Since we have some extra time today, why don’t we just put 3A to bed by finishing up with District Eight? Fittingly, here we find Harlan, the premier football powerhouse in all of Iowa. We’ve talked about the history, the titles, the mystique, etc…It goes way back, but in just the last decade alone they’ve put up numbers that distance themselves from the pack. Let’s see how Bladt’s Boys’ have done, and how the other seven teams have fared as well…
Overall Regular Season Record:
Harlan 85-4 (six undefeated seasons)
Creston 52-39 (one undefeated season)
Atlantic 50-40 (one undefeated season)
ADM 39-51
Winterset 39-51
Council Bluffs Lewis Central 36-35 in 3A, 10-8 in 4A as an independent (2004-2005)
Glenwood 33-57
Clarke, Osceola 6-84
Harlan’s six undefeated seasons were joined by four one-loss seasons to make up their decade. I have them at 7-1 in 2001, so they are one game short of 90 for the decade. CB Lewis also played only eight games in 2001, so they are short as well. Creston played ten games in 2000, so they have one more than the norm. Glenwood started the decade with a 2-7 record then posted 3-6 records every year except 2003 when they went 4-5. That’s seven out of eight seasons with the same record until putting together a 6-3 mark this past season. Harlan is riding a 14-game overall win streak after winning the 3A title this past season in the last high school game played in the decade. They also have a 16-game regular season streak in progress. Let’s see what the district numbers tell us…
Overall District Record:
Harlan 66-3 (seven undefeated district seasons)
Creston 40-29 (one undefeated district season)
Atlantic 39-30 (one undefeated district season)
ADM 35-35
Winterset 35-35
CB Lewis 28-28
Glenwood 26-43
Clarke 4-66
Ok, 66-3 is just stupid good. They only played six in 2004, or it would be 67-3! The last time Harlan lost a district game was 2002 to Atlantic, the eventual 3A State Champions led by Bret Meyer. Their only regular season loss since then was in 2008 to Sioux City Heelan, the eventual 3A State Champions led by Brandon Wegher. You must be very, very good to defeat Harlan…Look at ADM and Winterset. Same overall record, same district record, and they both went 4-16 in non-district games. These rivals were right together for the decade. Clarke has only won two district games since 2000. Harlan has won 49 in a row. Their 19-1 non-district decade record isn’t shabby, either. Let’s go to the postseason info now…
Overall Postseason/Playoff Record:
Substate record, playoff record, years qualified
Harlan 2-0, 26-6, 10 (six semifinals, six finals, FOUR TITLES (2003, 2004, 2005, 2009)
Atlantic 0-1, 4-0, 1 (one semifinal, one final, ONE TITLE (2002)
Creston 0-1, 2-4, 4
ADM 1-1, 0-2, 2
Glenwood 0-1
CB Lewis 0-1
Only four of these teams have made the playoffs, and only three of them have won a playoff game, but Atlantic and Harlan have titles. Atlantic had that magical season and a 13-0 Championship team that went through Harlan to earn it. They also went for two at the end of the game to win 15-14 in the quarters against a superb Pella team at Pella after trailing the whole game…But what can you say about Harlan and what they’ve accomplished? They have been unbelievably good seemingly forever and Curt Bladt has been at the helm for 11 of their 12 titles and all eight of their 2nd place finishes. He’s coached in 29 playoffs and been in the finals in 19 of them! Since 1980, they have only missed ONE playoff, back in 1994. And on, and on, and on…In the four seasons of this past decade that Harlan did not reach the finals, they lost in the quarters. So, they won at least one playoff game every year of the decade. That’s it for 3A. We will start on 2A next.
