Potential Hawk fight in Waterloo

Cedar Rapids Prairie and West Delaware share the same moniker, same school colors and have even had a common coach in Scott Litterer. The traditional wrestling powers will share the same bracket in the Battle of Waterloo on Friday at Young Arena.

Prairie (4-2) is the top seed and West Delaware is No. 2 in Pool D of the 32-team, two-day tournament. If they hold their seeds to final, they won't be in a sharing mood with a berth to Saturday's round-robin championship bracket.

Prairie, sixth in 3A in The Predicament's individual tournament rankings, opens with Waukon in the first round, starting at 4 p.m. Prairie Coach Blake Williams said his team is focused solely on the Indians and competing in the elite dual tournament.

“We try not to look ahead,” Williams said. “It's just going to be fun. We're new to this. We're just looking forward to it.”

Both teams lost close duals to Waverly-Shell Rock, the top seed in Pool C, at the Five Seasons Duals with Prairie placing fourth and West Delaware fifth. West Delaware (6-3) opens with Marshalltown, but a potential dual with Prairie could be exciting.

“Just looking at it on paper, it's a pretty good matchup for both teams,” West Delaware Coach Jeff Voss said. “A match or bonus point here or there could determine the dual. That's why each kid giving their best for the team will be key.”

Iowa City West, ranked second, and No. 4 West Des Moines Valley are the other top seeds. Fifth-ranked Linn-Mar is seeded second in Pool B with Valley.

Pool A and B begin Friday at 9 a.m. with the finals at 1 p.m. Finals for Pool C and D are set for 8 p.m. Teams will be placed into round-robin groups based on finishes during Friday's pool competition.

Battle of Waterloo Brackets[1]