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Washington Evening Journal
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And then there were 3
Pekin, WACO and Mid-Prairie football teams gear up for Round of 16
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
One week ago, the Union coverage area had nine football games going on around the state of Iowa. On Friday night, there will be just three.
Pekin, WACO and Mid-Prairie are all two games away from going to the promised land. There are just two weeks remaining until the best of the best battle at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.
Pekin and WACO will be on the road, traveling north for Round of 16 games in Class A and 8-Player respectively. Mid-Prairie will play host in Class 2A.
WACO (8-1) at Don Bosco (9-0)
The Warriors go back into Gilbertville, the site of a second round loss last season at the hands of the Dons.
In last year’s Round of 16, Don Bosco rallied to knock off WACO 28-20. Now, the Warriors look to get vengeance over the Dons and punch their ticket to the quarterfinals.
The Warriors are led on the ground by running back Louden Huisenga, who has 1,034 yards and 22 touchdowns on the ground this year. Altogether, the Warriors have run for 1,625 yards and 35 scores.
Quarterback Clayton Miller has thrown for 1,502 yards this season. Miller has 23 passing touchdowns this year, while being picked off just six times.
Isaac Rich leads the Warrior pass catchers with 544 yards and 11 touchdowns receiving. Gage Samo has 479 yards and seven touchdowns through the air, and Huisenga has 394 yards and four scores.
The WACO defense has a tough task with the Don Bosco’s incredible ground game. Quarterback Kyler Knaack has rushed for 827 yards and 23 touchdowns, while running back Ty Christensen has run for 714 yards and 14 scores.
Knaack has thrown for 727 yards and 12 touchdowns this year, while being picked off just once. Don Bosco’s leading receiver, Ben Belew, has 374 receiving yards and five scores this season.
The winner of the WACO-Don Bosco game will play either Iowa Valley or Gladbrook-Reinbeck for a shot at the Dome.
Pekin (8-1) at Madrid (7-2)
The Madrid Tigers welcome in the Pekin Panthers for a catfight of the ages, as both teams try to punch their ticket to the Class A quarterfinals.
The Panthers coming having only lost one game all year. Madrid has fallen twice, but the Tigers are on a four-gamew winning streak.
Pekin’s Will Adam has thrown for 1,110 yards and 11 touchdowns, while being intercepted six times. Adam has been electric on the ground as well, rushing for 858 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Nolan Glick has rushed for 678 yards and a team-leading 17 touchdowns. Henry Adam has rushed for 321 yards and seven scores. Leading receiver Robert Brown has 242 yards and four touchdowns through the air, while Alijah Brock has 293 yards and five scores.
Madrid’s offense does its best work on the ground. Quarterback Preston Wicker has run for 1,361 yards and 19 touchdowns this year, and running back Easton Halverson has rushed for 535 yards and five scores.
Wicker has 794 yards and 12 touchdowns through the air, while also throwing for three interceptions. His favorite receivers are Emerson Bridgewater (277 yards, 2 TDs) and Loken Velky (228 yards, 5 TDs).
The winner of Pekin-Madrid will take on either Bellevue or Lisbon in the quarterfinals.
Mediapolis (5-4) at Mid-Prairie (6-3)
The area’s one rematch of the weekend will take place in Wellman. Mid-Prairie played at Mediapolis on Oct. 4, beating the Bulldogs 24-8.
The Golden Hawks earned revenge over the Bulldogs for a 38-7 loss last season, but now the two squads will be going back at it one more time.
Mid-Prairie’s Hudson Ehrenfelt has been uncontainable so far this season, rushing for 1,178 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Brady Weber has been solid through the air, throwing for 1,426 yards and 10 touchdowns, while throwing four interceptions. Three different Golden Hawks have over 250 yards receiving, with Blake Swart’s 306 yards leading the way. Ace Peck leads the Golden Hawks with three touchdown receptions.
Mediapolis’ Noah Schmidgall has been the anchor of the Bulldog offense. Schmidgall has rushed for 1,321 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Mediapolis quarterback Reese Campbell has thrown for 895 yards and seven touchdowns, but Campbell has been picked off eight times. Three Bulldog receivers have over 200 yards receiving, including leading pass-catcher Cconnor Schulz, who has 224 yards receiving and three touchdowns.
