The Johnston Dragons Regional Bracket has the following teams in it: Marshalltown Des Moines North, Sioux City West, and Council Bluffs Lincoln. Johnston will play against the Des Moines North Polar Bears on Saturday, February 17th, at Johnston High School with a scheduled 7:00 p.m. tipoff following their 34-15 win over the Marshalltown Bobcats. The winner of Johnston/Des Moines North will play either Sioux City West or Council Bluffs Lincoln Tuesday night. The highest remaining ranked team in the final IGHSAU rankings will host the regional final.
Johnston IA On Friday, the #1 Dragons girls, ranked 20th in the nation by ESPN, capped a perfect undefeated season with a 73-37 win over #13 Southeast Polk, going 21-0 in regular season play. This is the second time in the last three seasons that Johnston has accomplished this. Here’s a rundown of their undefeated season: The Dragons started their season on November 27th with an 83-42 win over Prairie. Then they made a trip to Waukee Northwest, capturing a 72-56 win.
The Dragons would then have their first home game at Johnston High School, beating the Ankeny Hawks 70-49. The Dragons would then host Dowling Catholic for Grandparent Night, prevailing with a 65-53 win. Next, all sights were set to play a CIML rivalry game against the Urbandale J-Hawks.
The Dragons would crush Urbandale 86-37. The Dragons were back at home to play another CIML matchup against the Ankeny Centennial Jaguars for Timber Ridge PTO Spirit Night, beating the Jaguars 64-37. The Dragons made their first trip to Valley High School to face off against another CIML opponent. The Dragons would secure a 67-50 win over the Valley Tigers.
On December 16th, the Dragons hosted the Winter Tip-Off Classic. They would face off against the second-best team in Minnesota at the time, Hopkins, and they would end up snagging a 71-61 win over Hopkins. Dallas Center Grimes made their way to Johnston High School, being the #1 ranked team in class 4A at the time, looking to continue their undefeated season. The Dragons crushed the Mustangs 85-32 on JYB Rec League Night. Senior Aili Tanke reached a career total of 1,000 points in the win.
The Dragons made a trip to Waukee to play their last game of 2023, beating the Waukee Warriors 72-54. Going into winter break, the Dragons remained undefeated and had a perfect 10-0 record. The Dragons were back at home following winter break to face the Southeast Polk Rams. Johnston cruised past the Rams 74-46. The Indianola Indians were next up in the 21-game regular season schedule as Johnston would crush the Indians 73-35.
The Urbandale J-Hawks were heading to Johnston High School looking for a bounce-back win as they lost to Johnston 86-37. Johnston would end up crushing the J-Hawks 91-32 on Little Dragon JBC Night. All sights were set on the final 8 games as 7 out of the 8 were CIML conference games. Johnston would head to Dowling Catholic High School to face off against the Dowling Catholic Maroons. Johnston would prevail with a 43-31 win over the Maroons.
The Dragons would then travel to Creighton University to play the #1-ranked team. In Nebraska, at Millard West High School, the Dragons would prevail with a 75-51 win. The Dragons returned home to face off against the Valley Tigers on Coaches vs. Cancer Night. The Dragons would cruise past the Tigers 55-22. With five regular-season games remaining, the Undefeated Dragons would head to Ankeny Centennial High School to face off against the Ankeny Centennial Jaguars.
The dragons were tested during this game and prevailed with a 64-59 win over the Jaguars. Waukee Northwest would make a trip to Johnston High School to face the Dragons. The Dragons would cruise past Waukee Northwest 76-42 on Educator Impact Night. On Friday, February 2nd, the Dragons hosted the Waukee Warriors for Senior Night and Box Out for Childhood Cancer Awareness.
Johnston would score a 72-59 win on a memorable and emotional night. With two regular-season games remaining, the Dragons would head to Ankeny High School to face the Ankeny Hawks on Monday night. The Dragons would stun the Hawks 62-52. The final regular season game was played at Southeast Polk High School against the Rams. The team capped their undefeated season with a 73-37 win.
