Jeff Johnson

The Cedar Rapids Kernels scored four runs in the first inning and went on to beat Peoria, 9-3, Friday night in the deciding Game 3 of their Midwest League Western Division championship playoff series. Cedar Rapids plays a best-of-3 title series against Great Lakes.

Wide receiver Kaiden Griffith is a three-year starter who Coach Michael Joyner calls one of the best ever at Marion. He had two touchdown catches Friday night in his team’s 34-7 win over Maquoketa, including a 70-yard beauty in the third quarter that recaptured momentum the Wolves used to pull away.

An unexpected stomach flu hit several members of the Cedar Rapids Kernels prior to their Thursday night game against Peoria in the Midwest League Western Division finals series. They persevered through that illness, winning 9-4, to force a winner-take-all Game 3 Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Another week of turmoil in the Class 4A Iowa high school football top 10. Among a big group of really good teams, which ones are set to emerge as the best? That’s how this episode of the Prep Football Huddle podcast kicks off.

Western Michigan’s Austin Hence is a graduate transfer, a super senior, if you will. The COVID-19 pandemic and myriad injuries have allowed him to finally become a Division I starting tight end 8 years after his career began.

Independence junior inside linebacker Tate Wood leads the state in tackles. He had 22 (all of them solo) in a game two weeks ago and a school-record tying 23 last week.

The Peoria Chiefs scored four straight runs to grab a 4-1 lead on the Cedar Rapids Kernels in Tuesday night’s Game 1 of their Midwest League Western Division playoff championship series. The Kernels closed within a run and had the bases loaded in the ninth inning, only to fall, 4-3.

Jeff Linder, Jeff Johnson, K.J. Pilcher and Nathan Ford delve into questions surrounding the high school football season. Read what we had to say on conversions, passing duos, recruits and the expansion of Friday Night Lights.

Despite losing their final four games, the Cedar Rapids Kernels finished the Midwest League regular season with an 82-50 record, their .621 winning percentage tops in all of minor league baseball. They face Peoria in the Western Division playoff championship series, with Game 1 Tuesday night in Illinois.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson’s football program has followed a 26-game, multiple-season losing streak with a three-game win streak to begin the 2023 season. The J-Hawks rolled to a 35-0 halftime lead and plastered Des Moines North, 41-8, Friday night at Kingston Stadium.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy junior offensive lineman Nick Brooks announced Friday in a ceremony at the school that he will play college football at the University of Iowa. The 6-foot-8, 385-pounder picked the Hawkeyes over Florida State, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.

A couple big results in Week 2 of the Iowa high school football season caused a bit of a rankings shake-up in this week’s Gazette poll. The Prep Football Huddle podcast breaks it all down.

The Gazette Iowa high school sports staff answers questions about the winless teams and top defenses through Week 2, football in a small town vs. at big schools and the Netflix series “Quarterback” if focused at the high school level.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels have the best team in all of minor league baseball at 80-46 overall. That .635 winning percentage is fourth all-time in the club’s modern history. They wrapped up their home schedule Sunday with a 9-0 win over Lake County.

Western Dubuque doesn’t have its intended quarterback so far this season, but Tanner Anderson has stepped in and led the Bobcats to back-to-back comfortable victories to begin. Running back Grant Glausser and a good offensive line also have been key for Class 4A’s No. 6 team.