Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

With October fast approaching temperatures are finally dropping and the high school football regular season is entering the stretch run.

Friday marks week six of the season and by Saturday morning only three regular season games remain.

Here are five things to watch during week six.

Playoff Positioning

With every week that passes the playoff picture becomes a little less foggy.  

City High and Regina both have games this week that should make their respective paths to the postseason pretty clear.

Class 1A fourth-ranked Regina (3-2) travels to Wilton (5-0) Friday for a matchup of District 4 unbeatens.

With a win Regina all but locks up the district title and a first round home playoff game.

“Everybody understands the winner of this is going to be in the driver’s seat for the district and gets the one seed,” Regina coach Marv Cook said. “That one seed is critical because you hopefully get to host two games so it’s a big game for us.”

City High (2-3) hosts Davenport Central (3-2) at Bates Field on Friday in what could amount to a Class 4A, District 7 elimination game.

City High and Central are both 1-0 in district play with games remaining against heavy District 7 favorite Bettendorf.

Friday’s winner has a game lead and the head-to-head tiebreaker for the runner-up spot and a 4A playoff berth. 

Running Down Hill

City High will try to do what no other team has been able to do this season – slow down Davenport Central running back Jatoviay Hill.

Hill has rushed for at least 95 yards in every game this season and is fresh off one of the best rushing performances in state history, a 407-yard, five-touchdown showing in one half against Davenport Central.

The 5-foot-8, 180-pound Hill ranks fifth in Class 4A with 875 yards and third with 11 touchdowns and is averaging 11.2 yards per carry.

City High will need one of its best defensive performances of the season on Friday to hold Hill in check.

The Little Hawks have allowed at least 225 yards on the ground in four straight games and are giving up 6.2 yards per carry and 240 rushing yards per game this season.

Same Circumstances, New Year

Regina bounced back from slow start with a win streak full of lopsided district losses and comes into a District 4 showdown with unbeaten Wilton with the winner grabbing the inside track in the district title race.

Sound familiar?

It should. Last season Regina won four straight games by at least 22 points following a week one loss to Cedar Rapids Xavier and then rolled to a 41-17 week six win over then unbeaten Wilton in Iowa City.

The Beavers get another shot at the same situation on Friday when fourth-ranked Regina (3-2) comes to town.

Isaac Vollstedt rushed for 182 yards and a score in last year’s win and Friday’s rematch has the makings of another big game for Vollstedt.

The senior running back has scored touchdowns on five of his 17 carries over the last two games and is averaging better than 15 yards per attempt during that span.

Catch Them While You Can

Any list of things to watch in area high school football really should include Evan Flitz and Zach Jones every week.

The seniors haven’t appeared on this list that often but this is a reminder to check out Jones and Flitz, two of the best to play their positions at their respective schools while you can.

With four touchdowns passes last week in a 48-28 win over Cedar Rapids Prairie Flitz broke the West High career record of 31 touchdown passes held by Charlie Rogers.

Flitz has thrown 11 of his 33 career touchdowns passes this season and passed for 1,184 yards for second-ranked West High.

Jones broke the City High career record for receptions with 10 grabs for 129 yards in a 41-29 win over Clinton last week.

Jones has 88 career receptions breaking the previous mark set by Mark Lumpa from 1982-1984.

Jones sits in fifth place all time at City High in career receiving yards with 1,219 and needs 482 yards to set the career yardage mark.

The 5-foot-10, 172-pound senior has 47 receptions for 650 yards and five touchdowns this season.

Road Warriors

Clear Creek Amana has righted the ship winning back-to-back games over Maquoketa and Center Point-Urbana following an 0-3 start to the season.

The Clippers get their toughest test of the season Friday against Class 3A No. 10 West Delaware (4-1) and in Manchester.

Friday’s contest against the District 4 leading Hawks is the fourth road game in the last five weeks for Clear Creek Amana, a stretch that included trips to Dubuque, Independence and Center Point.

If Clear Creek Amana (2-3, 2-1 district) can pull off an upset on the road Friday the Clippers put themselves in the thick of the playoff race and closed the season with two of its final three games at home.