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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, IA 52353
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Area football year in review
Winfield-Mt. Union makes 8-Player semifinals, Sigourney-Keota wins another district title
The 2023 football season for the Union area came to a close on Wednesday afternoon at Iowa high school football’s biggest stage the UNI-Dome.
This season saw a great deal of success from the area squads, but none more than the Wolves of Winfield-Mt. Union.
WMU was the area’s final team remaining as the Wolves made it all the way to the state semifinals.
The Wolves entered the 2023 season with some high expectations after returning a plethora of talent from 2022.
WMU took great strides, finishing the regular season undefeated and with the district 6 title. The Wolves’ lone loss came in the semifinal bout against Bishop Garrigan, giving the Wolves a 11-1 closing record.
Winfield-Mt. Union wasn’t the only area 8-Player team to have a great deal of success.
After making the 2022 state title game, WACO put together a valiant 2023 campaign.
Through the regular season, WACO finished 6-1, with the Warriors lone loss coming from the hands of Winfield-Mt. Union.
Despite the loss, the Warrior’s ended the season strong winning four straight to the end of the regular season.
WACO downed Baxter in its opening round of playoff action, before coming up just short to Don Bosco in the second round.
WACO ended its season at 7-2.
Along with Winfield-Mt. Union and WACO, New London also competed in 8-Player.
The Tigers had an up and down season after losing a ton of talent from 2022.
New London won just one game through the season, finishing 1-7.
Class 1A’s Sigourney-Keota put together another stellar run in 2023.
The Cobras won themselves yet another district title after closing out the regular season at 7-1.
Sigourney-Keota had a rough opening to the year as they fell to Prairie City Monroe in the season opener.
However, from then on the Cobras didn’t miss a beat.
Sigourney-Keota rattled off seven straight wins in a row to lead them into the postseason.
After a dominant win over West Central Valley to begin postseason play, the Cobras had their season ended in a battle against Dike-New Hartford.
Sigourney-Keota finished the season at 8-2.
Also in Class 1A District 6 was Cardinal. The Comets had a tough season, closing 1-7.
In Class 2A District 5, Mid-Prairie had its ups and downs throughout the season.
The Golden Hawks finished the regular season at 4-4, but put together a nice performance in the postseason.
Mid-Prairie crushed Northeast in the opening round, before its season came to an end against Prairie City Monroe in the round two.
Over in Class A, Columbus had high hopes to begin the season. The Wildcats started out the year rated inside the top five, but in the end it didn’t end the way they would have liked.
The Wildcats closed out the regular season at a solid 6-2, with the two losses coming against a ranked Lisbon and Mediapolis.
In the opening round of the Class A playoffs, Columbus was defeated by Maquoketa Valley, ending the Wildcats season at 6-3.
Pekin was one of the most improved area teams this season.
The Panther finished the year at 6-3 after going 3-5 in 2022 and 0-8 in 2021.
Pekin was defeated by Lynnville-Sully in the opening round, but the Panthers are on the up and up.
Along with Columbus and Pekin is Class A District 5, Van Buren County finished with a 3-5 overall record and Highland finished 2-6.
The Union area’s Class 3A teams played some stout competition throughout the season.
Fairfield finished the season with the most wins out of the 3A squads, ending 3-6 after competing in a loaded 3A district 5, which featured the likes of Solon and Williamsburg.
Washington finished its season at 2-7 after a
The Demons played in Class 3A’s district 4, which featured top rated teams such as Davenport Assumption and Mount Vernon.
Mt. Pleasant also competed in 3A district 4. The Panthers ended their season without a win at 0-9.
