***2023 Iowa High School Football Playoffs***
- Thread starter BigJCy
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Population shift to Central Iowa maybe? That or more of the suburb schools just got their act together (better coaching, resources, youth programs, etc.)
Have Polk/Dallas County really separated that much? What happened to Johnson/Linn/Quad Cities?
KidSilverhair
Well-Known Member
Maybe not Xavier this year. Even though they beat the top-ranked 4A team this year (Western Dubuque), they also lost to Pella (who ended 6-4).
Their win against WD came in the final minutes, as did their loss to Williamsburg and (I think) their win over North Scott. They also had to score twice in the fourth quarter to beat Indianola in the first round. Now they go on the road to North Polk.
Likely a lot of this. Kind of fascinating to me.
I grew up during a time when Newton was a premier football school. I understand why that isn’t the case anymore (Maytag). I just don’t know what, if anything, happened to the eastern side of the state. Maybe nothing happened. Maybe, like you say, central Iowa just stepped up. I don’t know. Just fascinated by it.
Quarterfinal teams:
2023 - West 6, East 2
2022 - West 6, East 2
2021 - West 4, East 4
2020 - West 5, East 3
2019 - West 5, East 3
2018 - West 5, East 3
2017 - West 4, East 4
City High was the last large-class champ from the East, in 2009.
Cedar Falls was the last Eastern finalist, in 2018.
KidSilverhair
Well-Known Member
Man, last I saw was Kennedy getting a TD to go up by 2 scores with 11 minutes left … next thing I know CF wins.
Money and population are the biggest factors.
Iowa City West splitting into 2 schools, Bettendorf losing population growth to Pleasant Valley, Xavier dropping to 4A and Cedar Falls not embracing running their program more like a small college than a high school are also factors.
I don't even think its been a dramatic shift. Central Iowa has dominated for the past 10+ years. Before SEP and their current run, Dowling won like 6 in a row.
When was the last time a school outside of the metro won a title in 5A?
But Dowling has always been there. SEP is a relatively new thing. Look at post #86. The last two years have shown the skew I’m talking about. It might not seem like a huge shift, but 6 of 8 teams in the quarters is massive. That means very real possibilities of no schools outside of the Polk/Dallas County area in the semis.
It happened last year and will probably happen again this year.
Eastern Iowa was super dominant in the 90s/2000s. Iowa City especially in the 90s. I think maybe 90% of the titles that decade were either city or west. Growing up in eastern Iowa I’m not sure what caused the shift
This play has been circulating on Twitter tonight. Funny thing is I actually think it was the right call cause when you slow it down and go frame by frame, to me it looks like the kid bobbles it when he hits the ground. Full speed it looks like a clear catch. Regardless, neither ref making the call right away is pretty poorly officiated. If you see the bobble, call it.
Judging by the sound it seems like the officials were influenced by the crowd yelling “he was out.” At full speed that sure looked like a catch inbounds.
Yup, I guarantee they just guessed and didn’t see a bobble. I just happen to think they guessed right with the benefit of slow motion. Those kids have every right to be upset with how it played out
5A hasn't been around too long but the last time a school outside central Iowa won the largest class was 2009. Iowa City High beat Marshalltown in the 4A title game that year. (Marshalltown beat Dowling in the semifinal, so that was also the last time that no DSM area schools, including Ankeny, were even in the title game.)
Future Iowa Hawkeye/Arkansas Razorback AJ Derby (who later got a few seasons in the NFL at tight end) led the Little Hawks against Chanse Creekmur, who rode the bench for the football team with Paul Rhoads after going to Arizona State for basketball originally.
The east won every 4A title game except one from 1985 to 1999. (Lone exception was Ankeny in 97.)
Then in the ten games from 2000 to 2009, the west won 6 and the east won 4. Fairly even.
Now the west has won all of the largest-class title games since 2010. And it's not really the "west," it's just the Des Moines metro.
There is probably some lesson here about demographic trends, or where the money has gone in the state, or something like that.
Rematches in the Quarterfinal round:
*in same district
| CLASS | MATCHUP | FIRST GM | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5A | Ankeny at Dowling | Week 3 | Dowling, 35-14 (at Dowling) |
| 5A | Valley at Waukee | Week 4 | Waukee, 37-15 (at Waukee) |
| 4A | North Scott at Western Dubuque | Week 4 | Western Dubuque, 31-24 (at Epworth) |
| 4A | ADM at Lewis Central | Week 3 | Lewis Central, 38-31 (at Adel) |
| 3A | Heelan at Sioux Center | Week 5* | Sioux Center, 21-0 (at Sioux Center) |
| 1A | Dike-New Hartford at Grundy Center | Week 1 | Grundy Center, 7-6 (at Dike) |
| A | Logan-Magnolia at Woodbury Central | Week 3* | Woodbury Central, 39-14 (at Logan) |
| 8P | Gladbrook-Reinbeck at Clarksville | Week 7* | Clarksville, 38-36 (at Gladbrook) |
| 8P | Lenox at Bedford | Week 3* | Bedford, 41-30 (at Bedford) |
*in same district
Difficult call for a crew of 5 (HS) vs. 8 (college), since there's no official posted up in the corner.
Marcus had a couple of end zone drops before that, too.
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