We were in the stands for the semi-final games, sitting on the Bedford side of the field, after their game which they won, we were talking to their fans around us, and the all kept saying "we want Pekin to win the next game, they beat us last season and we want to get even." We just told them "you guys want no part of Pekin, trust us." They met the next Friday, and Bedford scored on a nice long run on their first series to take the lead. Pekin then went to work, and they looked like a machine from that moment on, just crushing Bedford, I believe it was the first game in the finals that was ever called early because of the 50 point rule. They just hammered Bedford that day.
Iowa High School BEDS count 24-25
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The awesome thing back then too (I'm joking) was you could get #1 vs #2 matchups in the first round or quarters. For most of the 90's between Pekin, West Branch and Pleasantville one could guarantee one of those teams was at least making the semis but never more than one at the same time because they always had to play each other in the first round or quarters.
I played football before district football. St Eds, Esterville, Emmesburg, LeMars public. We were nothing close to the teams, or the coaches that are there now.
Wapsey Valley had some good teams during that stretch, they just hammered Pekin the year before in the finals. Only time I ever saw the Pekin players looking over to the bench and you just see them thinking "these plays are not working". WV had a WR that Pekin was double teaming and they just could not cover him. Ate them alive, but Pekin got their revenge the next year, before they slaughtered Bedford.
I started in the state line conference and finished in the north Iowa conference.
Semi relevant story. Competitive balance is almost impossible anywhere it seems like.
flatwaterfreepress.org
Friday Night Blowouts: How transfers shifted competitive balance in Nebraska high school sports - Flatwater Free Press
The coach bolted first. Then, the top players followed. The unexpected exodus from Omaha Benson High’s football team months before the 2023 season
flatwaterfreepress.org
Agreed. Besides football, conferences don’t really apply to cross country, wrestling, golf or track. So they are really just for volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball.
I think the biggest hurdle is that there is a different number of classes across all the sports. But I would think if someone tried they could come up with a system or a way to have the same classes across the board, or a way to make that work at least.
In honesty they should be done the same, as the districts are based on the enrollment number. In some of these conferences we have teams playing schools with huge differences in enrollment. It really feels like the conference system is really starting to collapse. Although it might take many years to change it yet, it feels like we are starting to see the beginning of the end of how it has been done for years.
Most conference are more than sports, they have academic items like quiz bowl, art contests, music and band concerts. So are in co-ops to save money on the purchase of supplies, they are involved with a wide variety of things other than sports.
That's real, real good. They knocked it out of the park!
Are they still two different schools? Is this for all sports? Havent been follow this.
I was at both '97 and '98 Finals and this tracks. '97 Wapsie had a McKowen kid who looked like a lineman catching everything in site and Pekin had no answers. Iirc he was also a 1,000 point scorer in basketball.
Looked up the record PDF and Pekin won 55-14 in the '98 finals. They did 50 point West Branch in the first round, 60-7. They were a monster.
re: West Branch, I've gone down a rabbit hole of looking at old scores and some games from that era and after their title in '92, I think they've only gotten to the semi finals once or twice since. They went into a bit of a lull by their standards in the late 90s, not even getting to the playoffs a couple of times.
Might just be my perspective but I wonder if that decade was the peak of Iowa high school football, or at least small schools, from a stability and competitive standpoint.
We were at both games also, and the McKowen kid was unstoppable, Pekin was doubling him and he get open time and time again. What was strange was he did not join the team in the huddle, just stay out there while the team huddled up and off he went.
Was talking with a longtime teacher and athletic volunteer about the number of schools dropping out mid year in football. Next year is year 2 for districts so should be interesting. He says there will probably be a push to change rules to allow more teams switch to 8 man after that.
Looking back the record of IC Regina during the decade staring in 2005 to 2015 was unbelievable, they won their first title in 2005 in Class 1A, then bounced up to 2A and won the title in 2010 and 2011, back down to class 1A in 2012, winning the title in 12, 13, 14 and 15. So they won 7 titles in 11 years between the two classes. Unbelievable record, with four of those teams being undefeated.
What really hurts the teams that dropped this season is that if the school they were to play this season was a home game for the other school, it's a home game for that school next year. So a lot of the schools that dropped out this year, will only have one or two games at home if they are lucky.
