Every Iowa High School football player dreams of playing in the UNI-Dome and Sigourney-Keota is one win away from living that dream when the Cobras match up with Waterloo Columbus tonight in a class 1A state quarterfinal.

The Cobras (9-0) marched their way past Beckman Catholic 35-14 last week to advance to the quarters for the first time in a decade. The total yardage was almost deadlocked at 343-333, but the difference came inside the redzone with S-K capitalizing offensively and forcing three turnovers on the defensive side deep in their own territory. The Cobra defense has not given up more than two scores since week one of the season. Sam Sieren has racked up 1,281 yards rushing in his senior campaign with 21 touchdowns while Cade Molyneux has 566 yards on the ground with eight scores. 

The Sailors are 8-1 and took care of Mediapolis 32-20 in the round of 16. Carter Gallagher has thrown for 1,220 yards and 14 touchdowns while the senior also leads the rushing game with 511 and another nine scores. The defense gives up only 11 points a night led by Dallas Westhoff’s 89 tackles.

The numbers on both sides of the ball are staggering for both teams, but Cobra Head Coach Jared Jensen tells KCII Sports the third phase of the game might be the difference. “This is going to be a special teams game. They had two kickoffs recovered in last week’s win and they returned one for a touchdown. We have really good special teams with our kicking game, return game, and coverage team, but when you look at them they are in the same boat. Special teams is usually a part of the game that we win and we will have to do that against Columbus to come out on top.” Sigourney-Keota is looking for their first trip to the Dome since 2005.

The quarterfinal matchup gets underway at 7 p.m. tonight in Sigourney. Listen to all of the action on AM 1380 FM 102.5 FM 106.1 KCII, kciiradio.com, or the free KCII Mobile App starting at 6:30 p.m. The KCII Football Friday Preview Show to have a complete breakdown of games will start at 5:30 p.m.