Iowa’s 3 Up, 3 Down (Week 2)
There are certainly plenty of ebbs and flows throughout the high school season, we’ll try our best to track those here. Teams that land in the DOWN portion of an article, could later find itself in the UP part, and vice-versa. Such is the grind of a full high school season. Below, you’ll find this week’s ebb and flow.
UP
North Linn: It’s no surprise that the Lynx — which were a preseason favorite to take home a 1A crown — are off to a 5-0 start. Jake Hilmer is posting ridiculous numbers, like truly ridiculous; 22.8 points, 13.6 assists, 7.8 steals and 6.8 rebounds per game. The Lynx are beating their opponents by an average of 62 points per game. Woof. North Linn and Grand View Christian are front-runners to meet in a 1A title game; wouldn’t that be fun?
Glenwood: Speaking of front-runners, this Glenwood squad is right up there among the favorites to compete for a 3A title, and are currently our after a scintillating 4-0 start. With plenty of star-power — Andrew Blum, Christian Stanislav, Nate Mohr — the 4-0 start comes as no shock. The fact that the Rams are winning by an average of 29 points per game, including a 38 point win over 4A Council Bluffs Jefferson and a 20 point win over another 4A squad, Lewis Central, now that’s impressive.
Norwalk: The Warriors are one of the most exciting teams in the state, and man do they like to run. Their 5-0 start is highlighted by the fact that they’re averaging 86.4 points per game, only North Linn is scoring better. Bowen Born and Luke Vaske make up one of the more adept backcourts in all of Iowa, and the Warriors check in as our No. 5 team in the latest 3A rankings.
DOWN
Orient-Macksburg: Currently checking in at No. 357 in the BCMoore computerized rankings, safe to say the Bulldogs are struggling. They’ve drooped their first five games this season by an average of 46 points per game.
Des Moines East: Though there’s reason to be optimistic on Des Moines’ east side, there’s also some low expectations for this season after a sluggish 0-4 start (including a 47 point loss to Waukee). Good news: four of the Scarlets’ seven leading scorers are underclassmen.
North Polk: It’s an 0-6 start for the Comets, and last week was particularly right; they dropped three games by an average of 30 points. We know they have talent, Colten Parkins and Caleb Lomica are two of the best 2019’s in the area The Comets will figure it out soon.