KJAN Podcasts

With one year under his belt, Griswold Girls Basketball Head Coach Ryan Lockwood to make this Tiger's basketball team even more competitive. Griswold is coming off a (2-21) season that saw the Tigers at the bottom of the Corner Conference. It was a year and team that had growing pains. Coach Lockwood noted the youth and inexperience resulted in a modest amount of wins last year.

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This offseason for Coach Lockwood and the Tigers has been focused on becoming more cohesive and learning how to play quicker. Over the summer the team traveled to Okoboji for a three-day basketball camp. There the team grew, and Coach Lockwood took away quite a few positives from Okoboji.

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Now with their season starting in a few weeks, the Tigers are looking to a few familiar faces to help bring more leadership and a fierce nature to their team. Seniors like Karly Millikan and Madison Rush. Millikan had 147 rebounds, 23 steals, and 5 blocks in her sophomore campaign, but sat out her junior year due to an injury. Rush last year had 13 completed 3-pointers, 25 rebounds, with 7 assists, and 7 steals.

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In Coach Lockwood's eyes one of the measuring sticks for a successful season is how aggressive and competitive his girls play. He knows that if they focus on hanging on late into the games, pushing themselves and consistently driving towards the basket. This Tigers team will have opportunities to win.

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Griswold travels to the Atlantic High School Gym Saturday November 11th to take on Boyer Valley in a IGCA Scrimmage/Clinic starting at 8:40am.

Jim Field visits with Stan Fritz, a member of the group, "Trick Police," a Cheap Trick tribute band.  They will perform Saturday night at the Warren Cultural Center in Greenfield.

Jim Field visits with Scrooge candidate Ed Hamilton.

w/Kate Olson.

Jim Field visits with Scrooge contestant Dr. Chet Meneely.

Jim Field visits with Iowa DENR Fisheries Biologist Bryan Hayes about a trout stocking project this week at the Schildberg Recreation Pond 1.

Jim Field visits with Sheryl Dusenberry, one of the four "Scrooge" candidates helping to raise money for the Atlantic Food Pantry.

On Friday night a pair of 10-0 teams will battle it out in the Football Playoff quarterfinals with a berth in the semifinal at the UNI dome on the line. The Madrid Tigers and the ACGC Chargers both come into Friday night after both have dominant wins last week. The Madrid Tigers defeated Central Decatur by a score of 42-0 for the teams second shutout of the season. The Tigers came out and jumped to an early lead and never looked back. The Tigers rushing attack came in full force as they rushed for 362 yards as they were led by junior quarterback Preston Wicker who had 150 yards and three scores.

Madrid Head Coach Brock Hinkle said it has been a big key of emphasis for the Tigers to start quick and get a lead in these playoff games.

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The Tigers has gotten better week in and week out. The Tigers stuffed Central Decatur to just over 200 total yards of offense and forced the team's 14th interception on the season and coach Brock Hinkle was quick to give the praise to his defensive coaches for putting kids in the right spot with a great gameplan.

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Now the Tigers move on to a tough opponent in the ACGC Chargers in the quarterfinals. Both the Tigers and Chargers have very similar game styles as both teams favor the run game. Over the last four games the Tigers have 10 pass attempts and the Chargers have just 4 attempts in that time frame. Coach Hinkle knows that the offense has to be clicking Friday night because possessions will be limited with the way these two teams use the clock.

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The Chargers have three key rushers on the offensive side that all are near the 1000-yard mark on the season and Coach Hinkle knows it will be a big challenge for his Tigers defense.

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The battle between these two unbeatens will kick off on Friday night at 7:00pm with the pregame show starting at 6:00pm right here on KJAN.

You can listen to the full interview with Coach Hinkle below.

The Underwood Eagles lost their opening game of the season to Van Meter 21-14. That 21 points allowed has been the most this Eagles team has allowed all year long. The Eagles have allowed just 6 total points over the teams last six games. The Eagles have won 9 in a row after the opening night loss including a 42-0 win over AHSTW last week in the 2nd round of playoff football. The Eagles defense for the sixth time this season pitched a shutout in a dominating display but on this night the rushing attack of the Eagles stole the show. The Eagles rushed for 393 yards and six total touchdowns on 44 carries. The Eagles wasted no-time getting on the scoreboard as they scored on their first drive of the night and had 21 on the board going into the halftime break. Head Coach of Underwood Nate Mechaelsen says the team has finally gotten healthy in the later part of the season and credits that to the offensive success.

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Now moving onto the quarterfinals the Eagles will have their hands full as they will take on the 8-2 OABCIG Falcons who have won 7 in a row following their 2d round win. The Falcons have shocked a lot of people with their impressive season and Eagles Coach Nate Mechaelsen said they are maybe the most improved team from the start of the season until now.

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The Falcons have a pretty explosive offense but like the Eagles they rely heavily on their defense to make big crucial plays to set up their offense. The Falcons have forced 32 turnovers on the season with 16 fumble recoveries and 16 interceptions. Coach Mechaelsen knows to win this game and advance to the UNI dome to the semifinals that his offense will have to take care of the ball.

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In what will most likely be a defensive battle down to the end whichever offense is able to make the big play will likely pull out with a victory and move on to the final 4. The Eagles and the Falcons will kickoff at 7pm at OABCIG High School.

You can listen to the full interview with Head Coach Nate Mechaelsen below.

This Thursday night the (9-1) Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears will compete against the undefeated (10-0) CAM Cougars in Algona. The Golden Bears historically have had a competitive football program but have in a playoff drought since 2018. This year's Bishop Garrigan team has ended that drought and played the role of spoiler through their first two playoff games winning against Janesville 63-6 and upsetting Remsen St. Mary's 21-18.

The closely contented win against the defending state champions was important to the Golden Bears and Head Coach Marty Wadle credits his team's confidence heading into the game.

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The win against the Hawks was from Bishop Garrigan sticking to their identity of hardnosed football and dynamic defense. The Golden Bears ran the ball 37 times, had 208 rushing yards, and only one pass attempt.

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Now the bears will continue to rely on their run game against CAM. Leading the team in carries, yards, and rushing touchdowns is senior fullback Caden Roethler. Roethler has 142 rushing attempts, with 963 yards, and 17 touchdowns. Next to him in the backfield is junior tailback Owen Murphy. The tailback has 35 carries, 185 yards, and 1 rushing touchdown.

Even with a team that has rushed for over 2100 yards, Coach Wadle expects this game to be difficult against a talented Cougar squad.

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If the Golden Bears can stick to their football identity and rely on the results they've seen thus far. Coach Wadle believes they can make this game Thursday night competitive.

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KJAN will bring you the coverage of Thursday's matchup starting at 6:00pm with the pregame show and kickoff starting at 7:00pm.