Pat Mitchell has watched opening nights where the entire football game seemed one tug away from unraveling.
Friday night, Cedar Falls pushed a lot of the right buttons.
It wasn’t perfect, and it may have cost the Tigers their top running back for awhile, but they opened the 2010 season with a 24-7 victory over Dubuque Hempstead at the UNI-Dome.
“There were a lot of positive things and very few negative things,” said Mitchell.
“I was really proud of them. That first one is the toughest. I’ve been in some first games where everything …

CEDAR RAPIDS – The Cedar Falls baseball squad secured a Mississippi Valley Conference division title Tuesday, courtesy of a 9-7, 9-8 sweep over second-place Cedar Rapids Jefferson.
Cedar Falls survived a pair of Jefferson home runs in the opener by pounding out nine hits of their own.
Then, in the nightcap, the Tigers (21-10 overall, 16-9 MVC) used a seventh-inning homer by Jake Gallu to clinch the sweep.
Click here to read the entire article from the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.

WATERLOO – Jadyn Spencer carried her bat to home plate out of respect for ceremony in the first inning Monday.
After that, Spencer’s teammates showed they know a lot about softball’s offensive rituals.
With a half-dozen hitters driving in runs, West defeated Cedar Falls, 7-2, in a Class 4A regional semifinal game on the Wahawks’ home field.
West (28-9) moved within one win of its second consecutive trip to the state tournament. The Wahawks also topped the Tigers (18-21) for the third time in 2010.
Click here to read the entire article from the …

MASON CITY, Iowa – Cedar Falls made the most of its offensive opportunities and shut down Mason City with its pitching and defense to advance in the Class 4A regional softball tournament with a 10-0, five-inning triumph Saturday.
Makenzie Mobley scattered five hits and struck out six for the Tigers (18-20), who play at ninth-ranked Waterloo West in Monday’s regional semifinals.
Lauren Smith sparked the Cedar Falls offense with two hits in three at-bats, including a two-run double, and Paige Miller was 1-for-1.
Click here to read the entire article from the Waterloo-Cedar …

IOWA CITY – A pair of offensive outbursts in the sixth inning propelled the Cedar Falls baseball squad to a sweep of highly regarded Iowa City West, as the Tigers won 7-3 and 7-3.
In each game, the Tigers scored six runs in the sixth frame.
In the opener Friday, Cedar Falls’ Mark Strempke went 3-for-5 while teammate Sean Boss went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a triple.
In the nightcap, Jack Sole’s squad pounded out nine total hits as a team. As a result, the first-place Tigers improved to 18-9 overall and …

CEDAR RAPIDS — This is the time prep tennis coaches are put to the test.
With rosters due Monday for Thursday’s Class 1A and 2A district meets, boys’ tennis coaches are challenged to find their best possible lineup.
It turns out that determining lineups for district competition is more complex than filling out a sheet with names. Coaches implore strategy to try to advance as many athletes to the state meet as well as improving the team’s chances to reach team substate.
Coaches and players have to decide whether to compete in singles …

The Class 2A district assignments were released by the Iowa High School Athletic Association. They begin May 13. The top two in each districts, in both singles and doubles, advance to the state meets May 28 and 29 in Waterloo (Class 1A) and Cedar Rapids’ Veterans Memorial Tennis Complex (2A).
Cedar Rapids Jefferson hosts a district with Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Cedar Rapids Prairie, Cedar Rapids Washington, Cedar Rapids Xavier and Marshalltown. Iowa City High also hosts a district with Iowa City West, Burlington, Davenport West, Muscatine and Ottumwa. Linn-Mar heads to Dubuque …

Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Cedar Falls were Mississippi Valley Conference divisional winners for sportsmanship in the winter season of 2009-10.
The award encompasses wrestling and boys’ and girls’ basketball.

The first order of business for Marcus Paige was obvious.
“Rest for a little bit,” the Linn-Mar sophomore said Saturday after his team’s Class 4A state tournament consolation victory over Sioux City East.
Paige contracted mononucleosis late in the regular season and missed the final game. He sat out Linn-Mar’s first substate game and played noticeably less than 100 percent the rest of the way.
The 6-foot-1 lefty point guard was sure something when he was healthy. He averaged 14 points, shot better than 60 percent from the field most of the season …

There are the divisions for the MVC in 2010-11 and 2011-12:
MISSISSIPPI DIVISION
Cedar Rapids Kennedy
Cedar Rapids Washington
Dubuque Senior
Dubuque Wahlert
Iowa City High
Linn-Mar
Waterloo West
VALLEY DIVISION
Cedar Falls
Cedar Rapids Jefferson
Cedar Rapids Prairie
Cedar Rapids Xavier
Dubuque Hempstead
Iowa City West
Waterloo East