Jeff Johnson

Jeff Hrubes has been an assistant coach at Cedar Rapids Kennedy for 25 seasons. He was a starter for the last Cougars team that won a state championship, coached his son at the school, as well as some fathers and their sons. This undefeated Cougars team went to 21-0 with a blowout win over Davenport West in a 4A substate semifinal Friday.

There are eight substate final games Saturday night in Class 1A and 2A, including games involving Gazette-area schools North Linn, MFL MarMac and Monticello.

WIth Decorah having the ball and threatening to take a lead in the final minute, Marion guard Payton Hodges stole a pass and turned it into a layup that gave his Wolves a 71-68 edge with 1:07 left. That ended up being the final score of this Class 3A substate semifinal boys’ basketball game.

Tate Petersen scored 28 points and set Monticello’s career scoring record in his team’s 57-51 win Tuesday night over Alburnett in a Class 2A district final. Petersen, a Kirkwood recruit, has played a lot of this season with an injured shoulder.

Mount Vernon’s boys’ basketball has had lots of players miss games this season for one thing or another. But the Mustangs are fairly healthy as the Class 3A postseason hits, and a 63-32 squashing of Crestwood in a substate opener Monday night proveds MV will be one tough out the rest of the way.

The final Class 3A and 4A polls in boys’ basketball were released Monday by the Iowa High School Athletic Association. Cedar Rapids Kennedy ends the regular season ranked No. 1 in Class 4A.

The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and Youngstown Phantoms are playing their USHL game Thursday night at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, home of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.

Cedar Rapids Washington senior wing Traijan Sain has the look of a college basketball player, the game of a college basketball player. But for whatever reason, recruiting has been slow for him. He has put that aside right now in order to help his team in the postseason, which begins Monday.

North Linn senior Tate Haughenbury has been selected as the Most Valuable Player in boys’ basketball this season in the Tri-Rivers Conference West Division, it was announced Saturday. North Linn had four first-team picks and the Coach of the Year in Mike Hilmer.

Jordan Caton scored a game-high 25 points Friday night as Class 2A ninth-ranked Alburnett survived an upset bid from Northeast, 62-58, Friday night in a district final. But the junior guard’s biggest win was when he and his three siblings were adopted six years ago.

Michael Molony of Dyersville Beckman has been named River Valley Conference North Division Coach of the Year. Blazers senior Padraig Gallagher is one of six unanimous selections for the all-division first team.

With a lot of postponements Thursday, Iowa high school basketball fans can spend their night with the latest episode of The Gazette’s Prep Basketball Podcast, where we discuss the postseason paths for favorites and dark horses.

The University of Iowa baseball program lost pitching coach Robin Lund to professional baseball in the offseason, as he took a job as assistant pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers. Lund’s replacement, Sean McGrath, comes from pro ball, spending last season as pitching coach for Double-A Arkansas in the Seattle Mariners organization.

Never before had Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s boys’ basketball program swept through the Mississippi Valley Conference in a season, until that was accomplished with a 70-43 win Tuesday night over Cedar Rapids Xavier. The Cougars play Thursday night against Waterloo East, with the school’s first unbeaten regular season on the line

Central City’s boys’ basketball team overcame a spirited challenge from Elkader Central Monday night in a Class 1A district opener, winning 71-65. That was the 14th win this season for the Wildcats, who won just five games last season and one the season before that.