Greene County jumps back to Class 3A football

By SUE RIEDER
sports@beeherald.com

The new football districts for the 2014 and 2015 seasons were released on Jan. 23, and Greene County was assigned to District 2 in Class 3A. The Rams have bounced back and forth between Class 2A and Class 3A during the last 10 years, but have been in the smaller class for the last four years. “I knew when we got back from Christmas vacation that our enrollment was going to push us up to the next class, as we have two large classes in high school right now, but I didn’t know which direction we would go,” said head football coach Dean Lansman. Other teams in the District 2 are Algona, Boone, Carroll, Humboldt, Perry, and Webster City.  

Although Perry is the only team that the Rams have played recently, Carroll and Boone were both in our district in 2008 and 2009. Webster City was in our district in the mid 1990’s, and the Rams played Humboldt in 1992 and 1993. Algona High School will be a new opponent for the Rams.

Perry beat the Rams easily last year, but many Rams were playing their first varsity game ever, and the added year of experience should help make that contest more competitive. Carroll finished 7-2 in a tough district last year, but will graduate many of their starters in May. Boone went 8-1 last year, but also had many senior starters. Webster City finished second to Clear Lake in their district last fall, and Humboldt finished 6-3. The Wildcats had a lot of young players last year, so they could have several returning letter winners. Algona has struggled as of late, but they are familiar with Humboldt and Webster City as they were all in the same district for the past two years.

The non-conference opponents have not been determined yet. Each school had 10 days after the new districts were announced to turn in a list of their top five teams that they would like to play in non-district competition. Before generating his list, Lansman made some calls to see which districts might be interested. “It doesn’t mean that you will necessarily get the teams you put down, but if two schools put each other down, and they are fairly close to one another, it increases the odds,” said Lansman. The Iowa High School Athletic Association is supposed to have the schedules done with the non-district opponents included by the end of February, so they should be released to the public by Mar. 1.

Coach Lansman stated that Class 3A teams are typically more physical and have more depth. He is glad that the Rams will have so many experienced players returning for next season.