Sports Calendar: Area teams competing in playoffs
The high school football playoffs have finally arrived and two area teams are competing.
In 8-man, the Stanton Vikings are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2011. They face a tough test for the first game back in the playoffs as they go on the road and play Lamoni.
The game is a rematch from week two when the Vikings lost on homecoming to the Demons 56-26.
Stanton and Lamoni played each other twice prior to this year's meeting, with the Vikings winning both instances in the late 90s.
The Vikings entered the playoffs under rough conditions, having lost four straight including last Friday.
The last two losses for Stanton have been heartbreakers, with the one coming on a late touchdown by Lenox, set-up by a blocked punt. Stanton's most recent loss came last Friday when Nishnabotna rallied back to win 42-40.
The Vikings still got into the postseason, thanks to CAM's loss to Lenox. They enter the postseason with a 3-6 record.
Lamoni cruised through the first eight weeks of the season, winning every game by double-digit points. A lapse occured, last Friday when Lamoni lost 79-46 to Wayne. The loss didn't hurt for Lamoni as they owned the head-to-head tiebreaker over Melcher-Dallas.
The Demons enter the postseason with one of the top running backs in 8-man. Colton Ranney is seventh in 8-man in rushing yards with 1,453. In the week two match-up, Ranney had 158 rushing yards and three touchdowns (one rushing, two receiving).
For Stanton, much of their success this year has come by way of the air game. Brady Johnson is the main beneficiary as he's second in 8-man in receiving yards with 1,085 yards. His 15 touchdowns is second, only behind Chase Wetterling of Melcher-Dallas.
David Sorensen, Stanton's dual-threat quarterback, has had a solid junior season. He's fifth in 8-man in passing yards with 1,662.
The other 8-man district 8 teams competing Wednesday night features Sidney versus Exira-EHK, Fremont-Mills versus East Union and Lenox at Coon-Rapids Bayard.
Griswold is the other area team competing in the playoffs Wednesday night. The Tigers are making their first playoff appearance since 2012.
It won't be easy as Griswold has one of the district first round playoff match-ups as they go to Logan to play Logan-Magnolia.
The Panthers are the district champions of Class A District 1, while Griswold finished fourth. The Tigers won two straight, including last Friday against Tri-Center, to clinch the fourth spot in the playoffs.
Logan-Magnolia meanwhile cruised through the regular season undefeated and easily clinched the first seed.
The Panthers have the edge on Griswold, winning eight of 11 games, including week 7 by a 48-16 score. Griswold hasn't defeated Logan-Magnolia since 2009.
Griswold's offensive attack is simple, run the ball. They've done it a lot this year, to much success. The Tigers are second in Class A in rushing yards with 3,493.
The Tigers have two 1,000-yard rushers, including Caleb Schaaf (1,247) and Derek Kirchhoff (1,130). The two have combined to score 30 touchdowns this season.
Griswold has relied so much on the running game that they haven't had an attempted pass in three straight games. The last time a pass was attempted was Oct. 3 against St. Albert.
Logan-Magnolia can also run the football. In fact, they lead Class A in rushing touchdowns with 52.
Three Panthers running backs have at least 10 touchdowns on the season, including Riley Wohlers, who has 15. Brady Charbonneau, who has scored 13 touchdowns this season, leads in rushing yards with 929. Austin Haner, a sophomore, has 10 touchdowns this season and 461 yards rushing.
Westwood at Audubon is the other Class A District 1 match-up.
All games start at 7 p.m. The second round playoff match-ups will be determined after the first round concludes.
The Iowa High School Athletic Association website has the listings of all first round playoff games for all classes.