Sports

Facing a large graduation loss from last season’s third State Play-Off qualifying team in the last four seasons, along with the narrowing of the State Play-Off field to half as many teams this season, there weren’t many outside the team huddle who gave the 2016 Waukon football team much of a chance to once again be a play-off contender, or even produce a winning season record, for that matter.

Luckily, it’s the ones inside that huddle who have more control over that result, doing so to the tune of a 6-3 season record and a 5-2 Class 2A District 4 mark that left the Indians third in their district and knocking on the door of yet another State Play-Off qualification. The trimming of the State Play-Offs by the Iowa High School Athletic Association to just a 16-team field to try and eliminate such a strenuous play-off schedule allowed for only the first two teams in each district to automatically qualify for postseason play, along with two at-large wild card teams.

The 2016 Kee football season played out to a 3-6 overall record, but 10 points or less in four of those losses would have made for a much different result for this season. All three of those Kee victories this season came in the Hawks’ Eight-Player District 3, where Kee ended up in fourth place in the final seven-team standings with a 3-3 record against District 3 foes.

Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank (FMSB) of Waukon and Decorah recently presented a check in the amount of $905 to the Allamakee Athletic Booster Club for proceeds the bank received through its 2016 Tailgate Party held during the Waukon High School Homecoming football game September 30. Serving hamburgers and hot dogs grilled by the Allamakee Cattlemen’s Association, the bank accepted free will donations for the meal with all proceeds being donated to the Allamakee Athletic Booster Club. Pictured below, left to right, Sara Miller and Barb Shull of Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank present the donation check to Shawn Nagel and Connie Gordon of the Allamakee Athletic Booster Club. Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank has presented $9,030.83 in donations to the Booster Club over the seven years this Homecoming tailgate event has been held. Submitted photo.
 

The 2016 Waukon Middle School football season has come to an end, and the coaching staff says the future looks bright for Indian football. The eighth grade team had 37 players out this year and ended the season with a 3-5 season record, being credited by the coaching staff for working hard and showing great progress throughout the season. The seventh grade team had 22 players out and ended with a 4-1-1 season record, with the coaching staff saying this group has great potential as they continue through their middle and high school careers. This year’s middle school football program was under the direction of coaches Blaine Snitker, Tim Bulman, Mason Berns and Tharin Benson.

The 2016 season came to a close for the Waukon boys cross country team where more than 50 other Class 2A teams would love to have been. For the third consecutive season the Indian distance delegation competed among the Class 2A elite, finishing in the same 12th-place spot they did last season in the final team standings.

BOYS TEAM SCORES
Mid-Prairie Wellman 98; Unity Christian 115; Western Christian 130; George-Little Rock 148; Garner-Hayfield-Ventura 163; South Hamilton 164; South Winneshiek 180; Clear Lake 186; East Marshall 191; Aplington-Parkersburg 194; Tipton 226; WAUKON 253; Ogden 274; Roland-Story 330; Monticello 376

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Kee girls cross country sophomore Katie Brennan makes her way along the course in her Class 1A State Cross Country Meet debut Saturday, October 29 at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course near Fort Dodge. Brennan finished within the top 20% of the Class 1A elite at the season grand finale, edging out two other runners by less than one second at the finish line to place 29th overall out of 143 runners in a time of 20:57.0.

“It was not her best time but certainly a very respectable effort,” Kee girls cross country coach Pat Wagner said. “Her presence at Fort Dodge represents a big step for our program. It was an important weekend for our program. The high school girls got to witness Iowa’s best distance runners in action and I think they came away with a feeling that we can compete at that level. More than that, I felt like we came home with a goal of running there as a team next season.”

Senior Tyler O’Neill claims individual title to lead Indians to team crown by a single point

Heading into its Thursday, October 20 State Qualifying Meet at Monticello as Class 2A’s 15th-rated team and competing in a field that contained at least three other teams that either currently are or had been ranked within that same top-15 elite, the Waukon boys cross country team sent shockwaves through the Class 2A postseason by running to both the team and individual championships to earn qualification for the Class 2A State Cross Country Meet for the third consecutive season.

The 2016 cross country season came to a close for all but one member of the Kee cross country team at the Hawks’ Class 1A State Qualifying Meet at Cedar Falls Thursday, October 20. That one member is Kee girls sophomore Katie Brennan, who finished just within the brink of top-15 individual State Meet qualification to lead the Kee cross country girls to their own brink of team qualification for the State Meet with a fourth-place finish just beyond the top-three finish required for team qualification. Brennan’s State Cross Country Meet qualification is believed to be the first for the Lady Hawks of any kind since the 1996 season when the Kee girls qualified as a team.

Game result leaves grid Tribe short of State Play-Off bid

Despite winning three of four quarters, the Waukon football team had its 2016 season brought to a close Friday evening, October 21, but not before battling for its State Play-Off life right down to the final seconds of a 34-16 loss at Class 2A’s top-rated North Fayette Valley. The Indians held the host TigerHawks to just seven points throughout the game’s final three quarters while outscoring them with 16 points of their own, but a 27-0 first-quarter eruption by North Fayette Valley proved to be too much to overcome.

Friday’s loss came to the same program and at the same location where many of this season’s Indian gridders also had their season and play-off run ended last fall in the quarterfinal round of the Class 2A State Play-Offs.

The Kee football team ended its season on a dominating note, posting its largest margin of victory this season with a 61-13 rout of winless West Central at home Friday, October 21. The win ends the Hawks’ 2016 season with a 3-6 overall record, including a 3-3 mark that placed the Hawks fourth in the final seven-team standings in Eight-Player District 3.

Rud led Kee’s defense with five solo tackles and four assisted stops, being joined by junior William Mitchell in each wrapping up a solo quarterback sack. Carroll and fellow senior Jacob Walleser each added four solo stops, with senior Tyler Reinhart and sophomore Shawn Wild each adding three individual defensive halts.