Small school preview

Despite some high school teams canceling football games Friday, the season continues for most with district play starting for 11-man teams.

New London welcomes in Montezuma for what could be the game of the year in Class 8-Man District 4. The Tigers and Braves come into the game at 2-0 and having already been a couple of preseason favorites in the district.

New London will have to try and slow down Montezuma quarterback Eddie Burgess, who has already passed for seven touchdowns in the first two games. Receiver/defensive back Cole Watts has also impressed, catching three touchdowns on offense and picking off a couple of balls on defense.

Blaise Porter has been solid at running back for New London. He has ran for 213 yards and five touchdowns this season. The Tiger defense has given up just 23 total points in two games. We'll see if the defenses can hold on Friday, however, as the two teams combined for 160 points in a 94-68 Tiger win last season.

Winfield-Mt. Union plays at Twin Cedars, a team that still hasn't had a game all year. The Sabers' schedule has been bothered by the COVID-19 pandemic, but Twin Cedars is off and running this week.

W-MU will look to bounce back after a 73-32 loss at Montezuma last season. The Wolves have run for an impressive 628 yards already this season and have only passed the ball four times. W-MU is averaging 38 points-per-game going into Week 3.

WACO will host Lone Tree in their first home game of the year. The Warriors enter the game at 1-1 and the Lions come in at 0-1.

WACO is coming off a tough week at New London where the Tigers put up 50 points. The New London offense is averaging just over 21 points per game and quarterback Will Edeker has eight total touchdowns, four with his arm and four with his legs.

Lone Tree scored just 22 points against English Valleys, but starting quarterback Cade Shield still had a nice game, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for two.

Van Buren County looks to go to 2-0 and enact some revenge on Mediapolis after falling 46-6 in 2018 and 48-6 in 2019. The Bulldogs are coming into the game with a 1-1 record.

VBC impressed in a 40-21 Week 1 win over Central Lee, especially on the ground. Sophomore Sam Warth ran for 140 yards and three scores to the Warrior offense.

Hosting Central Lee (0-2), Mid-Prairie returns to the field after canceling last week's game with Iowa City Regina over COVID. The Golden Hawks lost to Sigourney-Keota 27-21 in the first game. Vinny Bowlin went 14-for-235 for 238 yards while Hawks teammmate Kayden Reinier had 134 yards rushing on 22 carries. Keegan Gingerich had six receptions for 118 yards. Justice Jones had 8.5 tackles.

S-K changed opponents last week from EBF to Union and rolled up a 48-14 win. The Cobras travel to Louisa-Muscatine (0-2). Jack Clarahan leads the Cobras defense with 13.5 tackles in the two wins.

Highland (0-1) and Columbus (1-1) both have road games after both had last week off when the schedule contraction eliminated possible games. Columbus travels to play a ranked Lisbon team that has wins over Wilton 26-20 and Belle Plaine 20-0. Columbus' Jeff Hoback is 10-of-15 for 197 yards passing while Will Scwab has 280 yards rushing.

The Huskies play at Wapello (0-1). The Indians did not play the first week and lost 34-24 to Mediapolis last week. Wapello QB Tade Parsons was 14-for-29 for 185 yards. Connor Grinstead rushed for 185 yards in Highland's 36-30 loss to Wilton.