Baxter’s Travis Lindemoen made a huge mark on the football field this past fall for the Bolts in their first season of 8-man.
Lindemoen hauled in 69 catches and set new Iowa 8-man single season receiving records with 1,662 yards and 36 touchdowns.
He was recently named a first-team all-state player by the Iowa Newspaper Association. Thursday, his football coach, Rob Luther, tweeted that the prolific receiver was honored again.
This time, Lindemoen was named 8-man Player of the Year by the Iowa Football Coaches Association Yearbook.
Lindemoen made a case for the INA 8-man captain, which goes to a senior on the INA all-state first team. This year, in the new online format, the captain went to the player who got the most votes by the media panel who voted for each team.
A player from Don Bosco was this year’s captain. I have no issue with a player from the state champion winning the captain. But I figured Lindemoen would be close in the voting.
That wasn’t the case. The rule this year stated that if there were any ties, the INA Committee members would break them. So I asked a committee member if there was a tie for the 8-man captain and the answer was no.
That means there were actually media members who did not vote for a player who smashed the receiving yards and receiving touchdowns record this year. Not sure how that happens, but after the fallout from that, it’s not surprising.
Lindemoen deserved this kind of an honor from the IFCA. He was electric this season and one of the reasons Baxter transitioned so well into the 8-man game.
Switching gears, if you follow prep wrestling in Iowa you may have watched online or even in person the highly anticipated match between Fort Dodge’s Brody Teske and Underwood’s Alex Thomsen.
Two three-time state champions. Two grapplers who had never been beaten. One very cool match.
The two wrestlers were a part of a big-time tournament in Council Bluffs this past weekend. They had never met on the mat before because they were never the same weight. This year, both wrestlers are 126 pounds.
Fans wanted to see the match. But both wrestlers had to navigate through a tough field to face each other.
Teske got a tough test in the semifinals against another nationally ranked opponent. He had rally in the third period to win that one.
Thomsen led Teske 7-3 in the second period, but Teske rallied to tie the match at 9-all before scoring a late takedown with seconds to go.
Teske came out on top, but both wrestlers should be commended. Neither one of these wrestlers had anything to prove. Neither one of these guys had to put their undefeated record on the line. But neither one of them dodged an opportunity to promote their sport in a positive way.
Thomsen will wrestle at Nebraska. Teske heads to Penn State. Both will likely have several meetings against Iowa’s Spencer Lee, who will wrestle at a similar weight. Lee was the No. 1 recruit in last year’s class.
The good news? Thomsen and Teske could meet again in another weekend tournament. Those of us who love wrestling can only hope it happens again. And maybe this time Thomsen gets some revenge.
Contact Troy Hyde
at thyde@newtondailynews.com