Getting set for a great area postseason
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Starting Saturday at noon, the postseason officially gets under way for the winter sports season. The next month-plus promises to be an exciting one around the area.
The Creston/O-M wrestling team hosts a Class 2A Sectional Tournament Saturday and the fourth-ranked Panthers appear to have a very good chance to contend for hardware at both the traditional and dual state tournaments later this month.
The Panthers will be huge favorites at the sectional tourney, thanks to five ranked wrestlers and several other solid individuals. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Creston/O-M sent double digits on to Atlantic next week for districts.
If you are in the Creston gym Saturday, keep an eye on the team race for second and the 106-pound weight class.
Bedford/Lenox and Winterset could end up being separated by just a few points for that second regional dual spot by the end of the day.
And the 106-pound weight class is one of the strongest I have ever seen at a sectional. There are five wrestlers entered there and all five would be very deserving of a district berth and a case could be made that all five would also be competitive at state. That weight class alone will be worth the price of admission.
One of the big stories at the state wrestling tournament this season will be the continued quest of several individuals for four state titles. Jake Marlin of Creston/O-M is chasing his third title, as is fellow junior Brandon Sorenson of Denver-Tripoli.
A trio of wrestlers could finish their careers as four-timers — John Meeks of Des Moines Roosevelt, Cory Clark of Southeast Polk and Topher Carton of Davenport Assumption. All three began the season undefeated for their careers, but only Meeks can finish that way.
Hoops
The basketball playoffs get under way Thursday, Feb. 9 with Class 1A girls action. The boys get started in 1A and 2A on Monday, Feb. 13.
Several area squads could make a run at the state tournament this season.
The talk of the area is the brutal District 15 in Class 1A boys postseason action.
Murray, Nodaway Valley and Mount Ayr are all capable of reaching the state tournament, but at least two of them won’t even make it to the substate.
I have been there for both Nodaway Valley-Mount Ayr Pride of Iowa Conference battles and have not been disappointed either time. Both games came down to the wire, with the Wolverines coming out on top each night. The two could face off for a third time in the semifinals and I believe both squads would welcome the challenge.
Waiting for the winner of that possible game in the district final could be Murray, which has not lost since the season-opener against Mount Ayr in another close contest.
Creston’s postseason draw is not known yet, as the Class 3A and 4A pairings have not been released. The Panthers played very well down the stretch of the games that counted in the seeding and are expected to host a first-round contest as a possible No. 4 seed.
In the girls tournament, Creston opens postseason play Feb. 15 with a home game against Hawkeye 10 Conference rival Red Oak. The Panthers own a three-point home win over the Tigers and the two teams meet again tonight in Red Oak.
It appears to be a very fair first-round game for both teams. Waiting for the winner will likely be fifth-ranked Glenwood in what would be a very tough semifinal opponent.
Corning made a surprise run to the regional finals last season, falling one win shy of the state tournament.
The area team that I could see making a deep run this winter — although it wouldn’t be a huge surprise — is Nodaway Valley.
The Wolverines don’t have a big star on their team, but just play solid all-around basketball and get contributions from everyone who steps onto the court. NV would host the first two rounds and have already faced and defeat two of the other three teams in that foursome of the draw.
In the semifinals, the Wolverines would likely meet Clarke or Panorama. NV has also defeated Clarke this season and Panorama, although ranked, doesn’t appear to have faced the quality of opposition that the Wolverines have in the very tough POI.
Whoever makes it out of that half of the draw could have a very tall order to reach state. Second-ranked IKM-Manning will likely be waiting in the regional final. The Wolves have lost just one game this season and that was in overtime to top-ranked and defending state champion OA-BCIG.
In Class 1A I am interested in seeing how Orient-Macksburg performs. The Bulldogs have proven they can play with and even beat some of the top teams in the area this season. Murray and Corning are two other area 1A squads to keep your eyes on.
Bedford has made it through the season undefeated so far and will be heavily favored to reach the state tournament out of the same regional that has O-M, Murray, Mount Ayr, Diagonal, East Union and Lenox.
It should be an exciting next month of action in the area. Be sure to catch all the action in the Creston News Advertiser and our website, www.crestonnews.com.
***
Starting with the Feb. 1 edition of the newspaper, the sports department underwent a change in deadline. Instead of an 11 a.m. deadline, it is now 8 a.m., so the sports pages will be done the night before for the most part.
What this means to you the reader is that some of the game stories will not appear in the paper the following day, but rather the next one. We will attempt to get any Creston games and area ones that we receive information on in the following day, but there are other contests will be a day later if we were not able to catch up with the information in time.
However, a list of area scores will run in each paper the day after games are played, so fans will at least know how the area squads did the following day, if there are not write-ups. We are working with coaches and other sources to adjust in this transition, and we will continue to bring you timely, complete coverage of your favorite area team.
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