Radio Iowa has released their opening top ten rankings for the 2017 high school football season in each class.

Locally Audubon checks in at #3 in the opening 8-man rankings as they return a strong core from an 8-2 squad last season.  Fremont-Mills is right behind them at #4 coming off a semifinal run last year.

St. Albert is #2 in the opening Class A rankings after their appearance in the semifinals last year.

Kuemper Catholic is ranked #3 in Class 2A coming off a 9-2 season that ended in the quarterfinals.

Creston Orient-Macksburg checks in at #7 in the Class 3A poll and Lewis Central is #6 in Class 4A.

Class 4A
1. Dowling Catholic
2. Ankeny Centennial
3. Iowa City West
4. WDM Valley
5. Cedar Rapids Washington
6. Lewis Central
7. Waukee
8. Cedar Rapids Prairie
9. Pleasant Valley
10.Cedar Falls

Class 3A
1. Pella
2. West Delaware
3. Sioux City Heelan
4. Norwalk
5. Cedar Rapids Xavier
6. Sergeant Bluff-Luton
7. Creston/O-M
8. Webster City
9. Solon
10.Storm Lake

Class 2A
1. Williamsburg
2. Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley
3. Carroll Kuemper
4. Union (LaPorte City)
5. PCM (Monroe)
6. Mount Vernon
7. South Central Calhoun
8. Aplington-Parkersburg (1-0)
9. Waukon
10.Central Lyon/GLR

Class 1A
1. Iowa City Regina
2. West Lyon
3. Western Christian
4. Denver
5. Van Meter
6. Panorama
7. Bellevue
8. Sigourney-Keota
9. South Winneshiek
10.Pleasantville

Class A
1. Gladbrook-Reinbeck
2. Council Bluffs St. Albert
3. Lynnville-Sully
4. West Sioux
5. Lisbon
6. Algona Garrigan
7. West Hancock
8. Hudson
9. East Buchanan
10.Earlham

8-man
1. Harris-Lake Park
2. Don Bosco
3. Audubon
4. Fremont-Mills
5. Newell-Fonda
6. Turkey Valley
7. Graettinger-Terril/R-A
8. Midland (Wyoming)
9. HLV (Victor) (1-0)
10.East Union

The Atlantic Trojan Volleyball team is set to open up the new season tonight at home for a quadrangular. The Trojans are looking to improve on their 4-28 record a year ago and will be using a mix of youth and experience to try to accomplish that.

The Trojans lost their kill-leader from last year Catherine Leonard to graduation but do bring back their second and third leaders in that category in Cheyenne Elliot and Sidney Svoboda.

The Trojans will also need to replace the setter position with the graduation of Megan Behrends. It will have to be an inexperienced player at the varsity level to fill that roll.

Atlantic had some success during the summer with a strong showing at the Iowa State team camp and have had a number of other off season workouts and scrimmages to prepare for the year.

The Trojans will welcome in CAM, ACGC, and Earlham for the opening quad tonight at the Atlantic High School Gymnasium. Action is set to begin at 5:00pm.

w/ Chris Parks

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Preseason AP Top 25 (first-place votes in parenthesis):

1. Alabama (52)
2. Ohio State (3)
3. Florida State (4)
4. USC (2)
5. Clemson
6. Penn State
7. Oklahoma
8. Washington
9. Wisconsin
10. Oklahoma State
11. Michigan
12. Auburn
13. LSU
14. Stanford
15. Georgia
16. Louisville
17. Florida
18. Miami
19. South Florida
20. Kansas State
21. Virginia Tech
22. West Virginia
23. Texas
24. Washington State
25. Tennessee

Others receiving votes: TCU (98), Utah (85), Notre Dame (65), Boise State (37), NC State (26), Northwestern (25), Pittsburgh (23), Oregon (21), Houston (19), Colorado (18), UCLA (9), San Diego State (9), BYU (5), Appalachian State (4), Nebraska (4), Tulsa (4), Kentucky (3), Texas A&M (3), Michigan State (1).

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WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Josh Bell homered and drove in four runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates over the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 in the Little League Classic on Sunday night. The teams played at renovated Bowman Field, a minor league ballpark located 5 miles from where the Little League World Series is taking place. Sitting in the front rows were admiring Little Leaguers who got to mingle with the big league stars earlier in the day, part of a Major League Baseball initiative to celebrate youth baseball.

After the final out of the first regular-season game in Williamsport, the Pirates shook hands on the field as usual after a victory. And then, in a nod to Little League baseball, both teams lined up at home plate and shook hands with each other, throwing in some hugs and high-fives to finish off a feel-good day.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Cristie Kerr and Paula Creamer won singles matches Sunday to help the U.S. beat Europe in the Solheim Cup. Gerina Piller sealed it with a birdie putt that put her 3 up over Florentyna Parker with three to play. The Americans also won the Cup in 2015 and are 10-5 in the biennial tournament.

Kerr beat Mel Reid 2 and 1, and Creamer edged Georgia Hall 1 up after Hall missed a 4-foot par putt on the 18th hole. Lexi Thompson halved Anna Nordqvist after trailing by four holes, and Angel Yin halved Karine Icher.

Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

CINCINNATI (AP) — Rookie Patrick Mahomes threw a pair of touchdown passes, solidifying his spot as the Chiefs’ primary backup, and three Kansas City quarterbacks threw for a score on Saturday night during a 30-12 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Kansas City (1-1) got a lot to like out of its offense overall and its top pick in particular. The Chiefs scored on each of their first five possessions for a 30-9 lead. Alex Smith was 8 of 9 for 83 yards with a TD, and Tyler Bray threw an 18-yard touchdown on his first play.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Trevor Bauer pitched 6 1/3 innings as the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 5-0 on Saturday night. Bauer (12-8) won his fifth straight decision — the longest winning streak of his career that started after a July 17 loss. He gave up seven hits, walked two and struck out four.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Adam Frazier homered, doubled and singled as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 Saturday to end a six-game losing streak. The Cardinals scored 11 runs in each of their two wins to start this series. Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer in the eighth and Jose Martinez homered in the ninth.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Terence Crawford stopped Julius Indongo in the third round Saturday night to become the undisputed world champion at 140 pounds. Crawford sent Indongo to the canvas with a right to the body in the last minute of the second round and just missed with a massive left hook before the bell. Midway through the third round, Crawford caught Indongo with a left hook to the body that put him down writhing in pain. Crawford (32-0, 23 knockouts) was in his home state for the fifth time in nine fights but for the first time in Lincoln.

All games non-district

CLASS 8-Player:

Bedford 60, Essex 24
CAM 70, Lenox 36
Ar-We-Va, Westside 44, Stanton 42
Woodbine 70, West Harrison, Mondamin 21

Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The United States swept the afternoon fourball matches to take a 5 1/2-2 1/2 lead over Europe in the Solheim Cup at Des Moines Golf and Country Club. Lizette Salas and U.S. newcomer Danielle Kang each won two matches, teaming to beat Carlota Ciganda and Caroline Masson 1 up for the Americans’ lone full point in the morning foursomes, then leading the U.S. to its first ever fourball sweep in the afternoon.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals have placed reliever Joakim Soria on the disabled list with a left oblique strain and recalled right-hander Kevin McCarthy from Triple-A Omaha. The 33-year-old former closer has had a roller-coaster season for Kansas City, compiling a 3.96 ERA in 53 appearances as the primary setup man for Kelvin Herrera.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Corey Kluber put together another Cy Young-worthy performance before leaving with a sprained right ankle Friday night, and Jay Bruce homered twice to help the Cleveland Indians rout the Kansas City Royals 10-1 in the opener of their three-game series. Jason Kipnis and Bruce took Ian Kennedy deep in the first inning, and Bruce added a three-run shot in the seventh to finish with five RBIs.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Matt Carpenter homered in the second inning to send the St. Louis Cardinals on to an 11-10 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates Friday night. St. Louis has won 10 of their past 13 games despite losing three straight from August 13th through 16th.

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) — An NFL linebacker who had a New Jersey gun charge against him dropped says people started looking at him differently and accusing him of being a thug even though the case against him “was false.” Former Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Khaseem Greene’s lawyer says the gun charge was dropped last month because the man who said he gave Greene a weapon admitted he lied. Greene said Friday the legal trouble has been “probably the toughest time” of his life “emotionally and mentally.”