Demons, Tigers matched up with top-ranked foes

As the old saying goes, it's all up hill from here.

That's the reality for No. 10 Washington and New London as the two remaining Union area teams lace up their cleats for the IAHSAA football playoffs, which begin this Friday, Nov. 1. Both Washington and New London will be playing the top-ranked teams in their respective class.

Washington finds its self in the toughest bracket in 3A, 'Bracket B.” All four teams are ranked in the top 10 of the Gazette rankings. The Demons' first round opponent, Western Dubuque, is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A. On the other side of Bracket B, No. 2 Cedar Rapids Xavier travels to No. 4 North Scott.

Out of those four teams, there are four total losses, counting Washington's forfeit against West Lierty. The four teams in Bracket B only have on-the-field losses between them, and all three of them are to top four teams.

Western Dubuque has already beaten both North Scott and Xavier. They beat North Scott 21-3 in a non-district game and Xavier 20-14 in a district contest. Senior quarterback Calvin Harris accounted for five of Western Dubuque's six touchdowns in those two wins.

Washington's only on-the-field loss came against the only top four team not in Bracket B, a 35-20 home loss to No. 3 Solon.

Although Western Dubuque is ranked No. 1 in the Gazette poll, they finished No. 2 in the RPI. Washington is No. 13. On the other side of the bracket, Xavier is No. 6 and North SCott is No. 9.

Solon is the top RPI team in the bracket, and they find themselves in Bracket A. The third-rated Spartans will play Iowa City Liberty at home. The winner of that will play the winner of No. 5 Indepdendence at Pella.

In Bracket C, No. 6 Sergeant Bluff-Luton will Carlisle. No. 9 Norwalk will face off with Glenwood.

Bracket D is the least-decorated bracket of the four. Seventh-ranked Council Bluff Lewis Central hosts Oskaloosa, and No. 8 Dallas Center-Grimes hosts Harlan.

New London finds themselves in a similar situation as Washington. They are facing off with No. 1 Don Bosco, a team that has been ranked at the top of the Class 8-Man standings all year long. Unlike Washington's bracket, New London's bracket has just two ranked teams. No. 8 Easton Valley will be hitting the road to take on Gladbrook-Reinbeck, the very team New London defeated in the first round last season.

Despite being ranked No. 1 in the Gazette rankings, Don Bosco is actually the No. 3 team in the RPI rankings. New London is No. 15, Easton Valley is No. 6 and Gladbrook-Reinbeck was No. 13.

No. 2 St. Mary's Remsen will head up Bracket C. They take on East Mills. On the other side of that bracket, No. 5 Coon Rapids-Bayard takes on No. 6 Fremont-Mills. Fremont-Mills was New London's opponent in last year's state semifinals.

Rockford, the team New London beat in the Class 8-Man championship last year, got the last spot in this year's playoffs. They'll take on No. 2 Turkey Valley in Bracket B. Turkey Valley is the only ranked team in their bracket, with HLV hosting Midland on the other side. HLV as one of New London's two losses this year, beating them 34-22.

Bracket A is stacked with four ranked teams. No. 4 Audubon hosts No. 7 Harris-Lake Park, and No. 10 Lamoni hosts No. 9 Anita CAM.

When the dust settles, four teams from each of Iowa's six classes will meet in Cedar Falls all the marbles. Kickoff times for all playoff games up to that point are set for 7 p.m., unless otherwise noted. All the brackets are available on iahsaa.org under the football tab.