{"id":865901,"date":"2026-04-14T02:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T02:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865901\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T02:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T02:04:23","slug":"iowa-high-school-football-2026-schedule-waukee-northwest-looking-for-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865901\/","title":{"rendered":"Iowa High School Football 2026 Schedule: Waukee Northwest Looking For More"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Iowa high school football season is still a few months away, but there is no better time than the present to look towards the fall.<\/p>\n

For Waukee Northwest High School, the coming year presents one that is sure to be filled with expectations after a run to the semifinals of the Class 5A Iowa High School Athletic Association State Playoffs.<\/p>\n

Now, the Wolves are poised to do it again – with hopes of taking things one step further.<\/p>\n

Waukee Northwest Schedule Includes Valley, Southeast Polk<\/p>\n

The schedule for Waukee Northwest in 2026 will feature five home games and four road trips, but one of those is intra-city rival Waukee.<\/p>\n

Starting off, the Wolves will be tested out of the gates, as they welcome in Ankeny. Last year, the Hawks dropped a nailbiter to Waukee Northwest, 25-24, finishing the year 7-3 overall and in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Read more: Dowling Catholic heads into 2026 as defending 5A state football champions<\/a><\/p>\n

From there, they take on perennial state contender Valley, who the Wolves topped, 27-24. The Tigers went 9-3 and reached the state semifinals, losing to eventual champion Dowling Catholic, 14-10.<\/p>\n

Home games with Iowa City High and Cedar Rapids Prairie follow before back-to-back road trips to Des Moines East and Ottumwa. Last season, Waukee Northwest scored over 45 points in all four of those games, and the results should be much the same this year.<\/p>\n

Former 5A King Southeast Polk Stands As Late-Season Test For Wolves<\/p>\n

Southeast Polk looms late in the season at home, as the Rams had won each of the 5A titles before coming up short last season. They will once again be loaded, especially in the trenches and on the lines.<\/p>\n

Waukee handed the Wolves their only regular season defeat in 2025, 31-28, so revenge will definitely be on the minds of the players. Norwalk concludes the slate at home, which means Waukee Northwest will not have to leave the comforts of its city for the final three games of the year going into the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Mack Heitland Leads Vaunted Waukee Northwest Offense<\/p>\n

Junior quarterback Mack Heitland has turned into one of the top prospects within the state. Heitland is coming off a season in which he completed an absurd 202 of 254 passes – that is just under 80 percent – for 2,962 yards.<\/p>\n

Heitland threw 28 touchdowns and did not have a single interception. He also rushed for 164 more yards and four more touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Read more: Iowa City Liberty looks to keep ball rolling in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Leading rusher Ryan Woodruff departs, but sophomore Paulo Tobongye had a big campaign, averaging eight yards per carry with eight touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Top Receiver Jordon Green Among Those Back With Mack Heitland<\/p>\n

Another key player needing to be replaced will be Isaiah Oliver, as he had 1,013 yards and nine touchdowns as wide receiver, but junior Jordon Green is back after leading the team with 68 receptions for 1,189 yards and 14 touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Green, who averaged 17.5 yards per catch, will be joined by Joe Vinyard, as the junior caught 40 passes for 464 yards and three tips to the end zone.<\/p>\n

On defense, Eddie Kennedy, Ben Gallagher, Charlie Hemmer and Eli Eckerman all return with varsity experience. Waukee Northwest recorded 28 turnovers last year, including 17 interceptions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Iowa high school football season is still a few months away, but there is no better…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7],"class_list":{"0":"post-865901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116400610669594152","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}