ANAMOSA — Raider football coach Matt Malausky couldn’t have scripted the way his Anamosa team won their first game of the 2007 season any better than the way it actually played out Friday, October 5, hosting Clear Creek-Amana.

“Well, maybe I would have scripted it with a little less of the drama to help my heart,” said Malausky as the Raiders pulled out an amazing and thrilling 37-36 victory over the visiting Clippers. “But that sure made it fun there at the end.”

Anamosa (1-5, 1-3) used a 24-yard field goal by Sean Corpstein with just 24.8 seconds remaining on the fourth quarter clock to erase a 36-34 Clear Creek-Amana lead and allowed the hosts to pull out the thrilling one-point triumph.

After the Raider defense held the Clippers down on their last-gasp attempt to move the football down the field in the game’s final seconds, Anamosa students stormed the field and celebrated with players as the Raider football team basked in the glow their first victory.

“Once the football split the uprights, it was just an amazing feeling,” said Malausky. “We still had some football yet to play and some plays yet to make, but at that exact moment, it was just a feeling I can’t explain or put into words. It’s still amazing.”

The Raiders trailed the entire second half until the final 24.8 seconds and used clutch defensive stops and crucial offensive plays to make the comeback to win.

“This was a full team effort,” said Malausky. “Without everyone’s contributions, we do not win this game. It took every guy who stepped out there onto the field giving it all they had, and in some cases, beyond all they had, for us to come back and win a game I know I’ll never forget, and I’m sure it’s the same for the kids too.”

After the two teams played to a 28-28 halftime tie, Clear Creek-Amana came out in the third quarter and took a quick lead when quarterback Michael Pitlick completed a 15-yard scoring strike to Josh Showalter giving the Clippers a lead. After a successful two-point attempt by the visitors, the Raiders were staring at a 36-28 deficit.

“With the way the first half went with both teams marching up-and-down the field, I thought we’d be able to come back and score no problem,” said Malausky. “But the game really settled down in the final two quarters and getting into the end zone all of a sudden wasn’t quite as easy for either side.”

ANAMOSA — The 2007 season has been a struggle for the Anamosa volleyball team this fall, but the Raiders’ home slate came to an ominous end Thursday, October 4, hosting Vinton-Shellsburg.

“It was Senior Night and we lose Dakota with a possible torn ACL at the beginning of game one,” said Anamosa volleyball coach Angie Lawrence who loses the services of the star senior for the rest of the season. “Dakota is such a leader on the floor and losing her is tough. But when adversity shows it’s face, that’s when you truly see the character of the players.”

Anamosa struggled mightily against the Vikings dropping a 5-25, 4-25, 8-25 match as players scrambled to learn new positions, take up some of the slack and adjust without Ahrendsen on the floor.

“Since DK is the setter and Steph Thompson is the off-setter, Steph became the setter for the rest of the match,” said Lawrence. “She stepped into that role with confidence and did a good job. For a sophomore who is a defensive specialist to just embrace the challenge and take it was wonderful to see.”

OLIN — It wasn’t the kind of match Lion volleyball coach Hillary Sauer had envisioned for her team when her alma-mater Midland came visiting Tuesday, October 2.

“I really thought we were two evenly matched teams, and this match would most likely go down to a fifth game with the team making the fewer mistakes winning the match,” said Sauer. “But as it turned out, we lost our confidence early on and made far too many mistakes to even make this a four-game match. That was the most disappointing thing about this match. We didn’t give Midland our best effort and got swept by a team I think we could have beaten if we’re on playing our best.”

Olin (10-11, 4-4) played well early and appeared to have the first game in hand before a late Midland run handed the visitors a key 25-19 win and kept the momentum rolling completing the sweep over the Lions after taking the final two games with 25-22 scores each.

“We deflated after that game-one loss,” said Sauer. “We still had our chances to win the last two games but didn’t play with the same energy and focus needed to beat a good team like Midland. If we do that, we win.”

The Lions held a 22-19 lead in the second game only to see the Eagles rally and claim the game’s final six points to win. In the third game the Lions trailed 24-17 and went on a run to trim the Midland lead to 24-22 before the visitors scored the final point to leave town with the Big East win.

Kalli Hansen topped the Lions with 14 kills and also added 18 digs and five blocks. Danielle Frederick helped out with six kills and swatted back six Eagle shots in the match while Roxanne Stolte set 10 assists. Kelli Bean added five assists while Torrie Minnaert was a perfect 9-of-9 serving with Makenzie Ginn adding a 7-of-7 serving contest.