Sports

The path to Sandy Creek’s second win of the 2019 volleyball season was no easier on Thursday, Oct. 3, as the Cougars fell in a pair of competative matches at Centura High School.

Minden would take a 27-25, 25-17 victory over the Cougars, while the host Centurions claimed a 25-17, 25-17 win, leaving Sandy Creek with a 1-20 record on the year.

Maryn Martin, against Minden, put up 18 assists, with Jaden Claycamp taking advantage of Martin’s sets, as Claycamp gained a team high eight kills against the Whippets.

Claycamp also led in aces with two, while Martin added one.

From her libero spot, Caileigh Tripe gained a team high 13 digs, while Leah Hatch had 12 block assists in the loss.

Sandy Creek vs. Minden

Sandy Creek............................................ 25 17 Minden ....................................................27 25

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A tough Southern Nebraska Conference loss at home to the Fillmore Central Panthers has left the Sutton Fillies with a 8-10 record, as the Panthers downed Sutton 25-21, 25-15, 25-12 Tuesday, Oct. 1.

Nine service errors, along with 17 hitting errors didn’t help the Fillies in the match, as Sutton was 41-50 in the service lane (82%), while going 69-86 at the net (80.2%).

Tara Overturf collected a team high three ace serves, while Kylie Baumert, Reagan Vavricek and Dayvie Perrien added one ace each.

Baumert and Vavricek combined for 14 of the Filles’ 23 kills, as Baumert gained eight and Vavricek, six.

Baumert also led in blocks with three, whil Kate Griess led in assists with 11. Overturf added eight assists, while in digs, Perrien, the Fillies libero, collected 15, with Vavricek gaining nine.

Sutton vs. Fillmore Central

As the old saying goes, “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” and that feeling has surrounded the Sandy Creek football team this week, as the Cougars fell just short of their third win of the season, falling to once beaten Doniphan-Trumbull, 14-13, this past Friday.

Outside of a 44-6 loss to Shelby-Rising City in week two of the season, Sandy Creek has had narrow misses with the Cardinals this week, as well as a five-point loss to Fillmore Central and a six-point loss to Hastings St. Cecilia.

If the crystal ball had tweaked a play here or there throughout the season, Sandy Creek could easily be 5-1.

But as the cards fell, the Cougars’ one point loss Friday night came down to a missed two-point conversion, leaving the Cougars on the short end again against the Cardinals.

An offensive explosion was expected in Friday night’s clash with the Kearney Catholic Stars, and that pre-game expectation didn’t leave fans from either school disappointed, as Sutton and the Stars combined for 817 total yards. However, it was what showed on the scoreboard as the final buzzer that left the Mustangs and their fan base disappointed, as the Stars, behind a 17-0 second quarter run, handed Sutton their first loss of the 2019 campaign, dropping Sutton to 5-1 with a 27-14 win over the Mustangs.

The Stars held a 410-407 total yard advantage. Sutton piled up 345 rushing yards and 62 passing yards.

Kearney Catholic chewed up 275 rushing yards and added another 135 passing yards to capture the win.

The Stars’ leading rusher, Cale Conrad, who had 150 yards on the ground, broke open the scoring with a 43 yard jaunt into the end zone, before Sutton junior quarterback, Cade Wiseman answered with a 73-yards sprint into the end zone.

Tuesday, Oct. 1, would see the Harvard volleyball team secure wins over Elba and Wilcox-Hildreth in two sets each.

Against Elba, Harvard took leads of 25-15 and 25-11 for the 2-0 win. The Cardinals drilled 21 kills, compared to Elba’s eight, with Morgan Juranek leading with nine. Paisley Longoria earned four kills, while Alyssa Julich and Delaney Gaughen had three each.

Harvard recorded five aces, via Riley Mcaleese with three, and Morgan Mewhiter and Juranek with one each.

Mewhiter lead the Cards in digs with 10. Other leaders were Amiee Jones and Ashley Nierman with five, and Mcaleese, Michell Rodriguez, and Ella Mezzcappa with four each. In total, Harvard had 37 digs.

Mcaleese also led in assists with eight of Harvard’s total 18. Mezzcappa came in behind her with seven. Rounding out assists were Juranek, Longoria, and Julich with one each.

Harvard vs. Elba

The Harvard Cardinals, the top ranked football team in 6-Man football in the state of Nebraska, proved their worthiness of having that ranking Friday, Oct. 4, as the high flying Cardinals scored the game’s first 36 points to take down previously unbeaten Heartland Lutheran of Grand Island, 60-14, in an afternoon matinee on the Cardinals’ home field.

As impressive as the Cardinals’ offense continues to be, it was perhaps a suffocating defense that set the tone in this challenge.

The Cardinals fought off an early onside kick by the Red Hornets, and for the game held Heartland Lutheran to a mere six yards rushing, while allowing just 10 pass completions for 165 yards in the effort to retain the top ranking in Class D6 and roll into this Friday night’s bout at Red Cloud with a 6-0 record.

Despite having five turnovers, the Hastings St. Cecilia Bluehawks were able to snap a two-game losing streak at Duncan Field in Hastings by stealing a six point, 13-7 win from the Sandy Creek Cougars.

The Bluehawks had four interceptions and one fumble, but, after trailing the Cougars 7-0 at halftime, St. Cecilia scored on a 78-yard pass play in the third quarter to even the game at 7-7, before a fourth quarter 23-yard run would seal the six-point win for the host Bluehawks.

Senior quarterback Connor Crumbliss accounted for the Cougars lone score in the second quarter, as Crumbliss sprinted 20 yards into the end zone, and with a Rodney Mc-Donald extra-point kick, gave the Cougars the upper hand through the first half.

Harvard traveled to Giltner Sept. 24 to take on the Hornets, falling in three sets.

Giltner took the first and second-set wins with a 25-14 score, finishing with the third win by 15 points, 25-10.

Harvard’s attack fell short to Giltner, with 13 kills, led by junior Morgan Juranek, whereas Giltner collected 25 kills.

Juniors Ashley Nierman, Ella Mezzcappa, and Michell Rodriguez had perfect serves with three each, as Harvard was 82.1 percent serving, securing two aces, both coming in from Juranek.

Although Harvard was unable to secure any blocks, they did tally 48 digs, 14 of which came from Nierman. Other dig leaders were freshman Aimee Jones, eight, and six each from Rodriguez and sophomores Morgan Mewhiter, and Delaney Gaughen.

Harvard earned 13 assists, led by senior Morgan Whetstine-Jones, eight. Receiving the ball, the Cardinals bumped back 55, compared to Giltner’s 16.

Sutton’s Kevin Perrien, who captured top honors in the first two weeks of the Clay County News’ Pigskin Picks, returned to the top of the heap in week five, as Perrien, by way of the tie-breaker edged out Sutton’s Amy Skalka, as both missed just one game, with both selecting Pleasanton to beat Overton, when actually, Overton recorded a 44-32 win over Pleasanton.

Perrien missed the tie-breaker by eight points, while Skalka missed by 12, as Ohio State’s 48-7 win over Nebraska totalled 55 points. Perrien said that 63 points would be scored, while Skalka predicted that 67 points would be score.

In the challenge for third place, four contestants, Matt Maser of Grand Island, Roman Skalka of Deweese and Mike Schroetlin and Ryan Jones, both of Sutton, all missed two games. It would be Maser that gained the third-place spot, missing the tie-breaker by 10 points. Skalka missed by 11, Schroetlin by 12, and Jones by 13.

A tough day of action for the Sandy Creek volleyball team would see the Cougars fall to 1-17 on the year, as Adams Central, Doniphan-Trumbull and Boone Central claimed straight sets wins over the SC girls in action at the Adams Central Invite Saturday, Sept.

28.

Adams Central handed the Cougars a 25-17, 25-14 setback, as Sandy Creek was held without an ace in the match.

Jaden Claycamp connected for six kills, while Maryn Martin put up eight assists, as the Cougars were 28-31 serving, and had seven hitting errors in 28 attempts.

Match two of the day would produce a 25-14, 25-16 win for Doniphan-Trumbull.

Senior Makenzie Dane gained the lone two aces of the match for Sandy Creek, while Claycamp again led in kills with seven. Kristyn Sherbeck added three kills, as the Cougars were 50-64 at the net

(78.1%). In the service lane, SC was 23-25 (92%).