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The Gazette’s Jeff Johnson reveals his top five sports moments for 2025
Some near misses, a record and a light’s out baseball game ... literally
Dec. 31, 2025 6:00 am
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There are obvious ones.
Right at the top is Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell recently deciding to leave Ames to take over head coaching duties at Penn State. And the huge amount of ISU players entering the transfer portal, presumably quite a number of them eventually heading to State College.
This Iowa football season was something, too. The Hawkeyes were a very good football team a break or two from getting into the college football playoffs.
Four losses by a total of 15 points? Ridiculous.
The dismissal of Fran McCaffery as Iowa head men’s basketball coach and the hiring of Ben McCollum from Drake obviously was a huge story. If McCollum can recruit good enough players that fit his team-first system, the Hawkeyes could be in real business.
But if you want to limit things to my beats, things I regularly cover, here is a list of five very memorable moments from 2025. There is no specific order here, just a list.
The USHL’s winningest all-time coach
This was supposed to already have happened. The United States Hockey League sent out press releases late in the 2023-24 season that Mark Carlson of the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders was about to break the league record for most career victories.
But there was a miscalculation. Carlson actually wasn’t that close to the record.
It took “Carly” until early October to surpass P.K. O’Handley with his 779th-career regular-season victory, his team beating Lincoln at home, 3-2. Carlson is the only head coach/general manager the RoughRiders ever have had, joining the organization for its inaugural 1999-2000 season.
He’s the best the league ever has seen, a guy who prescribes to a tough-love approach with his players, though the “love” part is obvious. He has had countless players move on to the National Hockey League, though infinitely more become productive human beings, which is the point.
He even has made me a better reporter, making me work to elicit good responses to what have to be good questions over the years. A tough nut to crack, so to speak, though I know he’d be there for me in a minute if I asked for something.
Just like his players. Nothing sums up Carlson and his career more than this one-on-one interview I did with him earlier this season.
A light’s out performance for the Kernels
The old saying is that baseball is the best sport because there always is something that happens that you’ve never seen before.
So it was in September, when the Cedar Rapids Kernels played Beloit in a winner-take-all Game 3 of their Midwest League Western Division Championship playoff series. Beloit loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first inning.
And then ... a loud pop and the power going out. A transformer at Veterans Memorial Stadium blew, turning out the lights, the scoreboard, you name it.
It took a half-hour or so before the transformer could be fixed. Kernels starting pitcher Adrian Bohorquez had to be removed from the game in favor of reliever Matt Gabbert
He gave up a run-scoring single, but the Kernels countered with five runs in the bottom of the first and went on to a 7-1 win that sent them to the MWL championship.
A new home for state boys basketball tourney
It’s surprising but makes sense.
The Iowa High School Athletic Association announced in mid-March it would move the boys state basketball tournament to Hilton Coliseum in Ames beginning in 2027.
Des Moines has been its home since 1963, but the IHSAA felt Wells Fargo Arena (now Casey’s Center) was just a little too big and provided too much of a stale environment. The Association reached out to Iowa State University, and voila.
It seems like a win. It’s more of a snug, true-basketball environment. Student sections can congregate behind each basket.
Add in free parking and CyTown. Let’s go.
Extreme Metro heartbreak
Speaking of the boys state basketball tournament, man, the Metro experienced some major pain in 2025.
Difficult to pick which semifinal loss was worse. Honestly, Cedar Rapids Xavier’s 3A defeat to MOC/Floyd Valley and Linn-Mar’s 4A semifinal loss to West Des Moines Valley were equal.
Linn-Mar was poised to take down the two-time defending 4A champs, leading by two in the final seconds. But Valley tied it at the buzzer on a Trevin Jirak offensive tip-in.
Valley missed an original shot and two offensive putback attempts before Jirak sent it to OT. Jayden McGregory then won the game, 58-56, with a drive through the lane with under two seconds left.
Xavier engaged in a defensive battle in its 3A semifinal. Points were at a premium.
The game was tied at 41, with MOCFV getting the last shot. Guard Blake Aalbers dribbled out front for a while, wheeled to the top of the arc and fired ... swish.
A 44-41 win for the Dutchmen. Ouch.
Xavier wins it all, with semifinal game most entertaining
You always see good high school football games during a season. To me, this was the best.
Cedar Rapids Xavier won this season’s Class 4A state championship via a 31-6 blowout of Pella. A rather anticlimactic finish after a semifinal game for the Saints that was brilliant and dripped in drama.
Xavier got a go-ahead 1-yard quarterback sneak touchdown from Cash Parks with 3:26 left to beat Newton, 31-24, at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. The Saints got a defensive stop in the closing seconds, as Newton got as far as the Xavier 19.
Newton, led by quarterback Caden Klein, a Northern Iowa signee, led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter before Xavier rallied. The teams combined for 766 total offensive yards.
This was entertaining with a capital ‘E.’
Comments: jeff.johnson@thegazette.com
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