By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

I was checking the most recent volleyball rankings posted by the IGHSAU earlier this week, mainly because I had a feeling the 13-4 ACGC team would have a chance to sneak into the top 15 soon. Then, I noticed something odd. It’s something I’ve seen before, but this one was too big to be ignored.

In 2A, at the top of the rankings, No. 1 Denver is 29-0. That’s impressive. The No. 2 team? Hinton, at 9-0. That’s a difference of 20 games. By this time of year, most teams have played 20-30 games. Then you have No. 13 Emmetsburg at 10-3. That’s closer to ACGC’s 17 games played. Why is there such a large gap between the number of games played between teams?

Looking here at home, Panorama’s schedule has also been on the lighter side, only playing 10 games thus far. Granted, the Panthers will play three more this week and have a tournament scheduled next week — but that’s still a big gap. In the metro area, Des Moines North has only played four games this season. Sure, they have six tournaments scheduled between now and the end of the season, but four games?

According to the IGHSAU website, “Teams may play 14 dates at each level of play (ninth grade, junior varsity, varsity). No junior varsity teams are allowed in varsity tournaments. No jamborees allowed. A maximum of six matches per team per day.”

I take that to mean there is a maximum number of games a team can play but not a minimum. I asked Panorama AD Bruce Dahlhauser, and he said that there is no minimum number of games a team must play and that teams can schedule as few games as they wish. On the flip side, if a team scheduled 14 tournament dates and played six games at each, that school could play 84 games in a season not counting the postseason. This also does not count the three scrimmages that are allowed each season.

Now, of course, that many games would be ridiculous, just as it would be ridiculous to play zero games in a season. But, it begs the question of which direction is better. Play more games and potentially gain more experience but risk the chance of wearing down and picking up injuries? Or play fewer games and stay fresh for the post season?

I decided to check out how many games each of the state championship teams in Iowa played last season to get an idea.

• 1A: Ankeny Christian (40-5) 50 games
• 2A: Denver (47-3) 50 games
• 3A: Mount Vernon (45-4) 49 games
• 4A: Bishop Heelan (44-3) 47 games
• 5A: Pleasant Valley (35-2) 37 games

Even at the state championship level, there was a difference of 10 games played. Making a deep playoff run would lend itself to more games played, and that appears to be what the coaches prefer. I simply found it interesting and thought you might, too. Let’s all hope ACGC and Panorama hit those numbers this season as well.

Reach out with comments, complaints or story ideas to cyote@dmcityview.com.

By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

ACGC football keeps racking up the points

The ACGC football team has been rolling so far this season, just as they did the last three. There was some preseason worry that the ACGC offense may suffer without star QB Jathan South under center. But, under Coach Matthewson (recently named Best Guthrie County Coach), the Chargers have once again found a way to consistently get into the endzone.

This season is not just one guy finding the end zone either (not to detract from Mike Fuller’s 14 TDs a season ago). Through three games, the ACGC offense has spread the wealth, and there is plenty to go around.

So far this season, ACGC has scored 40 points once and 54 points twice. In those three games, nine Chargers have scored touchdowns. Joe Crawford is the leader of the rushing attack from ACGC with 365 yards and six TDs. Besides Crawford, four other Chargers have more than one TD: Angel Martinez, Andrew Baumert, Brexton Scheider and Thomas Skram (two rushing, one passing). Ryder Cline, Lane Stringer and Jack Sheeder all have one score each. Oh, and don’t forget Kinnick Froehlich, who scored on a pick six, turning defense into offense. If ACGC is able to keep this production up, it will be scary for the rest of class A.

Oswald breaks records

Coon Rapids-Bayard football player Caden Oswald produced a truly dominant performance against Exira-EHK last Friday. While 8 player football lends itself to wild scorelines, sometimes you just have to tip your cap at a performance. Oswald, a junior, carried the ball 21 times for 391 yards and eight TDs in the 64-62 win for his side. The 391 yards and eight TDs are both school records. 

Handling a loss

The Panorama community has been dealing with the heartbreaking loss of student Savannah Matthias. The response from the community has been nothing short of incredible with photos of teachers wearing pink in remembrance, and the football team encouraging fans to join its players in wearing pink against West Central Valley tonight, Sept. 19.

It’s tragic that any school district, friends or family members would have to endure something as sad as a life lost too soon. It’s something that struck my own former high school during my years there, and after. If you are struggling with the loss, I encourage you to reach out to counselors, mental health professionals or loved ones during this time.

A Celebration of Life service will be held Saturday, Sept. 20 at noon at Springbrook State Park in Guthrie Center. It will take place at the pavilion on top of the hill.

By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

Best of Guthrie County

The Best of Guthrie County event was held on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at the Guthrie County Events Center to great success. As someone who has now attended two Best of Des Moines events, I can already see the similarities building. There are of course, differences, too. The hometown feel of the event was clear, and the hugs, handshakes and celebrations shared throughout the night showed me that this should be a well-attended and enjoyed event for years to come.

If you saw a man walking around in a white button up with a camera that was so heavy, for seemingly no reason, straining his neck, attempting to take candid photos, you saw me. One person was not too shy to say hello, and that was Chris Arganbright. She complimented my column, and I chose not to correct her on how to pronounce my name. It was great. Plenty of people call me coyote these days — several of my friends have called me that for years. It’s starting to make me think I should have gone by that since the beginning. It’s certainly a lot cooler than “Cody.”

I also chatted with Betty Cooper and Mark Reno, the wonderful photographers who capture ACGC and Panorama sports. I already had a great appreciation for how quality their work is, and after taking photos for several hours for the first time in a long time, I have yet another lens to view their incredible work through. I’ll need some tips from the both of them for next time, as a few of my photos turned out blurry.

A final congrats to all the winners and runners-up at the 2025 Best of Guthrie County event, and good luck to all next year.

Pablo Torre

The name above belongs to who I believe is single handedly bringing back the essence of what sports journalism can and should be. On his podcast/show, “Pablo Torre Finds Out (PTFO),” Torre has been breaking news and grabbing scoops over the past few months. If you are a fan of investigative journalism, his show is worth a watch or a listen.

Torre has often leaned toward the sillier side of investigation including Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game (and that he intentionally missed free throws to win fans free chicken), the “Holy Grails” of NFL secrets, and Bill Belichicks ongoing saga with his 24-year-old girlfriend and how it might be affecting his coaching at the University of North Carolina. The latter prompted a response from one of sports medias biggest voices, and massive Boston sports fan, Bill Simmons.

“I’ve never seen anybody dine on a stupider story for a week and a half while pretending you’re a journalist,” Simmons said on one of his podcasts.

Torre would go on Simmons’ podcast to hash out their differences. Neither were too bothered, and it was an enjoyable listen. That was in early June. Since then, Torre has been on one of the greatest hot-streaks by any journalist, period. He discovered an NBA twitter fan account that was deeply entrenched in one of the league’s ongoing betting scandals. He nearly took down the entire hierarchy of the NFL players’ union and potentially exposed several owners of colluding to secure owner-friendly contracts with their players. Just last week, Torre broke a story about how the Clippers allegedly circumvented the salary cap by helping land star player Kawhi Leonard a $28 million deal with Aspiration, a sustainability-focused financial technology company.

For a guy who won a Peabody award for his journalism last year and has been serving more scoops this summer than the Casey Creamery, I would say Torre is doing a great job pretending to be a journalist.

Reach out with comments, complaints and story ideas to cyote@dmcityview.com.

By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

IAsportz features ACGC vs. Panorama game

If you are not familiar with IAsportz media, and you are interested in high school athletics in the state of Iowa, I recommend you check it out. IAsportz is an independent media group that covers the major sports across Iowa with IAwrestle, IAfootball and IAbasketball. The organization does a great job getting video highlights of these sports across the state.

Last week, the IAfootball crew recorded the ACGC vs. Panorama football game. They posted the highlights HERE. If you have got 10 minutes to spare and were unable to catch the game, these are a fun watch. If you were there and wanted to rewatch some of the best moments, they are also worth a watch. The crew also captured Valley vs. Dowling in what is normally one of 5A’s biggest matchups of the season.

Cy-Hawk

The annual Cy-Hawk game is Saturday in Ames. No. 16 Iowa State and Iowa have drawn plenty of attention to this weekend’s matchup with Barstool Sports College Football Show coming to cover the game, as well as the national program, Big Noon Kickoff. Back in 2021, College GameDay came to Ames to cover the state’s biggest college football rivalry. This year’s game is pointing to be one of the most crucial in recent memory.

The longstanding balance between these two programs feels as though it has been flipped on its head in recent years — culturally, at least. Sadly, for me, the Hawkeyes have dominated this rivalry. Despite the fact that Matt Campbell has turned the Cyclones into one of the most consistent teams in the Big 12, he has only beaten Iowa twice. Some ISU fans argue that beating Iowa is not important. Even so, Iowa is normally, if not always, ISU’s toughest non-conference opponent and biggest rival. Beating Iowa absolutely matters. Campbell is 2-6 against the Hawkeyes, and has yet to beat them in Ames.

The good news for Campbell is that those two wins have come in the last three years. This season is as good as any to firmly plant the Cyclones as the best college football team in the state. The Cyclones are off to a good start with a tough win overseas against one of the Big 12’s best, followed by a dismantling of one the nation’s best FCS teams in South Dakota. While Iowa did win its game against Albany, 34-7, major questions remain about its offense. The newest solution at QB, Mark Gronowski, who is allegedly making seven figures in NIL money, managed to put up only 44 passing yards against an FCS school.

If Campbell is able to make a statement win with the majority of the college football world’s attention focused directly on his program, he will get one of the few remaining monkeys off his back. Then, there is no telling how high this Cyclone team can fly.

Reach out with comments, complaints or story ideas to cyote@dmcityview.com.

By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

Farmageddon chatter

No. 22 Iowa State and No. 17 Kansas State did battle on the gridiron in Ireland over the weekend with the Cyclones coming out on top, 24-21, in the Aer Lingus Classic in Dublin. For those of you who did not watch the game, there were multiple lead changes, fumbles galore and an incredible finish, cementing another classic in the ISU vs. KSU rivalry that has become known as Farmageddon.

These two teams have the longest continuous NCAA college football rivalry in the country with the two teams having played each other every year since 1917. This, however, is soon to change. With the Big 12 expansion, only four rivalries in the conference were protected: Kansas vs. Kansas State, TCU vs. Baylor, Arizona vs. Arizona State, and Utah vs. BYU. Four of these teams weren’t even in the Big 12 a few short years ago. Their rivalries are now protected, but one of the most notable in the sport is not. ISU and KSU will play again in 2026, but with how the current schedule is formatted, it will end by 2027.

Rumors flared over the weekend after Rece Davis, ESPN sports journalist and commentator, said on the ESPN College Gameday podcast that “the powers that be” are not big fans of the rivalry name. Who are these powers? According to several sources, the Big 12 and Kansas State denied the rumor. ISU football’s YouTube channel used the word in its recap video, but I was unable to find any direct denial from the Cyclones.

Rumors aside, this rivalry should continue to be played. I understand the difficulty in a 16-team league, but when you have the longest running rivalry in the country, don’t throw it away for Arizona vs. Arizona State. Not only that, but these games have been incredible to watch the past few seasons. The last four games were all decided by one score, including the 42-35 snow-covered thriller last year in Manhattan.

Gambling ads

On Aug. 1, I wrote about how the gambling industry has infiltrated sports to an annoying degree. My hunch, and the other sources I read for the column, were recently confirmed by a YahooSports.com article.

A study from the University of Bristol showed that a gambling ad was visible every 13 seconds during this year’s Stanley Cup Finals.

“Analyzing TV broadcasts of June’s Stanley Cup finals between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers, researchers at the University of Bristol found an average of 3.5 marketing messages from betting firms every minute, with 4.7 gambling-related messages per minute in the most saturated game.”

The scholars, who shared their work in The Guardian, also looked at the recent NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder, finding a far lower share of gambling ads, with .26 betting-related messages and logos per minute.”

Micah Parsons to the Packers

This news broke quite literally while I was writing this column. A close friend of mine texted me “Enjoy Parsons wowwww.” Yes, with that many Ws. The trade could certainly earn my beloved Green Bay Packers some extra Ws as well. While, yes, I add this bit at the end of this column selfishly, the contract in which now former Dallas Cowboys star edge rusher, Micah Parsons, signed to seal the deal is historic.

Parsons’ deal is four years, $188 million dollars. That comes out to $47 million per year. It will have $136 million in total guarantees, $120 million fully guaranteed, and $62 million in year one. Each of the guarantees are NFL records. The Packers sent the Cowboys two first-round picks and Kenny Clark. That’s not much for one of the best defensive players in the entire sport. What makes this trade even more fun? The Packers travel to Jerry World in Dallas on week four this season. Get ready for fireworks. Go, Pack, Go!

Reach out with comments, complaints, or story ideas to cyote@dmcityview.com.

By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

While I hate to admit that the autumn season will be soon be upon us and summer is about to end, I am excited that fall sports will start soon.

Yes, football, volleyball, and cross country are upon us. Football is an incredible game for many reasons and is one of the most popular sports in the country. A kick-return touchdown. A deep ball with the laces spinning under spotlight. A running back breaking through the line with nothing but green grass in front of him. I love it.

Volleyball does not get the credit it deserves for how entertaining it truly is. I attended several Iowa State University volleyball games over the years and thoroughly enjoyed each experience. It is nearly nonstop action from start to finish with dives, leaps, inch-perfect saves and blocks. One of the stats are called kills, for crying out loud.

Cross country, while maybe not as entertaining as the others, requires feats of endurance and stamina few can match, and that’s saying something.

Those are all plenty of reasons to get excited, but our local high school programs have reasons to be enthusiastic, too. I interviewed each of the head coaches of Panorama and ACGC’s football, volleyball and cross country teams for our Fall Sports Guide, due to publish soon. Listening back to their interviews and putting together the articles has me ready for every kickoff, serve and start.

For Panorama, Head Coach Charlie Lake enters his second year in charge of the football program. While last year was likely not the start he envisioned record-wise, he has plenty of talented players returning and has received plenty of support from his upperclassmen to ensure the younger players buy in.

Mollie Lint has improved her record as Panorama volleyball’s coach each year. Panorama was one victory away from a winning record last season. While Lint lost a great deal of fire power and defense from last season, she has been showing the ability to improve her team’s success for three seasons now. Will she be able to do so again this year with a young squad? Time will tell.

Greg Thompson has cultivated two excellent cross country programs across boys and girls. Running might not be your thing, but it sure is Thompson’s. The girls squad placed ninth at the state meet a year ago and returns six out of its seven runners. The boys were spearheaded by All-State talent Noah Poldberg but saw improvement from new athletes, too. Several athletes return, along with a few new faces, for Thompson for 2025.

At ACGC, Head Football Coach Cody Matthewson has been building a powerhouse program. It would take an entire column to list the number of All-District, All-Conference and All-State players he has developed since being in charge. While the Chargers have not been able to make it to the UNI Dome quite yet, with Matthewson at the helm, the sky is the limit for the black and gold.

Caley Vaughan takes over as the head coach of ACGC’s volleyball team. She has been an assistant and is now replacing Barb South, who saw success at the program. Vaughan tells me she still speaks regularly with South — a good mentor to have. ACGC has won 20-plus games in three of the last four seasons, and, like the football team, has narrowly missed out on chances at state. Could Vaughan get them over the hump? I’m excited to find out.

Rick Blake is going into his second season as the head coach of ACGC’s cross country teams. If year one was any indication of how good they can be under his leadership, the rest of the state better watch out. The boys won the state qualifying meet last year but lost several runners heading into this season. It will be intriguing to see if he and the Charger boys can replicate that success. For the girls, they won several meets last season as well, including the state qualifier, and performed solidly at state. They, too, lost a great group of runners. Whether or not they will be able to replicate that success is in the air, but, from what Blake tells me, he and his team are ready for the challenge.

All in all, each of these programs give sports fans plenty of reason to make it to games and meets this season to support the players and schools. I am excited to see how they all pan out.

Reach out with comments, complaints or story ideas to cyote@dmcityview.com.