Heart of America Tightening Up for 2023
Heart of America Tightening Up for 2023
Coming off back to back seasons of putting teams in the ACR 15s final, the Heart of America has seen some turnover that has lead to a wide open competition so far.
In the South, Kansas and Mizzou are currently tied at the top of the table through two matches. ACR finalists in 2022 Kansas, now led by Seth Akpovona, who took over for club legend Andy Stewart, and captain Trevor Lister, back from a semester in New Zealand, tested themselves early with matches against Oklahoma, Northern Iowa, and Colorado State. They went 2-0-1 in those warmups and followed that with defeats of Kansas State and Oklahoma to start 2-0 with bonus points in both games.
Mizzou, led by longtime coach Don Corwin, is building off a strong spring which saw them perform well in 7s. The Tigers beat Oklahoma State and this last weekend took down Arkansas, a team that had made the conference semis the past two seasons, by the score of 69-17.
Kansas State, led by second-season coach Ryley Menhuesen and scrumhalf Quinn Tilley opened the season by blanking Arkansas 34-0 and then traveled to Lawrence to take on the Jayhawks. The Wildcats eventually fell 12-34 against the Jayhawks but a boom of athletes has the needle moving in the right direction for the Wildcats as they look to move into a semifinal spot when they take on Mizzou this weekend.
Arkansas and Oklahoma State will look to play spoiler as both teams work to rebuild their rosters after graduations have made their rosters very young.
In the North, Iowa State, led by coach Anthony Frein in his 7th season, is on top of the North Standings. After graduating 11 of 15 starters from last season decided to test themselves against Iowa Central and Southern Nazarene but also played Wisconsin with their reserves and 2nd side before starting conference play. This allowed the Cyclones to rapidly integrate new pieces around captains Alex Geisert and Drew Guinn, but they need to continue to rebuild the depth needed to compete.
The Cyclones beat Iowa 50-3 in their conference opener and Nebraska 64-12 to get the 2-0 with bonus points in both. The Cyclones again will test their depth traveling to Wayne State for another 2nd side match against a quality opponent.
Iowa is led by coach Tyler Dailey, who is in his 6th season with the Hawkeyes. He is supported by captains Tanner Tewes and Connor Hutchinson and the team is building off a promising spring where the Hawkeyes focused on 15s, not 7s, and built some depth.
The Hawkeyes dropped their opener to Iowa State but then rebounded in a big way by taking down Minnesota, a team that has appeared the past two conference championship games, on the road 40-16. The Hawkeyes sit alone in second at 1-1 with a key match looming this weekend with Nebraska.
Nebraska is coming off back to back strong 7s performances capped off by an ACR runner-up finish in the spring of 2023. Zak Courtney takes over for longtime coach and 7s coaching legend, Niko Waqalaivi. With Lucas Fleming captaining, the Huskers have worked to build off their 7s success. Injuries hampered them in this fall bit they did tie Minnesota before dropping a result to ISU.
There's a big clash this weekend with Nebraska taking on Iowa.
Minnesota, now under coach Paul O’Brien, who takes over for Sean Lindersmith, and captain Seth Symond, also was hit hard by graduations. Since joining the Heart of America the Golden Gophers had only lost to Kansas and Iowa State, appearing in back-to-back conference finals.
Opening the season with a tie against Nebraska and a loss to Iowa, the Gophers still control their own destiny at 0-1-1, but a matchup against Iowa State is looming.
Last season the Heart of America waited until spring to crown its champion, but that's not the case this year. the playoffs will conclude in November. The top two teams from each division will meet on November 11 Lawrence, Kan. and the final will be the following day.
