(Sioux City, IA) All-state football players Preston Ives and George Wakeman of Sioux City Bishop Heelan Catholic High School have made commitments to attend Morningside and continue their careers with the Mustangs announced Morningside head football coach Steve Ryan.

The two players helped lead Bishop Heelan to a 10-2 record and the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state playoffs this past season.

Ives, a 5-10, 170 lb. wide receiver, earned third-team Class 3A all-state honors from the Iowa Newspaper Association (INA) in addition to second-team Sioux City Journal All-Northwest Iowa and first-team Sioux City Journal All-Metro honors this past season. Wakeman, a 6-1, 210 lb. linebacker, was a first-team INA all-stater and a first-team selection on the Sioux City Journal’s All-Northwest Iowa and All-Metro teams.

Ives caught 34 passes for 690 yards and eight touchdowns and averaged 20.3 yards per catch. He rushed for 151 yards and three touchdowns in 26 attempts for an average of 5.8 yards per carry and was also a standout for the Crusaders’ special teams. He had five kickoff returns during the 2009 season and returned four of them for touchdowns. His five returns went for 357 yards for an average of 71.4 yards per return. Ives had 11 solos and eight assists for 19 total tackles along with a pass interception for the Crusaders’ defensive unit.

Wakeman was Bishop Heelan’s leading tackler each of the past two seasons. This year he had 81 solos and 75 assists for 156 total tackles, including 34 stops behind the line of scrimmage. Wakeman intercepted two passes and returned them for nine yards.

Wakeman earned third-team All-Northwest Iowa and first-team All-Metro honors from the Sioux City Journal as a junior when he had 117 tackles and 11.5 tackles for a loss for Bishop Heelan’s Class 3A state championship team.

Morningside had a 10-2 record in 2009 for its second highest victory total in school history. The Mustangs, who were ranked fifth nationally in the NAIA post-season poll, made their sixth consecutive appearance in the NAIA National Championship Series, where they have advanced to at least the quarterfinals for five years running. The Mustangs have a 58-14 record for a .806 winning percentage since the start of the 2004 season.