GUTHRIE CENTER (Aug. 24) -- IKM-Manning scored four touchdowns in the opening 16 minutes and cruised past ACGC 35-0 in last Friday’s season-opening football game. The Wolves’ five touchdown drives averaged just four plays and covered 53 yards or less, including a one-play, two-yard series in the second quarter. Stephen Grimm opened the scoring by catching a 48-yard pass from Kyler Rasmussen and later added a 13-yard TD run.

 HARLAN (Aug.

 HARLAN (Aug. 25) -- The Harlan Community volleyball team started off strong but struggled to the finish line of Saturday’s eight-hour Cyclone Tournament, opening the season with a 3-3 record and a sixth-place finish. HCHS won its first three matches of the day, including a hard-fought 21-19, 21-19 decision over eventual champion Tri-Center, before losing 2-0 decisions vs.

 GLENWOOD (Aug.

 SHENANDOAH -- Chloe Falkena and Julia Kock both placed in the top six last Tuesday (Aug. 21) as the AHSTW cross country teams opened the season at the Shenandoah Early Bird Invite. No team scores were kept, but the AHSTW girls unofficially finished second to Shenandoah (39) with a point total of 61. Falkena placed fifth out of 62 girls with a five-kilometer time of 22:28 while Kock was close behind with a sixth-place time of 22:32.

 EXIRA (Aug.

 HARLAN (Aug. 24) -- Twenty-five days after starting football camp in late July, Harlan Community is set to open the 2018 season Friday night against the Denison-Schleswig Monarchs. The varsity game will kick off at 7:00 p.m. at Merrill Field (note the new start time), preceded by a freshmen game at 4:15.

 MANNING (Aug. 24) -- The IKM-Manning football team will become quite familiar with state highways 71 and 20 during the next two years as it joins the newly-aligned Class A, District 2 starting this fall. IKM-M is by far the southern-most school in the six-team league, which also includes Sioux Central (7-3 last year, Class A playoff qualifier), Ridge View (6-3), Manson-Northwest Webster (4-5), St.

 AVOCA (Aug.

 HARLAN -- Glancing at the preseason depth chart for the 2018 Harlan Community football team, it’s difficult to find a position group that doesn’t feature at least some level of returning talent. In all, the Cyclones bring back nine players on offense and seven on defense who started at least part-time for last year’s 10-2 Class 3A state semifinalist - a team that nearly pulled off an incredible comeback from down 35-0 in a 41-39 UNI-Dome loss

Cyclones’ New Home: Class 3A, District 9 Every two years, the Iowa High School Athletic Association reclassifies the state’s football schools according to enrollment size and issues new district assignments.

 HARLAN (Aug. 25) - Three state-ranked teams will be in the field this Saturday when Harlan Community opens the season by hosting the annual Cyclone Volleyball Tournament. Play will begin at 8:30 a.m. with three pools of three teams each. Pool A will feature HCHS, 8th-ranked (2A) Tri-Center and Underwood on the south court of the high school.

 AVOCA -- AHSTW will host seven other teams Saturday for the season-opening Lady Vike Invitational at 8:30 a.m. The tournament will begin with pool play. In Pool A in the high school gym, AHSTW will compete against CAM, Denison-Schleswig and Essex. Pool B, in the elementary gym, will feature Atlantic, Thomas Jefferson, Earlham and Riverside.

 GLENWOOD -- The Harlan Community cross country team will open the season Saturday by competing in the Glenwood Ram Invite at 9:30 a.m.

 HARLAN -- The tradition continued for the Harlan Community baseball team this summer as yet another season ended on the final Saturday of July. Playing in their fourth consecutive Class 3A state championship game - and the sixth in 11 years - the Cyclones capped a 33-4 season by facing state power Davenport Assumption in the title game. The top-seeded Knights got the best of HCHS for the second straight year, defending their crown with an 11-