3 Up, 3 Down (Week 5)
Up Cedar Falls: When you have one of the state’s best players, AJ Green (we ranked him No.2 here), you’re bound to have some team success. And the Tigers are coming on fast here in 2017, enjoying their finest…
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Cedar Falls: When you have one of the state’s best players, AJ Green (we ranked him No.2 here), you’re bound to have some team success. And the Tigers are coming on fast here in 2017, enjoying their finest week of the season last week. It started with a defeat of then-undefeated Cedar Rapids Kennedy, and they added wins over Waterloo East and Indianola to cap it. Those last two wins were by 27 and 44 points, respectively.
Pella Christian: They lost once very early, it was the second game of the season against a loaded Oskaloosa squad. Since then, Levi Jungling, David Kacmarynski and Co. have reeled off six straight Ws, including some nice wins over Pella, Grinnell and Norwalk. The defeat of crosstown rival Pella is still the Dutch’s only loss of the season.
Mount Pleasant: This is a team that for two years now has been waiting to reach a boil. It started all freshman two seasons ago and finished with seven wins. Last season, with all sophomores they won 18 games. Now juniors — and with 6’9 senior Tom O’Connor helping out — Brady Sartorius and the gang have officially arrived, and despite a season-opening loss to defending 3A champ Xavier have been wildly successful this season. It’s seven straight wins and counting for the Panthers.
Down
Sigourney: After a middling 4-4 start to the season, Sigourney — led by Blaine Gretter and his 18.7 points per game — were doing OK. But the schedule got a lot tougher, and in just one week’s time they dropped to 4-8. It’s tough enough to play four games in a week, even tougher when all four are formidable.
Burlington: One of just two winless team left in 4A, the Grayhounds are now 0-8. They played just once last week and lost by 20 to Clinton. The closest game they’ve had this season was a 15 point loss to one-win Iowa City High.
Ottumwa: The Bulldogs had some winnable games recently but couldn’t get a W. They’ve won just once this season, a 21 point triumph over 3A Fairfield early in December. They travel to Johnston tonight, and then a winnable game at East on Thursday before hosting Hoover on Friday night.