Class 4A teams brace for ‘something unknown:’ District football

CEDAR RAPIDS - It's here to stay, not going away. If you haven't already, stop lamenting the end of the Mississippi Valley Conference and enjoy all that district football in Iowa's largest class has to offer.

That's what the coaches and players are doing.

'It's a honeymoon phase right now,” said Cedar Rapids Jefferson Coach Brian Webb. 'People will be excited about it. The nice thing is every two years, it's going to change, as to who you play.”

The smaller five classes in the state have been playing district football since 1992. Schools in the Class 4A Central Iowa Metro League and Missouri River Conference chose districts for the 2012 season because of traveling and scheduling problems.

Without such problems, the 14 schools in the MVC and 10 in the Mississippi Athletic Conference were the last holdouts - until last winter. The MAC officially chose to go to the district way, with the MVC having no choice but to follow.

With the move came the decision by parochial schools Cedar Rapids Xavier, Davenport Assumption and Dubuque Wahlert to drop to 3A, their enrollment classification. It's change, change everywhere.

'It had been a requirement for the last 22 years, six at Regis and 16 here at Xavier, that we had to play up to remain in the MVC (in all sports),” Xavier Athletics Director Mike Winker said last winter. 'That requirement was dropped. We don't tell our other programs they have to play up.”

Ultimately, what's left is 22 schools in 4A on the eastern side of the state. The Iowa High School Athletic Association shifted Ottumwa over from the Central/West to create an even number.

Districts 5 and 6 consist of six schools each, while Districts 7 and 8 have five apiece. The top four teams in each district qualify for the playoffs.

'We're going into something unknown,” Cedar Rapids Washington Coach/Athletics Director Paul James said. 'There's a certain amount of excitement. The nice thing is, they've kind of tiered and evened out the districts (competitively).”

Each Eastern Iowa district has a clear favorite (Cedar Falls in 5, Washington in 6, Iowa City West in 7 and Bettendorf in 8). District 5 consists of all former MVC schools (Cedar Falls, Jefferson, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Linn-Mar, Waterloo East and Waterloo West), while the others have a mix of MVC and MAC schools.

Playing teams you ordinarily wouldn't is a compelling aspect of all this.

'I loved the MVC, but you know, I'm excited about district football,” said Kennedy Coach Brian White. 'I'm excited about getting the chance to play different schools.”

'As far as our district is concerned, it is very competitive,” said Cedar Rapids Prairie Coach Mike Morrissey said. 'I think all but one of our teams were playoff teams last year, so we have a tough draw. Besides the travel part of it, which we aren't all that thrilled about, the teams we play are awesome. I think they are well coached and have a bunch of good athletes. I think it will be a nice competitive district.”

Fewer district games than conference games means schools can continue big rivalries. For instance, Jefferson, Kennedy and Washington will play each other no matter what district they're in.

Some schools got particularly creative in putting together non-district schedules for this two-year cycle.

Iowa City West plays at West Des Moines Valley in what should be an interesting Week Two game. Iowa City High and Ames play Sept. 12 at Bates Field, the night before the Iowa-Iowa State game at Kinnick Stadium.

A program that has struggled, Jefferson was able to secure non-district games with similar teams Davenport North and Davenport West. Cedar Falls went back to its Big Eight Conference roots to secure non-district games with Ames and Mason City.

Kennedy plays traditional MAC powers Pleasant Valley and North Scott in 2014 and 2015.

'I just think it allows more flexibility,” Webb said. 'The MVC had a great run, but there's no way Dubuque Wahlert could compete in 4A anymore. They simply did not have the enrollment to compete. I think this was going to happen eventually anyway.

'I like our schedule, I think it's going to be good. It gives teams more flexibility for those matchups they always wanted.”

With no Metro schools willing to play it because of its drop to 3A, Xavier enrolled the help of parochial partners to build an intriguing non-district schedule. The Saints are at West Des Moines Dowling to open the regular season, a rematch of last year's 4A championship game.

Week Two sees Xavier at Assumption. The penultimate regular-season game is at home against four-time defending state champ Iowa City Regina, which enters 2014 with a state-record 56-game win streak.

District, non-district, let's tee it up and see how this all works out. Everyone's ready.

'We're embracing it,” said Linn-Mar Coach Bob Forsyth. 'But right now, district football is the least of our worries.”

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