Sports

HAWARDEN — The West Sioux volleyball team improved to 8-2 on the season with a three set sweep of Remsen St. Mary’s in War Eagle Conference action Monday. The Hawks were three points short in the first set, a 25-22 loss, with the Falcons opening up a bigger 25-12 second set before claiming the match with a 25-18 result in the third...

SIOUX CITY — The northern teams of the Missouri River Activities Conference met for the City Golf Meet Monday at Green Valley Golf Course. Le Mars finished fifth out of the six teams with a 367 score which was three strokes behind fourth place Sioux City North...

LE MARS — NAIA top-ranked Texas Wesleyan holds a five stroke lead over No. 23 Morningside after 36 holes at the Northwest Iowa National Invitational Tournament held at Willow Creek Golf Course on Monday. The defending national champion Rams have two of the top four individuals who are in a three-way tie for second place with Ottawa University-AZ golfer Noah Hofman at -5...

LE MARS — NAIA No. 16 William Penn University holds the top spot after the first 36 holes of the Northwest Iowa National Invitational Tournament held Monday at Willow Creek Golf Course. The Statesmen hold a three stroke advantage over second place Morningside College with Texas Wesleyan nine strokes behind the leader in third place...

LE MARS — The inaugural Northwest Iowa National Invitational Tournament is through the second day of its three-day run at Willow Creek Golf Course. It’s a bit fitting that the tournament happens to fall during Le Mars Community’s homecoming week as it’s a homecoming for tournament director Dan Gray who spent many years out of the state organizing golf tournaments...

LE MARS — Le Mars Community had the best finish of the three Plymouth County schools in attendance at the Le Mars volleyball tournament held Saturday. The Lady Bulldogs claimed third place out of 10 teams. The Bulldogs were the second place team out of their pool and matched up with the identical rank from the opposite pool in the third place match. ...

ONAWA — MMCRU went 3-2 in action at a tournament hosted by West Monona on Saturday to improve their record past the .500 mark for the season. The Royals got a win over West Harrison in straight sets by scores of 21-12 and 21-17. The Royals hit .258 for the match in a balanced attack which saw Ellie Hilbrands knock down four kills, Haley Schwarz get three and Faith Olson add two as the three players with multiple kills. ...

ARMSTRONG — MMCRU’s last football win came two years ago against North Union by an 8-0 score. Unfortunately for the Royals, this meeting wouldn’t garner the same outcome as a 44-0 loss extended the team’s losing streak to 15 games since the last win on September 29, 2017...

SIOUX RAPIDS — Sioux Central ran for over 250 yards on the ground as they came away with a 29-0 victory over Akron-Westfield in non-district football action Friday. The Rebels had three players rush for at least 60 yards led by Teagan Pritchard who carried the ball 18 times for 112 yards and a touchdown which came on a 13-yard run. ...

HINTON — Friday’s game between Hinton and Lawton-Bronson came down to defense and special teams with the Eagles coming out in front in both areas when it mattered the most. The Blackhawks struggled to slow down a methodical Lawton-Bronson offense on their go-ahead scoring drive and then failed to recover an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff as the Eagles were able to run down the final four minutes of the clock for a 12-6 win...

SHELDON — The Le Mars Community football team had to withstand a fourth quarter charge from Sheldon in order to come away with the victory on Friday. Leading by 20 entering the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs saw their lead diminish down to two points by the final whistle as they survived for a 27-25 win over the Orabs...

REMSEN — 8-player No. 3 ranked Remsen St. Mary’s rolled to a 61-2 homecoming win over Kingsley-Pierson in the district opener for both teams Friday. The Panthers had a decent opening drive as they were able to get the ball down to the RSM 10-yard line before turning the ball over own downs and from that point the Hawks took control of the game...

MOVILLE — The Gehlen Catholic football team suffered their first setback of the season in a 14-2 loss at Woodbury Central on Friday. The Jays, who had scored at least 27 points in each of their first two games, were unable to put any offensive points on the board. Their only points came in the fourth quarter on a safety as Cade Walgenbach sacked Jase Manker in the end zone. It was one of a team-high 10 tackles for Walgenbach in the game...

SIOUX CITY — Le Mars Community’s Trey Whiddon earned overall medalist honors at Sun Valley Golf Course on Thursday in a triangular meet against Sioux City North and Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson. Whiddon shot a 75 on the day to finish two strokes in front of the runner-up, Garrett McCrary of Sioux City North. Whiddon posted a 35 on his front nine score and followed with a 40...

HARTLEY — Class 1A No. 4 ranked Gehlen Catholic had little trouble with Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn in War Eagle Conference action Thursday, winning in straight sets. The Lady Jays picked up wins by 25-14, 25-11 and 25-14 scores. “It is always nice to go on the road and take care of business in such a manner that we are able to use all of our team members,” Gehlen Head Coach Mike Meyer said. “That was probably the best thing about tonight.”...

SIOUX CITY — Class 5A No. 15 ranked Sioux City East picked up a four-set win over Le Mars Community in Missouri River Activities Conference action Thursday. The Black Raiders won the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-18 before Le Mars prolonged the match by getting a win in the third set by a 25-22 score. East got the biggest separation in the fourth set as they clinched the match by a 25-17 win...

REMSEN — MMCRU overpowered Trinity Christian for a sweep in War Eagle Conference action Thursday. The Royals had their biggest challenge in the second when they won 25-21, but had little trouble in the first and third sets which they won 25-10 and 25-5...

AKRON — Remsen St. Mary’s kept it competitive for most of the night, but Akron-Westfield came away with a three-set sweep of the Lady Hawks in War Eagle Conference action Thursday. “I think they did good,” A-W Head Coach Robyn Van Eldik said of her team in the win. “We had great blocking. Natalie had quite a few blocks and McKenna had quite a few blocks. Even our outside hitters had some blocks. That really helped.”...

LE MARS — MMCRU did their best to try to force their match against Class 1A No. 4 Gehlen Catholic to a fourth set, but in the end the Lady Jays picked up the sweep by winning the extended third set by a 28-26 score. “We wanted to start fast in the third set and unfortunately we did not,” Gehlen Head Coach Mike Meyer said. “Fortunately we scratched and clawed our way back into it. Both teams had chances to win what was a very competitive set and we were fortunate to come out on top.”...

AKRON — The Akron-Westfield volleyball team dominated their home opener against Harris-Lake Park on Tuesday. The Lady Westerners won in straight sets of 25-8, 25-10, 25-18. It was a decent hitting night for the Westerners with a .229 kill efficiency which easily surpassed the negative number put up by the Wolves who had 21 errors compared to 14 kills...

HULL — Trinity Christian picked up a 25-16 win in the first set against Remsen St. Mary’s on Tuesday, but the Lady Hawks rattled off wins in the next three sets to pick up the 3-1 win. RSM won the second and third sets by identical 25-18 scores and capped the night with a 25-21 win in the fourth...

SIBLEY — Hinton’s Steven Greigg and MMCRU’s Kaitlyn Goth led local runners at a cross country meet held at Sibley Golf Course on Tuesday, taking 10th place in their respective races. Greigg ended the race with a time of 17:57.25 as the last in a pack of five runners who finished within five seconds of each other. Hinton’s only other runner in the boys varsity race was Aiden Christiansen who placed 23rd in 19:07.27...

LE MARS — The Le Mars Community boys golf team finished fourth out of seven teams in the Le Mars Boys Fall Golf Invitational hosted at Willow Creek Golf Course on Tuesday. The meet featured all of the Missouri River Activities Conference schools except for Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson...

BRUNSVILLE — WC-KP edged out Le Mars Community by one point in the team standings to take fourth place in a crowded field of 16 full teams at the Gary Meyer Invitational held at Prairie Rose Golf Club on Tuesday. With the threat of potential stormy weather, the varsity teams ran earlier in the afternoon heat. With a heat index near 90 degrees, runners were in for some tough conditions according to Le Mars Community senior Kara Albrecht...

BRUNSVILLE — Going up against much larger schools didn’t faze the Gehlen Catholic boys cross country team which finished fourth out of 15 full teams at the Gary Meyer Invitational held at Prairie Rose Golf Club on Tuesday. “Once I heard that there was going to be bigger schools here, like all the Sioux City schools, I knew there’d be some tough competition,” Gehlen senior Carson Tesch said. “I’m pretty happy about today.”...

Sentinel Player of the Week Tate Westhoff, Le Mars Community Westhoff against MOC-Floyd Valley: 17-of-23 passing for 256 yards 5 passing touchdowns Le Mars Community’s Tate Westhoff is off to a solid start to the season as the quarterback for the Bulldogs. ...

NORMAN, Okla. — Former Remsen St. Mary’s athlete Carter Kuchel made his first collegiate catch for the University of South Dakota in the team’s 70-14 loss to FBS No. 4 ranked Oklahoma on Saturday. The catch came in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter as Tyler Tsagalis connected with Kuchel for a 9-yard gain in Oklahoma territory...

COUNCIL BLUFFS — The Le Mars Community cross country teams competed Saturday at the 50th Annual ALHS Cross Country Invitational. The Le Mars girls finished fifth out of nine teams at the meet. Southeast Polk, the second-ranked team in Class 4A by the IATC, won the meet with four of the top five individual times including a winning time in the race from Mattison Plummer. ...

SCHALLER — The MMCRU volleyball team picked up one win out of their three matches at a tournament hosted by Ridge View on Saturday. The team’s lone win came against Woodbury Central with a final score of 2-0 with set scores of 21-17 and 21-6. Emily Dreckman and Haley Schwarz led the team with four kills apiece while Jaylen Bork and Faith Olson were right behind at three apiece while also leading with two blocks each. The Royals hit for an efficient .324 clip in the match...

CHEROKEE — Tony Gunter led Gehlen Catholic to six football playoff appearances, the most recent in 2011, before spending time on the football staff at Le Mars Community. Now in his first season as head coach at Cherokee, Gunter earned his first coaching win with the Braves in a 46-0 win over MMCRU on Friday...

AKRON — The Akron-Westfield defense improved after giving up 41 points to Westwood in the season opener, only allowing 14 to Lawton-Bronson, but the team could once again only muster six points in what was a 14-6 loss to the Eagles on Friday. The loss drops the Westerners to an 0-2 start for the first time since 2016 and it’s the first time since the 2014 season that the team has failed to reach double digits in scoring in consecutive games...

KINGSLEY — Kingsley-Pierson had won each of the previous three meetings with West Harrison, but found themselves on the losing side against the Hawkeyes on Friday in a 36-14 defeat. The two teams ran contrasting styles of offenses with the Panthers focusing on the passing game and the Hawkeyes making most of their plays running the football. The Panthers found some success through the air, but not enough to match the offensive output of their opponent...

ONAWA — Gehlen Catholic moved to 2-0 on the season with a 29-12 victory over West Monona on Friday. Just two games into the season, the Jays have already surpassed last season’s win total. Following a close first half, Gehlen pulled away with a pair of scores in the second half while keeping their opponent off the scoreboard...

DUNLAP — Remsen St. Mary’s carried the momentum of a last-second win into the next game which turned into a 73-14 blowout against a Boyer Valley team who had beaten Ar-We-Va by a similar lopsided score of 72-28 the week prior. RSM’s offense just couldn’t be slowed down with numerous players finding the end zone for touchdowns as the Hawks entered the game at No. 4 in the Iowa AP 8-player rankings...

ORANGE CITY — Unity Christian scored the first 20 points against Gehlen Catholic in the season opener and then saw their lead evaporate in a 27-20 loss. This week, the 20 points was just enough to come away with the win over Hinton in a 20-19 affair...

PAULLINA — The Akron-Westfield volleyball team fell short of South O’Brien 3-1 in War Eagle Conference action Thursday. The two teams split the opening two sets by sizable margins with the Wolverines picking up a 25-16 win in the first set and the Westerners answering for a 25-18 win in the second. The final two sets went to South O’Brien by the slimmest possible margin with scores of 25-23 and 26-24 to claim the match...

LE MARS — Class 5A No. 8 Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln moved to 6-0 on the season and spoiled Le Mars Community’s Missouri River Activities Conference debut in a 3-0 sweep on Thursday. The Lynx won by scores of 25-17, 25-11 and 25-21. Pypr Stoeffler led the Bulldogs with 12 kills, a season-best for the junior through seven matches for the team...

MILFORD — Gehlen Catholic placed four within the top 12 as they claimed the boys team title at the Okoboji Cross Country Invite held at Woodlyn Hills Golf Course on Thursday. The Jays were led by Will Roder who easily won the race by over 30 seconds with a time of 16:55.82. Roder is currently ranked as the No. 2 runner in Class 1A by the IATC...

ORANGE CITY — Le Mars Community got all five of their touchdowns through the air in a 33-8 win over MOC-Floyd Valley in action at De Valois Stadium on Thursday. The Bulldogs cut through the secondary as all five of the passing scores were at least 16 yards from the end zone...

Above, Le Mars Community’s Colton Hoag hauls in a pass for a touchdown in the team’s 33-8 win over MOC-Floyd Valley in action Thursday night. The Bulldogs even their season record at 1-1 following the win. For a full recap of the Bulldogs’ win, check out Monday’s edition...

LOGAN — Two of western Iowa’s top girls cross country teams went head-to-head at a meet hosted by Logan-Magnolia on Tuesday. Lo-Ma, the top-ranked team in Class 1A in the IATC rankings, edged out Class 2A No. 3 WC-KP in the final team standings by a 37-51 scoring places total...

FORT DODGE — Eighteen teams squared off in a boys golf invitational hosted at Fort Dodge Country Club on Tuesday. Out of the 18 teams, Le Mars finished 11th with a team score of 355. Winning the field was Waukee with a team score of 302 with Jack Starr leading the team with the best individual score with a 68 across the 18 holes. Ames finished second with a 309 while the two Ankeny schools, Ankeny and Centennial, tied for third at 317...

REMSEN — Class 1A No. 5 Gehlen Catholic got progressively better scores as the match went along in a three-set sweep of Remsen St. Mary’s in War Eagle Conference action Tuesday. The Lady Jays came out a bit sluggish to start the match according to Head Coach Mike Meyer...

ORANGE CITY — The Le Mars Community volleyball team came away with a pair of wins at a tournament hosted by MOC-Floyd Valley on Tuesday. The Lady Bulldogs started off with a 2-1 win over the host school in a match which was as close as two teams could be with all three sets going past the regulation cutoff with the minimum two-point differential...

HINTON — Hinton had several opportunities at set point to force a fourth set against Akron-Westfield, but the Westerners rallied from a 24-19 deficit to win 27-25 to complete the sweep against the Blackhawks in War Eagle Conference action Tuesday. “They broke through,” A-W Head Coach Robyn Van Eldik said of the team’s rally. “The first two games went absolutely great. The third game was a little tough, but we got it. It’s good for them. They pulled it together.”...

Sentinel Player of the Week: Tate Kounkel, Hinton Kounkel against Woodbury Central: 2 interception returns for TDs (92 & 41 yards) 11.5 tackles including 2 for loss Hinton’s Tate Kounkel starts off the fall sports season as the first recipient of our Sentinel Player of the Week award. ...

WOODBINE — Woodbine ended last season on a four-game winning streak and continued that string in the season opener with a 64-14 win over Kingsley-Pierson. Woodbine quarterback Wyatt Pryor threw for eight touchdowns and 318 yards as more than two-thirds of their plays from scrimmage were passing plays. ...

SLOAN — Akron-Westfield ended Westwood’s season last year in the playoffs and the Rebels came out in the season opener and avenged that loss by a 41-6 score on Friday. Westwood’s running attack was difficult to stop as they ran all but five plays on the ground. ...

MARCUS — It was MMCRU’s closest game since an 8-0 win over North Union two years ago, and while appearing to make progress from last year’s winless season, the Royals fell short of MVAOCOU by a 20-6 score in the season opener held Friday at Harold Wood Field...

SIOUX CENTER — Sioux Center scored with 35 seconds left on the clock to pull out a 33-32 win over Le Mars in the season opener Friday. Damon Walhof connected with Lane Kamerman for the go-ahead score in the final minute on a 19-yard completion. Le Mars led by as many as 11 points with 9:07 left in the fourth quarter following a 21-yard scoring run from Colton Hoag. The Warriors answered that two and a half minutes later on a 9-yard scoring run from Sam Vonk before getting the winning score...