Activities Department Update

I am a proponent of not reinventing the wheel. I like to study and follow what the greats do—because if they’re great, it must work, right? I remember shooting hoops in the driveway, trying the same moves as Kobe Bryant, or running routes with the same tenacity as an Iowa Hawkeye wide receiver. Now, as a coach and athletic director, I try to instill the same values and mentality as the great coaches before me.

One of the greatest of all time, Nick Saban, was well known for his high expectations and high standards for both athletes and coaches. His results speak for themselves: 26 of his assistant coaches went on to become NCAA or NFL head coaches, and 49 of his players were drafted in the first round, with 165 total making it to the NFL. He was relentless in his pursuit of excellence and often spoke about the “5 enemies of greatness.”

1. Entitlement: Many believe they deserve success because they’ve worked hard, or they want to win badly. Some athletes think they deserve a spot on the team because of age, status, or experience. But success isn’t loyal. It can be with you one night and gone the next, given to the team that was more talented, gave greater effort, or executed better. Greatness belongs only to those who earn it—day in and day out. “Nothing is acceptable but your best.” "You are entitled to nothing."

2. Lack of Discipline: Discipline means doing what needs to be done, every time, no matter what. Talent without discipline is wasted potential. Mental lapses, lack of effort, or inconsistent energy and execution eventually add up to failure. “If you don’t respect it enough to do it right, when it’s the right way to do it, how can you be trusted in a game?”

3. Circumstances over Vision: Average athletes let circumstances dictate their effort and attitude. Whether it’s a weak opponent or the toughest on your schedule, rain or shine, sore or healthy—you still give your best. Great people stick to their vision and their goals, which keeps them disciplined to bring their best every time. Standards and expectations should never change based on the situation.

4. Self-Pity: This is the fastest way to fail. You feel sorry for yourself, and your self-confidence goes down, your energy is eliminated, your desire and commitment falter. Self-Pity replaces resiliency and responsibility. No Excuses, just results.

5. Complacency: The moment you think you’ve “made it” and start to relax, failure begins to creep in. Complacency has ruined countless potential champions. Greatness requires a relentless drive, the humility to know you can always be beaten, and the understanding that it’s not about doing “just enough.” It’s about giving your absolute best—chasing perfection even though you’ll never fully achieve it, because in the process, you’ll land on greatness.

Go be great at everything you do.

On the 19th, our varsity football team traveled up to West Liberty to face the Comets. The Hawks started out as great as you can get, an 80 yard touchdown run by Brett Cook. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there on to the rest of the game. The Comets would hold our Hawks scoreless the rest of the game and would rack up six touchdowns and a field goal to close the game at 6-45.

On Senior Night, the 26th, our boys went up against the Falcons of West Burlington. The Falcons came into the contest with the leading rusher in the state in 2A. Both teams fought a physical battle on the gridiron, but it was the Falcons that came out on top, winning 15-27. The Hawks defense held the leading rusher, Nanthan to his lowest game totals in yards and touchdowns. Peter Seyb and Will Hayes led the team with 8.5 tackles each, and Carson Morrison held the edge with 7.5 tackles. The Hawk offense ran for over 200 yards, led by fullback Peter Seyb with 131 yards, and Brett Cook rushing for a touchdown and passing a dart to Ward Fraise for the other touchdown.

Brett Cook leads the team with 5 touchdowns and 400 yards total offense. Peter Seyb is next with 331 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns, and Ward Fraise has 182 yards with 2 touchdowns. Jack Benner and Cam Thornburg currently lead the team with 12 and 16 pancake blocks respectfully. Cook leads the team in tackles and interceptions at 41 and 3, Seyb has 40.5, and Will Hayes holds the edge with 28 tackles, four of which are for a loss. Hayes also leads the district in sacks with 3.5. The 3 junior defensive backs lead the conference with the most pass breakups (Carson Morrison, Carver Hayes, and Brett Cook).

Homecoming against #4 ranked Mid-Prairie started out great for our Hawks. The boys held the powerful Golden Hawk offense to just 7 points in the first quarter, and marched down the field 75 yards on our own opening drive before stalling after a fumble on the five yard line. After that, the Hawks could not hang with the #4 squad in 2A, losing 0-56. Peter Seyb led offensively with 79 yards, and Brett Cook with 8 tackles defensively.

Our boys exit Homecoming week 2-4, 0-3 in district play. They will finish the season with the Wilton Beavers and Mediapolis Bulldogs.

Our volleyball team is 10-11 on the season, 2-3 in conference play. The latest victory was last night (10/2) as they won a close one against West Burlington in a five set victory. Taylor Jones led the attack with 16 kills, and Jayden Mueller held defensively with 32 digs. The last home game, our girls lost a frustrating battle with Van Buren County, losing 1-3 against our rivals. At the Holy Trinity Classic tournament, the team went 1-2 with a victory over Columbus, but losses to Wapello and Mediapolis.

For multiple years in a row, our team made it to the conference tournament finals after going 2-1 in pool play. The Hawks beat Columbus and Highland and lost to Notre Dame to close out pool play. In the finals, our girls fell short against the Holy Trinity Catholic Crusaders, who would eventually go on to win the conference tournament.

Kenna Sandoval leads the team with 429 assists, many of those coming from the two kill leaders, Taylor Jones (154) and Brylee Cook (109). Jones and Sandoval lead the team in blocks with 35 and 27 respectfully, followed by Chloee Haigh with 26. Jayden Mueller leads not only the team, but the entire state, with 429 digs. Brylee Cook has served up 31 aces on the season, followed by Macie Doty with 16, both with a 92% efficiency rating.

Jayden Mueller leads all classes in the state with 429 digs on the season, inching closer to extending her own school record of digs in a season, and her other school record of digs in a career. Jayden achieved another magnificent milestone, reaching 1,500 digs in her career. She hopes to reach 2,000 with the few games we have remaining in the season. Kenna Sandoval has overcome a milestone as well, now over 1,000 career assists, inching closer to 1,500 towards the end of the season.

As a Homecoming tradition, the Cross Country team ran over 32 miles across our school district map to deliver the game ball Friday night. In the past couple of meets, the mid-season grind has been a factor, but our running men and women still provide the best effort.

At the latest meet at Winfield-Mount Union, our boys placed fourth place and our girls second. Austin Fogarty placed in the top 10 with a 19:19 finish. Caden Crozier, Caedon Newton, and Orion St. Clair placed in the top 15 as well. On the girls' side, Aubree Bunnell and Macy Anderson placed 4th and 5th place, both finishing with a sub 24 minute time.

The team is looking strong heading into the conference meet and the quickly approaching state qualifying meet.

Our marching Hawks competed at Mount Pleasant and achieved a clean sweep of awards. The Marching Hawks played well during the Homecoming parade, also walking quicker than I passed out buttons, kudos. They also completed the home football game season with I would argue their best performance. They will continue to competing into the fall months.

This is the second year our E-sports program is up and running, led by Noah Altenhofen. There are two teams for the fall season, one for Super Smash Bros and the other for Rainbow Six Siege.

The Super Smash Bros team is 1-1, with Tyler Sparrow going 2-1 individually, with Deacon Wiggins going 4-2 and Trevin Ball 0-4 as well. Our Rainbow Six Siege team is 0-3 as they continue to improve on their strategy. It has been fun watching this group compete.

Schedules can be found on our Bound website.

Football- 2A

State Site: https: IHSAA Football

MS Football @ Pekin- Oct 6- 4:30pm

JV/Var Football @ Wilton- Oct 10- 5:00pm

MS Football @ Highland- Oct 13- 4:30pm

JV/Var Football @ Mediapolis- Oct 17- 5:00pm

Volleyball- 3A

State Site: IGHSAU Volleyball

MS Volleyball vs Mediapolis- Oct 6- 4:30pm

FR/JV/Var Volleyball @ Danville- Oct 7- 5:30pm

FR/JV/Var Volleyball vs Holy Trinity (Senior Night)- Oct 9- 5:30pm

Varsity Volleyball Tournament @ Davis County- Oct 11- 9:00am

Cross Country- 2A

State Sites: IHSAA CC and IGHSAU CC

Cross Country @ Mediapolis- 4:30pm

SIESC Conference Meet @ Hillcrest Academy- 5:10pm

Marching Band

Band @ Clark County- Oct 11

State Competition- Oct 18

E-Sports

Smash Bros- Oct 8- 4:00pm

Rainbow Six vs Dike- New Hartford- Oct 9- 4:00pm

Smash Bros- Oct 15- 4:00pm

Rainbow Six vs Crestwood- Oct 16- 4:00pm

Fall Sports Banquet Moved

Due to FFA students leaving for National Convention, we had to move the Fall Sports Banquet to November 3rd, 6:00-7:30pm. This will be recognizing our wonderful athletes, and will not include a potluck.

Home Football Games Ended

As we leave Homecoming week in the previous chapter, I want to thank every one of our helpers, workers, directors, coaches, sports boosters and administrators for successfully hosting four football games. Any sports event, nonetheless a major football game, take planning and coordination to make sure things are perfect as can be, and our team did a fantastic job doing so.

Athletic Passes are Available

If you are interested in saving time with a one time payment to get into Central Lee home athletic events (excluding post-season competitions) for the 2025-26 athletic year, contact Tyler Bryant or Tina Cale for the options and pricing.

Sports Boosters Baseball/Softball Initiative

We are in the beginning process of the First Phase of this Renovation Initiative. The facility crew is hard at work on the infield of the football field, and we look forward to beginning pole installation for the nets on both fields.

Central Lee Sponsorship Opportunities

Want your business logo to be displayed on the scorers table at all of the 35+ events hosted in our Performance gym? Want your business to have a spot in the new sports events programs? Maybe you want your business to have a logo on the football field? If you or someone you know want a chance to advertise your business at Central Lee, then take a look at the Sponsorship Catalog for this year.

Below are the current coaching vacancies in our district. If you are interested, please contact Tyler Bryant and apply online at TeachIowa. Applicants must have a current Iowa Coaching License/Endorsement. Looking for positive, reliable, and determined individuals for these positions.

Varsity Assistant Football Coach

Head Varsity Girls Soccer Coach

MS Boys Basketball Coach

MS Boys Basketball Coach

Varsity Assistant Boys Basketball Coach

Middle School Baseball Coach

Middle School Baseball Coach

"If everybody doesn't buy into the same principles and values of the organization and the same high standard you're never going to be successful."- Nick Saban