Lyon County, Iowa HS Football

[HuckFinn]

OK. I got blasted some time ago for calling NW Iowa a hotbed of High School Football. I even admitted my bias ahead of time. Now, I have some great stats for you:

50 Top High School Football Coaches in Iowa (Hawk Central)

Central Lyon: (alma mater)

Dick Null; 212-83-3 and 2 state championships
Toby Lorenzen; 163-127 and 1 state championship

West Lyon: (rival)

Coach Rozeboom; 253-48 and 3 state championships


Lyon County is the most NW county in Iowa, only 17 miles from the SD border and 7 miles from the MN border.
County Seat is Rock Rapids, Pop. about 2500. Rest of the towns are villages.

So, yeah, go ahead and pick on me! But, I just could not resist. Many fond memories. Jr. and Sr. years we were 15-1 in football. Sr. year, 20-2 in BB, one win from Des Moines (no "classes" or "divisions" then.) Heelan beat us. Its OK for us old guys to have some fond memories.

 

[tksirius]

 

[Ozhawk]

OK. I got blasted some time ago for calling NW Iowa a hotbed of High School Football. I even admitted my bias ahead of time. Now, I have some great stats for you:

50 Top High School Football Coaches in Iowa (Hawk Central)

Central Lyon: (alma mater)

Dick Null; 212-83-3 and 2 state championships
Toby Lorenzen; 163-127 and 1 state championship

West Lyon: (rival)

Coach Rozeboom; 253-48 and 3 state championships


Lyon County is the most NW county in Iowa, only 17 miles from the SD border and 7 miles from the MN border.
County Seat is Rock Rapids, Pop. about 2500. Rest of the towns are villages.

So, yeah, go ahead and pick on me! But, I just could not resist. Many fond memories. Jr. and Sr. years we were 15-1 in football. Sr. year, 20-2 in BB, one win from Des Moines (no "classes" or "divisions" then.) Heelan beat us. Its OK for us old guys to have some fond memories.

Thank you for telling us where Lyon County is...I have never heard of it before. I also have never heard of West Lyon. I have heard of Solon, West Branch, Harlan, and other storied programs. I also remember Emmetsburg being good too...not sure if that is far west enough.

I checked out West Lyon/Central Lyon football. They are 1A which automatically disqualifies them in my book for being a "Football Hotbed". How about just changing it to 1A football hotbed. I'm guessing not a single Starter at any position at West Lyon would see playing time at a School like Centennial/Valley/Dowling.

I grew up playing football in a town with a Marginal 3A team. We were allowed to play against a "powerhouse" 1A team as a season opener. The talent gap overall was fairly big because of numbers but the glaring reality was only a few of us played both ways and the small school played everyone both ways. By the middle of the 3rd quarter they were limp Rags. BTW 4 State Championships between 2 teams doesn't trip my trigger. Not impressed.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Thank you for telling us where Lyon County is...I have never heard of it before. I also have never heard of West Lyon. I have heard of Solon, West Branch, Harlan, and other storied programs. I also remember Emmetsburg being good too...not sure if that is far west enough.

I checked out West Lyon/Central Lyon football. They are 1A which automatically disqualifies them in my book for being a "Football Hotbed". How about just changing it to 1A football hotbed. I'm guessing not a single Starter at any position at West Lyon would see playing time at a School like Centennial/Valley/Dowling.

I grew up playing football in a town with a Marginal 3A team. We were allowed to play against a "powerhouse" 1A team as a season opener. The talent gap overall was fairly big because of numbers but the glaring reality was only a few of us played both ways and the small school played everyone both ways. By the middle of the 3rd quarter they were limp Rags. BTW 4 State Championships between 2 teams doesn't trip my trigger. Not impressed.

If I remember correctly...at one point, Emmetsburg had two starters at Iowa at the same time. Grant Steen and Bruce Nelson...not bad for small school...but agreed...it's not the norm for sure. I would however be careful about saying, "not a single starter at any position (insert small school) would see time at Valley/Dowling, etc. That's moronic. You can look at the history of Iowa Football and say thats a crock. Chad Greenway, Nate Meier, and a whole host of Iowa players say that's not near close to being the case.

 

[HuckFinn]

Thank you for telling us where Lyon County is...I have never heard of it before. I also have never heard of West Lyon. I have heard of Solon, West Branch, Harlan, and other storied programs. I also remember Emmetsburg being good too...not sure if that is far west enough.

I checked out West Lyon/Central Lyon football. They are 1A which automatically disqualifies them in my book for being a "Football Hotbed". How about just changing it to 1A football hotbed. I'm guessing not a single Starter at any position at West Lyon would see playing time at a School like Centennial/Valley/Dowling.

I grew up playing football in a town with a Marginal 3A team. We were allowed to play against a "powerhouse" 1A team as a season opener. The talent gap overall was fairly big because of numbers but the glaring reality was only a few of us played both ways and the small school played everyone both ways. By the middle of the 3rd quarter they were limp Rags. BTW 4 State Championships between 2 teams doesn't trip my trigger. Not impressed.

Get a sense of humor! My post was just for fun, but the fact that 3 Lyon County football coaches were picked in the top 50 by Hawk Central was pretty cool. Of course, if you want to eliminate 1a teams from your list, have at it. BTW, over many years, Central Lyon has produced at least 6 division 1 players, along with a large group of small college players. Another kid became a long time NFL official; another young man is a D-1 assistant coach, and South Dakota U's football stadium is named after another CL grad. You can also check out how many played at Iowa; one is a long time Iowa assistant.

Anyway, the folks up there are very proud of the traditions and likely do not care what you think.

 

[Ozhawk]

Get a sense of humor for yourself, my post was for fun as well. BTW if it was just for Fun you wouldn't have written the "war and peace" length response after the words "my post was just for fun" it was followed by "but," then a war and peace length response. Yes I want to eliminate 1A teams. 1A teams are almost always carried by 1 or two (maybe 3) really good players and then a smattering of average players and almost always 2-3 absolutely horrible (I mean like marching band would be better horrible). You are the only person in the Universe that thinks Lyon county is the hotbed of Iowa for football. Enjoy your solitude.

 

[Ozhawk]

If I remember correctly...at one point, Emmetsburg had two starters at Iowa at the same time. Grant Steen and Bruce Nelson...not bad for small school...but agreed...it's not the norm for sure. I would however be careful about saying, "not a single starter at any position (insert small school) would see time at Valley/Dowling, etc. That's moronic. You can look at the history of Iowa Football and say thats a crock. Chad Greenway, Nate Meier, and a whole host of Iowa players say that's not near close to being the case.

Name a player on the team I mentioned that would play for any of those top 4A schools currently and I will concede.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Aplington-Parkersburg had a great run as a football factory. Aaron Kampmann, Jared DeVries, Casey Wiegmann, and Brad Meester all in the NFL at the same time.

Not bad for a town of 2,000 people.

I remember Webster City (Dick Tighe) being a football power for a long time.

As far as the big schools, before the DM Metro dominance, Linn Mar (Greg Purnell) and Bettendorf (Marv Habernicht) had their moments of glory. And the two Iowa City schools for a while as well.

 

[cecilB]

Thank you for telling us where Lyon County is...I have never heard of it before. I also have never heard of West Lyon. I have heard of Solon, West Branch, Harlan, and other storied programs. I also remember Emmetsburg being good too...not sure if that is far west enough.

I checked out West Lyon/Central Lyon football. They are 1A which automatically disqualifies them in my book for being a "Football Hotbed". How about just changing it to 1A football hotbed. I'm guessing not a single Starter at any position at West Lyon would see playing time at a School like Centennial/Valley/Dowling.

I grew up playing football in a town with a Marginal 3A team. We were allowed to play against a "powerhouse" 1A team as a season opener. The talent gap overall was fairly big because of numbers but the glaring reality was only a few of us played both ways and the small school played everyone both ways. By the middle of the 3rd quarter they were limp Rags. BTW 4 State Championships between 2 teams doesn't trip my trigger. Not impressed.

What I found funny is your geographic ignorance. Snyder, klingenborg, Vande Bosch, Woods, and many more say Hi.

 

[HuckFinn]

Get a sense of humor for yourself, my post was for fun as well. BTW if it was just for Fun you wouldn't have written the "war and peace" length response after the words "my post was just for fun" it was followed by "but," then a war and peace length response. Yes I want to eliminate 1A teams. 1A teams are almost always carried by 1 or two (maybe 3) really good players and then a smattering of average players and almost always 2-3 absolutely horrible (I mean like marching band would be better horrible). You are the only person in the Universe that thinks Lyon county is the hotbed of Iowa for football. Enjoy your solitude.

You just do not get it, do you...

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Name a player on the team I mentioned that would play for any of those top 4A schools currently and I will concede.

You are asking me to know who plays for a couple of small school high school teams in Iowa? Ummm...I don't live in Iowa and don't really follow Iowa High School Football unless Iowa is recruiting one of them. My old HS is now 1A, I believe (they were 3A when I was there). When we played...we beat the crap out of 3A schools. There were 6 or 7 guys on my team that would have played at 4A schools...not both ways like they were...but certainly one way. I'm just saying you can't throw a blanket over 1A and say there is no talent on those teams. Its moronic when you look at rosters at Iowa / Iowa State / UNI.