Iowa High School Football: Week 0 Features Handful of Games

The calm before the storm arrives this Friday night around the state

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While Week 1 is still days away for the Iowa high school football season, there are official Week 0 games around the state this week.

Six eight-player games appear on the Bound schedule for Friday, August 22 along with several more scrimmages.

Springville takes on Iowa Valley, Boyer Valley plays Newell-Fonda, Griswold meets East Mills, Janesville battles Belle Plaine, Seymour squares off with Stanton and Sidney faces Exira-EHK.

The official Week 1 slate will be looked at more in-depth closer to kickoff on Friday, August 29.

Here are a few interesting things to watch for during Week 0 action of the Iowa high school football schedule:

Iowa Valley vs. Springville

These two programs have not met since 2017, as Iowa Valley posted a 52-14 victory a year after downing Springville, 50-48. 

Iowa Valley has one of the more productive players in the state in junior Nolan Kriegel, as he amassed 58 touchdowns last year. Kriegel threw for over 1,110 yards and 18 scores while rushing for 1,991 and 40 touchdowns on 233 carries. He also caught three passes for 96 yards and two more scores.

Kriegel and the offense - along with the defense - will need to replace Northern Illinois player Caleb Haack, but junior Dane Smith is back after catching seven passes for 208 yards and three scores.

Springville counters with senior running back Mason Hoy, who is coming off an 18-TD, 1,277-yard campaign. They also have Oliver Longerbeam and Braden Jordan back, as both threw for over 250 yards last year, along with leading receivers Jace March and Conlin Rouse.

Boyer Valley vs. Newell-Fonda

Each of the past two seasons, Boyer Valley has got the better of Newell-Fonda, including a 28-22 victory last year. 

The Bulldogs are coming off back-to-back six-win campaigns, but will be replacing quarterback Owen Garside and Justin Heiman, who accounted for much of the offensive production. Brody Korski returns, as he had 252 yards rushing and 166 yards passing with eight combined touchdowns.

Newell-Fonda, meanwhile, has won just six combined games the past two seasons after putting together 13 consecutive winning campaigns, highlighted by five years with 10-plus victories.

The Mustangs will also be featuring some new faces like Trevor Tauber as he has leading receiver Jacksyn Hogrefe to throw to along with Jackson Bellcock and Gunnar Baron in the backfield.