CEDAR RAPIDS — Colin O’Connor was the first hero on the new turf.  O’Connor hauled in three touchdown passes from Joe Sayre and Cedar Rapids Xavier held Cedar Rapids Jefferson to 91 yards of total offense in a 28-0 Mississippi Valley Conference football triumph on the plush surface at Kingston Stadium last night.
“(Sayre) put the ball right on my chest,” said O’Connor, who caught eight passes for 145 yards. “All I had to do was put my hands on the ball and catch it.”
In years past, the Kingston field would …

Respect and admiration? Yes, albeit grudgingly.  Love? Or even like?  That would be a “no.” An emphatic one.
“Obviously, there’s no love lost between these two teams,” said James Morris, an all-state running back for Solon High School. “Our guys don’t hang out with their guys.”
Now, that’s something agreed upon.
“We don’t hang out, no,” said Matt Winder, an all-district defensive back from Mount Vernon. “This rivalry is so big, we don’t want to be friends.”
Nine miles of pavement — Highway 1, to be specific — link Mount Vernon and Solon, vibrant, …

One non-expert’s picks in the Mississippi Valley Conference:
MISSISSIPPI DIVISION
Iowa City High 9-0
Cedar Rapids Kennedy 6-3
Cedar Rapids Xavier 6-3
Dubuque Hempstead 5-4
Iowa City West 3-6
Dubuque Wahlert 3-6
Waterloo West 2-7
VALLEY DIVISION
Cedar Falls 8-1
Cedar Rapids Washington 8-1
Cedar Rapids Prairie 5-4
Linn-Mar 4-5
Cedar Rapids Jefferson 3-6
Dubuque Senior 1-8
Waterloo East 0-9

Linn-Mar High School will have a new football stadium next fall.
That’s not soon enough.
The rain that has pelted Eastern Iowa through the past two days has put Armstrong Field under water, forcing the postponement and relocation of Friday night’s Mississippi Valley Conference football game between Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Linn-Mar.
Officials from both schools have agreed to play the game Saturday at Kingston Stadium. The sophomore game is scheduled for 5 p.m., varsity at 7:15.
“All you can see above the water is a little of the crown (at the middle of the field),” said Linn-Mar …

CEDAR RAPIDS — A hard-hat area the past five months, Kingston Stadium is now a haven for helmets and pads.
Renovation is complete. Football awaits.
Cedar Rapids Jefferson and Cedar Rapids Xavier christen the old stadium’s new surface tonight in a Mississippi Valley Conference encounter. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:15.
“It’s a state-of-the-art facility now,” said Jefferson Coach Jim Womochil. “When our guys went out there (for practice), I think they were a little awe-stricken.”
The natural grass, generally torn up by the beginning of October, has been replaced by FieldTurf. The project included …

IOWA CITY — No list of state football rivalries is complete without mentioning Iowa City’s annual tug of war dubbed the “Battle for the Boot.”
The rivalry has faded recently, but not among the locals. Iowa City High remains one of the state’s top programs, and Iowa City West is trying to find traction. But for a seven-year period in the 1990s, no Iowa rivalry — perhaps none in the Midwest — matched the “Battle for the Boot” in intensity or importance.
Either City High or West represented Eastern Iowa in the …