Area athletes head of their class
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With the regular season winding down, several area football players find themselves listed among the elite in several areas.
In Class 4A, Fort Dodge's Connor Carver and Javion Jondle, along with Webster City's Jaxon Cherry, are in the Top-5 in several categories, while St. Edmond's Johnny Dickerson is doing the same in eight-player.
Carver, Jondle and the Dodgers head to Denison-Schleswig with two games remaining. Carver, a senior who has committed to Bemidji State, is third in 4A in passing touchdowns with 18 and sixth in passing yards with 1,428.
Jondle, an Iowa Central commit, leads 4A in receptions (50), is tied for second in touchdowns (eight) and fourth in receiving yards (619).
On the rushing side, Cherry paces 4A with 165 carries for 1,347 yards and 20 touchdowns. Those numbers also place him ninth in rushing touchdowns and 11th in carries and yards among all running backs in the state.
Carver sits tied for third with 23 touchdowns and Cherry is sixth with 21. Cherry leads all of 4A with 1,594 all-purpose yards and Jondle is 11th with 940.
Fort Dodge's Kaleb Lynch and Tucker Pederson are tied for 15th in 4A in tackles with 47 each, with Cherry right behind with 45. Lynch is second with 19 tackles for loss and Cherry is tied for ninth with four sacks.
In eight-player, St. Edmond junior JT Laufersweiler is tied for 20th with 24 offensive touchdowns and Dickerson is 27th with 1,012 all-purpose yards.
Laufersweiler sits 12th with 76 completions, ninth with 1,258 yards
Laufersweiler sits ninth with 1,258 yards and 12th with 76 completions, while Dickerson is the eight-player leader with 50 receptions. The St. Edmond senior is fourth with 747 yards.
Alex Manske, a sophomore for Algona, ranks first in 3A with 18.6 yards per completion, first with a 143.3 quarterback rating, third in with 1,415 yards, fourth with 1,765 offensive yards and fifth with 12 passing touchdowns.
Humboldt, tied for the No. 1 spot in 3A with Harlan, has Lance Coon ranked third in rushing yards (901), fourth with 12 rushing TDs and fifth with 136 attempts.
Defense and special teams have also played a big role in the perfect season to date for the Wildcats. Trever Beach leads 3A with five interceptions and is tied for first with six field goals, which places him tied for fourth in the state.
Corey Dettmann tops all 3A players with 251 punt return yards and is first with an average of 20.9 per return. His return yardage ranks second in the entire state and his average is good for third.
Southeast Valley's Justin Loseke is second in 2A with 56 solo tackles, Pocahontas Area's Jacob Gerdes is tied for fourth with four interceptions and Mason Allen of Clarion-Goldfield/Dows is fifth with 5.5 sacks.
Eagle Grove's Cayden Schultz and Emmetsburg's Joshua Van Heuvelen are tied for the 1A lead with six interceptions. Schultz is also tied for first with two of those returned for scores and leads with 127 return yards, which is also good for fourth in the state.
Keegan Soard from South Central Calhoun is first with 24.1 yards per reception and second with eight receiving touchdowns and 626 receiving yards, while teammate Gavin Batta is fourth in passing yards with 1,140.
Brock Nattress of SCC has the longest fumble return for a TD in the state this year at 91 yards.
Emmetsburg's Cade Shirk is fourth in all-purpose yards with 1,143 and East Sac County's Karter Ludwig is fourth with 65 tackles.