Iowa City Liberty Lightning

The Gazette prep sports staff answers questions on hot teams and even hotter takes as fall continues and the high school football season reaches Week 7.

Did it seem like there were more blowouts than usual in Iowa high school football last Friday? We consider whether that’s a trend or an anomaly on this episode of the Prep Football Huddle podcast and discuss what else stood out in Week 5.

Iowa high school volleyball notes: A reserve last year for Mount Vernon, Karlee Luneckas now plays a major role for Lisbon.

In this week’s Iowa high school football rewind: Sigourney-Keota’s restart has produced successful results, including a win Friday over 1A No. 1 Pella Christian. Plus, notes on wins from Cedar Rapids Xavier, Iowa City Liberty, East Buchanan, Mount Vernon and Beckman.

After putting up just 69 yards of total offense in the first half and trailing 9-0, the Lightning offense finally struck in the second half. No. 9 Iowa City Liberty rallied to beat No. 8 North Scott, 20-16, in a 4A top-10 battle.

From Iowa City Liberty and Marion, to Cascade, East Buchanan and more, we run through the most-impressive wins of Iowa high school football Week 4 on the latest episode of the Prep Football Huddle podcast.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association released the assignments for district competition set for Oct. 3-4. Western Dubuque is the lone Gazette area team to host, while all Metro and Iowa City teams hit the road for qualifying rounds. The top three teams in each advance to state Oct. 7-8.

The Gazette’s high school volleyball Super Ten rankings: Cedar Rapids Xavier stays at No. 1, Springville jumps three spots after winning its home tournament and extending its win streak to 15.