iowa’s offense has made progress this season, even though the way they play has not changed. The Wildcats take a 3-4 overall record into Kinnick Stadium on Saturday.

Braun says with running back Kaleb Johnson the Hawkeyes have a big play threat.

Braun says new offensive coordinator Tim Lester has put his stamp on the offense.

Under Braun the Wildcats have played well on special teams. He says that will be a challenge against the Hawkeyes.

The Lynnville-Sully Hawks football team will travel to Oakland this Friday to play the Riverside Bulldogs in the first round of the playoffs. The Hawks ended the regular season with a 5-3 overall record while going 4-2 in District 6. Lynnville-Sully Started the season the 2-0 with wings against Danville and North Mahaska. Though they followed this up with two losses to Madrid and Pleasantville. However, after splitting the first four games of the season, the Hawks won three of their last four games in route to third place in the district.

Head Coach Michael Parkinson was happy that the team found their identity while battling through some adversity.

The Lynnville-Sully offense is led by a quarterback – wide receiver duo. Senior quarterback Lannon Montgomery has thrown for 878 yards and 7 touchdowns while completing over 61% of his passes.  On the perimeter junior Jack Bowlin is the Hawks biggest threat with 5 touchdowns and 538 receiving yards. Despite the solid passing numbers, expect to see a balanced attack from the Hawks.

Bowlin and his teammate Terran Gosselink both converted to Wide receivers this year and Parkinson has been very pleased with their production.

but he also knows that having a senior quarterback to get them the ball is invaluable. Something they had to go without while Montgomery was out with an injury earlier in the season.

Leading the way for the Lynnville-Sully defense has been Dawson James. He currently leads the team with 61 total tackles and 48 solo while ranking second with 22.5 tackles for loss. Parkinson said that there are lots of unsung heroes on the team but is proud of James’ effort and production.

Awaiting the Hawks is Jaxon Gordon and the Riverside Bulldogs.  Jaxon finished the regular season with a whopping 1649 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns. Parkinson was complimentary of Jaxon and the Bulldogs and knows stopping their offense will be a challenge.

Kickoff from Oakland will be at 7 pm.

Class 3A Region 7 Quarterfinals

• Kuemper Catholic – 3 vs Harlan – 0
• Des Moines Christian – 3 vs Greene County – 0
• Clarinda – 3 vs Atlantic – 0
• Van Meter – 3 vs Red Oak – 2

4A Region 5 First Round 

• Carroll – 3 vs Denison-Schleswig – 2 

Class 4A Region 7 First Round 

• Creston – 3 vs Perry – 1

The Atlantic Trojan volleyball team lost in three straight sets to the Clarinda Cardinals on Tuesday night in the Class 3A Region 7 Quarterfinals. From the initial serve the Cardinals were a step ahead of Atlantic with multiple kills from Jerzee Knight as she totaled 11 on the night and multiple blocks with six total from 6’1 junior Carsen Wellhausen. The Trojans would quickly find themselves down early on in the set and never managed to catch up as the Cardinals won the first set 25-9.

In set number two Atlantic looked poised tying up the score numerous times throughout the set. A large part of the Trojans success was from the efforts of senior Paytn Harter and junior Lila Wiederstein. But, those two would not be enough to stop the strategic sets and tough blocks from Clarinda as set number two was captured by a score of 25-14.

The third set saw more fight from Atlantic as the Trojans had multiple deep rallies creating opportunities to gain points and attempt to carry the match on to a fourth set. Still, Clarinda did not buckle under the accurate swings from Harter and tactful serves by Peyton McLaren. The match eventually ended in the third set with a final result of 25-14.

Tuesday’s loss ends Atlantic’s season with a final record of 7-25. The Cardinals win advances them to Thursday’s semifinals against Van Meter.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says quarterbacks Cade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan are both doing well in practice, but Ferentz is not making a quarterback change for Saturday’s game against Northwestern.

Ferentz says he has confidence in Sullivan, who transferred to Iowa from Northwestern, but McNamara is the starter.

Ferentz says the Hawkeye offense and defense have to focus on the details of what went wrong at Michigan State as they prepare for this week’s game against Northwestern.

Ferentz says the team’s defensive miscues are uncharacteristic. The Hawkeyes current rank 83rd in pass yards allowed per game.

Saturday’s Iowa-Northwestern game in Iowa City is scheduled to start at 2:30.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa women’s wrestling head coach Clarissa Chun released the full schedule for the 2024-25 season on Tuesday. The Hawkeyes will host two home duals inside of Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Hawkeyes capped off their inaugural season with six individual national champions and a team title. Four of those individual champions return for the 2024-25 season, including Emilie Gonzalez , Ava Bayless, Reese Larramendy, and Kylie Welker. Iowa returns nine of its 12 All-Americans including Lilly Luft, Ella Schmit, Sterling Dias, Jaycee Foeller, Emilie and Brianna Gonzalez, Bayless, Larramendy and Welker. The roster includes 11 newcomers with seven freshmen and four transfers. Two of the roster additions include 2024 Olympic Silver medalist Kennedy Blades and 2023 U23 World Silver medalist Macey Kilty.

2024-25 Women’s Wrestling Schedule

• Nov. 2 – Luther Hill Open – Indianola, Iowa
• Nov. 8 – Life Dual – Marietta, Ga.
• Nov. 9 – Eagle Madness Open – Marietta, Ga.
• Nov. 16 – Home Dual vs. William Jewell and Cornell College – Iowa City, Iowa
• Nov. 22-23 – Missouri Valley Open – Marshall, Mo.
• Dec. 7 – Jewell Dual Tournament – Liberty, Mo.
• Dec. 15 – NCC Open – Naperville, Ill.
• Dec. 29-30 – Soldier Salute – Coralville, Iowa
• Jan. 10-11 – National Duals – Cedar Falls, Iowa
• Jan. 18 – Home Dual vs. Augustana College and Grand Valley State – Iowa City, Iowa
• Jan. 25 – College Duals vs. Lock Haven, Sacred Heart, Presbyterian and Buffalo St. – Albany, NY
• Feb. 1 – Grand View Open – Des Moines, Iowa
• Feb. 22 – NCWWC Region VII Championships – Indianola, Iowa
• Mar. 8-9 – NCWWC National Championships – Coralville, Iowa

Reigning Missouri Valley Conference Player-of-the-Year Katie Dinnebier says the next step for the Drake women is to win a game in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs are favored to win a third straight Missouri Valley title but the last two years ended with an opening round loss in the NCAA Tournament.

Dinnebier says the Bulldogs are not satisfied by just getting to the tournament.

Drake’s biggest challenge may come from UNI. The Panthers have an experienced squad led by forward Grace Boffeli who is hoping for a healthy season.

Boffeli says experience is a strength.

The Panthers open November fifth against Wisconsin-Lacrosse. The Bulldogs open November fourth at North Dakota State.