Iowa High School Football Playoffs

By Jeff Fisher
The High School Football Huddle

The Iowa high school football postseason gets underway Wednesday night with the substate round. In 4A, defending champ Bettendorf (9-0) will be looking for the school's 8th state championship. The Bulldogs figure to be able to make it to the state title game with a possible match-up against West Des Moines Valley (9-0). WDM Valley is ranked #1 by the Des Moines Register, Bettendorf is #2. Iowa City High is the only other undefeated 4-A team, and would face Bettendorf in the state semis.

In 3-A, 2007 runner-up Bishop Heelan of Sioux City would seem to have the inside track to be celebrating a championship in the University of Northern Iowa Dome next month. In 2-A, defending champ Solon seems to be the team to beat. Defending champ St. Albert is probably the class of 1-A, but don't forget the feel good Aplington-Parkersburg, which was a perfect 9-0 this year after a tornado devastated the community earlier this year.

Here are the first round match-ups...

Class 4-A
Des Moines Lincoln at #1 West Des Moines Valley
Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson at Ottumwa
Mason City at #9 Johnston
Fort Dodge vs #8 Dowling Catholic at Urbandale
Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln at #10 Southeast Polk
Des Moines East at Ames
Indianola at Waukee
Sioux City North at #7 Ankeny
Davenport Assumption at #3 Iowa City High
Cedar Rapids Kennedy at Cedar Rapids Xavier
Cedar Rapids Jefferson at #5 Cedar Falls
Dubuque Wahlert at #6 North Scott (Eldridge)
Muscatine at #4 Cedar Rapids Washington
Dubuque Hempstead at Burlington
Pleasant Valley at Cedar Rapids Prairie
Clinton at #2 Bettendorf

Class 3-A
ADM (Adel) at #1 Bishop Heelan (Sioux City)
Sergeant Bluff-Luton at #10 Lewis Central (Council Bluffs)
MOC-Floyd Valley at #7 Harlan
Atlantic at Spencer
Ballard (Huxley) at #3 Clear Lake
Charles City at Boone
Algona at #9 Carroll
Dallas Center-Grimes at Webster City
Benton (Van Horne) at #5 Decorah
West Delaware (Manchester) at #6 Marion
New Hampton at #2 Central Clinton (DeWitt)
Union (LaPorte City) at Crestwood (Cresco)
Norwalk at #4 Mount Pleasant
Clear Creek-Amana at Centerville
Oskaloosa at #8 Pella
Grinnell at Williamsburg

Class 2-A
Pocahontas Area/Pomeroy-Palmer at #2 Central Lyon/George-Little Rock
Boyden-Hull/rock Valley at Eagle Grove
Western Christian (Hull) at Okoboji (Milford)
Cherokee at Unity Christian (Orange City)
Kuemper Catholic (Carroll) at #6 West Marshall (State Center)
Bondurant-Farrar at Missouri Valley
PCM (Monroe) at #3 IKM/Manning
Odebolt-Arthur/Battle Creek-Ida Grove at Collins-Maxwell-Baxter
Beckman (Dyersville) at #5 Roland-Story
Gilbert at #10 Cascade
Osage at #9 North Fayette (West Union)
Sumner-Fredericksburg at Dike-New Hartford
Sigourney-Keota at #1 Solon
Wilton at West Burlington-Notre Dame
Tipton at #4 Mid-Prairie (Wellman)
Davis County (Bloomfield) at #7 Iowa City Regina

Class 1-A
Underwood at #4 West Lyon (Inwood)
Hinton at Griswold
Lawton-Bronson at #3 St. Albert (Council Bluffs)
Logan-Magnolia at #10 Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn
Ogden at #8 Pella Christian
Pleasantville at Woodward-Granger
Nodaway Valley at Prairie Valley (Gowrie)
Manson-NW Webster at #9 Mount Ayr
South Winneshiek (Calmar) at #2 Emmetsburg
Garner-Hayfield at Gladbrook-Reinbeck
Saint Ansgar at #1 Aplington-Parkersburg
Nashua-Plainfield at #6 St. Edmond (Fort Dodge)
Pekin at Maquoketa Valley (Dehli)
North Linn (Troy Mills) at #7 Belle Plaine
Alburnett at #5 West Branch
Iowa Valley (Marengo) at Northeast (Goose Lake)

Class A
Newell-Fonda at #6 Akron-Westfield
#9 Alta at Bishop Garrigan (Algona)
Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn at #3 Southern Cal (Lake City)
Clay Central-Everly at #8 Gehlen Catholic (LeMars)
Corning at #5 Madrid
Earlham at Boyer Valley (Dunlap)
Van Meter at #2 A-H-S-T (Avoca)
Bedford at Colo-NESCO
Lisbon at #7 Northwood-Kensett
#10 Rockford at Central (Elkader)
Riceville at #4 East Buchanan (Winthrop)
Wapsie Valley (Fairbank) at Newman Catholic (Mason City)
BGM (Brooklyn) at New London
Lone Tree at H-L-V (Victor)
Highland (Riverside) at #1 North Tama (Traer)
North Mahaska (New Sharon) at WACO (Wayland)

8-Player
Graettiner-Terril at Remsen-Union
Woodbine at #3 Armstrong-Ringsted
St. Marys (Remsen) at #2 North Sentral Kossuth
#7 Laurens-Marathon at #8 Ar-We-Va (Westside)
Sidney at #5 CAM (Anita)
Coon Rapids-Bayard at East Mills
Glidden-Ralston at #1 Stanton
Villisca at Adair-Casey
West Central (Maynard) at #10 C-W-L (Corwith)
Ventura at Preston
Northeast Hamilton (Blairsburg) at #9 Central City
Dunkerton at Janesville
Ankeny Christian Academy at Tri-County (Thornburg)
Harmony (Farmington) at #4 Lenox
Twin Cedar (Bussey) at Lamoni
#6 East Union (Afton) at Melcher Dallas