November 14, 2018 By Chris Varney
South Tama
Football: 0-9. A rough year for the Trojans. Low numbers for South Tama, they finished the year with only about 25 players. Watch out for Payton Vest though. The Sophomore showed flashes of talent, finishing with 742 rushing yards and 6 TD. He has got big play ability; he just cannot do it by himself.
Volleyball: 12-30, 0-6 last in WaMaC West. Senior Madison Rohach led the Trojans with 267 kills and 41 aces. Senior Stacey Slaven had 251 kills. Senior Jaelin Berger had 54 blocks. Senior Kate Campbell had 632 assists. South Tama loses 5 seniors so there is some work to do here.
Cross Country: Callie Frakes missed last season because of an injury but her comeback was complete by making it to the state tournament for the second time in her career. The Junior finished 13th at the WaMaC meet (which South Tama hosted) and was 62nd in Ft. Dodge. A great season for Frakes. Junior Garrett Arp was the leader of the boys and finished 35th at the conference. The Trojans were generally a young team and there is a lot of hope for the future.
Benton
Football: 9-2. A big year for the Bobcats. Benton shared the district title in a three way battle with Union and West Marshall but won it on a tiebreaker and got home field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs. They beat Greene County 45-20 in the first round but West Liberty upset the Bobcats in quarterfinals 42-14. Senior Matt Davis had a monster year — 1,724 rushing yards and 28 TD on offense; 91 tackles and 15 TFL on defense. Benton will have to try and find somebody to replace Davis next year. Junior QB Clay Krousie had a fine year after transferring from Montezuma, throwing for 1,744 yards, 15 TD and 4 INT. Seniors Nathan Michels (46 receptions, 790 yards, 8 TD) and Jack Shaw (47 receptions, 551 yards, 6 TD) both had big years. Benton lost a lot last year as well but Head Coach Kal Goodchild reloaded and the Bobcats were even better. He will have to do the same next season.
Volleyball: 22-18, third place in WaMaC West. Mike Embretson returned as Head Coach and the Bobcats had a solid season. Senior Grace Martensen had 278 kills while Junior Abby Brunssen added 276 kills giving Benton a 1-2 punch. Freshman Grace Embretson was solid as a setter with 777 assists and added 45 aces. Brunssen led with 70 blocks. Benton gave Mt. Vernon quite a scare in the first round of the regional playoffs, taking the Mustangs to a 5th set before falling. Mt. Vernon went to the 2A semifinals.
Cross Country: The girls finished 4th and the boys were 5th in the WaMaC meet. Senior Dylan Spina made it to state and finished 59th place while Freshman Abby Rinderknecht qualified to state for the girls and finished in 50th place.
Williamsburg
Football: 7-4. The first three weeks were disaster. The Raiders started 0-3 for the first time in the Curt Ritchie era. But. Then they beat Iowa City Regina. Then they rolled through their district, winning the district title and making it back to the playoffs. Williamsburg trailed early against West Marshall in the first round and lost WR Nicholas Goodell to an injury. But. They rallied and beat the Trojans 51-32. Gage Hazen Fabor became the Raiders all-time leading rusher this season, finishing with 5,616 yards which ranks 20th all time in the state of Iowa. Ritchie normally likes to use running back by committee but he rode Fabor’s horse while it was in the stable, now he’ll probably go back to the committee approach next year. Williamsburg will also have to replace QB Jordan Martin (2,014 yards passing, 24 TD, 9 INT) who developed into a solid quarterback. The Raiders reload every year so expect this team to be in playoff contention again next year.
Volleyball: 19-18, 5th place in WaMaC West. Junior Taylor Busch led the way with 234 kills and 57 blocks. Senior Karly Berkland had an incredible 74 aces so she will be missed. 6 total seniors graduate so the Raiders will have to rely on young talent to emerge next year.
Cross Country: It was great year for the Raiders. Both teams made it to Ft. Dodge with the girls finishing in 2nd place overall behind rival Wellman Mid-Prairie. Nobody won a medal but Junior Grace Schaefer got a top 20 finish in 18th place. Junior Megan Rathjen had the best finish in the conference meet (7th place) and led the team to the conference title. Williamsburg girls only graduate one senior that ran at state; Mid Prairie returns a strong team as well so it could be the same two squads next year battling for supremacy in Class 2A. On the boys side, the Raiders finished in 6th place at conference and was 15th out of 15 teams at state. The lone senior was Angelo Santiago who finished 50th place in Ft. Dodge.