We're entering Week 3 of the Iowa HS season.

Iowa plays 7s in the Boys HS season in the spring. The Girls HS season is in the fall, and also 7s only.

Class 2A

In the competition for the larger-school teams, both Cedar Rapids Washington and defending state champs Waverly Shell Rock have started 4-0. Four teams are right behind them at 3-1—Urbandale, Ankeny, Des Moines Lincoln, and Southeast Polk. Of those, both Ankeny (21-10) and SE Polk (14-12) pushed Waverly. 

This week, among those top six teams, Waverly Shell Rock takes on DM Lincoln and SE Polk plays CR Washington.

CR Washington is led by Rashon Jennings, who leads the league in tries with eight, and Zachary Novak, who has six tries and 13 conversions for 56 points so far. 

"We have certainly come out of the gate hot being able to pour points on," said CR Washington Head Coach Patrick Lausen. "This is our most experienced side we have had in the six years we've been in existence, with multiple four-year players."

Two of them, Romen Young and Tate Sykora-Matthess, have emerged as excellent leaders in terms of their attitude and the effort they put in. 

"Romen is an intense competitor who wears his heart on his sleeve," said Lausen. "Tate is an athletic big body who runs with good pace and is certainly not someone you want to tackle."

We have a piece on Tate's older brother here>>

Novak is a returning player who moved from prop to flyhalf and has embraced his new responsibilities. He is a smooth ball-handler and distributes well, and his conversion rate is high. Jennings is a new player and an accomplished wrestler who has just embraced the game not just as a scorer but as a tackler.

They have really only been tested in a game against Cedar Falls, a game where they trailed at halftime.

But they came back by dominating possession and grinding Cedar Falls down.

"We are more of 15s team playing 7s," said Lausen. "We've been referred to as a team of forwards. So our game plan is simple ball possession and that's how we won the match vs Cedar Falls."

This week's clash with Southeast Polk will be a tough one.

"They pushed Waverly to a close finish last week at Waverly's place.  SEP is coached incredibly well, they are fit, distribute well and are great tacklers," said Lausen. "We know they will test us in the rucks and support will be critical. We need to keep ball in hand versus this side and errors need to be low."

This week's Iowa 2A schedule:

Class 1A

It's been a season of ties! Twice we've seen teams end games deadlocked, and both times Columbus Catholic has been involved. So Bondurant-Farrar leads with a 3-0-1 record, while Columbus Catholic is now 2-0-2. Right behind them is Central Springs at 2-1-1.

Columbus Catholic and Bondurant-Farrar started their season April 1 with a 10-10 tie—this is a replay of the last two 1A state finals, both won by Columbus. Columbus then tied Central Springs on the same day 19-19. Last week Columbus won both of their games by shutouts.

"We had the lead 10-5 as time expired and a little inexperience cost us a late end-of-the-game try to tie it up," said Bondurant-Farrar Head Coach Brad Lewis, who has seen senior Brock Turner and sophomore Hudson Vreogh lead the way in scoring.

In the second week wins over Denver and Central Springs put them at 3-0-1. Scrumhalf Tyson Barkema had 10 tackles on the night and freshman hooker Caden Sykes scored five tries.  Seniors Cameron Meislahn and Mitchell Casky have been the leaders in B-F's greatest strength, tackling.

They make smothering tackles and they rarely miss.

This week's Iowa 1A schedule: