2011 IHSAA Football, Week 0

Good day, and welcome to Week 0.

High school football season started tonight in a handful of Iowa communities, mostly those playing in the eight-man division. However, the titans of the Des Moines metro area, Dowling Catholic and West Des Moines Valley, met. Valley prevailed, 28-21.

As I said last year, though I am glad football is back I feel it is way too early to start the high school season. It’s August, for crying out loud. School started in Iowa City yesterday. Yesterday! I have no clue when classes started for the districts playing tonight, but they likely started sometime this week. If you ask me, Labor Day weekend should be the official start of both high school and college football.

The above pic comes from the Cedar Valley Christian-West Central eight-man match-up. CVC was playing its first football game ever, fielding a team of just 13 players, most of which had never played football. West Central is ranked eighth in the eight-man division, so the game was no match: the Blue Devils (what a fitting team name for a small Christian school to play, eh?) romped, 62-8.

Once again, I will try to attend a game every Friday night this season to experience the sights, sounds, and smells that are high school football in Iowa. (I did not report too much on its fragrance last season, so I will try to make that a focus in my upcoming posts.) Next week, Week 1, I will likely be attending the season opener at Bates Fields to see the Little Hawks take on perennial doormat Dubuque Senior. I have no clue what kind of team City High will be fielding this year, but the DMR ranked them second in 4A. For Week 2 my dad is itching to see the clash between Solon and Regina at whatever the hell Regina calls its field. (It will be played during Regina’s annual Fall Fun Festival, so that should be interesting.) I will definitely be attending a game at West Branch’s famed Little Rose Bowl this season, and I may see City High play away at Kingston Stadium in Cedar Rapids. I have never been to Kingston.

Let the games begin!