Iowa high school football 2025: Picking the area Class 3A districts

Fifth in a series diving into the area Iowa high school football districts for the 2025 season. Today, we examine Class 3A.

Thirty-six teams are assigned to Class 3A, with 16 advancing to the playoffs. The top two teams in each of six districts advance, plus four at-large teams based on RPI.

The Class 3A regular season will consist of nine games, with four rounds of playoffs.

A closer look at area districts:

District 2

OVERVIEW

With three Wamac teams and three from the North Central Conference, this makes for an intriguing mix. Four teams qualify as playoff-caliber, but it will be challenging for two at-large teams to come from any 3A district. Clear Lake (6-4) returns the most, so slot the Lions as the team to beat. Junior quarterback Jaxson McIntire passed for 25 touchdowns last season, and Sam Dodge is a qualify two-way performer. The chase group consists of Independence (8-3), Benton Community (7-3) and West Delaware (5-4), in whatever order. Benton is the only team of those three to bring back its quarterback; Carson Nolan passed for five touchdowns and ran for five more last season.

PROJECTIONS (*playoff qualifier)

1. *Clear Lake

2. *Independence

3. *Benton Community

4. *West Delaware

5. Charles City

6. Iowa Falls-Alden

District 3

OVERVIEW

Dubuque Wahlert stormed to a 13-0 record and the 3A state championship last year. The Golden Eagles lost the majority of their roster to graduation, and Mount Vernon (10-2) very well could be the heir apparent to the 3A throne. The Mustangs were dominant on both sides of the ball on their way to the state semifinals, scoring 39.3 points per game and allowing 11.9. A good amount of their firepower returns, led by quarterback Kellen Haverback and receiving duo Jase Jaspers and Michael Ryan. Jaxon Anderson was the leading tackler, and also is back. If Wahlert gets a challenge for the second automatic bid, it could come from Davenport Assumption (4-6) or Center Point-Urbana (4-5).

PROJECTIONS (*playoff qualifier)

1. *Mount Vernon

2. *Dubuque Wahlert

3. Davenport Assumption

4. Center Point-Urbana

5. Central DeWitt

6. Maquoketa

District 4

OVERVIEW

Depending on your viewpoint, Solon (8-3) was the area team to draw the short (or long) straw and head south for this two-year cycle. If recent history is any indication, the Spartans won’t get much resistance. They’ll get their best competition in the first four weeks of the season against four 3A quality teams, including Mount Vernon at home in Week 3. The Spartans’ top three tacklers from 2024 (Kyler Jensen, Maddox Kelley and Tripp Johnson) return. Fairfield (2-7) is the pick here to be the best of the five Southeast Conference teams in this pack, with a pivotal Week 6 encounter at Washington (6-3).

PROJECTIONS (*playoff qualifier)

1. *Solon

2. *Fairfield

3. Washington

4. Keokuk

5. Mount Pleasant

6. Fort Madison

Other districts with area teams

DISTRICT 5

1. *Nevada

2. *Williamsburg

3. Des Moines Christian

4. Winterset

5. Knoxville

6. Saydel

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com