Schedule is tough, but South Winn is tougher

The schedule has been a grind.

'Yeah, and it's not going to get much easier,” said South Winneshiek football coach Jason Ohrt. 'The meat and potatoes of the district are coming up.”

The first four courses have included three ranked teams - including a No. 1 and last year's Class 2A runner-up. And the Warriors have feasted to a 4-0 start.

South Winn, ranked No. 3 in 1A, toppled 2A No. 1 New Hampton, 18-7, in Friday's showdown on the road.

'The opening drive of the game, they had a short field and scored on fourth and goal,” Ohrt said. 'After that, we shut them down pretty well.

'We don't have a lot of size, but we are very athletic and have more speed at every position than just about every team we face, and our guys are able to rally to the ball.”

One of those speedy, athletic guys is all-state receiver/safety Jordan Rommes, who averages 24.4 yards in his 14 receptions this season. He's been a two-way starter for four years.

'He's a special player,” Ohrt said. 'He's on pace to be one of the top five receivers in Iowa history. He's able to do a lot of things for us offensively, defensively and on special teams.”

Among South Winn's victims thus far: 2013 2A runner-up Waukon, Class A power Wapsie Valley and now the Chickasaws. The Warriors travel to Sumner-Fredericksburg (3-1) next week.

BULLETIN-BOARD MATERIAL

Inside the North Linn locker room are copies of The Gazette's preseason football tab. More specifically, the projections for Class A District 5.

'We made copies, we put them up all over the locker room and we highlighted them,” said Lynx Coach Jared Collum.

The Lynx were picked eighth. Last. But a pair of dramatic wins has the Lynx (2-2 overall, 2-0 district) in early position to grab their first playoff berth since 2008.

North Linn beat Starmont 42-36 in overtime last week, then followed that with a 22-15 triumph Friday at Postville.

Jacob Rawson returned a kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown moments after the Pirates had taken a 15-14 advantage.

'We were going to find a way to get him the ball,” Collum said. 'We ran a reverse, and nobody touched him.”

In addition to his late heroics, Rawson rushed for 163 yards. Brandon Stepanek clinched the win with an interception on Postville's final drive.

On paper, this appeared to be a long season for the Lynx, who were 1-8 last season and lost a good share of their skill personnel. Now, there is postseason potential.

'Because of our size, I knew we could be decent,” Collum said. 'We haven't won much the last few years, and we needed wins to get some confidence. We got down 14-0 and 22-8 to Starmont, and we could have packed it in. Postville scored to go ahead of us late, and we could have packed it in. But this group has a lot of fight in them.”

LOMBARDI KEYS VALLEY UPSET

In a touch of irony, the Lombardi family may have handed Cedar Rapids Washington an assist in the Warriors' climb in the Class 4A rankings.

Sophomore quarterback Rocky Lombardi completed 15 of 25 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns as No. 7 West Des Moines Valley shocked No. 1 West Des Moines Dowling, 24-21, Friday at Valley Stadium.

Lombardi's father, Tony, was a successful head coach at Washington for seven seasons before resigning in 2013 amid an investigation of mistreatment of students. The family moved to West Des Moines just as practice began last season.

Washington moved to 4-0 Friday with a 43-3 rout of Linn-Mar, its 10th straight regular-season win. The Warriors were ranked third last week behind Dowling and Bettendorf.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com