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Washington Evening Journal
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WACO, Columbus get in
Despite final game losses, Warriors and Wildcats join Pekin, SK and Mid-Prairie in playoffs
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
There was both pad crunching and number crunching on Friday night, as the Union area’s small school football teams finished the 2025 regular season and learned their respective fates in the Class 2A, 1A, A and 8-Player playoff pictures.
Heading into the final games, Mid-Prairie and Pekin had clinched the district and Sigourney-Keota had a playoff spot locked up, but a number of other teams had to battle it out to see if they could slip into the field.
Columbus, Van Buren County, WACO and Winfield-Mt. Union all had a shot to get into the field on Friday night. Only Columbus in Class A, and WACO in Class 8-Player showed up on the playoff list on Saturday morning.
Listed below are the area’s small school results, as well as which teams will be playing in next week’s Iowa High School Athletic Association opening round.
No. 5 Mid-Prairie 59, West Burlington-Notre Dame 0
The Golden Hawks not only polished off a perfect Class 2A District 6 record, but left it squeaky clean with a blowout victory.
With starting quarterback Brooks Weber out with a finger injury, the Golden Hawks rushed for 238 yards and four touchdowns. Kaden Koss led the way with 83 yards and a score. Ryan Henry had 64 yards and a score. Hudson Ehrenfelt ran for 63 yards and a touchdown, and Oliver Miller rushed for 28 yards and a touchdown of his own.
Ehrenfelt threw the ball six times, completing five passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns. Bronx Miller threw a 30-yard touchdown pass as well.
Henry led the team in receiving yards, with 41. Carson Humphrey caught Miller’s 30-yard touchdown pass, and both Nolan Jergens and Gentry Bontrager found the end zone.
Mid-Prairie (7-1) will host North Fayette Valley (3-5) in the Class 2A Playoffs.
Sigourney-Keota 49, Cardinal 0
The Cobras already had a playoff spot locked in, but made sure to put a stamp on the regular season with a blowout win over Cardinal.
The Cobras ran for 345 yards and six touchdowns, led by Ayden Galindo’s 68-yard, two-score day.
Ike Molyneaux, Blake Baler, Brayden Wood and Jacob Libe all scored on the ground for SK, while Chase Clarahan threw a touchdown pass to Hunter Sellers, and John Berg picked off two passes.
Cardinal senior Alijah Frase threw for 105 yards and two picks in his final game.
Sigourney-Keota (4-4) takes on Interstate 35 (5-3) in the Class 1A opening round.
Pekin 43, Columbus 14
In Class A, the District 5 champion Pekin Panthers took down Columbus to finish the regular season a perfect 8-0.
Nolan Glick had a huge day for Pekin, running for 170 yards and three scores. Riley Smith threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. Henry Adam had 44 yard receiving, and both Reed Lauderman and Alijah Brock scored on touchdown catches.
Columbus’ Trevor Phillips threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns. Tyson Kaalberg ran for 85 yards, while both Lamar Ceant and Alexander Rees scored on receptions.
Pekin (8-0) will take on Earlham (4-4) in the Class A playoffs. Columbus (3-5) earned the No. 3 seed in the district and will travel to North Linn (7-1). Van Buren County, which didn’t have a game this week, finished third in the tiebreaking procedures to Columbus and Wapello to miss the field.
No. 4 Iowa Valley 60, WACO 20
WACO couldn’t knock off super power Iowa Valley, which went undefeated in Class 8-Player District 5.
WACO had touchdown passes by both Nick West and Jonah Miller despite the loss.
Niles Reichenbach found the end zone on the ground for the Warriors. Rydge Sternums and Casey Coakly each caught touchdown passes.
Despite the loss, WACO earned the third automatic playoff bid in the district due to tying with English Valleys and Winfield-Mt. Union, and having the higher point differential.
The Warriors (3-5) will take on Edgewood-Colesburg (8-0) in a road playoff game this Friday.
Belle Plaine 56, Winfield-Mt. Union 42
If the Wolves could have knocked off Belle Plaine, WMU would have not only made the playoffs, but gotten in as the second-place finisher in the district. Unfortunately, the Plainsman offense was on fire all night long.
Junior quarterback Cody Milks threw for 306 yards and four touchdowns in the loss. Fellow junior Tayson Samuels caught 14 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns, and senior Max Edwards caught eight passes for 73 yards and two scores.
Senior Nicholas Sparrow ran for 61 yards and a touchdown, while Milks ran for a score of his own.
