Jeff Johnson

The Gazette’s Iowa high school football staff and Gazette contributor Scott Unash tackles high school football questions. See how much Jeff Linder, Jeff Johnson, K.J. Pilcher and Unash can gain in 4 Downs:

Sunday was special for Ty Langenberg. The Urbandale native and former Iowa Hawkeyes pitcher saw his mother, Kathy, throw out a ceremonial first pitch prior to the Cedar Rapids Kernels’ 2-1 win over Beloit. Then he went out and threw six very good innings for the victory in the regular-season finale at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Iowa City West’s football team dominated most of the game and shutout rival Iowa City High, 30-0, Friday night at Bates Field. The Trojans win The Boot trophy back for the first time since 2020.

Shortstop Marek Houston was the top draft pick of the Minnesota Twins in July, signed with the club and is making his professional debut. He excelled at low-Class A Fort Myers, prompting a promotion to the high-A Cedar Rapids Kernels for the rest of the minor league season.

A knee injury to its anticipated starter during spring practice left the Albany football team scrambling to find a starting quarterback for the 2025 season. Hitting the transfer portal late provided the Great Danes with their guy. Jack Shields will start Saturday in the season opener against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy went 3-6 last football season, the school’s first losing season since 2014. In an effort to make that a one-off thing, the Cougars are stressing fundamentals and discipline in 2025.

The Gazette sports writers Jeff Johnson, Jeff Linder and K.J. Pilcher discuss the upcoming 2025 Iowa High School Football season including preseason rankings, predictions and games to watch in week 1.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association announced Wednesday that it has reached agreements with Gray Media, Marquee Sports Network, Nexstar and Mediacom to provide expanded coverage of its sports championships.

Here is another look at how Eastern Iowans and former University of Iowa baseball players are doing in the early going of the 2025 Major League Baseball and minor league seasons.

Bryant Worrell began his college football at Old Dominion, where he didn’t play over two seasons. He then went to NCAA Division II Emory and Henry College in Virginia for two years, then Boston College last season. BC let him go, and he has ended up with the Hawkeyes. A circuitous journal, for sure.

Defensive end Iose Epenesa was a five-star recruit coming out of high school on the Illinois side of St. Louis. But because this 2025 Iowa football team has a lot of experience up front going into the season, there is no pressure for Epenesa to see the field right away, as there was on older brother A.J., the Buffalo Bills D-end.

Iowa City West graduate Mason Woods was recruited to the Iowa football team as an athlete, someone capable of playing multiple positions. The son of former Hawkeye player and current special teams coach LeVar Woods is starting out his career as a tight end, part of an exciting group of freshmen and redshirt freshmen below experienced guys Addison Ostrenga and Zach Ortwerth on the depth chart.

Cedar Rapids Kernels infielder Kyle DeBarge opposed good friend and former college teammate L.P. Langevin of the Quad Cities River Bandits twice this week in a seven-game series. He went 2-for-2 at the plate, including a go-ahead two-run single Sunday in his team’s 6-3 victory.

Logan Jones decided to return to the University of Iowa football team for a sixth season. The Council Bluffs native anchors what should be a good offensive line at center. “The center is the most important,” offensive coordinator Tim Lester said.

Iowa football offensive coordinator Tim Lester said he’d prefer a running-back-by-committee approach this season. Part of that committee surely will be Kamari Moulton.