New districts pose new challenges

The deck has been shuffled, and the path to a state title for the area football teams looks just a little different than in recent years.

A number of changes have occurred this offseason, which will affect the football postseason and the teams they will face during the regular season, as new districts were released on Wednesday afternoon.

In Thursday?s issue of The Journal, the districts were listed, but in today?s issue, we?ll take a more in-depth glance team-by-team at Washington?s district

In Class 1A (Highland, Columbus, Sigourney-Keota), Class 2A (Mid-Prairie) and 3A (Washington), there will be seven districts of eight teams this season, as opposed to the eight districts of seven teams that has been featured in recent years.

For the playoffs, the top two teams in each district will qualify for the playoffs, with two at-large teams also qualifying, with preference coming to those teams in a three-way tie for a district title.

?I think the huge change is the 16 teams in the playoffs,? Washington football head coach Garrison Carter said. ?You can?t afford to have a week off. You can?t lose a game you are supposed to win, otherwise you?ll be on the outside looking in. Everybody will be shooting to be the top two in the district, and they don?t want to worry about the playoff tiebreakers.?

The team capsules are listed below:

Class 3A, District 5

Fairfield

Record over past two seasons; 10-10

Record vs. Washington in that span: 0-2

Note for 2016 season: Fairfield junior Cameron Baumann will be entering his senior season for the Trojans. He threw for 1,341 yards and 12 touchdowns as a junior. He also ran for 224 yards last season and is the team?s top returning rusher.

Fort Madison

Record over past two seasons: 3-15

Record vs. Washington in that span: 0-2

Note for 2016 season: The Bloodhounds graduate their quarterback, top four rushers, top four receivers, and top four tacklers from last season, as they look to continue rebuilding.

Keokuk

Record over past two seasons: 5-13

Record vs. Washington in that span: 0-2

Note for 2016 season: Chiefs will return their top passer, Damon Wolter, who threw for more than 1,100 yards last season. However, Keokuk will only have two combined catches returning next season.

Mt. Pleasant

Record over past two seasons: 4-14

Record vs. Washington in that span: 0-2

Note for 2016 season: The Panthers lose their starting quarterback from this season to graduation, but will return their top rushing threat (Pat Canby) and top receiving threat (D?Shundric Foster). Foster had a 99-yard touchdown reception against the Demons last year.

Oskaloosa

Record over past two seasons: 3-15

Record vs. Washington in that span: 0-0 (last played Washington in 2013 playoffs)

Note for 2016 season: Will return quarterback (Ethan Arnold), top rushers and top receivers for their senior seasons in 2016.

Carter on Osky entering the district: ?Oskaloosa is a team that I?m personally familiar with, because they were always in my district when I was at Centerville (in high school). I think they are a sleeping giant. They?ve been down in recent years, but they have a lot of resources.?

Solon

Record over past two seasons: 11-7

Record vs. Washington in that span: 2-1 (squared off in 2015 playoffs)

Note for 2016 season: Will return Blaze Griffis, who started at quarterback for half of the season, and the top receiver, Durr Halston, from a season ago.

Carter on Solon entering the district: ?We didn?t expect to have them in our district, but it?s a team you expect to play on the way to the state championship anyway, so seeing them in the regular season, might give us a step up in that process.?

West Burlington

Record over past two seasons: 8-11

Record vs. Washington in that span: 0-0 (the teams have never met)

Note for 2016 season: The Falcons are moving up from Class 2A, and return their leading rusher (Isaiah Trousil) from last season. The Falcons also faced Fort Madison and Keokuk last season and came away with wins.

Carter on West Burlington entering the district: ?West Burlington I don?t know too much about. I?ve seen them on film a couple of times, playing some of our district teams in non-district matchups, but they won a state title in track recently, so they have good athletes.?