March 29, 2024

Commitment to local sports coverage

Five years ago in July, I came to the Newton Daily News under direction to build the newspaper’s sports pages with a commitment to local high school sports coverage. It is a commitment I take seriously as a journalist. I am proud to say I did that at the other two newspapers — a weekly and a small daily — during my 30-plus year career in Southeast Kansas.

I’m also proud to say we’ve done that here at the Newton Daily News. As I head into my sixth school year, we continue to push for quality coverage of our five Jasper County high schools. Whether it is sports writer Troy Hyde or myself, we relish sharing the stories of area athletes, teams, coaches and their schools.

Friday Night Lights is rushing toward beginning for the five Jasper County high school football teams. The 2018 football season begins Aug. 24 — 14 days — two square off against each other for the first time ever, two have home games to open the season and three are on the road.

All fall high school teams opened official practices on Monday — volleyball, cross country, girls’ swimming and football. Most of the football teams had their team camps the prior week to build momentum going into full practices.

Before, we go “live” under the lights on Fridays, volleyball, swimming and cross country kick things off for the 2018 fall sports scene.

On Aug. 21, you can come to Newton High School to see two area volleyball teams in action. Prairie City-Monroe’s Mustangs join host Newton High’s Cardinals in a four-team round-robin event. Knoxville and Saydel are the other two teams. Also on that day, the NCMP Aquagirls open the season at Linn-Mar.

Newton, PCM, Colfax-Mingo and Baxter open the cross country season on Aug. 23. Lynnville-Sully’s volleyball team gets underway on Aug. 25 and the Hawk cross country squads run in an Aug. 28 opener.

There are some changes for Newton, PCM, Colfax-Mingo, Lynnville-Sully and Baxter football programs in 2018. Graduation always makes each season interesting in high school football and all five teams will be in “next man up” mode.

To open the season, PCM will play at Newton in the first-ever football clash between the two Jasper County teams. Colfax-Mingo hosts BCLUW in the Tigerhawks’ opener while Lynnville-Sully is at Pleasantville and Baxter goes to Coon Rapids-Bayard.

First, Newton High’s Cardinals have moved to Class 3A from two years in 4A. That means new district opponents but not unfamiliar opponents with 3A runner-up Pella, Oskaloosa, which also made the 3A playoffs last year, Knoxville and Grinnell. The only new team is South Tama County.

The Cardinals went 7-2 a year ago in 4A play. Two of their non-conference opponents — Ottumwa and Waterloo East — remain on their schedule along with Boone.

PCM’s Mustangs returned as a 2A district champion facing three of the same district teams from the last two years. Des Moines Christian and Saydel join Centerville, Chariton and Clarke with the Mustangs, who finished ranked No. 4 in 2A last year losing in the first round of the playoffs.

Moving up from Class A to 1A are the Colfax-Mingo Tigerhawks. In their district will be two teams who went into the 1A playoffs — Pella Christian and Pleasantville. Pella Christian beat Pleasantville in the quarterfinals and lost in the semifinals.

The Tigerhawks still have fellow Jasper County team Lynnville-Sully on their schedule. They square off on Sept. 14 in Sully.

Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks are coming off a Class A playoff run to the quarterfinals last year, finishing ranked No. 8. The Hawks are in a new Class A district.

The Baxter Bolts enter their second season in 8-man football play. The Bolts went 8-1 in 2017 but were not eligible for the playoffs because of changing to only Baxter and 8-man in the middle of the two-year district designation. The Bolts did finish ranked No. 6 in 8-man football a year ago.

Now, the Bolts are in a district for 2018. The district includes Gladbrook-Reinbeck, which dropped down out of Class A to play 8-man football this season. Gladbrook-Reinbeck won back-to-back Class A state titles in 2015 and 2016, and made the 2017 playoffs.

More information on all the fall sports teams in Jasper County will be in The Newton Daily News’ Jasper County Fall Sports 2018 preview section, which will hit newsstands on Aug. 23. You’ll also find the section in that week’s editions of the Jasper County Tribune, the Prairie City News and the Monroe Legacy.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets
at jsheets@newtondailynews.com