ANAMOSA — Emotions spilled onto the field Friday, October 27, as a tumultuous season for the Anamosa football team ended with an amazing 14-13 overtime victory hosting West Liberty Friday, October 27.

“Emotion is a big part of the game of football,” said Anamosa football coach Jeff Kean. “It’s been a rough year for all of us, and to end it this way, it’s no surprise the kids responded the way they did.”

Tears of joy were flowing seconds after the Raiders snuffed the Comets’ two-point attempt in overtime by not only some of the coaches, but by several of the players as the Raiders picked up their first class 3A district 5 triumph of the fall with the thrilling one-point victory.

Yanda was his normal sensational self against the Huskies, playing left tackle and keeping quarterback Jake Christensen safe all game long in helping the Hawks to a big 24-14 victory in front of a black-clad house in Kinnick Stadium.

“That was awesome, wasn’t it,” said Yanda after the win. “We knew coming in we were going to have our hands full with Northern Illinois and they gave us a game.”

Yanda also had plenty of confidence in his young quarterback as well.

“We didn’t really know how was going to be starting at quarterback,” he said. “Jason (Manson) and Jake both took reps at practice and looked good. Jake got the nod and played very well, I thought.”

Ferentz felt the play of the offensive line was key to the win.

“We’ve got some seniors up front who made that learning curve a lot easier on Jake,” said Ferentz. “We were very pleased with his performance today and it was players like Marshal who helped make that possible.”

Christensen passed for 256 yards and two scores in his first-ever start completing 19-of-31 passes.

“I think we, as an offensive line, respond to tight situations,” said Yanda. “Things got pretty tight against Northern Illinois but we all kept our cool and got a big win that we really needed.”

Iowa steps back into Big Ten play Saturday, November 4, hosting Northwestern then play their final home game of the season November 11, entertaining Wisconsin.

LISBON — Packed into one cozy corner of the Lisbon High school gym Tuesday, October 24, the Midland volleyball team gave a talented Iowa Mennonite club all they could handle before succumbing to a 17-25, 22-25, 23-25 score in a thrilling class 1A district final.

“The girls had to adjust to a change in the line-up due to an injury,” said Eagle volleyball coach Natalie Schurbon. “And sometimes change can be difficult, especially at this time of the season but I was very proud of the way the girls responded.”

Midland was without the services of Aubrey Walters, who turned an ankle in practice but the Eagles rallied and gave IMS a spirited effort as Schurbon juggled the line-up.

The contest, played on the small court due to Lisbon not having the ability to put a net up across the gym, saw fans packed to one side and player lane narrowed, saw a back-and-forth game.

IMS pulled away late as Midland rallied at the end.

The second game saw the Eagles take a 15-10 lead and were still up 20-18 before a furious IMS rally pulled out the key game-two triumph.

“IMS is a very strong serving team,” said Schurbon. “Their serves are low and have spin on them and it makes it difficult to judge until the last second. Our girls had a few errors, but somehow found that extra something to help us stay close.”

Serving, as well as key hits at the offensive net by Amanda Bates, Alyssa Litwiller and Megan Schrock keyed IMS to the win as well.

Midland rallied with Sammy Reid, Kayla Thordsen, Jessica Clark and Keilani Fowler at the offensive net.

Midland closes the 2006 campaign with a 22-8 record overall, one of the best Eagle seasons in more than a decade.

“The seniors were all hoping to go to state this year,” said Schurbon. “The intensity and drive they showed all year long and in this match as well was outstanding. Keilani, Jessica and Sammy’s hitting was strong and we needed them to be on against IMS for us to compete and they were on.”

Just seconds later and still in the first quarter, Eagle quarterback Scott Willimack was picked off by Bakke, who raced nine-yards into the end zone for yet another Lion touchdown.

“We had held them on their first drive of the game and were gaining some confidence,” said Bentley.
“We dug ourselves quite a hole and just could not dig out of it against a team of their calibre.”

Lisbon led 13-0 after one quarter and continued to display the powerful offense that led them to their 8-1 overall record and 7-1 mark within the district that placed second and earned a state playoff berth.

“I really did think our defensive game plan against them was a good one,” said Bentley. “But we just gave them a short field to work with too many times.”

Lisbon tacked on 22 second quarter points and built a huge 35-0 halftime edge.

Current led Midland rushers tallying 89 yards against the Lions which also saw a big 22-yard gain. Willimack added 53 more on the ground from his quarterback position while Holland chipped in with 10 yards on four carries.

Willimack was 6-of-18 passing for 87 yards finding Holland four times for 34 yards while Meyer grabbed two more for 53 yards including a big 45-yard pass play.

Holland and Current paced the Eagle defense with nine tackles each.