Sports

After opening this season’s unique State Play-Off format with a first-round victory last Friday, the Kee football team’s reward was a trip to Janesville Friday, October 23 to face a highly-regarded Wildcat team that was on a seven-game winning streak after a single, season-opening loss nearly two months ago. Despite that formidable task, the Hawks battled the host Wildcats to just a 14-point deficit before a series of unfortunate events right before the halftime break helped a 34-20 Kee deficit at that point snowball into a 62-20 hole by the end of the third frame.

“Give Janesville credit, they are a great football team that is peaking at the right time of the year,” Kee football coach Chad Winters said. “After their season-opening loss to Easton Valley where they dug themselves into a 20-0 hole, they have absolutely rolled everything in their path.”

A mild drought ended at the Class 2A State Qualifying Cross Country Meet at Jesup Thursday, October 22, but it had little to do with the rain that fell during that evening’s competition. After three consecutive seasons of missing out on qualifying for the season grand finale State Meet, the 12th-rated Waukon boys cross country team was able to bring an end to that high-end dry spell with a second-place team finish, scoring 100 team points to finish between the championship effort of second-rated Tipton and the final qualifying third-place team finish of 11th-rated North Fayette Valley, both of those teams also qualifying for this year’s season grand finale.

The Kee cross country teams had to wait a day to see if their 2020 season would be extended yet another week, as the Hawks’ Class 1A State Qualifying Meet hosted by Clayton Ridge High School at Guttenberg was postponed from Thursday, October 22 to Friday, October 23 due to rainy weather. That postponement proved to be well worth the wait for the distance Hawks, as they will once again have both their girls and boys programs represented at the State Meet season grand finale after earning full team qualification for the Lady Hawks for the fourth consecutive season and the boys having senior Chris Wagner also qualify among the state’s elite for the second consecutive season.

The first step down the Class 2A State Play-Off road proved to be a continuation of the journey the Waukon football team has traveled through all of its Class 2A opponents this season, as the Indians opened their postseason trail with a 56-14 home win over the  Forest City Indians Friday, October 23. The grid Tribe used a well-balanced offensive attack helped along by five turnovers secured by the defensive side of the ball that were all taken advantage, with five of the host Indians’ seven scoring drives in the contest covering 35 yards or less and another touchdown coming on a special teams play to complete a well-rounded home Indian effort overall.

The Kee football team got its 2020 postseason journey off to a strong start in posting a 50-24 home victory over fellow Upper Iowa Conference squad Turkey Valley Friday, October 16. Even though the points on the scoreboard tell the ultimate tale of victory, Kee football coach Chad Winters has no doubt that the Hawk win came at the line of scrimmage, where his offensive line allowed its backfield teammates to rush for nearly 400 yards on the ground and five of Kee’s seven touchdowns on the night.

The Kee volleyball team brought its regular season to a close, matching up against the final two Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) teams that the Lady Hawks had not faced yet in league match play this season. In those two final matches, however, the Kee netters ended up suffering the same fate as in their last five UIC bouts, coming up on the short end of the final result. The Hawks fell in three sets in both of those matches, doing so at Turkey Valley Tuesday, October 13 before suffering that same result at home against MFL/MarMac Thursday, October 15.

Finishing the regular season with a 4-11 record that included a 1-7 mark in Upper Iowa Conference play, the volleyball Hawks were next scheduled to begin their Class 1A regional tournament Monday, October 19 at Turkey Valley. Results of that Monday evening match are printed in a shaded box elsewhere on the Sports pages in the October 21, 2020 print edition and e-edition of the Standard.

The Waukon girls cross country team ran to a fifth-place team finish among their conference peers Tuesday, October 13 at the Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) Meet hosted by Crestwood in Cresco. The Indians were without their season-long front-runner, senior Annika Headington, due to quarantine precautions from COVID-19 close contact exposure last week, and tallied 123 team points while missing out on having any runners record a top-15 All-Conference finish.

The Indians are next scheduled to compete in their Class 2A State Qualifying Meet scheduled for Thursday, October 22 at Jesup at 4 p.m. Additional details about the distance Tribe’s State Qualifying Meet can be found in a shaded box elsewhere on the Sports pages in the October 21, 2020 print edition and e-edition of the Standard.

The Waukon boys cross country team ran to its best Northeast Iowa Conference Meet finish since the 2016 season when the distance Tribe finished third among their conference peers Tuesday, October 13 at Cresco. Behind the All-Conference finish of sophomore Nathan O’Neill, the Indians scored 100 team points to claim that NEIC bronze team finish.

The Indians are next scheduled to compete in their Class 2A State Qualifying Meet scheduled for Thursday, October 22 at Jesup, beginning at 4 p.m. Additional details about the distance Tribe’s State Qualifying Meet can be found in a shaded box elsewhere on the Sports pages in the October 21, 2020 print edition and e-edition of the Standard.

For more complete coverage, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition by clicking here.

The Waukon boys cross country team took part in its final invitational meet of the 2020 season, running in the South Winneshiek Invitational Tuesday, October 6. The Indians finished third in the seven-team field of scored varsity teams, tallying 74 team points behind all five of their scored runners finishing within the top 20 of the 47-runner varsity race field.

The Indians are next scheduled to compete at the Northeast Iowa Conference Meet at the Cresco Golf Course Tuesday, October 13. The Tribe will then prepare for its Class 2A State Qualifying Meet scheduled for Thursday, October 22 at a site yet to be assigned, with Jesup being the closest of five Class 2A State Qualifying sites.

For more complete coverage, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition by clicking here.

The Kee girls and boys cross country teams competed in their final invitational meet of the 2020 season, traveling to New Hampton Thursday, October 8. The Hawks did not have the required five runners to compile a team score in any of the meet’s races.

For the first time this season, the Kee cross country girls did not have enough runners to compile a team score at the varsity level of competition. The Lady Hawks were without the services of the junior pair of Class 1A top-rated Haley Meyer and Reagan Mudderman at Thursday’s meet.

The Kee cross country boys had only three runners competing the varsity race at New Hampton, not enough for a team score.