Up next is District Six in 2A. On the surface, this looks like a fairly bland grouping of schools, but when you put the totals together, it becomes much more impressive. Not a bad showing when five of the eight schools are above water. Let’s look at the numbers for the decade…
Overall Regular Season Record:
Sigourney/Keota 70-20 (three undefeated seasons)
West Burlington-Notre Dame 60-30
Mid-Prairie, Wellman 60-30
Davis County 47-25 in 2A, 3-15 in 3A…50-40 total
Mediapolis 46-44
Columbus Junction 15-39 in 2A, 15-21 in 1A…30-60 total
Central Lee, Donnellson 13-41 in 2A, 2-25 in 3A…15-66 total
Louisa-Muscatine 12-78
You have to be good if your mascot is a Savage Cobra…It’s fitting that S/K has managed to get to 70 wins for the decade. They belong in our ‘elite’ group with what they’ve accomplished since 2000. Only one losing season in that time and a brilliant run at the UNI-Dome, which we will get to shortly. West Burlington and Mid-Prairie have been very steady and good. We haven’t seen very many schools with 60+ wins residing in the same district so far, but here are three. Davis County at 50 wins is news-worthy as well. Tough sledding for Louisa-Muscatine and Central Lee. Here are the district numbers…
Overall District Record:
Sigourney/Keota 57-13 (four undefeated district seasons)
Mid-Prairie 52-18 (two undefeated district seasons)
West Burlington 48-22
Davis County 37-19 in 2A, 1-13 in 3A…38-32 total
Mediapolis 32-38
Central Lee 10-32 in 2A, 0-21 in 3A
Columbus Junction 9-33 in 2A, 10-18 in 1A…19-51 total
Louisa-Muscatine 4-66
Six of those 13 losses for S/K came in just the last two district seasons, and they only had two losses from 2000-2005. A very nice decade for S/K. Mid-Prairie has been consistently good in district play. Six one-loss or undefeated seasons in district play, and only one sub-.500 year. West Burlington had six one-loss or two-loss seasons, as well. Not bad. Davis County struggled in 3A during the 2006 and 2007 seasons, but did quite well in 2A. Speaking of struggling in 3A, Central Lee began their playing days in 3A, but never won a district game until moving to 2A. 0-for-21 put them in a big hole. Along with Columbus Junction and Louisa-Muscatine, these schools have not reached .500 in any season of the decade, district or overall. Louisa-Muscatine’s four district wins came in four different seasons, so all ten years were brutal for them. On a positive note, Mediapolis sported a 14-6 non-district record. Let’s get a feel for the postseason results…
Overall Postseason/Playoff Record:
Substate record, playoff record, years qualified
Sigourney/Keota 0-1, 13-5, 7 (four semifinals, two finals, TWO TITLES 2001, 2005)
Mid-Prairie 2-0, 4-6, 6
Davis County 1-1, 0-2, 2
West Burlington 0-2, 0-2, 2
Mediapolis 0-1, 0-1, 1
Now, other than Sigourney/Keota, this really surprised me. The lack of playoff appearances and/or success enjoyed by these teams after having so many good regular seasons just baffles me. Mid-Prairie has lost four times in the quarters, and nine other playoff runs ended with first round losses. Two of those belonged to S/K, but they fared much better in their other appearances. Four UNI-Dome visits ended with two trophies being hoisted for the Savage Cobras, one in 2001 after downing Sheldon, 27-24, and the other to end the 2005 season, beating Dike-New Hartford, 27-14. S/K had great players, a very hard to prepare for offensive scheme, and Bob Howard running the show during their heyday. A very great team, indeed, and they were fun to watch.
