ANAMOSA — It wasn’t exactly a nightmare on Raider Street Friday, October 13, for the Anamosa football team hosting Western Dubuque, but it wasn’t a happy Homecoming either as the hosts were dealt a 28-0 loss by the Bobcats.

“It’s tough to take a look back at this one and find any kind of positive to build from,” said Anamosa football coach Jeff Kean after the blanking. “Our first pass play from scrimmage we fumble and they score a touchdown. That just kind of set the tone for the night and it wasn’t a very good one for us.”

Anamosa (1-6, 0-5) struggled getting the offense on track but did manage some early success against the Bobcat defense.

“We moved the football and did some nice things in the first half,” said Kean. “But as soon as we would get close to knocking on the door to score, we’d turn the football over and have to start all over again.”

Western Dubuque scored first in the first quarter when Jim Brown ended a Bobcat drive plowing into the Raider end zone with 5:18 remaining on the first quarter clock. After a Nate Ramler extra point, Anamosa was in a 7-0 hole.

“It wasn’t like we didn’t have our chances in this game,” said Kean. “We do a better job of taking care of the football, we are not only in this game with a chance to win, me maybe even win. Those turnovers we had hurt that much.”

The Bobcats took advantage of another Anamosa turnover and turned the takeaway into points when Brown scored again, less than a minute after his first touchdown.

ANAMOSA — Snow was actually falling out of the sky as the Anamosa girls lined up at beautiful, but bitter cold, Central Park Thursday, October 12, hosting the Tri-Rivers Conference cross country meet.

Just a week earlier, Raider runners were dealing with blistering heat but in the final run for Anamosa as a member of the Tri-Rivers Conference, runners were welcomed by 30-degree temperatures and 20-30 mile-per-hour wind gusts that plummeted wind chills into the teens.

“Overall I felt with Homecoming week and everything going on, our teams ran about where most picked they would,” said Anamosa cross country coach Phil Kauder. “On paper when I compared times, the North Linn girls were a little laster than I thought they’d be.”

The Anamosa boys placed second in the conference as Mitch Kelly and Justin Cook claimed all-conference honors. The Raider girls were third overall in the league with Cammy Dole and Kayla Sanborn claiming all-conference awards.

“I felt we could run well or even so so at conference and get second,” said Kauder of his boys’ team. “And we got second. As the Cascade coach stated at the meet, in the 40+ year he’s been coaching, this was the coldest regular season meet he had ever seen. Districts and state meet weather has been worse.”

Kelly led the Raider boys placing eighth overall and secured second-team all-conference honors with a time of 18:38 while Justin Cook also made the all-Tri-Rivers second team placing 10th in 18:54.

Mike Nissen ran his personal-best finishing 18th after crossing the finish line with a 19:32 clocking while Chris Miller exploded out of the gate at the start and wound up 20th with a time of 19:36.

Ryan Dolan weathered the cold and snowy conditions finishing 21st with a time of 19:41 with teammate Jacob Schwaegler adding a 33rd-place showing in 20:55.

Brice Antons rounded out the Raider varsity runners crossing the finish line with a time of 21:07 which was good enough for 34th at the conference get together.

WYOMING — Powered by a phenomenal running attack with an offensive line taking control of the line of scrimmage, the Midland football team rolled past visiting Springville Friday, October 13, in a 30-0 final.
“We wanted to stop Springville’s passing game and continue to be strong against the run too and we did both of those things,” said Eagle football coach Josh Bentley. “When we scored on our first drive, that was a big boost too but I felt they key to the game was scoring right off the bat in the second half. That showed we weren’t letting up.”

Midland (3-4, 3-3) pounded the football all game long with a punishing ground game led by Jed Holland, who scored the game’s first touchdown early in the first quarter shedding Oriole defenders on his way to a three-yard run to the goal.

Holland powered the Eagle ground game rushing for 189 yards on 28 carries while Current added 66 more on 12 attempts. For the game the hosts rushed for 304 yards while holding Springville to 171 yards of total offense.

Holland also paced the aggressive Eagle defense with 15 tackles with Current chipping in with eight more.

The Redhawks opened the scoring in the contest in the first quarter and appeared well on their way to a win when Shawn Beenken scored on a 12-yard run giving North Tama and quick advantage.

“When we came right back and scored, I think the kids realized they could play with this team,” said Fuhrmeister. “We started gaining more and more confidence and things just began rolling for us in the first half.”

The Lions scored themselves in the opening frame when Justin Lowinski hauled in a four-yard touchdown toss from Dan Inglis and after a Krister Vistnes extra point sailed deep through the up-rights, Olin and the district leaders were knotted at 7-7.

“We had played 12 minutes and we had more than held our own,” said Fuhrmeister. “Now the kids wanted more and they went out and took it in the second quarter.”

Inglis ended an Olin drive scoring on a one-yard touchdown plunge early in the second quarter then two possessions later, Justin Smith picked off a North Tama pass and raced 37 yards into the end zone for yet another Lion score.

With two quarters in the books, Olin was shocking the Iowa high school football state holding a 21-7 lead in a game they had dominated with spirited play on both sides of the football.

“This first half was unbelievable,” said Fuhrmeister. “We were able to move the football up and down the field against their defense and our defense was stopping them or at the very least, forcing turnovers and making big plays.”

WYOMING — Working through plays, possessions and points with the precision of a well oiled machine Monday, October 16, the Midland volleyball team advanced down the class 1A district playoff road after dismantling rival Olin in three quick games.

“Other than a couple of moments in each game, we played very well,” said Eagle volleyball coach Natalie Schurbon of her team’s district semi-final victory over the Lions. “Aubrey Walters had a great game and Keilani Fowler was also on.”

Midland (22-7) exploded out of the gate against the Loins and rolled to the 25-7, 25-15, 25-10 rout as six different Eagles slammed home kills with the hosts getting contributions from up and down the line-up.

Walters was sensational all match long recording 13 kills on 22 attacks while Fowler tallied 11 more kills punishing Olin at the offensive net.

Jessica Clark came through with five kills while Kayla Thordsen and Kassidy Schroeder each came through with two kills. Sammy Reid also added a kills for the offense.

Reid set 15 assists while Fowler and Clark each ripped home five kills at East Central. Walters swatted back two blocks while Clark ripped four services aces in the opening match triumph.

Against Camanche in the second match of the day, the Eagles were edged in a narrow 21-17, 20-22, 9-15 final.

“We were up 20-16 in the second game and thought we had it won,” said Schurbon. “Then we had a bad call that gave Camanche another chance and their quick hits and some serve receive errors on our part cost us the game. After that the girls couldn’t get focused and ended with a very tough loss.”

Fowler was phenomenal with 10 kills against the Indians on 19 attacks while Reid and Thordsen added five more each. Walters chipped in with three kills at the offensive net and five big solo blocks defensively.

Hansen was 10-of-10 serving while Emily Kleinsmith and Reid each ripped two service aces in the thriller. Reid also tallied 12 assists.

The final day of the tournament Thursday, October 12, saw Midland open against North Cedar in the Calamus-Wheatland gym and pulled away with a 21-14. 21-14 victory.

“We continued to serve well and the setters did a good job of moving the ball around at the hitters,” said Schurbon. “Our back row passing has been strong too.”

Fowler’s eight kills led the team against Clinton Prince of Peace while Clark tallied two more.