I'm wondering if it's an accident that the best football and basketball games I've attended this season have involved teams from high schools, not colleges.
Folks, I covered all 12 Iowa football games this year and 15 college football games in all. I've seen five major-college basketball games this season. I've also seen just one high school football game and one prep basketball contest. They were superior.
On Oct. 31, I was among thousands at Kingston Stadium to witness Cedar Rapids Washington's crazy 34-28 win over Cedar Rapids Kennedy. The Warriors scored the winning points with 7.7 seconds left, on Derek Geisking's fifth touchdown pass of the game. Geisking didn't even start the game for Wash, but passed foir 487 yards. The game had about 1,100 yards of offense.
Tuesday night, I was among the sellout crowd of 2,100 at Linn-Mar for Iowa City High's 77-70 double-overtime boys' basketball victory over the Lions. Grant Gibbs of Linn-Mar was checked by City High's Matt Gatens and vice versa throughout the game. Gibbs is headed to Gonzaga on a basketball scholarship, Gatens to Iowa. Both got good ones.
And several other players on the floor will play college ball, though many won't right away. That's because Zach Bohannon and Nate Hutcheson are just juniors at Linn-Mar. City High's Malcom Moore is also a junior. City's A.J. Derby is a sophomore who will play Division I ball somewhere, but most likely football. Nonetheless, he and brother Zach Derby, a senior, are fine basketball players. Zach is likely to play college football, as well.
It wasn't just the quality of players that made these two games memorable, though, it was the atmospheres. Everyone cared. The noise level at Linn-Mar was something else. They put on a better show there than the one found at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, with their music and enthusiasm.
Oh by the way, Gatens can play a little. If you're a Hawkeye fan feeling blue about the current condition of your basketball team, go see City High play this winter. Help from a hometown kid is on the way.