Sports

Indian gridders will try to spell out a second State Championship against OABCIG this Friday

The actors were mainly different and the stage was a bit earlier, but the end result was the same - a standing ovation by the Waukon crowd in attendance as their football Indians posted another play-off victory over Williamsburg, 32-14, in their Class 2A State Semifinals game Saturday, November 16 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

The Kee football team played to a season record of 2-7 during its 2019 campaign, a mark that may not indicate just how competitive the grid Hawks truly were this fall. That overall mark included a 2-5 record in the Hawks’ Eight-Player District 3 schedule that placed Kee sixth in the final eight-team District 3 standings.

More than half of this season’s losses for the Hawks came to teams that qualified for this year’s Eight-Man State Play-Offs, including three from the Hawks’ own District 3. Two of those three fellow district squads played their way into the quarterfinals and District 3 champion Turkey Valley had its best-ever season ended in the semifinals by perennial power and Eight-Player State Championship game qualifier Don Bosco. Kee’s gridders gave half of those State Play-Off qualifiers all they wanted until late in the ballgame.

The Waukon volleyball team played its way to a 10-20 season record during its 2019 campaign, including a 1-5 mark in both the Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) dual match season and tournament that placed the net Tribe sixth in the final seven-team standings of each. It was either sweep or be swept on most occasions for the Indians, as all 10 of their match victories came without a single set loss while all but three of their 20 losses came in the reversal of that fortune.

An Oelwein team that won just three sets and no matches this fall was the lone NEIC team the Indians ended up defeating this season, doing so twice to finish ahead of those hapless Huskies in the final league and tournament standings. A total of 13 of this season’s losses came to fellow NEIC squads, including four total losses to Crestwood and a third and season-ending loss to NEIC season champion New Hampton in the opening round of Class 3A regional tournament play.

The Waukon girls basketball program will participate in the Iowa Hall of Pride Scrimmage at Sumner-Fredericksburg High School in Sumner Monday, November 18. A freshman game against the host school will be played at 5 p.m. with junior varsity and varsity games to follow. Admission into the event is one non-perishable food item or a free will donation, all of which will benefit the local food shelf.
 

Grid Tribe advances to third consecutive State semifinals berth, plays Williamsburg this Saturday

Turnovers told the tale of the Waukon football team’s 32-12 home win over West Liberty in the grid Tribe’s Class 2A State Play-Off quarterfinal match-up Friday, November 8. The Indians came up with five second half turnovers to turn over a 12-12 halftime scoreboard knot into 20 unanswered points and turn their play-off fate over to a third consecutive berth in the State semifinals.

“After the game, I told them they were opportunistic, which is something you have to be in football and in life,” Waukon football coach Chad Beermann said. “Take advantage of the opportunities that come to you, and things can turn out well. Our guys were shell-shocked early, but settled down. It was impressive, the way they responded after giving up two scores in less than a minute.”

The top-rated and top-seeded Waukon football team will make its way back to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls for its third consecutive trip to the Class 2A State Play-Off semifinals this Saturday, November 16 to take on 11th-seeded Williamsburg, the team the Indians defeated, 29-0, to win the program’s first-ever football State Championship just two seasons ago in that very same dome. As the undefeated champion of Class 2A District 6, the Raiders put together just a 6-3 regular season record, but have played the role of giant killer in making their way through the Class 2A State Play-Offs, first knocking off fifth-seeded Waterloo Columbus from Waukon’s own District 4 by a 25-8 result and then upsetting second-seeded Clear Lake this past Friday, November 8, 35-21.

The Waukon Wellness Center will be holding its Sixth Annual “Turkey Trot” 5K Run/Walk Thanksgiving Day, November 28 at 8:30 a.m., beginning and ending at the Waukon Wellness Center. The Center is located directly across from Waukon High School at 1220 Third Avenue NW in Waukon.

All runners and walkers are welcome to join in this traditional pre-feast workout. The event is being held this year to help fund the new community tennis court project newly constructed across the street from the Wellness Center near the Waukon High School parking lot.

The Waukon football team ultimately started its journey down another Class 2A State Play-Off road by successfully reaching its initial destination, but not without navigating through some bumps in that road dealt by a Tipton Tiger team that traveled nearly two-and-a-half hours north Friday, November 1. Those bumps included giving away four turnovers while gaining just one of their own, along with a multitude of penalties, but the Indians overcame all of that and then some with big plays of greater than 35 yards resulting in five of the Indians’ seven touchdowns on the way to nearly 500 yards of total offense and an eventual 52-16 first-round State Play-Off victory.

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The 2019 Waukon girls cross country campaign was brought to a close where all teams yearn to have their season ended, as the Lady Indians competed in their third consecutive Class 2A State Cross Country Meet held Saturday, November 2 at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course near Fort Dodge on a day that was mostly sunny but definitely chilled, and even more so by a stiff breeze at times. Ranked 12th in the final Iowa Track and Field Coaches poll heading into the season grand finale, the distance Tribe made that prophecy ring true, placing 12th in that final 15-team Class 2A field and scoring 262 team points to finish just a single point shy of equaling last season’s 11th-place finish for the Indians.

The 2019 State Cross Country Meet proved to be somewhat surprising and bittersweet for the Kee cross country team and many others, as the season grand finale held Saturday, November 2 at a chilly, windswept Lakeside Municipal Golf Course near Fort Dodge provided plenty to cheer about but also some results different than what may have been anticipated, and by more than just the Kee contingency.

The sweetest for the Hawks was nearly as sweet as it can be when Lady Hawk sophomore Haley Meyer ran to Class 1A State Runner-Up honors, just six seconds behind this year’s State Champion. However, with the Lady Hawks ranked third in this season’s final Iowa Track and Field Coaches poll heading into Saturday’s season grand finale, they ended up in sixth place among this season’s Class 1A elite teams.