OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority is considering adding a Ferris wheel, a zipline and party houses in downtown Omaha for next year’s College World Series and the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials. The Omaha World-Herald reports staff members presented ideas for more family-friendly activities near TD Ameritrade Park to the MECA board Tuesday. The proposal also includes temporary bungalows that fans can rent for games and a grassy area north of the CenturyLink Center with food trucks, the Ferris wheel and other activities.

The board’s chairman Dana Bradford says the additions are an opportunity to attract more people, and would cost about $1 million. The board did not vote on the proposed additions, but told MECA President and CEO Roger Dixon to pursue the proposal.

The Exira-EHK Spartans (8-1) will play host to the East Mills Wolverines (7-2) on Wednesday night in the first round of the Iowa High School Football Playoffs at 7:00pm in Exira.  The Spartans have overcome adversity throughout the season including injuries and a heartbreaking last minute loss at Second ranked Newell-Fonda.  The Spartans hope that experience can help them to a strong postseason run.

In order to start that run they will try to stop the Wolverines and their star Running Back Josh Hopkins who has carried 183 times for 1,442 yards and 30 touchdowns.  The Spartans defense has only allowed an average of 16.1 points per game to opponents and have 8 players with double digit tackles.

On the other side of the ball the Spartans offense is led by Quarterback Brady Hansen and Running Back Drew Buckholdt, both have rushed for over 1,000 yards on the season and have accounted for a combined 50 touchdowns.  Martin Olson has also been a big ground contributor with 461 yards and 10 touchdowns. The Spartans hope having multiple ground weapons can cause opponents problems.

Kickoff is set for 7:00pm in Exira. KJAN’s Rod Christensen will provide updates from the game during our playoff coverage on Wednesday night.

The Audubon Wheelers Football team is preparing for an opening round playoff game on Wednesday night at home against Lawton-Bronson. The Wheelers (8-1) only loss came back in week 4 of the season to 5th ranked Logan-Magnolia, while the Eagles (6-3) three losses came to Treynor, West Sioux, and Akron Westfield.

Wheelers CO-Head Coach Sean Birks likes how his team has responded in tough games and knows they’ll have to continue that play to move on in the playoffs.  The Wheelers have a pretty balanced attack with Running Back Jake Mulford (1,736 total yards and 26 touchdowns) and Quarterback Tyler Riebhoff (1,094 yards passing and 16 touchdowns).  Coach Birks says it’s extremely valuable to have a player like Mulford that is so versatile as well as so many other players that work hard to do their job.

Audubon will face an Eagles offense that has a strong ground game.  Three players have rushed for over 450 yards led by Anteres Ashley who has carried 115 times for 1,018 yards and 17 Touchdowns and is averaging 8.9 yards per carry.

We will have coverage of the game on KJAN.  Join Chris Parks and Seth Christensen for the broadcast with pregame at 6:00pm and kickoff at 7:00pm.  Our playoff football coverage will kickoff at 5:30pm with our final weekly high school pick ’em show Who’s Gonna Win?.  You can listen on AM1220, FM101.1, online at kjan.com or on the KJAN mobile app.  IHSAA rules will not allow us to provide a live video stream as we had during the regular season.

The AHSTW Vikings wrapped up a 6-3 football season this past Friday night with a win over West Monona and a #2 seed in Class 1A District 1.  The Vikings now turn their attention to the postseason with an opening round home game on Wednesday against the Ridge View Raptors.

The Vikings will try to find postseason success without their Senior leader Nathan Herbst whom went down with a season ending knee injury on October 9th against Underwood.  Herbst certainly will be missed after accounting for 1,134 of offense and 18 touchdowns but Head Coach Davis Pattee knows he has a lot of leaders with great experience that can step up to push forward. Sophomore R.J. Harris has stepped into the starting Quarterback role in Herbst’s absence and has gotten a couple of weeks under his belt since entering that Underwood game in relief.

The Vikings defense will be tasked with slowing down a balanced Raptors attack lead by Quarterback Grant Anderson throwing for 1,595 yards and 16 Touchdowns.  The Raptors (7-2) two losses have come to rated squads Hinton and Western Christian.  Coach Pattee says his team will be ready to execute their traditional offense and defense and be ready to adjust as the game moves along.

Kickoff is set for 7:00pm in Avoca, KJAN’s Jim Field will provide updates from the game during our playoff football coverage on Wednesday night.