Iowa high school football 2022: Picking the area Class A districts

Eastern Iowa favorites include North Linn, Alburnett, Wapsie Valley and Lynnville-Sully

Aug. 19, 2022 7:25 am, Updated: Aug. 23, 2022 4:21 pm

East Buchanan's Tanner Thurn rushes for a first down in a Class A semifinal last season at the UNI-Dome. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

This is the second in a series diving into the area Iowa high school football districts for the 2022 season. Today, we examine Class A.

Fifty-six teams are assigned to Class A, with 32 advancing to the playoffs. The top four teams in each of eight districts advance automatically.

The Class A regular season will be eight games, with five rounds of playoffs. Teams not making the playoffs will be permitted to play a ninth regular-season contest.

A closer look at area districts:

District 4

OVERVIEW

North Linn (9-1, 6-0) rode a stiff defense (six shutouts, 4.3 points per game allowed) to a breakthrough season, one that ended in the second round against Wapsie Valley, 7-6. The top four tacklers from that defensive unit (Landen Paul, Landon Miller, Jarin Peyton and Cael Bridgewater) are back, and the Lynx will be extremely difficult to move the ball against once again. East Buchanan (10-2, 5-1) made a march to the UNI-Dome last year and is the primary challenger to the Lynx; they will collide in Week 2. Junior lineman Cody Fox is a University of Iowa commit. Maquoketa Valley (1-7, 0-6), Starmont (3-6, 3-3), Bellevue (5-4, 3-3) and South Winneshiek (2-6, 2-4) will wrangle for the final two playoff spots.

PROJECTIONS (*playoff qualifier)

1. *North Linn

2. *East Buchanan

3. *Maquoketa Valley

4. *Starmont

5. Bellevue

6. South Winneshiek

7. Clayton Ridge

District 5

OVERVIEW

This shapes up as a four-team race, and one of the top contenders may surprise you. Columbus Community (3-5, 2-4) returns nearly intact from last year and figures to push Alburnett (4-5, 4-2) at the top of the heap. Carson Klostermann led Alburnett in rushing last year with 602 yards and also racked up 63 tackles. Columbus counters with junior Kaden Amigon, the lone rusher in the district to eclipse 1,000 yards. Last year’s champion, Lisbon (8-2, 6-0) remains a title threat behind quarterback Cohen Kamaus, and Wapello (6-3, 5-1) should be in the mix as well.

PROJECTIONS (*playoff qualifier)

1. *Alburnett

2. *Columbus Community

3. *Wapello

4. *Lisbon

5. Pekin

6. Highland

7. North Cedar