OTTUMWA —
Thanks to a decision made by the Iowa High School Athletic Association the Ottumwa football team finds itself no longer in the CIML Metro Conference this season.
The IHSAA decided to split the 23 Class 4A high school football teams on the western side of the state into four divisions while preserving conference play for the 24 teams on the eastern portion of the state.
Ottumwa is among the teams in the west. The decision abruptly ended the CIML Metro league — a league Ottumwa has been a part of since 1998 — and lumped the Bulldogs into Division 3 with Mason City, Marshalltown, Dowling Catholic and old CIML foe Des Moines Hoover. New school Ankeny Centennial also is part of the division, but it will not start varsity play until 2013.
“I thought we were far better off playing for a conference championship,” former athletic director Dave Clement said. “I was never in favor of going to a division concept.”
From a geographical standpoint, coach Zach Pfantz said it was kind of neat because the boys won’t always have to travel as far to games.
On a more positive note, another decision by the IHSAA allowed Ottumwa to rekindle old rivalries. And the Bulldogs will do exactly that this season. In games two and three of their season, the boys will take on old Southeast 7 rivals Keokuk and Mount Pleasant.
“I think one thing that is really neat about that is that some people in the community had rivalries with these teams when they were in high school,” Pfantz said.
“It’s positive that Ottumwa gets to play some of its traditional rivals,” Clement added.
The decision to include these two squads is based on the IHSAA deciding to scrap the old playoff point system — a system which punished Class 4A teams in western Iowa for playing smaller schools.
Instead, the IHSAA opted for a new system where the top four teams in each division make the playoffs. Before this change, Ottumwa studiously avoided playing Class 3A schools like Keokuk and Mount Pleasant.
Ottumwa’s rivalry with Keokuk stretches back further than the Southeast 7 Conference itself. Both teams were also part of the Little Six Conference before it disbanded in 1969 when Burlington, Bettendorf, Muscatine and Davenport bolted from the league.
After the mass exodus, the Chiefs and Bulldogs were the only squads that remained. The two teams went on to form the Southeast 7 Conference with Mount Pleasant, Fort Madison, Fairfield, Oskaloosa and Washington.
In 1984 Oskaloosa left the league to join the Little Hawkeye Conference and Ottumwa jumped to the CIML Metro league in 1998. Since the Bulldogs’ departure, the league name was shortened to the Southeast Conference.
The Chiefs and Bulldogs have battled it out on the gridiron 64 times since 1907 with Ottumwa getting the better of Keokuk the majority of the time. Since 1907, Ottumwa is 45-16-3 against the Chiefs.
Mount Pleasant is almost as familiar an opponent as Keokuk for the Bulldogs — they have fared only a little better than the Chiefs against Ottumwa. Since 1907, the Bulldogs are 36-17-4 against the Panthers.
Pfantz said he would be interested in restarting rivalries with other teams from the Southeast 7 conference in the future.
Ottumwa 2012 Varsity Football Schedule
Aug. 17 — West Des Moines Valley
Aug. 24 — At Keokuk
Aug. 31 — Mount Pleasant
Sept. 7 — Des Moines East
Sept. 14 — At Indianola
Sept. 21 — At Marshalltown*
Sept 28 — Mason City*
Oct. 5 — At Dowling Catholic*
Oct. 12 — Off
Oct 18 — Des Moines Hoover*
* Denotes Divisional Game
Sports
August 23, 2012
PIGSKIN PREVIEW: New division and old rivals define Ottumwa’s schedule
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