SPORTS

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team continues their climb in the Class 3A poll issued by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. The Hawks are up one spot this week from 10th to 9th. Mid-Prairie has won eight in a row and are tied at the top of the River Valley Conference. The Golden Hawks went 5-0 Saturday to win the South Tama Tournament, sweeping opponents Lisbon, Belle Plaine, Grinnell, Waterloo East and the home Trojans.

The Keota Eagles suffered a conference volleyball loss Thursday at Iowa Valley, falling in straight sets. The Tigers took the first set 25-19 and fended off the Eagles in similar fashion the rest of the way, winning the next two frames 25-16 and 25-22. Senior Cassie Swantz was once again...

The Pleasantville football team fell in a tough overtime loss to Sigourney-Keota Friday night 31-24. The Trojans were in command most of the game against a good Cobras team, but were not able to slam the door shut. Pleasantville led late in the fourth quarter, but the Cobras offense was able to make a late charge to force overtime. In the extra period, Sigourney-Keota ultimately had the last laugh with a touchdown to seal it. Despite the loss, Pleasantville coach Mack Jorth was proud of how his team performed.

Sep. 26—FAIRFIELD — It may not have been the fastest time of the season for Makenna Montgomery. It was still fast enough to be at the head of the sophomore class on Saturday. For the third time in five days, Montgomery was the first runner across the finish...

The Winfield-Mount Union Wolves continued their dominant football season with a dominant homecoming victory Friday, rolling past English Valleys 74-6. WMU had already siezed a 46-0 lead before the first quarter was over, including a fumble return for a touchdown by junior Lane Genkinger and a blocked punt that sophomore Max Edwards recovered for a TD.

On September 21st, 2023, Christopher John Cruise passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Revenge is a dish best served at Hillcrest Union. Tuesday night, the Hillcrest Academy Raven volleyball team returned the favor to the Keota Eagles on Dwight Gingerich Court with a three set victory. On the opening night of the season, it was Keota that scored a three set win over Hillcrest in the championship match of their home tournament. Tuesday it was the Raven’s turn. Hillcrest won by scores of 25-13, 25-23 and 29-27. The Ravens won all team statistical categories including kills 35-19, assists 34-11, digs, 72-51, and blocks 5-1. Hillcrest was led by 33 assists from Claire Withrow, 19 digs 14 kills and six aces for Malia Yoder, Lydia Beachy with 15, Withrow with 12 and Kylee Statler with 11 also got to double digits in the dig column. Niva Helmuth added three blocks.

The Sigourney Savages continued their undefeated start to conference volleyball play Monday night with a straight-sets victory over Iowa Valley at home. Sigourney took the first set 25-13, and while Iowa Valley kept it close the rest of the way, the Savages held on to take the next two frames 25-23 and 25-20.

The Sigourney Savages barely came up short in a thrilling conference volleyball match Thursday, falling at Belle Plaine in five sets. Every part of the match seemed to live on a razor’s edge, with Belle Plaine winning the first set 29-27 and Sigourney taking the second 26-24. The Plainswomen...

This week’s JET Physical Therapy Athlete of the Week is Mid-Prairie volleyball player Jovi Evans. The sophomore leads the tenth-ranked Golden Hawks in kills and assists and is second in aces and digs. During a pair of conference wins in the last week, Evans posted 28 kills, 42 assists and 32 digs while also putting up a triple-double in a win over Durant, helping the Hawks improve to 14-3. Congrats Jovi!

The Washington Demons picked up a conference volleyball victory on the road at Mount Pleasant last night in straight sets. After winning the first set 25-20, Washington held off Mount Pleasant in a close second frame 25-22 before taking the third set as well, 25-16. The Demons improve to 2-2 in the Southeast Conference and 7-15 overall. Washington is off the rest of the week and will next play this coming Tuesday at Keokuk.

Two KCII area schools are ready for the second act of their season series tonight when the Hillcrest Academy Raven volleyball team hosts the Keota Eagles at Hillcrest Union in Kalona. The two teams met on opening night of the season in the championship match of the Keota Tournament, which the Eagles won on their home floor in three sets. Hillcrest comes into the match with a 5-7 overall record and 1-4 standing in the Southeast Iowa Superconference following a four set loss at Columbus last week. So far the Ravens have totaled 241 kills, 213 assists, 507 digs, 44 blocks, 74 aces and an 87% serve efficiency. Individual leaders include 207 assists for Claire Withrow, 148 digs and 80 kills for Malia Yoder, and 23 aces and 19 blocks for Kylee Statler.

The Crookston Pirate Girls Soccer team played a great defensive game, but could not put one in the net as they fell to Fergus Falls Hillcrest Academy by a score of 1-0. – — Crookston began the match with an early possession advantage. The Pirates kept it on the Hillcrest side of the field and they were able to get multiple shots on goal. Hillcrest had a few opportunities as well, but Cassie Solheim, who was playing in relief of Reese Swanson for the third straight game, was up to the task and made three saves. When it wasn’t Solheim making saves, it was Josyln Wallace playing great defense to limit the shots that Hillcrest took. Despite having good looks and shots on goal, most of Crookston’s shots went right to the keeper. Both teams went into halftime with the score still tied at 0-0.

The Sigourney-Keota Cobras continue to exert their dominance on the football field by rolling past Cardinal 67-0 Friday night on the road. SK already led 35-0 at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. Fresh off his huge performance for the Cobras in the win over Mid-Prairie,...

Sep. 20—ELDON — Considering the overall successful tradition of the Sigourney-Keota football program, planning to defend the run is at the top of every opponent's scouting report. Friday night at Cardinal, S-K coaches were planning on adding to the 839 yards gained on the ground through the first...

At Monday’s annual Clipper Classic, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk cross country teams captured team and individual hardware. The Golden Hawk girls won the team championship going away with a score of 21 points, rolling by CCA’s 55. Mid-Prairie’s Danielle Hostetler torched the competition to win the individual title in a blistering 19:33. Other finishers for the Hawks included Brooklyn Stutzman fourth, Abby Fleming fifth, Phoebe Shetler sixth, Greta Sieren ninth, Kendal Landstrum 10th, Annika Poll 11th, Dessa Poll 16th, Kali Miller 21st, Kyrie Poll 31st, Hannah Rodgers 35th, Alaina Safly 42nd, Marissa Parks 59th, and Samantha Wunderlich 76th. After the race, seniors Fleming and Shetler talked about their top 10s and team success. The pair said, “It was important to stay loose, stay relaxed, enjoy the first mile. It was important to push it the second and third miles. It felt sensational to finish like that. This year has been really sensational so far. We have some amazing freshmen and they have really stepped up. It’s a pretty great group of girls. They aren’t afraid to work hard and give it their all, every time, every workout, every race. I couldn’t be more proud of this team.”

It was a party from start to finish Tuesday night at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman as the No. 10 in Class 3A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team dispatched the Durant Wildcats in straight sets on Senior Night. The Hawks won the contest by scores of 25-10, 25-13 and 25-19. Match leaders for Mid-Prairie included 13 assists for Jovi Evans, 10 kills and three blocks for Harper Pacha, eight digs each for Evans and Dakota Mitchell, and seven aces from Mitchell from the service line. The Golden Hawks honored a senior trio before the match, Paige Safly, Reese Good and Ava Pence, the three spoke with KCII Sports after the win about getting the victory and the Senior Night experience. The group said, “We were nervous and excited, it was bittersweet. It was a fun game. I think we are playing so well because everyone is so involved, the bench and the players on the court. We all get along so well. We love each other on and off the court. Communication has gotten better during the season. It’s a lot of self mental and physical discipline. The recognition was great, having all eyes on you is a little intimidating, but it was a lot of fun. Our gym is a great atmosphere. There’s nothing better! (The match) felt great, really good, and to win by so much was awesome!”

The Washington Demons came away with a pair of victories on the volleyball court Saturday at the West Liberty Invitational. Washington dropped its first match of pool play, losing in straight sets to Cedar Rapids Kennedy 21-11 and 21-13, but the Demons bounced back to defeat Fort Madison 21-19 and 21-11.

The Sigourney-Keota Cobra football team overcame adversity Friday, making their own breaks late in a wild 31-24 come-from-behind overtime win in Pleasantville on Homecoming. It was the Trojans getting into the end zone first, riding that Homecoming momentum to paydirt, on a three yard Caleb Cook touchdown run to go up 6-0 midway through the first. SK answered with a Jake Moore scoring run, followed by the PAT to go up 7-6 at the end of one. Pleasantville retook the lead 90 seconds into the second when Cook pounded his way in from four yards out to go on top 12-7. The Trojans took an 18-7 lead in the final minute before half when Braylon Bingham went up top 63 yards to Trent Jolly for a touchdown connection.