Sioux City Journal from Sioux City, Iowa • 15

Nov. 11, 2003 Top player candidates Voting begins far PGA Tour player of the year and Vljay Singh and Tiger Woods are top candidates. Page B2 Bl Valley ends Heelauni season interception during the regular season. And, Dickmeyer as on the money, completing 13 of 21 passes for 162 yards. "We had to throw, they put 1 1 guys in the box," said Swenson, who has had nine playoff teams in nine years since leaving Spencer to become the Valley head coach.

"They didn't give us any choice. "Dickmeyer and Brower were an excellent combination for us tonight." Brower, a three-year starter and the only holdover starter on offense aside from Scales, finished with seven catches for 99 yards, accounting for all three scores as the Tigers took a 21-0 halftime lead. second year in a row. The ins sends Valley into the Class 4A semifinals Friday night in the UNI-Dome against metro rival Ankeny. Both teams are 11-0.

Heelan, which had a perfect season spoiled by Valley's 16-15 first-round win a year ago, made it one step further this time, turning back Ames to reach Monday's quarterfinal. But the Crusaders couldn't contain a potent Valley offense and they couldn't generate much against the Tigers' defense, either. "We just didn't play a very good ball game," said Heelan Coach Roger Jansen. "The reasons for that, I'm not sure about. but I think Valley High School had a lot to do with it They're pretty salty." Scales, who rushed for over 2,500 yards in 13 games as a junior, had 1,792 yards this fall before sustaining an ankle sprain in the Tigers' final regular season game Oct.

31. He was held out of a first-round game last Wednesday against Johnston and the Tigers responded with a 49-7 romp, getting a 192-yard performance from sophomore Zac Sandvig, Scales' understudy. Valley Coach Gary Swenson didn't expect to do that well against Heelan's run defense. So, he turned to the passing of Dickmeyer, who didn't throw an "We wish we could have Jason back, but it's also good to get a win without him," said Brower. "Hopefully, he'll be back for Friday's game." Heelan dodged an early bullet when the Tigers reached a first-and-goal on their first possession after consecutive catches of 11 and 30 yards by Brower.

Faced with fourth-and-goal at the 3-yard line, the Tigers opted for a chip-shot field goal, only to have a mishandled snap prevent a kick and give the ball to Heelan at the 9. Two plays later, though, quarterback Pat Grace coughed up a fumble and Valley's BerkeTuin-stra, one of three defensive regulars returning from last year's champs, pounced on the loose ball at the 11. Three plays later, Dickmeyer found Brower with an eight-yard scoring toss. The Tigers had to work a little harder for the next two scores, driving 65 and 74 yards to gain their three-touchdown intermission advantage. A 30-yard pass from Dickmeyer to Tanner Samame ignited the 65-yarder, which ended with a nine-yard pass to Brower.

Sandvig, who finished with 99 yards on 21 carries, got a large chunk of that with a 37-yard draw play on a third-and-15 SEE HEELAN continued on page B3 Bj Terry Hersorn Journal sports aliiar WEST DES MOINES Jason who? Even without the best player in the state. West Des Moines Valley's defending Class 4A state football champions are looking tough to beat. Playing without Jason Scales, the two-time Iowa Class 4A rushing leader, the top-ranked Tigers didn't lack for firepower, rolling to a 38-7 win over Sioux City Heelan here Monday night. Dan Dickmeyer hooked up with Zach Brower on three first-half touchdown passes as undefeated Valley sidelined Heelan from the state playoffs for the Hector leads Le Mars attack A I 7 By Steven Allspach Journal spoils writer Jim Boyd doesn't mince words when talking about his Le Mars football team, especially quarterback Craig Hector. "This kid plays with his feet and his smarts, his good arm," said the Le Mars coach of his 6-2, 180-pound senior quarterback.

"He just does an excellent job. "I really think we have a lot of talented people, but I think by far he's the best quarterback I've seen so far this year. I know I'm prejudiced, but this kid is really outstanding. I don't think he's even come close to his potential." Hector rushed for 205 yards and four touchdowns in a 40-14 first-round Class 3 A playoff victory last week over Estherville-Lincoln Central and passed for another 88 yards an a touchdown. Hector and his teammates will have to be outstanding again tonight when the sixth-ranked Bulldogs (9-1) journey to Clear Lake meet the fifth-ranked Lions in the quarterfinals.

Two of Hector's touchdowns" came on runs of 68 and 49 yards in the first quarter of the first-round frolic. Clear Lake (9-1) defeated Charles City in a first-round tussle, 10-7 in overtime. Clear Lake won despite being outgained 270 yards to 152. The Lions of veteran Coach Fred Wieck avenged a 19-18 reg ular-season loss to Charles City and won when Travis Young, a 139-pound senior, booted a 22-yard field goal in the extra session. It was Young's first field goal attempt of the season.

Wieck, the Clear Lake coach, has guided teams to 1 1 wins in 17 playoff games. Clear Lake's only touchdown in the first-round win was a 25-yard pass fromn Zach Zirbel to Nick Weber in the second quarter. The lone Le Mars loss of the season came in a season-opening non-district game at Emmets-burg, 24-7. Since losing to top-ranked Em-metsburg, Le Mars has beaten Central LyonGeorge-Little Rock (42-13), Algona (49-14), Spirit Lake (54-0), Storm Lake (41-10), Spencer (35-7), Humboldt (34-7), MOC-Floyd Valley (33-7), Es-therville-Lincoln Central (21-0) and ELC again in the playoffs. While Le Mars travels to Clear Lake, Sergeant Bluff-Luton hits the road for a Class 2 A quarterfinal at unbeaten defending state champion Emmetsburg (10-0).

The game will showcase three of 2As top running backs in Em-metsburg's Cory Pierce and SB-L's Tony Erickson and Drew Moore. Pierce, a transfer from Spencer, has rushed 1,196 yards, while the 220-pound Erickson has bulldozed for 1,191 yards and Moore another 924. helps some of the kids get recognized," Coach Jim Calhoun said Monday. "I don't find it being pressurized. It's how you handle it because we all aspire to be No.

1 at the end." Connecticut never even came close to being there at the end of the 1999-2000 season, the last time it was the preseason No. 1. The Huskies lost the opener to Iowa and finished 20th in the final poll the only time since 1980 a No. 1 pre-season team did not end up in the Top 10. "I can do without that," Cal-houn said.

SEE RATINGS continued on page B2 Volleyball runs in the blood of brothers Will (left) and Gabe Bau- Marlene, coaches at River Valley, and her sister, Marilyn (Hardersen) mann. The brothers' teams Gabe's Heelan squad and Will's Murra, is the Schaller-Crestland mentor. Another aunt, Donna Hard-Galva-Holstein outfit will be in the state tournament. Their mother, ersen, is a Hinton assistant. (Staff photo by Jerry Mennenga) Coaching in the blood UConn picked No.

1 in pre-season ratings Baumann brothers have teams in state volleyball tournament By Terry Hersom Journal sports alitor "Will was born in September, he came home from the hospital and went straight to a volleyball practice," said Marlene Baumann. "Gabe was my manager when he was in sixth grade. They've just grown up with it from Day One." Gabe Baumann was a senior at Briar Cliff when he started working at Heelan two years ago, a season in which the Crusaders reached the state championship match before losing to Dubuque Wahlert in a memorable marathon that came down to a 15-13 fifth game. He was prepared to assist Schaal for a third season this fall when the highly successful Heelan coach had to step down after her husband, a corporate attorney for Tyson Foods, was transferred to Arkansas. "We had everybody back from our normal SEE FAMILY TRADITION continued on page B2 that Lori Schaal, who had guided the Crusaders to five state tournaments in five years, would be moving to Arkansas.

Schaal's assistant the last two years, he has kept tradition going with a 41-10 team that will face Mount Pleasant in a first-round state tournament match Wednesday night at 7:15. Will Baumann, 23, took over the Galva-Holstein reins from Scott Mitchell, even though Will won't collect his degree from Buena Vista University until January. And, Will's squad will play a first-round state tourney match Thursday at 2:15 p.m against Ar-We-Va, a team the Pirates defeated earlier this season. No one is more impressed with all of this than their mother, Marlene, who has coached the volleyball teams at Willow, Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn and now River Valley in Correctionville. By Associated Press Connecticut is thrilled to be the runaway No.

1 pick in The Associated Press' pre-season college basketball poll. The Huskies can only hope it leads to better things than the last time they started the season on top. Connecticut received 67 first-place votes and 1,793 points from the 72-member national media panel, which likely found it hard to overlook the returning inside-outside combination of Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon. "The No. 1 ranking matters because it does put some highlights on your program and Who's the best rookie head coach in Iowa high school volleyball? Is it Gabe Baumann, who has ushered Heelan to a Class 3A state tournament berth? Or, maybe it's Will Baumann, Gabe's brother, who'll be taking his Galva-Holstein squad to Cedar Rapids for a Class 1A state title bid? No such award exists, incidentally, so the answer doesn't matter.

What does matter is the improbability of brothers not only landing their first head coaching jobs in the same season but also making them count with state tournament appearances. Gabe Baumann, 25, was hired in mid-August, filling big shoes after Heelan learned Haege replaces Reinhardt as coach of Bandits Drake University. The new Bandits mentor also served as head coach of the Milwaukee Mustangs in the AFL in 1993-94 and in 2002 he was an assistant coach with the AFL New Jersey Gladiators coached by his son Frank. Frank Haege is now the coach of the Las Vegas Gladiators. Haege and his son have worked closely over the years in scouting and developing players for the indoor game and they will hold a tryout camp in Las Vegas in early December.

"Hopefully I'll be able to see some players in that Las Vegas camp than can help us," said Art Haege. "I've always had a passion to coach and I'm excited about this opportunity. "Playing in the new arena (Gateway Arena in the Tyson Events Center) is exciting, tew. I firmly believe that indoor football is made for cities and mar-kets the sie of Sioux Ciiy. SEE HAEGE continued on page B3 driving force in establishing the Arena Football League, and was part of the ownership group of the Des Moines-based Iowa Barnstormers.

Haege was a Barnstormers assistant in their AFL days from 1995 to 2000 and was the team's head coach in 2001 when the franchise was part of af2, a spinoff of the AFL. The point Haege was making is that even though he takes over the franchise reasonably late in the development stages for the 2004 National Indoor Football League season he's not concerned. He replaces Carl Reinhardt, who resigned last week for personal reasons. Haege's coaching resume is voluminous and impressive, both in the conventional game and the hybrid indoor variety. One his assistantships was served from 1989-91 at now-closed Westmar University in Le Mars when Bill Charles was the head coach.

Haege and Charles were also assistants at By Steven Allspach Journal sports writer Art Haege is fully aware of what it takes to put a competitive football team together at, well, a moment's notice. "Several years ago when I was living in Virginia, I was involved in creating a game as part of a fund-raising campaign for a youth football program," recalled Haege Monday after he was officially announced as the new head coach of the Sioux City Bandits indoor team. "I was put in contact with Jim Foster, who ran the old Newton (Iowa) Nitehawks semi-pro team. "Well, Newton was supposed to have this hot-shot team so we arranged this game. At the time I really didn't have a team of my own.

"Anyway, the game was played and we won 62-6." The irony of that game long ago is that Foster ended up inventing indoor football, was the was introduced Monday as the new coach of the Sioux City Bandits. (Staff photo by Tim Hynds) Art Haege, a former coach of the Iowa Barnstormers and a one-time assistant at Westmar,.