DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Nick Norton led the way with 17 points as Drake had five players in double figures as the Bulldogs opened the season with a 98-52 thumping of Division III Buena Vista on Thursday night.

Norton was almost perfect on the night, hitting 3 of 4 from deep while making 7 of 8 field-goal attempts. He also grabbed five rebounds while dishing out five assists. Liam Robbins added 16 points with six rebounds, Noah Thomas contributed 15 points, Tremell Murphy chipped in 14 with eight rebounds and Anthony Murphy had 12 points with six boards.

Drake scored 54 points in the paint while limiting Buena Vista to just 10 and won the rebound battle 52-33. Garrett Sittner led Buena Vista with 12 points. Dominic Sesma contributed 11.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — It wasn’t all pretty, but it was a pretty impressive collegiate debut for Iowa’s Joe Wieskamp. The true freshman from Muscatine, Iowa scored 15 points, to lead the Hawkeyes (1-0) in a 77-63 season-opening win over UMKC on Thursday night.

“I think it’s kind of what we expect,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “He’s very confident in himself and the game comes easy to him. He plays at both ends of the floor, and played really good defense tonight. He’s tough. I’m just really thrilled for him and satisfied presently for what he’s done. You can tell he’s going to be special. “In the first half he was the only one hitting.”

For his part, Wieskamp wasn’t surprised by his debut, having been with the team since June and working out daily to get his game college-ready. The former Mr. Basketball for the state of Iowa preached confidence as the reason for his steadiness in the opener. “Any time you make your first shot, you know it’s going to be a good game,” Wieskamp said. “My teammates and coaches have the utmost confidence in me, and so that confidence carries over. I know I can score the ball and do a lot of things to help this team win, and that’s what I tried to do.”

The Hawkeyes got 12 points from Jordan Bohannon, as well as 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists from Tyler Cook. Maishe Dailey added 11 points for Iowa.

UP NEXT: Iowa hosts Green Bay on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in the Hawkeyes’ second preliminary game for the 2K Empire Classic.

(Radio Iowa) — The owner of The Field of Dreams Movie Site in Dyersville died on Wednesday after a battle with a rare form of liver cancer. Denise Stillman purchased the famous ball diamond and iconic farm from the Lansing family in 2011 and founded Go the Distance Baseball.

Denise Stillman

The company’s operations manager, Roman Weinberg, says Stillman was a motivating leader who will be deeply missed. “She was a one-of-a-kind spirit and definitely an intelligent, accomplished businesswoman,” Weinberg said. “She was one of those people who could motivate to do just about anything and lift you up, no matter what mood you were in.”

Go the Distance Baseball will continue to move forward, according to Weinberg, just without Stillman’s “visionary” leadership. “The Field of Dreams Movie Site will remain open and operate as normal,” Weinberg said.

The company is also planning to add a youth baseball/softball tournament complex to the property called All-Star Ballpark Heaven. “We are looking at honoring her memory, getting these ballparks built, and fulfilling her dream,” Weinberg said.

The Field of Dreams Movie Site is scheduled to host a 30th Anniversary Celebration on Father’s Day Weekend next summer.

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

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Illinois and Nebraska both enter their game in Lincoln believing they’re on the verge of breakthroughs even though they have just three Big Ten wins between them. The Illini have doubled their win total from 2017 and are coming off their best performance of the season in a 24-point win over Minnesota. Nebraska played Ohio State tough on the road after winning two straight.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Freshman Joe Wieskamp scored 15 points and Iowa overcame a lackluster start to beat UMKC 77-63 in a regional game of the 2K Empire Classic. The Hawkeyes got 12 points from Jordan Bohannon, as well as 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists from Tyler Cook.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Cardinals counterpart Josh Rosen were once roommates at Peyton Manning’s passing camp. On Sunday two of the bright young signal callers in the NFL will face off when the Chiefs welcome the Cardinals to Arrowhead Stadium. Mahomes is off to a record-setting start as the Chiefs’ first-year starter. Rosen is coming off a fourth-quarter comeback win over San Francisco.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs are giving opposing defenses plenty of screen time this season. Whether it’s Kareem Hunt out of the backfield or one of their fleet wide receivers catching the ball behind the line of scrimmage, the Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes have used their vast array of screen passes to help put up some big numbers.

UNDATED (AP) — The Big 12 goes into its final three-weekend stretch with four legitimate contenders to get to the conference championship game. Big 12 co-leaders sixth-ranked Oklahoma and seventh-ranked West Virginia still have to play each other. As do No. 15 Texas and No. 23 Iowa State, who are currently tied for third place. With all that, only Kansas and Kansas State have been mathematically eliminated from title contention.

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Northwestern can clinch the Big Ten West championship and its first appearance in the conference title game simply by winning two of its final three games. The Wildcats would also secure a spot Saturday with a victory at Iowa plus losses by Wisconsin at Penn State and by Purdue, which plays at Minnesota. It’s quite a position for a team that wasn’t widely considered a favorite to win its division, though Northwestern is hardly the only surprise in the Big Ten.

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Larry Fitzgerald is closing in on another milestone, and it’s an impressive one. The 35-year-old receiver needs to catch just 33 yards worth of passes Sunday at Kansas City to move past Hall of Famer Terrell Owens into second place on the NFL’s all-time yards receiving list. As usual, Fitzgerald has brushed aside talk of his milestones.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery announced on Thursday that sophomore Jack Nunge plans to redshirt the 2018-19 season.

The native of Newburgh, Indiana, saw action in all 33 games a year ago, rankingsecond on the team in blocked shots (25), fourth in steals (21), and fifth in scoring (5.7).

Nunge (6-foot-11, 235 pounds) is one of seven forwards on this year’s Iowa roster.

“After discussing with my family and coaching staff I have decided to redshirt this season,” said Nunge. “This decision is not related to an injury, but rather I would like to take the opportunity to use this year to grow my skillset and get stronger. We have an incredibly deep team and I look forward to helping make my teammates and myself better in practice this season.”

Nunge, who will have three years of eligibility remaining after this season, joins freshman CJ Fredrick as Iowa’s two redshirts in 2018-19.

Iowa hosts UMKC tonight in its season opener. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:01 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Iowa State Head Football Coach Matt Campbell released a statement on Thursday afternoon that three players have been suspended from the team indefinitely. Those players are Jaeveyon Morton, Dallas Taylor-Cortez, and Joseph Scates. The players have been suspended from all team activities for a violation of team rules.

No further details were released.

Thursday, November 8

Eight-Player
Rockford 52, Southeast Warren, Liberty Center 19

New London 60, Fremont-Mills 54 OT

Class 3A

Epworth, Western Dubuque 35, Sergeant Bluff-Luton 18

Cedar Rapids Xavier 37, Lewis Central 13

The AHSTW Vikings(11-0) will meet up with the Edgewood-Colesburg Vikings (10-1) on Friday afternoon in the Class A Football Semifinals and we’ll have coverage on KJAN. The game will feature two stout defenses. AHSTW has held their opponents to an average of 11.6 points per game. Edgewood-Colesburg has allowed an equally impressive 10.7 points per game to their opponents.

Edgewood-Colesburg is coming off a defensive battle in the quarterfinal round in which they knocked off Bishop Garrigan 6-0. Ed-Co Head Coach James Rochford said his team has been able to achieve some offensive balance when needed, but the defense has been the bell-cow for his team.

Coach Rochford’s two sons are major leaders for the team. Preston Rochford has rushed for 1,872 yards and 26 touchdowns to lead the offense and  is the leading tackler on the team with 86.5 tackles including 9 for loss and 3 sacks. Parker Rochford is the top receiver on the squad with 24 catches for 452 yards and 8 scores. Coach Rochford said it has been fun having the opportunity to coach his sons who really love the game, as does the rest of the team.

Edgewood-Colesburg forced 5 critical turnovers in that quarterfinal win over Bishop-Garrigan. AHSTW Head Coach Davis Pattee talked about what impresses him about the opponent’s defense.

AHSTW is led by a hard-nosed player in Gabe Pauley who has rushed for 1,595 yards and 24 touchdowns, to go along with his team leading 75 tackles. Blake Osbahr has been efficient at quarterback with 1,941 passing yards and 28 touchdowns with just 5 interceptions thrown.  Drake Partridge, Brayton Tuma, Korbin Martin and others have contributed strongly to the offensive attack. Coach Pattee said the Vikings will need to be good up front and move the ball around to be successful this round.

The battle of the Vikings is set for a 1:00pm kickoff on Friday at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. Chris Parks will have the call on KJAN AM 1220, FM 101.1, online at kjan.com, on the web app, and audio through our facebook page as well. Pregame will begin at 12:00pm. You can also catch the game on our sister-station KNOD 105.3FM in Harlan.

The State Football Semifinals begin today with the 8-Player and Class 3A games being contested at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. Here is a refresher on the full Semifinal schedule this weekend.

Thursday, November 8

Eight-Player
9:00— Rockford (10-1) vs. Southeast Warren, Liberty Center (12-0)

12:00— New London (10-1) vs. Fremont-Mills, Tabor (10-1)

Class 3A
5:30— Epworth, Western Dubuque (9-2) vs. Sergeant Bluff-Luton (10-1)

8:15— Xavier, CR (11-0) vs. Lewis Central (11-0)

Friday, November 9

Class A
10:00— West Hancock, Britt (9-2) vs. Hudson (11-0)

1:00— Edgewood-Colesburg (10-1) vs. AHSTW, Avoca (11-0) (ON KJAN)

Class 4A
4:00— Dowling Catholic, WDM (9-2) vs. Bettendorf (10-1)

7:00— Southeast Polk (6-5) vs. Cedar Falls (11-0)

Saturday, November 10

Class 1A
10:00— Pella Christian (8-3) vs. Dike-New Hartford (11-0)

1:00— West Sioux, Hawarden (10-1) vs. Van Meter (11-0)

Class 2A
4:00— Waukon (10-1) vs. BH/RV (10-1)

7:00— West Liberty (8-3) vs. PCM, Monroe (11-0)