It’s a battle of the birds with a district championship game berth on the line tonight at historic Hillcrest Union when the Keota Eagles travel to Kalona to meet the home Ravens in a playoff game you can hear on KCII.

Hillcrest Academy collected their 20th win on the season Monday night in an opening round victory over Central City 64-48. Mason Bender led the way with 21 points and seven boards. This season, the Ravens score 65 per game and give up 42, shooting 51% from the field, 34% from three and 61% at the line, with 27 rebounds, 18 assists, 11 steals, one block and 10 turnovers per game. Individually, a trio of Ravens score over 10 points a night, including Seth Ours at 15 per contest, 12 for Bryce Bailey and 16 for Bender.

The Keota Eagle boys picked up a first round substate victory Monday in a thrashing of Lone Tree 86-48. Billie Kindred finished as the leader with 29 points and 18 rebounds for a double-double that got him over the 1,000 career points mark. This year, Keota scores 70 per game and gives up 49, shooting 45% from the floor, 33% from three and 58% at the charity stripe, with 40 boards, 19 assists, 11 steals, three blocks and 11 turnovers per game. Kindred tops the charts in the SICL East with 25 points, and is top five in the state with over 14 boards per game.

Hillcrest Head Coach Dwight Gingerich spoke with KCII Sports earlier this week to give his thoughts on the second matchup of the season with the Eagles. “It’s going to be an incredible game,” Gingerich said. “Two teams that have had really strong seasons. We’re grateful to have the opportunity to be in this game, and we hope we play well.”

Keota Head Coach Dan Stout joined KCII Sports live on the postgame show following their playoff opening victory against Lone Tree Monday to recap his thoughts from the matchup with the Lions and give a glimpse into preparations for Hillcrest. “Just overall happy with the way everybody played, and we’ll come back Tuesday for practice to ramp things up and get ready to go [Thursday],” Stout said.

In the Varsity Bound era, Keota leads the series with Hillcrest 2-1 dating back two years ago. The Ravens won the most recent matchup in January 68-52.

You can hear all of the substate playoff action live tonight between Hillcrest Academy and Keota on FM 106.1, the KCII1 App and KCIIRadio.com beginning with pregame coverage at 6:30, and tipoff between the Ravens and Eagles at 7 from Dwight Gingerich Court at historic Hillcrest Union.