ROCKWELL CITY (Sept. 14) -- The Harlan Community volleyball team worked its way back to the .500 mark Saturday with a strong showing at the South Central Calhoun “Master Blaster” Tournament in Rockwell City. Capped by an impressive 21-16, 23-21 sweep of seventh-ranked (3A) Kuemper Catholic, HCHS finished with a 4-2 match record (8-4 in sets) and placed second to the Knights (5-1) in the final round-robin team standings.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (Sept. 14) -- The Harlan Community girls placed six runners in the top 12 and picked up their second team title of the season Saturday morning with a score of 33 at the Lewis Central Cross Country Invite. Also competing at Iowa Western Community College were the AHSTW girls (fifth place, 126) and the HCHS boys (ninth place, 180).

 AVOCA (Sept. 13) -- The AHSTW football team was defeated by Westwood 21-7 in non-district action Friday night, falling to 1-2 on the season. The Vikings scored their only touchdown on a six-yard pass from Blake Holst to Michael Shiffer. Denver Pauley led the Viking offense with 111 rushing yards on 18 carries and Shiffer had 14 tackles on defense.

 MISSOURI VALLEY (Sept.

 SHENANDOAH (Sept.

 HARLAN (Sept. 13) -- After opening the season with two straight games on the road, the Harlan Community football team will finally play under the lights of historic Merrill Field Friday night in a 7 p.m. non-district contest against Carroll Public. Both teams are 1-1 overall. HCHS will be looking to play with “intensity and consistency,” according to interim head coach Todd Bladt, following two games that have sometimes lacked those traits.

 ELK HORN (Sept.

 COON RAPIDS (Sept. 9) -- The AHSTW girls claimed the top four medalists and scored a 17 to easily win the team title at Monday’s Coon Rapids-Bayard Cross Country Invite. Lady Vike senior Ryann Portch won the girls race in 24:41 at the Coon Rapids Country Club, followed by Julia Kock in second place (26:14), Jade Draman in third (27:03) and Holly Hoepner in fourth (27:40).

 LAKE CITY (Sept. 7) -- The IKM-Manning volleyball team finished with a 2-4 record at last Saturday’s South Central Calhoun Tournament, playing some of its best ball at the end of the day. The Wolves were defeated in straight sets by Audubon (11-21, 14-21), South Central Calhoun (14-21, 15-21) and South Hamilton (17-21, 16-21) and also lost a three-setter against Pocahontas Area (21-18, 14-21, 13-15).

 MISSOURI VALLEY (Sept. 7) -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton opened its volleyball season last Saturday by finishing with a 1-4 match record at the Missouri Valley Lady Red Tournament. The Spartans scored a 22-20 21-13 victory over Woodbine while losing 0-2 matches vs. Mo.

 UNDERWOOD (Sept. 6) -- Senior quarterback Nick Ravlin threw a touchdown pass to four different Underwood receivers and accounted for 282 yards of total offense last Friday as the Eagles shut out IKM-Manning 42-0 in non-district football action. Underwood (2-0) scored 21 points in each half and came up with five takeaways on defense.

 SHENANDOAH (Sept.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (Sept.

 SERGEANT BLUFF (Sept.

 EXIRA (Sept. 6) -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton football team evened its non-district record at 1-1 Friday night with an exciting 46-44 home win over Sidney. Spartan senior Creighton Nelson set the tone for a monster evening on the very first play as he took back the opening kickoff for a 70-yard touchdown.