AHSTW struggled early but won a thriller 30-28 in triple overtime Friday night over Alta/Aurelia.

Four first half possessions led to three fumbles and a punt for the Vikings as they fell behind 14-0 at halftime.

After five straight three and outs by the two teams in the third quarter, Gabe Pauley carried three times for all 45 yards in a drive that ended with the senior going in from seven yards to cut the deficit to 14-7. A Warrior fumble in the fourth quarter led to another Pauley touchdown run of 18 yards to tie the game at 14-all. After another Warrior fumble set the Vikings up late, a 30 yard field goal try was blocked and the two teams went to overtime.

In the first OT period, Warrior QB Logan McCoy ran in from 4 yards out and a two point conversion made it 22-14 in fabor of Alta/Aurelia. Pauley answered with a 4 yard run in AHSTW’s OT possession and Drake Partridge caught a short pass to tie it again.

Neither team scored in the second overtime…AHSTW was stopped on fourth down at the one and the Warriors missed a 22 yard field goal try.

In the third overtime, Alta/Aurelia scored but missed the 2 point try, but after a Gabe Pauley 6 yard TD run tied it at 28, Blake Osbahr found Brayton Tuma on a short pass to the left and he just got in to the end zone to win the game.

The Exira-EHK Spartans set the tone early and ran away with a first round playoff win over Stanton 51-14 in Exira. The Spartans’ Jayden Goodwin picked off a Viking pass on their second play from scrimmage and they turned it into a touchdown two plays later on a 7 yard run by Cole Burmeister. That early sequence would set the tone for the rest of the night.

On the Vikings second possession they were forced to punt and a bad snap forced Drake Johnson to reach down to try to pick up the ball and his knee hit as he pick it up. That miscue gave the ball to Exira-EHK at the Viking 15 yard line. Two plays later Jayden Goodwin found paydirt  on a 4 yard run and the Spartans lead grew to 14-0.

The Spartans scored to start the second quarter on a 65-yard pass from Tyler Petersen to Trey Nelson and then immediately got the ball back on a squib quick recovery that the Vikings mishandled. The Spartans capped that possession with a 16-yard hookup from Petersen to Creighton Nelson. A two point conversion made it a 29-0 lead for the Spartans. Stanton got on the board with a 17-yard pass from Colby Royal to Easton Hultmann. The two point hookup from Drake Johnson to Keygan Day made it 29-8. The Spartans would add a 24-yard touchdown pass from Petersen to Trey Nelson and a recovered muff punt in the end zone by Nelson before half to make it 44-8.

Each team would add just one more score in the second half as the game ran away quickly with the 35-point rule in effect.

Exira-EHK improved to 9-1 with the win and will move on to the Quarterfinals next Friday night. The Spartans will host the Fremont-Mills Knights next week in a rematch of a week one game that the Spartans won 45-27. The Knights advanced with a 61-8 win over Lenox.

Listen to a postgame interview with Exira-EHK Head Coach Tom Petersen and running back Cole Burmeister below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

CLASS 4A:
Bettendorf-Morningstar-Rivermont 31, Pleasant Valley 14
Cedar Falls 48, Indianola 14
Dowling Catholic, West Des Moines 41, Fort Dodge 0
Iowa City, West 38, Cedar Rapids, Kennedy 14
Johnston 28, Prairie, Cedar Rapids 14
Southeast Polk 21, Ankeny Centennial 17
Valley, West Des Moines 24, Ankeny 21
Waukee 42, Urbandale 22

CLASS 3A:
Decorah 17, Clear Creek-Amana 6
Epworth, Western Dubuque 48, Solon 13
Harlan 36, Oskaloosa 14
Lewis Central 51, Carroll 7
North Scott, Eldridge 39, Waverly-Shell Rock 9
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 42, Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City 0
Spencer 24, Norwalk 20
Xavier, Cedar Rapids 14, Pella 6

CLASS 2A:
Algona 45, Crestwood, Cresco 20
Benton Community 46, Greene County 20
Boyden-Hull/Rock VAlley 35, Spirit Lake 7
PCM, Monroe 49, Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 0
Southeast Valley 58, OABCIG 42
Waukon 40, Union, La Porte City 11
West Liberty 30, Chariton 10
Williamsburg 51, West Marshall, State Center 32

CLASS 1A:
Bellevue 49, Mediapolis 14
Dike-New Hartford 42, South Hamilton, Jewell 8
Interstate 35, Truro 35, Mount Ayr 0
Pella Christian 31, Wilton 28
South Central Calhoun 10, West Lyon, Inwood 0
Van Meter 42, Sumner-Fredericksburg 16
West Branch 56, Osage 14
West Sioux, Hawarden 49, Treynor 14

CLASS A:
Akron-Westfield 42, Westwood, Sloan 21
Bishop Garrigan, Algona 12, Wapsie Valley, Fairbank 7
Edgewood-Colesburg 58, B-G-M, Brooklyn 21
Highland, Riverside 14, Durant 13
Hudson 44, Lynnville-Sully 22
Newman Catholic, Mason City 31, North Tama, Traer 28 (OT)
West Hancock, Britt 42, Hinton 20
AHSTW 30, Alta/Aurelia 28 (3OT)

CLASS 8:
Ar-We-Va 27, Northwood-Kensett 6
Don Bosco 62, Central City 37
Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 51, Stanton 14
Fremont-Mills 61, Lenox 8
Iowa Valley 92, Midland 46
New London 60, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 12
Rockford 64, Turkey Valley 58
Southeast Warren 47, Newell-Fonda 31

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (21.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS

A nice crowd gathered on Friday morning in front of the Atlantic High School to send the Atlantic Cross Country teams off to the State Meet in Fort Dodge. You can check out video of the send off below. The 3A races are scheduled to run during the noon hour on Saturday at the State Meet.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Jim Field.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.6MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The first round of the Iowa High School Football Playoffs will be contested tonight. All games are set for 7:00pm kickoffs.

CLASS 4A:

Ankeny @ Valley, West Des Moines
Cedar Rapids, Kennedy @ Iowa City, West
Dowling Catholic, West Des Moines vs Fort Dodge (at Des Moines, East)
Indianola @ Cedar Falls
Pleasant Valley @ Bettendorf-Morningstar-Rivermont
Prairie, Cedar Rapids @ Johnston
Southeast Polk @ Ankeny Centennial
Urbandale @ Waukee

CLASS 3A:

Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City @ Sergeant Bluff-Luton
Carroll @ Lewis Central
Clear Creek-Amana @ Decorah
Epworth, Western Dubuque @ Solon
Harlan @ Oskaloosa
Pella @ Xavier, Cedar Rapids
Spencer @ Norwalk
Waverly-Shell Rock @ North Scott, Eldridge

CLASS 2A:

Algona @ Crestwood, Cresco
Chariton @ West Liberty
Greene County @ Benton Community
Kuemper Catholic, Carroll @ PCM, Monroe
OABCIG @ Southeast Valley
Spirit Lake @ Boyden-Hull/Rock VAlley
Union, La Porte City @ Waukon
West Marshall, State Center @ Williamsburg

CLASS 1A:

Sumner-Fredericksburg @ Van Meter
Mediapolis @ Bellevue
Mount Ayr @ Interstate 35, Truro
Pella Christian @ Wilton
South Hamilton, Jewell @ Dike-New Hartford
Treynor @ West Sioux, Hawarden
West Branch @ Osage
West Lyon, Inwood @ South Central Calhoun

CLASS A:

Akron-Westfield @ Westwood, Sloan
Alta/Aurelia @ AHSTW
B-G-M, Brooklyn @ Edgewood-Colesburg
Highland, Riverside @ Durant
Lynnville-Sully @ Hudson
North Tama, Traer @ Newman Catholic, Mason City
Wapsie Valley, Fairbank @ Bishop Garrigan, Algona
West Hancock, Britt @ Hinton

CLASS 8:

Central City @ Don Bosco, Gilbertville
Lenox @ Fremont-Mills, Tabor
Midland, Wyoming @ Iowa Valley, Marengo
New London @ Gladbrook-Reinbeck
Newell-Fonda @ Southeast Warren, Liberty Center
Northwood-Kensett @ Ar-We-Va, Westside
Rockford @ Turkey Valley, Jackson Junction
Stanton @ Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton

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

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Just eight games into his professional career, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has already earned a reputation for being just as good outside the pocket as inside it. In fact, some of his biggest plays during the Chiefs’ win in Denver a few weeks ago came when Von Miller and Co. forced him to scramble.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska will play a Bethune-Cookman team that has lost its last five games against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents by an average of 32 points and has come no closer than three touchdowns in any of them. The game was scheduled on short notice as a replacement for the canceled opener against Akron. The party line in Lincoln this week is that the Cornhuskers aren’t good enough to go through the motions against any opponent.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Broncos did everything right for one half against Kansas City a few weeks ago. Now coach Vance Joseph and his team want another shot at slowing down the high-flying Chiefs for an entire game. If they pull it off Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, it just may turn around their season at the midway point.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas coach Bill Self faces a potentially bumpy few months as the FBI’s investigation of corruption in college basketball continues to unwind. Self and the school have not been accused of any wrongdoing, though their names have surfaced in testimony, and that alone could be enough to hurt them on the recruiting trail and in the court of public perception.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Top-ranked Kansas will lean on a team full of newcomers when it begins the season against Michigan State on Nov. 6. The team is hardly inexperienced with transfers such as Dedric and K.J. Lawson finally eligible. The Jayhawks have more talent and depth than last year, when they reached the Final Four, and have every intention of going one step farther this season.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — No. 12 Kentucky has star running back Benny Snell Jr. and a stellar defense to thank for its success this season. The Wildcats take their ground-and-pound attack on the road to face an explosive Missouri team.

The fourth time was the charm for the ArWeVa Rockets. After three losses to the CAM Cougars during the regular season the Rockets picked up a win when it mattered most in the Class 1A Region 3 Semifinals in Audubon on Thursday night. The Rockets won 3-1 over the Cougars with set scores of 24-26, 25-18, 25-20, and 25-23.

Emilee Danner lead the way for the Rockets with a stellar night at the net. Danner finished with over 15 kills and multiple successful blocks to lead spark the team.

CAM looked strong early jumping out to an early 10-1 lead in the opening set. The Rockets were able to rally back though with three separate 4-point runs to grab their first lead at 18-17. The Rockets had two set points at 24-22 but the Cougars rallied to win the last four points and take the opener 26-24.

The Rockets would grab early leads though in the next three sets. An early 7-point run in the second set built them an insurmountable lead. The Rockets built a 15-7 lead in the third on their way to a win. Then in the Third the Rockets led 5-2 early. The Cougars would tie the fourth set up on a couple of occasions, including at 20-20. The Rockets had two set points to work with at the end and a return attempt by CAM on the second set point sailed left and the Rockets celebrated.

ArWeVa improved to 17-10 and advanced to the Regional Final in Boone next Tuesday night. The Rockets will face Gladbrook-Reinbeck, another team that avenged three regular season losses to their opponent North Tama in the semifinals with a 3-0 sweep.

CAM’s season ends with a record of 26-10. The Cougars say goodbye to a stellar senior class that made appearances in the Regional Semifinals the past two seasons.

Class 1A

Region 2

(3-0) East Mills 25-25-25, Stanton 23-20-19
(3-0) Fremont-Mills 25-25-25, Boyer Valley 19-13-20

Region 3

(3-0) Gladbrook-Reinbeck 25-25-25, North Tama 18-17-23
(3-1) Ar-We-Va 24-25-25-25, CAM 26-18-20-23 – ON KJAN

Class 2A

Region 3

(3-0) Treynor 25-25-25, Earlham 20-17-17
(3-0) St. Albert 25-25-25, West Monona 10-20-13

Region 4

(3-0) Tri-Center 25-25-25, AC/GC 17-17-11
(3-1) BCLUW 25-25-17-25, Woodward-Granger 23-23-25-22

Region 5

(3-0) Sidney 25-25-25, Central Decatur 14-10-15
(3-0) Pella Christian 25-25-27, Pleasantville 12-12-25