Sports

It was a long wait for action on the court for the Sutton Fillies following back-to-back losses at home to David City and Fairbury, as the losses to the Scouts and Jeffs took place on Oct. 6.

Sutton wouldn’t see action until this past Saturday, Oct. 11, to get the ball rolling in the right direction, and they did just that, winning the Centennial Invitational with wins over Wilber-Clatonia, David City, and Lutheran High Northeast out of Norfolk.

In the opening round, 25-14, 25-19 win over the Wolverines, Sutton served at a 93.9 percent clip and hit at just under 79 percent to gain the two-set sweep.

Freshman Kyla Griess led in serving with three aces, while Alivia Huxoll, Lily Mc-Croden, and Kennedy Perrien all collected a pair of aces in the match.

On the attack, Huxoll gained nine of Sutton’s 23 kills, while Carly Skalka added six. Sutton was 45-57 at the net.

Perrien put up 12 assists in the match, while sophomore Avery Robinson added three.

If one looks at the final stats after Sandy Creek’s 70-22 win over the McCool Junction Mustangs, they might not suggest that the Cougars won by 48 points in Friday night’s regular season finale in McCool Junction, but a deeper look into the numbers it’s easy to see the big win.

McCool Junction, just two years removed from the NSAA 6-Man state championship, came into Friday nights D1-8 District game with an 0-7 record, while the Cougars hit the turf at 4-3.

Sandy Creek ran for 274 yards on 31 carries, the Mustangs had 135 yards on 32 carries.

Through the air, the Cougars were 4-5 for 106 yards, while McCool Junction was 8-16 for 136 yards.

In total, Sandy Creek out yarded the Mustangs by 109 total yards, as the Cougars gained 380 total yards and the Mustangs 271.

Turnovers played a key role in the 48 point win, as Sandy Creek recovered two fumbles and charted one interception.

A steady dose of Heartland’s Zach Quiring and Trev Peters was all that the Huskies would need to claim the D1-8 football crown, as the Huskies rolled past the Sandy Creek Cougars 42-20 on the Cougars’ home field Friday, Oct. 7.

The win leaves Heartland unbeaten at 4-0 in the district, while Sandy Creek fell to 2-1 with one more district game to be played by the Cougars at McCool Junction Friday, Oct. 14.

Overall, the loss dropped the Cougars to 4-3 with hopes of still getting into the field of 32 teams in the first round of the Class D-1 state playoffs with a win over McCool. The playoffs, should the Cougars qualify, begin Thursday, Oct. 20. Heartland overall improved to 5-2. Heartland took their opening drive, using up just over four and a half minutes to reach the end zone at the 7:25 mark of the first quarter to open the game with a 6-0 lead, after missing a two-point conversion, with Zach Quiring scoring for the Huskies.

Eight seconds of adrenaline and focus on top of bulls that weigh nearly 1,000 pounds, and in some cases, well over 1,000 pounds might not be for everyone, but for four Sutton bull riders, that rush of the ride and the preparation is irreplaceable.

For Tyson and Landon Scheidemann, the sons of Brandon and Melissa Scheidemann of Sutton, and Korey and Dillon Poppe, the sons of Jason and Brittney Poppe of rural Sutton, that rush, the adrenaline and the thrill of the ride has all four of them hooked on a sport that a large percentage of the public wouldn’t even think about attempting.

Tyson is a senior at Sutton High School, while Landon and Korey are freshmen. Dillon, age 10, is in his first year of riding.

The common theme with the Sutton four proves to be how they got started. Tyson eluded to his father Brandon, and the others followed suit, saying that the Scheidemann’s father got them into it and the love of the sport has been deeply ingrained.

For one quarter in Friday night’s homecoming battle for the Sandy Creek Cougars, the visiting Southern Valley Eagles stayed within striking distance of the Cougars, but once the Sandy Creek offense got in gear, it was all Sandy Creek for the final three quarters. The Cougars improved to 4-2 on the year with a 74-30 clawing of the Eagles.

Senior running back Drake Lally put the Cougars on his back in the first quarter, as Lally was responsible for all three Sandy Creek scores in the period.

Lally’s first score came at the 9:42 mark of the first, scoring on a 25-yard run. After adding the two bonus points, SC held a short lived 8-0 lead.

Southern Valley, just 12 seconds after the Lally score, connected on a 60-yard touchdown pass, but missed the two-point try to trail 8-6 with 9:30 left in the opening quarter.

The Harvard Cardinals played host to the 2022 Twin Valley Conference cross country meet this year, holding the annual event on the Crooked Creek Country Club course in Clay Center, Thursday, Sept. 29.

For three runners from Harvard and South Central Unified, the meet was a big day, as Red Raider sophomore Rowan Jarosik and Harvard senior Alyssa Ferguson claimed individual gold medals in the boys and girls 5,000 meter races.

Jarosik outran second- place Kyler Carraher of Franklin by nearly 32 seconds with his winning time of 16 minutes, 36.8 seconds. Carraher finished the race in a time of 17:08.82.

On the girls side of the meet, Ferguson held off teammate Maria Perez for the TVC crown, with Ferguson winning the event in 21:52.78, while Perez placed second with a time of 21:59.80.

To say that the 2022 football season for the Sutton Mustangs has been a frustrating season would very well be an understatement, but all of the frustrations of the year went by the wayside, at least for a couple of hours this past Friday, Sept. 30, as the Mustangs broke into the win column with a 66-20 dominating win over the Mc-Cool Junction Mustangs.

The 46-point victory set Sutton’s record at 1-5 as they look down the road at their final two games of the year.

Sutton scored early and often in the first 12 minutes of the win, as the Mustangs held a 36-0 lead at the end of the first stanza.

McCool Junction began with the ball to start the game, but a quick three and out set Sutton up with their first drive at the McCool 38.

Sutton needed just one play to reach the end zone, as sophomore Gabe Gwennap scored from the 38 with 10:26 left to go up 8-0 after senior quarterback, Myles Jones, added the two-point conversion.

Coming off their big 46-33 rivalry win over Sutton in week four of the 2022 season, the Sandy Creek Cougars remained in district competition this past Friday, Sept. 21, heading south to Superior High School to take on the winless Wildcats.

Sandy Creek posted the same 46 points that they did against the Mustangs, but defensively, the Cougars tightened their belts and held the hapless Wildcats to a mere 170 yards of total offense, and held Superior to only six points to claim a 46-6 win and improve to 3-2 on the year.

Taking the opening kickoff, Sandy Creek set the tone of the game early, marching the ball down the field until an untimely fumble by the Cougars gave Superior some momentum at the 10:47 mark of the first quarter.

Rowan Jarosik continued his strong sophomore season in cross country by earning a fifth-place finish in action during the Adams Central Invitational at the Elks Country Club in Hastings, Sept. 20.

Jarosik had two wins under his belt at Superior and Fairbury and has a fourthplace finish in the Fillmore Central meet before running to a fifth-place time of 17 minutes, 9.51 seconds in the Adams Central meet.

Winning the meet was a pair of Class B runners from Hastings High, as Austin Carrera and Juan Ceron Millan claimed the top two spots, leading the Tigers to the team title over North Platte, 31-37.

Carrera finished in a time of 16:49.46, while Ceron Millan finished in 17:05.33 for second.

Red Raider senior Sean Heaton placed 69th among 116 total runners in the boys race with a time of 21:46.43.

Senior Maria Perez paced all runners for the Harvard Cardinals cross country team in action at the Franklin Invitational Thursday, Sept. 20, at the Franklin Country Club.

Perez, who ran without teammate Alyssa Ferguson in the meet, placed sixth overall with a time of 25 minutes, 52.94 seconds to earn the top 10 finish.

Elm Creek’s Cicely Gugelman earned the individual title with a winning time of 23:53.79, while Kearney Catholic’s Aadison Bellamy placed second with a time of 24:18.1.

For the Harvard boys, sophomore Micaiah Niemoth paced the Cardinals, placing 47th in a field of 77 runners with his time of 24:49.74, while Kyle Knueven placed 62nd with a time of 27:05.9.

Next up for the Cardinal runners is the Twin Valley Conference meet, which is hosted this year by the Cardinals.

The meet, set for Thursday, Sept. 29, will be run on the Crooked Creek Golf Course in Clay Center.