Substate Brackets

In high school soccer it has finally reached that amazing point during the season, when there are very few games remaining in the regular season, and everyone has their sights set on the playoffs and what lies ahead. Every team wants to win their sub state and get a chance at the coveted state championship, but only the top 8 teams in the state will advance and get the opportunity in Des Moines. How the pairings work, is during the season you get ranked every week based on how you did the previous week, and at the end of the first 6 weeks the teams are looked at and evaluated based on their ranking, and given a spot in sub state. The two most important spots are the one and two seeds. If you're a one seed you have the best chances, because you won't get paired up with any other one seeds. This year Kennedy got a two seed, but boy did we luck out with our draw. I'll break down how Kennedy shaped up in their sub state pairing as well as some other key match ups.

So the draw that Kennedy received this year is a great one in my opinion. We have a first round bye, and then we play the winner of Waterloo West vs. Waterloo East, which will most likely be Waterloo West, considering the fact that East hasn't won a game all season. On the other side of the substate, Cedar Rapids Washington has a first round bye and they play the winner of Cedar Falls vs. Mason City, which will most likely be Cedar Falls, considering Mason City hasn't won a game all year as well.  If the best teams make it to the final, then Cedar Rapids Kennedy will play Cedar Rapids Washington in the substate final, with each team looking to get back to the state tournament. It will be a rematch of a game earlier this season in which Washington walked away with a 1-0 victory, over a Kennedy team that dominated the entire game. As a Kennedy player, I know how well we did against Washington, and we beat Waterloo West earlier in the season 5-0, so I think that we should feel extremely confident about our chances going into substate.

This year the goal is to win state. In order to do so, we need to make state in the first place. I feel extremely confident with the spot we're in, and I can't wait to get back to Des Moines, and make some history in the process!