Sports

The Sandy Creek volleyball team gained their second win of the year during action in the Cougars’ home tournament Saturday, Sept.

10. In the tournament, Ravenna downed SC 25-13, 25-13 in the first round, before the Cougars swept Arcadia/Loup City 25-23, 25-13 to advance to the third-place game. Superior tripped up the SC girls 25-13, 25-18 in the battle for third. Earlier in the week, Centennial gained a 25-22, 25-19, 25-14 win on the Cougars home floor. The left picture above shows the Cougars excitement after the two-game sweep of Arcadia/Loup City, while at the right, Lexi Shuck receives this serve successfully as Emma Fisher and Ella Martin

(8) look on during the play. Sandy Creek was to host Thayer Central this past Tuesday night, Sept. 13, before heading to Fairbury this Saturday, Sept. 17, to take part in the Fairbury Invite, beginning at 9 a.m. Sandy Creek will then head to Central City Tuesday, Sept.

Harvard’s Volleyball team headed to the High Plains tournament Saturday, Sept. 10, competing against McCool Junction, St. Edward, and Heartland Lutheran.

In game one against McCool Junction, the Mustangs earned a two-set win over the Cardinals, 25-7 and 25-19.

Taylor Braun and Zahna Reutzel led in kills with three and two, respectively. In assists and digs, Aimee Whetstine-Jones led with seven and six.

Harvard vs. McCool Junction

Harvard.......................................................... 7 19 McCool Junction............................................ 25 25

Game two’s bout between Harvard and St. Edward saw the Cardinals gain a first-set win, 25-19, before St. Edward came back for wins in the final two sets, 25-15 and 25-20.

Braun again led in kills with seven, while Hannah Harms and Reutzel earned two each.

Whetstine-Jones had four digs, while Braun added two blocks against St. Edward.

Sutton’s Ryan Jones stood atop the standings in the second week of the Clay County News’ Pigskin Picks, as Jones was the lone contestant to miss four games, in a week that was full of some major upsets in the high school and college ranks.

Each of the 17 contestants this week missed the Nebraska- Georgia Southern game, as the Eagles pulled the 45-42 major upset win over the Huskers.

Following Jones was Gabe Skalka, missing five picks while Erin Huber claimed third place over Sutton educator Randy Ahrens by way of the tie-breaker. Both Huber and Ahrens missed six picks, but Huber picked the tie-breaker total of 54 points right on the money, as Exeter-Milligan/Friend defeated Sandy Creek 36-18 for a total of 54 points. Ahrens predicted that 78 points would be scored, missing by 24 points.

Harvard’s two cross country teams took to the road again last week to take part in the Milford Invitational Thursday, Sept. 8, at Doane University in Crete.

For the girls, Alyssa Ferguson and Maria Perez finished in the top 20, in a field of 43 total runners.

Ferguson placed 17th overall with her time of 24 minutes, 27.28 in the 5,000-meter race, while Perez placed 19th with a time of 25:04.30.

Minden senior Jessie Hurt claimed gold with a winning time of 20:50.15.

On the boys side of the meet, sophomores Micaiah Niemoth and Kyle Knueven placed 62nd and 65th, respectively in the field of 71 runners.

Niemoth finished the 5,000-meter race with a time of 24:18.72, while Knueven finished in a time of 25:07.09.

The Cardinals will compete at the Fillmore Central Invite on the Hidden Hills Country Club course in Geneva. Races begin at 5 p.m., Thursday.

For the first two weeks of the 2022 season, Sutton’s defensive efforts on the field got the Mustangs in trouble. Finally on a night that the Mustang defense was rolling, a late defensive miscue cost Sutton dearly, as a 73-yard touchdown run by the visiting Hi-Line Bulls cost the Mustangs their first win in the Mustangs’ annual homecoming battle.

The Bulls, a cooperative team between the Elwood and Eustis-Farnam school districts broke loose at the 4:21 mark of the fourth quarter to gain the eventual 12-8 win.

Sutton, who took a 2-0 lead into the second quarter following a safety late in the opening quarter, and who saw sophomore running back Gabe Gwennap score on a three-yard run with 8:58 to go in the second for an 8-0 lead wouldn’t go away after the Bulls’ fourth-quarter score for a 12-8 lead.

Sutton marched the ball to the Hi-Line 15 on the back of senior quarterback Myles Jones with 1:45 to go in the game.

Sophomore Rowan Jarosik earned his second win in as many meets this year, capturing a big win in action at the Fairbury Invitational Thursday, Sept. 8, at Fairbury High School. Jarosik, who cruised to the meet title in Superior Sept. 1, outdistanced second-place runner Carter Siems of Tri County by nearly 15 seconds, with the Sandy Creek sophomore running to a title time of 17 minutes, 58.37 seconds, trimming nearly one full minute off of his winning time at the Superior Invite Sept. 1.

Siems finished the 5,000-meter race in a time of 18:13.97. Senior Sean Heaton completed the Fairbury race in 72nd place, in a field of 113 total runners with his time of 23:18.60.

No girls competed for the Red Raiders at Fairbury.

FILLMORE CENTRAL INVITE IS NEXT

The Red Raiders will compete at the Fillmore Central Invite on the Hidden Hills Country Club course in Geneva. Races begin at 5 p.m.

Three first-quarter Xavier Marburger touchdowns, along with a pair of Cody Fishler extra point kicks was all that was needed in the end to help the Harvard Cardinals improve to 2-0, after holding off a late Meridian Mustangs rally to post a 29-16 victory Friday, Sept. 9, near Daykin.

Marburger, fresh off a 292-yard performance in Harvard’s 55-25 win over Santee in week one of the season, throttled the Mustangs for 201 rushing yards on 17 carries to help spur on the Cardinals unbeaten start.

Marburger also gained Harvard’s lone score in the third quarter to give the Cardinals a 29-2 lead halfway through the third frame.

Meridian closed the gap to 29-8 with three minutes to go in the third and added another score early in the fourth quarter, before the Harvard defense buckled down and shut down the Mustangs’ late threat to preserve the 29-16 win.

For the first time since joining the Friend volleyball invitational in 2017, the Sutton Fillies came home as team champions Saturday, Sept. 10, defeating Exeter- Milligan, Tri County, and Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family for the title.

In the opener, the Fillies swept the Timberwolves of Exeter-Milligan for the second time this year. Sutton defeated E-M 25-13, 25-15, 25-19 during each teams season opener Aug. 25.

Saturday’s opening match win came by the scores of 25-20, 25-17.

Freshman Kyla Griess led the team in aces with two, while Lily McCroden and Reagan Robinson both had one ace. As a team, Sutton had just three errors in 49 total attempts (93.9%).

Junior Carly Skalka and senior Alivia Huxoll led the attack at the net, with Skalka gaining six kills and Huxoll five, while Jacee Haight and Kennedy Perrien both added three kills in the win.

Sutton hit at a .1818 clip while converting on 45 of 55 total attacks (81.8%).

Grand Island Central Catholic, the top-ranked volleyball team in Class C-1, proved its worth in triangular action at Sutton Thursday night, Sept. 8. The Crusaders handed the Sutton Fillies, the sixth-ranked team in Class C-2, their first loss of the young volleyball season, downing Sutton in straight sets, 25-10, 25-20.

All wasn’t sour, however, for the Fillies, as Sutton did an about-face and got back on the winning trail by claiming a three-set win over Doniphan-Trumbull in the nightcap, beating the Cardinals 25-21, 19-25, 25-17 to set their record at 7-1, as they headed into action at the Friend Invitational this past Saturday, Sept. 10.

Sutton’s downfall against Central Catholic proved to be the commitment of errors. The Fillies had 16 hitting errors and four service errors, and hit in the negative to aid the Crusader’s victory.

Sutton gained just 13 kills in all, while converting

Sandy Creek junior Karlee Sherman makes a hit attempt in the Cougars’ two-set loss against BDS in action at Shickley. Sherman and her teammates, however, bounced back from the losses to BDS and Sutton this past Thursday night in triangular action in Henderson by taking a 15-21, 25-23 win over Heartland to gain their first win of the season. Sandy Creek also dropped a 25-23, 25-27, 21-25 decision to Wilber-Clatonia in Henderson. Sandy Creek heads into week three of the season with a 1-4 record. No additional stats were provided again this week for the Sandy Creek matches.