Boy, the fall is coming up fast. Before we get into previews in the next few weeks, I thought I’d take a look at some dates to circle on the fall calendar.
Saturday, Sept. 7 – Cornell at Coe football.
The rivalry hasn’t been much of one. The Kohawks have won 17 straight.
And it hasn’t been particularly close. It was 56-6 last fall.
Cornell Coach Dan Pifer was hired after the 2019 season, and after missing out on the 2020 season due to COVID, his Rams have finished 4-6, 3-7 and 6-4.
It seems the Rams are ready to compete in the Midwest Conference. They are picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll.
But knock off Coe? Probably not this year. Coe is coming off a 9-2 season in which it qualified for the Division III playoffs.
But it’ll happen one year. And it’ll be exciting for the purple-and-white when it does.
Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Clark Field in Cedar Rapids.
Thursday, Sept. 19 – Calamus-Wheatland at Lisbon volleyball.
The Lions had their hearts set on qualifying for the state tournament last season. It didn’t happen.
But the Lions did win the Tri-Rivers East title for the seventh year in a row and finish with 28 wins.
Now they have to learn to adjust to playing without big hitter Ava Czarnecki, the all-time kills leader in school history. But history and tradition say Lisbon will again be the favorite in the TRE.
The team that finished second to them last year was C-W. The Lions had to rally to beat the Warriors 25-22, 22-25, 25-16, 25-23.
Friday, Sept. 20 – Mount Vernon at Solon football.
After Mount Vernon ended a 19-game losing streak in the series in 2022, the Spartans came back and won 37-20 a year ago in the final game at First Street Field.
Many Mustangs were hoping for a rematch in the playoffs, but it didn’t work out that way.
Williamsburg beat Mount Vernon in the quarterfinals 38-35, and beat Solon in the semifinals, 45-14, before winning the 3A title with a 20-0 shutout of Sioux City Heelan.
Both teams will feature a lot of new faces this fall, but as usual, it’ll be the most-anticipated game of the regular season for both towns.
Friday, Sept. 27 – Pekin at Lisbon football.
Lisbon went undefeated in the regular season a year ago, but it had a couple tough ones. The Lions won 34-28 at Columbus, and 17-7 at Pekin.
Well, Lisbon gets to host both teams this fall. It welcomes Columbus on Sept. 13, and Pekin two weeks later.
The Panthers are a bit more of an Eastern Iowa blue blood than the Wildcats, and only graduated a handful of seniors off last year’s team that lost to Lynnville-Sully in the first round of the Class A playoffs.
Tuesday, Oct. 8 – Marion at Mount Vernon volleyball.
The Mustangs only lost five matches last season. Three were to Dike-New Hartford, the eventual champion in Class 2A and probably the best team in the state.
One was to Western Christian in the Class 3A championship.
The fifth was a WaMaC tournament match against the Wolves in Marion.
While the Mustangs are participating in a few high-level tournaments with bigger-name teams, this one will still be a weeknight doozy. And Mount Vernon only hosts three home matches (Solon on Sept. 10 and Center Point-Urbana on Sept. 24).
So, if you want to see what may be the best volleyball team in Mount Vernon history … without leaving town … here is a prime chance.
Thursday, Oct. 17 – WaMaC cross country meet.
Held again at the Antioch Christian Church outside of Marion, the meet includes several of the best teams in the state in Class 3A, including the Mount Vernon-Lisbon thinclads.
At the state meet in Fort Dodge last fall, the girls finished runner-up, and the boys were eighth. Both can expect to contend for a Class 3A title this year, and a big step on the way to that goal is the WaMaC Meet.
The girls won it in 2023, and the boys were runner-up to Solon by two points.