Spencer, Ia (KICD) – We are through 5 weeks of the football season, so let’s give a roundup of the first half in our 9-County Area. This is Steven’s Take.

The Best Team: Take your pick between Spirit Lake and Emmetsburg

Like my power rankings, this isn’t always a “who would win head-to-head” thing. This is a who has been the most impressive within their means and within their schedule. Both of these teams have looked very impressive in the first few weeks. They are pretty comparable to as far as a schedule structure goes. They each played the best team on their schedule in week one. Spirit Lake lost to now #1 in 3A Algona in a 42-40 thriller, and Emmetsburg won a 20-19 struggle against Central Lyon/George-Little Rock. They each cruised through the rest of their non-district where each saw a team that will contend for a playoff spot, and a team that will finish toward last in their respective District. Each have dominated their district opponents early, and the rest of both team’s schedules don’t appear to provide a challenge. They are very different teams on similar trajectories. I would say the most impressive offense has been Spirit Lake despite the E-Hawk rushing attack being so dominant. Spirit Lake can just beat you in so many ways offensively. Emmetsburg’s defense has been the best between the two and i am very comfortable in saying so. Both of these teams can compete for a State Title this year.

The Best Offensive Player: Kasey Hough – GTRA

There may be some good stats around our area, but I’d like to pick someone on a good team, and I don’t even think stat-sheet-stuffers on less-than teams can compare to what Kasey Hough has been doing so far this year for the Titans. The Senior has 22 Total Touchdowns to go along with 1,219 yards of total offense. Against their toughest opponent to this point in the season last week in St. Edmond, Hough had 332 yards passing and 129 yards rushing with 6 total Touchdowns. The Titans are undefeated with a week 8 matchup with defending State Champs Bishop Garrigan looming.

The Best Defensive Player: Gavin Stanton – Sibley-Ocheyedan

Picking a defensive player is difficult because stats don’t tell the whole story on that side of the ball, and the stats that Bound provides certainly don’t. But Gavin Stanton does leap off the page. Stanton leads all tackling categories for the Generals, including 6.5 sacks on 9.5 tackles for loss. The Linebacker has added an interception to his line as well. That interception came in the biggest win of the season to this point for the Generals when they beat Akron-Westfield 35-33. Stanton also had 5 tackles and a sack in the win.

The Biggest Surprise: Sioux Central competing for 1A-2 Second Place

I wanted to make this a positive version of biggest surprise, because there were probably more options to choose from of teams that have been surprisingly not good in the 9-County Area. Sioux Central is a fun team to follow. Their losses are to the best teams on their schedule in Cherokee and Emmetsburg who i see as very good teams, and Sioux Central hung around with the Braves a little bit. The wins have simply been taking care of business at this point. The 2nd spot in this district, which I think most thought was Manson-Northwest Webster’s with Emmetsburg likely running away with the title, could very well end up being Sioux Central’s. That creates a massive matchup this week in Manson when the Rebels hit the road to play the Cougars.

Sleeper Team to Watch in the Second Half: Spencer

The Tigers flew well-under the radar with a 2-2 non-district result. That non-district included 3 teams that will compete for playoff spots, two of which are top 10 teams in their respective classes, and one of which is #1 in theirs. But watch out, because it looks like Spencer has found their rhythm, and have already played their best opponents on the schedule. The past two weeks have been fantastic for the Tigers, beating Sioux Center 41-6, and their best game yet, 35-10 win on the road against the preseason favorite in 4A-1 LeMars. Even in losses this season, Spencer looks way more confident in their offense than they were a year ago. A matchup with Fort Dodge certainly looms in week 9, mostly because the Dodgers have looked very good against a suspect schedule, but it could be a de facto District Championship game to wrap up the regular season.

The postseason picture is beginning to take shape, and it will be a fun last 3 weeks for the small classes, and 4 weeks for the big schools. This has been Steven’s Take.