March 29, 2024

IFCA honors several from area

Brody Bauer earns academic all-state from IFCA and IBCA

The job can get incredibly time-consuming. Since we dropped to just one sports person in the county, I feel like I can’t ever get caught up.

Well, that applies to this column.

It’s overdue, but the Iowa Football Coaches Association released its annual award winners after the 2022 football season and several area coaches and players were recognized.

The IFCA gave a coach of the year distinction to a football coach in each class and Lynnville-Sully head coach Mike Parkinson was the honoree in Class A.

Lynnville-Sully’s assistant football coach Brad Bowlin also was honored as a top assistant coach for Class A.

Parkinson and Bowlin were part of a Hawks’ squad which reached the Class A semifinals this past season for the second time in school history. Lynnville-Sully was 11-1 and won another district title.

Newton head football coach Andy Swedenhjelm also was recognized for guiding the Cardinals to their first playoff berth since 2014.

Newton finished 7-3 and Swedenhjelm was named a 4A regional coach of the year.

The IFCA honored Newton native Wally Price with a Distinguished Service Award given to a community member who has contributed years of service and supports a football program.

There is an academic all-state program within the IFCA, too. To be recognized for this, a high school football player must be a senior starter, hold a grade point average of 3.7 or greater at the end of their junior year, take part in other extra-curricular activities and be nominated by their head coach.

Earning academic all-state honors from the area include Newton’s Brody Bauer, Alex Thomason and Carson Satterfield and PCM’s Donovan Nickelson and August Stock.

Bauer recently earned another academic all-state honor, too. He was part of the 23-player academic all-state team announced by the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association recently.

That team, chosen by the IBCA panel of more than 120 applicants, has combined averages of an ACT score of 26, 15 points per game and a GPA of 3.9.

Shifting gears to the NFL, I was completely shocked the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl. It might have been the biggest upset in the history of that game.

Can you sense the sarcasm? What planet does Travis Kelce live on? No one thought they could win it?

Give me a break. That’s so far from the truth he sounds ridiculous to even think it.

The Chiefs have certainly played the underdog role well. Yes, they lost Tyreek Hill in the offseason. And yes, some may have even said the AFC West was going to be more challenging. But the number of folks who actually predicted the Chiefs wouldn’t win the division is small.

And just because someone or a select few TV personalities predicted the Eagles would win, doesn’t mean they didn’t think the Chiefs couldn’t. Kelce needs to take a chill pill.

Contact Troy Hyde at thyde@shawmedia.com