Cardinals back in the 4A mix with CIML teams in new football districts; Five area teams in five different football districts

“New opportunities,” was a tweet on Twitter by Newton High lineman Caden Manning just after the release of the football district assignments for 2016-17 by the Iowa High School Athletic Association. Manning will be a junior for the Cardinal football team next year.

Newton High’s Cardinals knew they had been moved into Class 4A again after eight years of Class 3A competition. The Cardinals along with all other teams in the state waited until Wednesday’s announcement to find out how the state would align the districts.

Newton is in Class 4A District 4 with 2015 semifinalist West Des Moines Valley, Southeast Polk, Marshalltown, Indianola and Fort Dodge. In the final football poll of the 2015 season, Valley was ranked No. 7 and Fort Dodge No. 11.

The Cardinals are in a district with all CIML teams. Newton used to be a member of the CIML years ago and Marshalltown, which Newton went 1-1 against the past two seasons in non-district action, was a big rival.

Newton is the smallest Class 4A school with an enrollment figure of 631 for football classification. Valley is the largest school in the state at 2,170 enrollment for football classification. The farthest opponent is Fort Dodge, which is 120 miles away.

The IHSAA decided Class 4A will have eight six-team districts the next two seasons. The top two teams in each district advance to the playoffs. It is the same format for 8-player football also.

The five area football teams are in five different districts and most have at least one long-distance trip.

Area Class 2A and Class A teams found out their districts for 2016-17 Wednesday also. The state decided for seven districts of eight teams each for the smaller classes — Class 3A, 2A, 1A, A.

District champions and runner-ups advance into the playoff brackets, which were brought back for the new alignments for all classes. The format change in the smaller classes brings in two at-large berths for the playoffs.

In Class 2A, Prairie City-Monroe is in District 6 with Albia, Centerville, Central Lee, Chariton, Clarke, Davis County and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont. Albia was ranked No.1 in 2A in the final poll last fall but lost to Mount Vernon in a state semifinal game. Chariton moves down from 3A and EBF is up from 1A.

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter lands in Class 2A District 3 with Dike-New Hartford, East Marshall, Aplington-Parkersburg, Roland-Story, Saydel, South Hardin and West Marshall. Dike-New Hartford won the Class 1A championship in 2015 and moves up to 2A. Aplington-Parkersburg was ranked No. 8 in the final poll last year.

PCM and CMB made the 2A playoffs last fall, both losing in the first round. PCM was ranked No. 14 in the final 2A poll. CMB is in a district with two Heart of Iowa Conference teams in Roland-Story and Saydel. Central Lee, which is in PCM’s district, won its first-round playoff game last year.

Longest-distance opponents for the two area schools are Central Lee (112 miles) for PCM and Aplington-Parkersburg (70 miles) for CMB.

Lynnville-Sully and Colfax-Mingo reached the Class A playoffs last year. Lynnville-Sully upended then-No. 8 Winfield-Mount Union, 29-28, in the second round to advance to the quarterfinals. Colfax-Mingo lost in second-round action.

Colfax-Mingo is in Class A District 5 with Belle Plaine, BGM, Gladbrook-Reinbeck, GMG, Grand View Christian, Hudson and North Tama. Gladbrook-Reinbeck is the A defending state champion, which finished ranked No. 7 in the final poll. BGM, which was ranked No. 2, lost in the quarterfinals. Hudson moved down from 1A and Grand View Christian moved up from 8-player.

Lynnville-Sully is in Class A District 6 with Montezuma, Cardinal, Danville, New London, North Mahaska, Pekin and Winfield-Mount Union. Lynnville-Sully beat Pekin and Winfield-Mount Union in the playoffs last year. Danville and Montezuma made the playoffs a year ago.

In the final Class A poll of last year, Colfax-Mingo was ranked 13th and the Tigerhawks lost in the second round of playoffs to Mount Ayr. Mount Ayr knocked Lynnville-Sully out of the playoffs the next week. Colfax-Mingo has South Iowa Cedar League schools Belle Plaine, and BGM in its district while Lynnville-Sully has fellow SICL teams Montezuma and North Mahaska.

Lynnville-Sully has three long-distance opponents in New London, Winfield-Mount Union and Danville. The distance between Colfax-Mingo and Hudson is about 90 miles.

The IHSAA’s board approved a return to the playoff bracket system at its meeting Wednesday. Teams will be able to see their opponents and path to the UNI Dome before the playoffs kick off in late October.

Also approved was increasing the point differential tiebreaker from 13 points to 17 points; elimination of the 125-mile travel limitation for first-round playoff games; and criteria to determine the at-large playoff qualifiers — 1. Anyone considered a district champ; 2. Best district record; 3. Head-to-head competition, in district or non-district play; 4. The state’s point differential’s tiebreaker; 5. A random draw from the alphabet by the IHSAA, with the schools closest to that letter becoming the qualifier.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com