WEST BEND—West Bend-Mallard put up a good fight but Southeast Valley earned a Twin Lakes Conference volleyball win on Thursday, Oct. 5 in four close games.

The visitors won the first two sets by identical scores of 20-25 before the purple-and-gold took the third game 25-20 and the Jaguars ended the match with a 19-25 victory in the fourth set.

ALGONA—Algona clinched at least a share of the North Central Conference volleyball title on Thursday, Oct. 7 with a hard-fought four-set league victory over the Clarion-Goldfield/Ventura Cowgirls.

The red-and-black is now 5-1 in conference matches and 15-6 in games played in those matches and travel to Humboldt tonight (Thursday) for a chance to win the title outright.

GARNER—Garner-Hayfield/Ventura swept the North Union Warriors’ volleyball team in three straight sets on Tuesday, Oct. 3 in Top of Iowa Conference action.

The Cardinals took the opening game by the score of 25-20 before winning the second set by the count of 25-18 and ended the match with a 25-19 victory in game number three.

MASON CITY—Algona led most of the meet but Mason City rallied late to earn an 89-83 swim meet victory over the red-and-black on Thursday, Oct. 5.

The Bulldogs won four individual events in their closest meet of the season and also won the 200-yard medley relay.

MASON CITY—North Union clinched a Class A football playoff berth for the second consecutive season on Friday, Oct. 6 with a convincing 41-6 romp over the Mason City Newman Knights.

Quarterback Grady Madden passed for four touchdowns in the win while teammate Preston Guerdet caught three of those scores and also intercepted a pair of Knight passes.

WEST BEND—West Bend-Mallard honored nine seniors on “Senior Night” and responded with a 60-7 eight-man district football win over the Northwood-Kensett Vikings on Friday, Oct. 6 to qualify for the playoffs for the second straight season.

Northwood-Kensett scored first in the contest before the purple-and-gold scored the final 60 points of the game. Landon Montag rushed for 223 yards and scored six touchdowns to lead the way.

LAKE CITY—On a rainy fall afternoon on Tuesday, Oct. 3, the West Bend-Mallard Wolverine boys’ cross-country team competed at the South Central Calhoun Titan Invitational.

The purple-and-gold had just two runners and did not have a team score as East Sac County won the team title with 36 points and Isaiah Aragon of East Sac County was the individual winner with his time of 16:45.89.

FOREST CITY—North Union’s Jacey Welbig finished in fourth place overall to highlight the performances of a pair of area girls’ cross-country squads on Monday, Oct. 9 at the Forest City Invitational ran at the Bear Creek Golf Course.

The Warriors ended up in fifth place in the team standings with 123 points as Bishop Garrigan did not have enough runners for a team score with Forest City capturing the team title with team total of 35 points.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

DES MOINES—On Wednesday, the Iowa High Girls’ Athletic Union released the post-season pairings for the four area volleyball squads.

The two Class 1A teams (Bishop Garrigan and West Bend-Mallard) will be the first to see action on Monday, Oct. 16 with Class 3A (Algona) beginning on Oct. 17 and Class 2A (North Union) starting on Oct. 18.

ALGONA—Bishop Garrigan concluded Top of Iowa Conference volleyball play on Tuesday, Oct. 3 as they defeated the West Hancock Eagles in three straight sets on “Senior Night”.

The home team captured the first game by the score of 25-15 as all of the seniors played in that contest before taking the second set 25-14 and ended the match with a 25-15 victory in game number three.

BELMOND—Belmond-Klemme out-lasted the North Union Warriors in five grueling sets in a Top of Iowa Conference volleyball match played on Thursday, Oct. 5.

The home team won the opening game by the score of 17-25 before the green-black-and-silver fought back to take the second set by the score of 25-21.

The Broncos took the third game 17-25 but the Warriors forced a fourth set with a 25-20 victory before Belmond-Klemme took the fifth game by the final score of 9-15.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

CLEAR LAKE—Third-ranked Clear Lake scored 16 points in the final eight minutes to rally for a 29-28 Class 3A district football win over the Algona Bulldogs on Friday, Sept. 29.

Derek Erpelding caught an 11-yard pass with 1:24 to play in the game to get the home team within one point at 28-27 before Titan Schmitt barely crossed the goal line on the two-point conversion for the victory.

ARMSTRONG—Eight North Union Warriors’ football players played their final home game of their career and their green-black-and-teammates made sure it was a memorable one in a convincing 47-6 Class A district win over the West Fork Warhawks on Thursday, Sept. 28.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

ALGONA—Hosting their second meet of the season at the Algona Family YMCA on Thursday, Sept. 28, the Algona swim team entertained the Spencer Tigers and had a good showing for their fans with four first place finishes and took second in three more different events.

The Tigers scored a total of 121 team points in the meet to place first as the red-and-black compiled a total of 53 points during the evening.

LAKE MILLS—Gavyn Morphew placed eighth overall with his time of 18:17.17 on Monday at the Rice Lake Golf Course to highlight the performances of the North Union Warrior boys’ cross-country team.

The green-black-and-silver finished in sixth place in the team standings with a team total of 149 points and Lake Mills won the team title with 22 points and Justin Rygh of Lake Mills was the individual winner with his clocking of 17:1064.