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.

Pending approval from the school’s board of directors, veteran girls’ basketball coach Harold Shepherd will take the reins at West Delaware High School next season.
Bob Murphy, the school’s athletics director, said neither he nor Shepherd could comment on the position until the board votes next Monday.
Shepherd has 43 years of head-coaching experience, most of them at Vinton and Vinton-Shellsburg, where he won state titles in 1984 (six-player) and 1995 (Class 3A). He resigned at Vinton-Shellsburg in 2005, then coached two seasons at Jesup.
He has a career record of 722-275 and …

Aplington-Parkersburg made it official late Thursday night, announcing the hiring of 2002 A-P graduate Alex Pollock as the school’s new head football coach.
The hiring still must be approved by the district’s school board. Sportswriter Jeff Linder first posted news of the hiring Thursday afternoon.
Pollock will follow the team’s co-coaches from the 2009 season — Al Kerns, who has retired from coaching, and John Wiegmann, who will return to his former role as defensive coordinator. Kerns and Wiegmann served as co-coaches last season, after legendary coach Ed Thomas was killed …

Iowa City West and Cedar Rapids Prairie have won Mississippi Valley Conference division crowns a second straight year.
With Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s win over Waterloo West last night, the Trojans locked up the MVC Mississippi Division title. West is 26-1 overall and 6-0 in the MVC, ending conference competition tonight at Dubuque Hempstead against the Mustangs and Waterloo West. It’s the fourth straight title and 10th overall for West, which owns a 30-dual MVC win streak dating to 2006.
Prairie was the last MVC team to beat West. The Hawks are 17-2 …

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids Kennedy played the role of party crasher last night.
The Cougars tried to restrict the celebration to the pageantry before the meet on the evening when Cedar Rapids Jefferson honored each of the storied program’s state finalists and former coaches.
Kennedy won eight matches, claiming a 41-24 victory over Jefferson in a Mississippi Valley Conference dual at Jefferson High School.
“What a great opportunity to wrestle in front of not only Jefferson legends but Cedar Rapids area legends,” Kennedy Coach Brent Paulson said, referring to the attendance of …

ALBURNETT — They are Alburnett’s dynamic duo.
The Pirates and Coach Kane Thompson benefit from, not one but two of, the best wrestlers in Class 1A.
Christopher Halblom and Tyler Shulista both own top-rankings and have propelled Alburnett’s wrestling program to new levels of success.
“I think they’re making everyone around them better,” Thompson said. “We’re pretty solid from 112 to 135 with kids that are having a great season. I think it’s because they practice with each other and feed off what Tyler and Christopher have done at the state tournament.”
The pair …

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids Prairie wrestlers are greedy.
The trophy from last year’s Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division title just wasn’t enough to satisfy the Hawks. So they took a big step to add to their hardware.
Ninth-ranked Prairie captured eight wins and outlasted Linn-Mar, 32-28, last night at Prairie. It gave the Hawks a two-dual lead in the standings with two left and the head-to-head advantage.
“We already got that one trophy from last year in the room. We were looking at that before we came out to wrestled,” Sophomore Peyton …

How many freshmen does it take to win a wrestling dual?
Cedar Rapids Prairie Coach Blake Williams was sure it was seven, but it turned out to be eight.
With more than half its lineup in its first year of high school, Prairie still showed its strength, claiming a 50-15 victory last night over host Cedar Rapids Jefferson.
Inexperience left Williams uncertain about his team’s chances Thursday.
“You just never know how they’re going to perform,” Williams said. “Some have had minimal varsity experience while others had quite a bit.”
The freshmen provided the Hawks …

WINTHROP — Don Bosco takes the mat each competition with a goal to be better each time out.
It will be hard to perform better than they did last night.
In a battle of Class 1A’s top two teams, top-ranked Don Bosco dominated second-ranked East Buchanan, winning 12 of 14 matches and capturing a 56-6 victory at East Buchanan High School.
The Dons (17-1) were up for the challenge of a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup.
“We told them to come out and step it up,” Dons Coach Tom Kettman said. “For the …

INDEPENDENCE — You might want to ask West Delaware assistant wrestling coach Kris Lenz his selections for the next Powerball. He seems to have a good vision of what’s to come.
Lenz, in his 25th year coaching at West Delaware, stated the higher ranked team doesn’t always win before the latest dual between rivals Independence and West Delaware. Lenz was right on.
The 12th-ranked Hawks scored three falls, propelling them to a 35-31 upset of No. 4 Independence last night in front of a packed gymnasium at Independence High School.
“That was fun,” …