Published: October 19, 2009 06:48 am      

Share of MAC title just isn't good enough for River Kings

By Jon Gremmels

Herald Sports Editor

DAVENPORT — As they traded high-fives with their fans in front of the stands Thursday night at Brady Street Stadium, the Clinton River Kings naturally were pleased. Their 56-7 romp against Davenport Central assured them of a piece of the Mississippi Athletic Conference title. But, they’re greedy. They want the whole thing.

“Not yet,” senior center Zach Freudenberg replied when asked, “Mission accomplished?”

“We need to go out there and win next week and get this MAC title,” he continued. “We like it (a share of the crown), it’s enjoyable, but we need to get this next win.”

The River Kings close the regular season Friday night in Eldridge against North Scott.

“The key now is we’ve got to go to practice this next week and not have any letdowns,” senior defensive tackle Austin Krick said. “We know they’re a good team. They’ll come in and give us a fight, but we need this win to secure first place in the MAC without sharing it. Knowing we have a home playoff game, we can’t let it get to us without any letups.”

Freudenberg agrees that Clinton needs to take a businesslike approach.

“What we need to do is what we’ve done every week: Go to practice, practice hard and come out and do what we need to do.”

There’s a lot more than sole possession of the MAC title riding on the game, though.

Heading into the final week, Clinton and Iowa City High are tied for the top spot in the points standings (375) among the teams in the eastern half of the state. Those determine the seeding order for the postseason.

But City High has played only three teams that will finish above .500 this season, so the maximum amount of points it can score is 420 because it closes the season against Cedar Rapids Jefferson (1-7) on Thursday night.

North Scott is 5-3, on the other hand, so a win would give the River Kings 50 playoff points for a 425-point total. Plus, Clinton would earn an additional five points if Central beats winless Davenport North on Friday to finish at 5-4.

A higher seeding, in theory, gives you easier playoff opponents throughout the postseason.