KJ Pilcher of Source Media Group talks to Solon football coach Kevin Miller and Xavier coach Duane Schulte for this season’s first prep football Webcast.
Coach Miller and Coach Schulte talk about their outlook for the 2010 season and the state of prep football in Eastern Iowa as football season hits full stride this Friday.

If there was a comeback player of the year award in high school baseball, Neil Madsen would be a lock.
The Iowa City West senior had surgery last February for a torn labrum and partial rotator cuff tear in his right shoulder. Not only did he return to the Trojans lineup, he did so about three weeks ahead of schedule.
“I knew hitting wise, I’d be back sometime this season,” Madsen said after Iowa City West’s 6-4 win over Cedar Rapids Xavier last night in a terrific …

FORT DODGE — Cedar Rapids Xavier made the big comeback, but couldn’t make the small one.
Katie Sammons drove in three runs, including a tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth inning that ultimately gave 13th-rated Ottumwa a 6-5 win over No. 10 Xavier in a Class 4A state quarterfinal at the state softball tournament Tuesday afternoon at the Rogers Sports Complex.
“I just knew I had to hit it somewhere,” said Sammons, a freshman and a No. 9 batter, who hit a two-run home run earlier in the game.
Ottumwa …

CEDAR RAPIDS — No balls. Two strikes. Clutch spot.
Kristen Winter’s mentality?
“I had to get the ball on the bat and move the runner over,” she said.
She did more. Much, much more.
Winter skied a two-run home run to left field in the top of the sixth inning and Jenny Drahozal did the rest as 10th-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier defeated No. 6 Iowa City West, 2-0, in a Class 4A regional softball final last night at Prairie High School.
Winter’s homer was the moment. Drahozal’s performance was the story.
The senior allowed only three …

CEDAR RAPIDS — There were no celebratory parties or anything for wins 905 and 906. Just another long bus ride home after a job well done by his team.
“Sometimes I’ll think about ‘Well, there aren’t too many above me,’” Dubuque Wahlert baseball coach Jerry Roling said last night after his Golden Eagles swept Cedar Rapids Xavier, 5-1 and 8-1, at Xavier. “But, overall, I’m just thankful and feel blessed that I’ve had the opportunity to coach so many years and remain healthy. You’ve just got to feel thankful with each …

MUSCATINE — They danced. They sang. They danced and sang some more.
The Cedar Rapids Xavier Saints won. Again.
“Six in a row!” junior defender Kelsie Sargent shouted to her teammates, moments after Xavier won its fifth consecutive Class 1A state girls’ soccer championship Saturday afternoon, 2-1, over La Porte City Union. “Gotta go for six in a row!”
Let them celebrate “one for the thumb” a little while before they start working on their second hand. It was Xavier’s sixth soccer title, a state record.
Getting back to …

CEDAR RAPIDS – The Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union decided to go to two classes in girls’ soccer for the 2002 season.
Class 2A is for the biggest schools enrollement wise. You’ve got your West Des Moines Valleys, your Bettendorfs, your Cedar Rapids Kennedys.
Then there’s Class 1A. Or what you could call Class Xavier.
Five of the eight 1A titles have been won by Cedar Rapids Xavier, including the last four. The Saints take a 19-0 record into Thursday’s state tournament in Muscatine and are the overwhelming …

You can’t stop Isaac Frisch. You can only hope to contain him.
Dubuque Wahlert hasn’t even been able to do that in this Class 2A state soccer tournament championship game at Cownie Park in Des Moines. A freshman, Frisch scored two first-half goals to give Cedar Rapids Xavier a 2-0 lead on its Mississippi Valley Conference rival.
Frisch had one goal in the regular season but scored with 11:01 left in the opening 40 minutes, then added another one with 3:45 left.  Charlie Bales has been Xavier’s …

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 …