2A District Four is our subject today.  There are some interesting teams here, and in the last two seasons, the order of finish has been identical.  In fact, only one game between North Fayette and Sumner-Fredericksburg had a different outcome in district games between all eight teams.  Here are the numbers…

Overall Regular Season Record:

North Fayette 77-13 (five undefeated seasons)

Monticello 53-37

Dyersville Beckman 49-41

Cascade 40-52 *played an extra game in 2006, 2007

Sumner-Fredericksburg 30-24

Waterloo Columbus 25-29 in 2A, 14-22 in 3A…39-51 total

Jesup 20-34 in 2A, 7-29 in 1A…27-63 total

MFL, Mar-Mac 20-70

North Fayette had a great decade.  A fantastic decade…They have only lost two regular season games since the end of the 2003 season and they have won seven or more games eight times in the decade.  Sumner-Fredericksburg started play in 2004, when both schools combined.  We will see their individual efforts later on.  Jesup has only won eight games since an 8-1 season in 2003, five of them coming in 2004.  Let’s see the district totals…

Overall District Record:

North Fayette 64-6 (seven undefeated district seasons)

Dyersville Beckman 44-26

Monticello 36-34

Cascade 29-41

Sumner-Fredericksburg 22-20

Waterloo Columbus 18-24 in 2A, 11-17 in 3A…29-41 total

Jesup 15-27 in 2A, 5-23 in 1A…20-50 total

MFL, Mar-Mac 12-58

North Fayette has really pulled away from the pack here.  That is an impressive league tally.  Only one district loss since 2003 and that was a one-point loss to Sumner-Fredericksburg.  North Fayette was the only team to have an undefeated district season, however, every team except MFL had at least one 6-1 district season.  Monticello sported a lofty 17-3 non-district record for the decade.  Postseason numbers coming right up…

Overall Postseason/Playoff Record:

Substate record, Playoff record, years qualified

North Fayette 2-0, 12-8, 8 (five semifinals)

Waterloo Columbus x-x, 4-1, 2 (one semifinal, one final, ONE TITLE 2004)

Sumner-Fredericksburg 1-1, 1-2, 2

Dyersville Beckman 0-2, 0-2, 2

Cascade 1-1, 0-1, 1

Jesup x-x, 0-1, 1

Again, North Fayette is the focus here, with 20 playoff games for the decade.  FIVE semifinal appearances, yet no title games.  That has to be a burr in their saddle.  However, lots of teams would gladly trade places with them, I’m sure.  They have lost three times in the playoffs to Solon since 2006, but they did hand the Spartans their last non-title game playoff loss in the 2005 quarters.  They also played in a game that ICS will never forget, a 42-7 semifinal loss to Williamsburg in 2002.  Dustyn Baethke had 393 yards rushing for the Raiders, a postseason record at the time.  In one of the most improbable of title runs for the decade, Waterloo Columbus brought home the 2A hardware in 2004 after a lackluster 6-3 regular season.  It still baffles me how they got it done, but it was an amazing feat.  They downed Gilbert 41-0 in the final.  But the biggest mystery here is Monticello.  They only had two losing seasons for the decade, the impressive 17-3 non-district record mentioned before, two 6-3 seasons, two 7-2 seasons and a great 8-1 campaign, yet they failed to qualify for the playoffs even once.  How?  The 8-1 season was 2006, when they finished in a three-way tie in District Five at the top with Solon and Dyersville Beckman.  They lost to Beckman, but beat Solon (25-18 on October 20…Solon’s last regular season loss, by the way) Monticello had a higher point total than Beckman, but got edged out because the first tie-breaker is points, which Solon had the highest total of.  Then it went back to head-to-head, and Monticello was out.  Ouch.