Week three high school football district observations

This week, we take an early look at each area district and where our four area teams stack up.

Let’s start in Clarinda where the Cardinals are on the road Friday against the three-time defending state champion in Van Meter. The Bulldogs, though, are coming off a loss last week at home against Humboldt, ending the program’s 26-game winning streak.

Clarinda, though, focuses on themselves this week after a tough loss at home last Friday against Treynor. It was the third time in four years Clarinda has lost to Treynor, so that by itself isn’t a huge cause for concern, but the injury troubles mount. They didn’t look like the same team after Bryson Harris went off with an injury Friday. How does this team respond going forward?

So, where does Clarinda stack up in the district? The Cardinals lost big to Van Meter last year but were easily better than everyone else. Nobody in the district is undefeated through three games with Chariton joining Clarinda and Van Meter with 2-1 records. Chariton beat Albia Friday, the same Albia team that beat district foes Interstate 35 and Centerville. Those two teams are 1-2, meanwhile, Clarke is 0-3 and lost 85-0 last week and has lost its three games by a combined score of 205-14.

The top four qualify for the playoffs with the top two getting a first round home game.

What a performance by Shenandoah Friday on Homecoming! Not only did the Mustangs have an impressive blowout win after two close losses, but there are a couple Shenandoah athletes quite high in the state-wide statistical leaderboard. Sophomore quarterback Joey O’Rourke passed for 433 yards and five touchdowns last week. He now has 841 passing yards for the season, a total that ranks first in Class 1A and fifth in the state, all classes. Cole Graham’s 21 receptions are also tops in 1A and has him tied for ninth in the state, all classes. His 420 receiving yards are third most in the state, all classes and his six touchdown catches are one off the state lead.

Shenandoah was in a tough district last year and has the same crew this year with Underwood, AHSTW and Treynor leading the way. AHSTW and Treynor are the only teams with winning records, though, going into district play. Underwood has lost to two state-ranked teams in 2A in Van Meter and Kuemper Catholic while AHSTW’s only loss is to Kuemper. The Vikings and Eagles meet this week. Treynor beat Clarinda by 14 two weeks after Clarinda beat Shenandoah by one. Then, there is 1-2 Red Oak. A week after Clarinda dominated the Tigers 46-0, Red Oak went out and beat West Central Valley by eight, the same West Central Valley team that beat Shenandoah the week prior. Missouri Valley, meanwhile, hasn’t been close in any of its games yet, losing 131-13. Shenandoah starts at Missouri Valley Friday, which is the game I’ll have live coverage from Friday.

The top four qualify for the playoffs with the top two getting a first round home game.

Two weeks of district play are complete here with CAM the only team standing at 2-0 in the district and the Cougars look like the favorite through two weeks after rolling past East Mills 66-24 last week. In a seven-team district, there is one team that doesn’t play a district game each week and the two teams that have had a non-district game over the last two weeks, Fremont-Mills and Exira-EHK, are both 1-0. Both have wins over Stanton/Essex, although the Knights won by a lot more.

Sidney is even with East Mills at 1-1 and lost to the Wolverines two weeks ago. The Cowboys travel to Exira-EHK Friday, which will give us a little more knowledge on both teams. A win there could set the Cowboys up pretty good going forward to at least stay in the running for a playoff berth.

Sidney got its running game established again last week with Braedon Godfread and Michael Hensley both above 100 yards. Godfread is averaging more than 100 rushing yards per week and is currently second in the district in that category.

Stanton/Essex is even with Griswold at 0-2 in the district. It’s been a tough two weeks for the Vikings. It looked like they had Exira-EHK beat two weeks ago, but lost the lead late and then last week, they played with Fremont-Mills well into the second half but the Knights poured it on late. It doesn’t get easier for the Vikings with a trip to East Mills Friday.

The playoffs are different in Class 8-Player with 10 districts across the state. The top three in each district automatically advance to the postseason with a pair of fourth-place teams also qualifying based on district point differential, meaning those teams need to have close losses.