CEDAR RAPIDS — And the thing is there’s not one senior.
How good do you think these Mount Pleasant Panthers are going to be next season? They’re already really, really good.
Just ask Williamsburg, which was on the receiving end of a 68-48 smackdown last night in a Class 3A substate final at the U.S. Cellular Center. Mount Pleasant (21-1) is the top seed at next week’s state tournament.
“I’m happy for the kids because they are so deserving of making it to this point,” said Mount Pleasant Coach Paul Rundquist. “For me, …

Williamsburg (17-6) vs. Mount Pleasant (20-1) at U.S. Cellular Center, 6:30 p.m.: Williamsburg comes into this game off a 59-56 district final victory over Wamac Conference rival Clear Creek-Amana. The Raiders defeated South Tama in the first round of districts, 76-60. Williamsburg likes to play an up-tempo game, led by senior guard Chad Malloy. He averages 18.0 points per game and has made a team-high 47 3-pointers, one more than teammate Kelly O’Rourke … Mount Pleasant has been ranked No.1 or No. 2 since Christmas. The Panthers lost to Marion in a substate …

Austin Blythe may be the defending champion at 285 pounds and a two-time state tournament finalist, but he went into a Class 2A quarterfinal match with Davenport Assumption’s Tyler Swope as an underdog.
And he knew it.
Swope had beaten the Williamsburg junior twice this season and had a chance to do it again Thursday with the match knotted 2-2 late in the third period. This time, Blythe (50-3) made a big move in the final seconds for a 6-2 win. He celebrated wildly in front of a packed house at Wells …

You hate to refer to it again, but when you talk about Marion’s season, you’ve got to talk about that Williamsburg game. The Indians blew a 20-plus point lead and lost by two just before Christmas.
There’s been nary a defeat since then. Marion won its ninth in a row Saturday, drilling Benton Community, 70-48, as part of Rivalry Saturday at the U.S. Cellular Center.
“We knew right then that we had to play together,” said Marion’s Kasey Semler, who led his team with 17 points. “It seems like ever since that …

MARION — Not this time.
“We focused on not letting go,” Kasey Semler said after his Marion Indians grabbed sole possession of first place in the West Division of the Wamac Conference with a 69-53 win Tuesday night over Williamsburg. “That was the big thing.”
They didn’t let go. Marion (10-3, 8-1) led start to finish, building a substantial second-half lead and, well, finishing.
That was unlike the first encounter between these teams Dec. 22 in Williamsburg. The Indians led by as many as 23 points, 16 at halftime, only to have Williamsburg …

And class ratings are right here. Don’t be offended by not having a No. 5 team in Class 4A.
It’s just impossible to distinguish any of the candidates right now. For the most part, they’re all struggling and beating each other.
Really starting to believe in this Solon team. Don’t know why I didn’t in the first place.
Big game Tuesday night between Marion and Williamsburg in the Wamac Conference. Williamsburg won the first encounter with a late rally, overcoming a big deficit. The return trip is at Marion.
SUPER TEN
1. Linn-Mar 10-1 …

Quality wins? Williamsburg has them.
After starting 0-3, the Raiders have won eight of nine games — including eye-opening victories over Washington (Iowa), Marion and Iowa City Regina — to turn their season around.
“We lost our first three and we didn’t perform as well as we would have liked,” said Coach Aaron Feddersen. “We took a good, hard look … where was the season going to go?”
It didn’t figure to get better in Game 4. The Raiders were facing a veteran Washington team that was unbeaten and blitzing everybody it played.
Williamsburg …

Here are the conference standings of the Wamac Conference. The dual standings reflect conference records only through Jan. 1 and were submitted by a league coach.
EAST DIVISION
DeWitt Central 2-0
Western Dubuque 2-0
West Delaware 1-0
Anamosa 1-1
Maquoketa 1-1
Solon 0-1
Mt. Vernon 0-2
Dyersville Beckman 0-2
WEST DIVISION
Benton Community 2-0
Independence 2-0
Williamsburg 1-0
Center Point-Urbana 1-1
Marion 1-1
Vinton-Shellsburg 0-1
Waterloo Columbus 0-2
Clear Creek Amana 0-2

The Predicament released its second set of Iowa prep individual and team rankings today. The most notable change is Denver-Tripoli has two more ranked wrestlers and has moved to the top of the team ratings, moving ahead of defending state champion Ballard. The Titans have seven ranked wrestlers while the Bombers still boast five. In an anticipated change, Adam Praska of Crestwood moved ahead of Williamsburg’s defending state champion Austin Blythe. Praska beat Blythe during the round-robin tournament at Jesup iun the opening weekend of competition.
CLASS 2A TEAM RANKINGS (ranked …

The Class 2A preseason wrestling rankings were released by The Predicament and Eastern Iowa football fans will recognize a couple of the names atop the heaviest weight classes. Football standouts Austin Blythe of Williamsburg and Solon’s James Morris are No. 1 at heavyweight and 215 pounds, respectively. Blythe, a junior,  is the defending state champion. Morris, a senior, was fourth a year ago after reaching the state tournament with an unblemished record. Both were Wamac champs in their first year joining the league from the EIHC.
 Ballard, the defending 2A team …