Dowling vs. Southeast Polk headlines Week 4 Iowa high school football showdowns

Week 4 of the 2026 Iowa high school football season brings another marquee matchup between the state's top two Class 5A teams. No. 1 Dowling Catholic (3-0) travels to Pleasant Hill on Friday, September 18, to face No. 2 Southeast Polk (3-0) in a game that could shape the playoff picture.

Dowling enters as the defending 5A state champion, while Southeast Polk won the previous four titles. Both teams feature elite running backs. Dowling's Henry Smid has rushed for 453 yards and four touchdowns on 6.5 yards per carry. Southeast Polk's Stanley Roberts has 463 yards and nine scores on an outstanding 8.9 yards per carry.

Each team is dominant up front on both sides of the ball. Dowling offensive lineman Carter Barrett is the Register's top player in the state, and Noah White is a bruiser in the trenches for Southeast Polk.

Other top metro-area games on Sept. 18

Several other strong matchups feature teams from the Des Moines metro and surrounding areas:

• No. 3 Johnston at No. 7 Iowa City Liberty
• No. 4 Ankeny vs. Ankeny Centennial
• Waukee at No. 5 Valley
• Des Moines Roosevelt at No. 8 Dallas Center-Grimes
• Cedar Rapids Prairie at Waukee Northwest

Class 4A and other key games

In Class 4A, No. 3 Carlisle hosts Winterset, No. 7 North Polk hosts No. 8 Pella, and No. 9 Adel-Desoto-Minburn travels to Bondurant-Farrar. Des Moines Christian, ranked No. 4 in 3A, looks to improve to 4-0 when the Lions travel to Creston. In Class 2A, No. 3 Van Meter hosts Woodward-Granger.

Full Iowa high school football schedule for Week 4

Thursday, Sept. 17

• Davenport West vs. Assumption, 7:30 p.m.
• Cedar Rapids Washington vs. Grinnell, 7 p.m.
• Iowa School for the Deaf vs. Kansas School for the Deaf, 7 p.m.
• Northwood-Kensett vs. Riceville, 7 p.m.
• South Winneshiek vs. Postville, 7 p.m.

Friday, September 18

• AC/GC vs. Mt Ayr, 7 p.m.
• AGWSR vs. West Fork, 7 p.m.
• AHSTW vs. Nodaway Valley, 7 p.m.
• Albia vs. South Tama County, 7 p.m.
• Alburnett vs. Tipton, 7 p.m.
• Anamosa vs. Bellevue, 7 p.m.
• Ankeny vs. Centennial, 7 p.m.
• Aplington-Parkersburg vs. Union, 7 p.m.
• Atlantic vs. Storm Lake, 7 p.m.
• Audubon vs. CAM, 7 p.m.
• BCLUW vs. West Hancock, 7 p.m.
• BGM vs. Lynnville-Sully, 7 p.m.
• BHRV vs. Central Lyon, 7 p.m.
• Beckman vs. MFL MarMac, 7 p.m.
• Belle Plaine vs. English Valleys, 7 p.m.
• Bishop Garrigan vs. St Edmond, 7 p.m.
• Bishop Heelan vs. S.C North, 7 p.m.
• Bondurant-Farrar vs. ADM, 7:30 p.m.
• Calamus-Wheatland vs. Springville, 7 p.m.
• Carlisle vs. Winterset, 7:30 p.m.
• Carroll vs. Lewis Central, 7:30 p.m.
• Centerville vs. Davis County, 7 p.m.
• Central DeWitt vs. Mt Pleasant, 7:30 p.m.
• Central Decatur vs. Colfax-Mingo, 7 p.m.
• Central Elkader vs. Kee, 7 p.m.
• Central Lee vs. West Liberty, 7 p.m.
• Cherokee vs. Unity Christian, 7 p.m.
• Clarinda vs. Chariton, 7 p.m.
• Clarion-Goldfield-Dows vs. Central Springs, 7 p.m.
• Clarke vs. Grand View Christian, 7 p.m.
• Clear Lake vs. Nevada, 7:30 p.m.
• Colo-Nesco vs. North Tama, 7 p.m.
• Columbus vs. North Linn, 7 p.m.
• Coon Rapids-Bayard vs. Griswold, 7 p.m.
• Creston vs. Des Moines Christian, 7 p.m.
• Dallas Center-Grimes vs. Roosevelt, 7 p.m.
• Danville vs. Van Buren County, 7 p.m.
• Davenport North vs. Davenport Central, 8 p.m.
• Denver vs. Roland-Story, 7 p.m.
• Dubuque vs. Muscatine, 7 p.m.
• Dunkerton vs. Don Bosco, 7 p.m.
• Eagle Grove vs. South Hardin, 7 p.m.
• Earlham vs. Madrid, 7 p.m.
• East Buchanan vs. North Cedar, 7 p.m.
• East Sac County vs. Manson-Northwest Webster, 7 p.m.
• Easton Valley vs. Central City, 7 p.m.
• Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont vs. Sigourney-Keota, 7 p.m.
• Edgewood-Colesburg vs. Turkey Valley, 7 p.m.
• Exira-EHK vs. Westside, 7 p.m.
• Fairfield vs. Knoxville, 7:30 p.m.
• Forest City vs. Waukon, 7 p.m.
• Fort Dodge vs. Waterloo West, 7 p.m.
• Fort Madison vs. Mt Vernon, 7:30 p.m.
• GMG vs. Gladbrook-Reinbeck, 7 p.m.
• Garner-Hayfield-Ventura vs. Grundy Center, 7 p.m.
• Gehlen vs. HMS, 7 p.m.
• Gilbert vs. Webster City, 7 p.m.
• Glidden-Ralston vs. Boyer Valley, 7 p.m.
• HLV vs. Iowa Valley, 7 p.m.
• Harlan vs. Denison-Schleswig, 7 p.m.
• Humboldt vs. Ballard, 7 p.m.
• IKM-Manning vs. Woodbury Central, 7 p.m.
• Independence vs. Center Point-Urbana, 7 p.m.
• Indianola vs. Newton, 7 p.m.
• Iowa City West vs. Bettendorf, 7 p.m.
• Iowa City vs. Cedar Falls, 7 p.m.
• Iowa Falls-Alden vs. Boone, 7:30 p.m.
• Janesville vs. Tripoli, 7 p.m.
• Kennedy vs. Linn-Mar, 7 p.m.
• Keokuk vs. Burlington, 7:30 p.m.
• Kingsley-Pierson vs. St Mary's, 7 p.m.
• Lake Mills vs. Belmond-Klemme, 7 p.m.
• Lenox vs. East Union, 7 p.m.
• Liberty vs. Johnston, 7 p.m.
• Lincoln vs. Jefferson, 7 p.m.
• Lincoln vs. Ottumwa, 7 p.m.
• Lisbon vs. Cascade, 7 p.m.
• Lone Tree vs. WACO, 7 p.m.
• Louisa-Muscatine vs. Durant, 7 p.m.
• MMCRU vs. Sioux Central, 7 p.m.
• MOC-Floyd Valley vs. Le Mars, 7 p.m.
• MVAOCOU vs. Lawton-Bronson, 7 p.m.
• Maquoketa Valley vs. East Marshall, 7 p.m.
• Maquoketa vs. Clinton, 7:30 p.m.
• Marion vs. Mason City, 7:30 p.m.
• Marshalltown vs. D.M. East, 7 p.m.
• Mediapolis vs. West Burlington, 7 p.m.
• Meskwaki Settlement vs. Clarksville, 7 p.m.
• Mid-Prairie vs. Wilton, 7 p.m.
• Midland vs. Wapsie Valley, 7 p.m.
• Missouri Valley vs. Red Oak, 6:30 p.m.
• Monticello vs. West Branch, 7 p.m.
• Moravia vs. Montezuma, 7 p.m.
• Mormon Trail vs. Collins-Maxwell, 7 p.m.
• Murray vs. Lamoni, 7 p.m.
• Nashua-Plainfield vs. North Butler, 7 p.m.
• New Hampton vs. Crestwood, 7 p.m.
• Newell-Fonda vs. Harris-Lake Park, 7 p.m.
• Newman vs. St Ansgar, 7 p.m.
• North Fayette Valley vs. Osage, 7 p.m.
• North Mahaska vs. Martensdale-St Marys, 7 p.m.
• North Polk vs. Pella, 7:30 p.m.
• North Scott vs. Clear Creek-Amana, 7:30 p.m.
• Northeast vs. Camanche, 7 p.m.
• Norwalk vs. Ames, 7 p.m.
• OABCIG vs. Kuemper, 7 p.m.
• Oelwein vs. Dike-New Hartford, 7 p.m.
• Okoboji vs. Spirit Lake, 7 p.m.
• Oskaloosa vs. Washington, 7:30 p.m.
• PCM vs. Pella Christian, 7 p.m.
• Pekin vs. Highland, 7 p.m.
• Perry vs. D.M. North, 7:30 p.m.
• Pleasant Valley vs. Hempstead, 7 p.m.
• Pleasantville vs. I-35, 7 p.m.
• Pocahontas vs. Emmetsburg, 7 p.m.
• Regina vs. Cardinal, 7 p.m.
• Ridge View vs. Hinton, 7 p.m.
• Riverside vs. Southwest Valley, 7 p.m.
• S.C. West vs. S.C. East, 7 p.m.
• Saydel vs. Greene County, 7 p.m.
• Sergeant Bluff-Luton vs. Glenwood, 7 p.m.
• Seymour vs. Bedford, 7 p.m.
• Sheldon vs. Western Christian, 7 p.m.
• Shenandoah vs. Treynor, 7 p.m.
• Sidney vs. East Mills, 7 p.m.
• Sioux Center vs. Spencer, 7 p.m.
• Solon vs. Benton, 7 p.m.
• South Central Calhoun vs. South Hamilton, 7 p.m.
• South O'Brien vs. Sibley-Ocheyedan, 7 p.m.
• Southeast Polk vs. Dowling, 7 p.m.
• Southeast Valley vs. Estherville-Lincoln Central, 7 p.m.
• Southeast Warren vs. Melcher-Dallas, 7 p.m.
• Starmont vs. Clayton Ridge, 7 p.m.
• Sumner-Fredericksburg vs. Hudson, 7 p.m.
• Tri-Center vs. Underwood, 7 p.m.
• Twin Cedars vs. Baxter, 7 p.m.
• Urbandale vs. Jefferson, 7 p.m.
• Valley vs. Waukee, 7 p.m.
• Van Meter vs. Woodward-Granger, 7 p.m.
• Vinton-Shellsburg vs. Hampton-Dumont, 7 p.m.
• Wahlert vs. West Delaware, 7:30 p.m.
• Washington vs. Grinnell, 7:30 p.m.
• Waterloo Columbus vs. Jesup, 7 p.m.
• Waterloo East vs. Charles City, 7:30 p.m.
• Waukee Northwest vs. Prairie, 7 p.m.
• Waverly-Shell Rock vs. Algona, 7 p.m.
• Wayne vs. Winfield-Mt Union, 7 p.m.
• West Bend-Mallard vs. North Iowa, 7 p.m.
• West Central Valley vs. Panorama, 7 p.m.
• West Central vs. Waterloo Christian, 7 p.m.
• West Lyon vs. Alta-Aurelia, 7 p.m.
• West Marshall vs. Ogden, 7 p.m.
• West Monona vs. St Albert, 7 p.m.
• West Sioux vs. Akron-Westfield, 7 p.m.
• Western Dubuque vs. Decorah, 7:30 p.m.
• Westwood vs. Logan-Magnolia, 7 p.m.
• Woodbine vs. Stanton, 7 p.m.
• Xavier vs. Williamsburg, 7:30 p.m.

Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa high school football schedule Week 4: Every IHSAA game