By John Rittenhouse
Two of the state’s best nine-man football teams squared off in Hills Friday.
Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth, the state’s seventh-ranked team in last week’s nine-man football poll, was pitted against No. 2 Westbrook-Walnut Grove in a game with Southwest Ridge Conference and state poll implications at stake.
Not only would the winner of the game gain extra consideration in the polls, the victor would take the outright lead in the SRC.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, who were playing their homecoming game, W-WG’s lofty standing in the polls was solidified during the battle. Although the Chargers were playing without their top running back (senior Darren Tietz), a deep pool helped W-WG prevail 31-13.
"They are a good team, there’s no doubt about that," said Patriot coach Dan Ellingson. "They gave us some opportunities. We just didn’t capitalize on them."
H-BC-E lost a pair of golden scoring opportunities in the game’s early stages that may have influenced the way the game panned out.
After a 52-yard kick return by Chris Reid to the W-WG 32-yard line to start the game, the H-BC-E offense had excellent field position.
The Patriots, however, squandered the opportunity when they lost the ball on downs.
H-BC-E’s offense received a second chance when W-WG fumbled the ball on its own 18 on the first play from scrimmage and Patriot Brant Deutsch recovered.
H-BC-E moved the ball from the 18 to the six, but a fourth-down pass was intercepted by W-WG to thwart the scoring threat.
The teams ended up playing a scoreless first quarter before erupting for a combined 25 points in the second stanza.
Isaiah Wahl led a W-WG rushing-attack that compiled 272 yards in the game with a 149-yard performance. He gave the Chargers a 6-0 lead when he scored on a four-yard run with 9:05 remaining in the first half. A failed conversion pass kept the score at 6-0.
H-BC-E finally broke through with a big offensive play during its next possession.
Facing a third-and-long situation on the H-BC-E 22, Patriot quarterback David Top tossed a screen pass to Reid. With some outstanding blocks down field, Reid turned the play into a 78-yard touchdown reception. When Eric Joens added the extra point, the Patriots had a 7-6 edge at the 7:58 mark of the second quarter.
H-BC-E’s lead didn’t last long.
W-WG scored 12 points before the second quarter was complete to start what ended up being a 25-0 surge that put the game out of reach for the hosts.
The Chargers responded to Reid’s big play by mounting a long drive that ended with Wahl hauling in a seven-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Baker with 4:38 remaining in the second quarter. Another failed two-point conversion attempt kept the difference at 12-7.
After forcing the Patriots to punt as the W-WG quarter progressed, they used the remaining time well to put together another scoring drive capped by a one-yard plunge by Wahl with 1:04 left to play in the first half. A failed conversion attempt followed, leaving the Chargers with an 18-7 lead.
W-WG extended its scoring run with a quick strike in the third quarter.
Wahl dashed into the end zone at the end of a 27-yard run with 3:37 left to play in the stanza. A failed conversion pass left the Chargers with a 24-7 cushion.
W-WG ended its 25-0 run with a touchdown at the 4:21 mark of the fourth quarter.
Alex Ourada, who ran the ball for 105 yards in the game, found pay dirt from two yards out before adding a successful extra point to make it a 31-7 game.
H-BC-E capped the scoring 2:06 later.
Top, who completed six passes for 145 yards during the clash, hit Chris Willers for a 27-yard score with 2:15 left to play. A two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful after the touchdown.
When the game was over, Ellingson was left to ponder what the game would have been like if the Patriots would have converted their first-quarter opportunities.
"If we could have gotten one of those two possessions in (the end zone), it might have been a different game," he said. "We had them on their heels in the first quarter, but we didn’t take advantage of it. You’ve got to take advantage of those situations against a good team because they don’t come too often."
H-BC-E will face another stiff test when it travels to Ivanhoe tomorrow to take on Lincoln HI. The Rebels and Patriots are tied for second place in the SRC with 3-1 records.

Team statistics
H-BC-E: 49 rushing yards, 145 passing yards, 194 total yards, eight first downs, four penalties for 37 yards, three turnovers.
W-WG: 272 rushing yards, 138 passing yards, 410 total yards, 23 first downs, five penalties for 58 yards, two turnovers.

Individual statistics
Rushing: Lyle DeBoer 16-28, Reid 9-31, Willers 1-minus three, Top 2-minus seven.
Passing: Top 6-16 for 145 yards.
Receiving: Willers 2-28, Lance Crawford 2-24, Reid 1-78, Brad Haak 1-15.
Defense: Crawford 12 tackles and one sack; DeBoer 10 tackles, Haak one fumble recovery, Deutsch one fumble recovery.

The Adrian-Edgerton cross country teams turned in some strong performances during the Marshall Invitational Monday.

After a rugged first week of the season that had the Harriers running in two hot meets while adjusting to the rigors of going back to school, A-E showed more readiness in Marshall that led to improved times and finishes.

The A-E boys finished fourth in a seven-team field, and the Harrier girls placed seventh out of eight teams.

"It was nice to see the kids get out of the back to school blahs," said Harrier coach Doug Petersen. "They were a lot more fired up for this meet. We ran really good races on both sides, and I was really happy with the way they ran. The weather was cooler, and the kids took advantage of it."

Jason Eickhoff led the Harrier boys to a fourth-place performance as a team by placing 11th overall with a time of 18:03.

Paul Honermann (25th in 18:31), Wade Ulmer (28th in 19:00), Jake Salter (29th in 19:03) and Josh Markl (34th in 19:16) contributed to A-E's team tally.

Derek Vastenhout (37th in 19:35) and Todd Alberty (48th in 20:23) didn't influence the varsity scoring.

Sarah Kruger helped the A-E girls place seventh by finishing 19th in 17:43.

Kelly Banck (31st in 18:14), Krissi Thier (36th in 18:21), Ashley Diller (40th in 18:36) and Lacey Heitkamp (43rd in 18:49) contributed to A-E's team effort.

Ashley Henning and Jessica Lynn placed 48th and 50th with respective times of 19:45 and 20:44 without influencing the scoring.

The A-E squads will compete at the Worthington Turkey Trot Saturday. Here is a look at the varsity team standings and the rest of A-E's individual results from the Marshall Invitational.

Varsity boys: Marshall 33, Canby-Minneota-Lincoln HI 57, Murray County Central 75, A-E 106, Worthington 117, Jackson County Central 126, Pipestone-Jasper 181.

Varsity girls: Marshall 40, Southwest Star Concept-Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster 77, MCC 83, Tracy-Milroy 105, JCC 113, C-M-LH 149, A-E 166, Worthington 169.

Junior varsity girls: Jamie Koehne, 38th, 22:04.

Junior varsity boys: Jesse Vande Kieft, 18:33, no place available; Paul Poppen, 18:37, no place available; Kelly Seeman, 19:22, no place available.

Junior high girls: Erika Fransen, 22nd, 8:55; Samantha Ferguson, 26th, 9:02; Abbey Henning, 31st, 9:19.

Junior high boys: Brandon Bullerman, eighth, 7:47; Joey Bullerman, 20th, 8:11; Marcus Uithoven, 38th, 10:23; Eldon Vaselaar, 39th, 12:28.

By John Rittenhouse
Adrian’s two-game football losing streak came to an end with a 42-6 homecoming rout of Minneota Friday.
After slipping to .500 for the season with a pair of road losses, the Dragons returned to their winning ways by playing an outstanding game on both sides of the ball against the Vikings.
Adrian’s offense produced a season-high 441 total yards, 384 of which came on the ground.
The Dragon defense limited Minneota to 186 yards and four first downs in the contest while taking the ball away from the Vikings two times.
"Our offense did a very good job," said Dragon coach Randy Strand. "We scored touchdowns with seven of our nine possessions. We were clicking on offense. Our defense did a good job, too. We gave up two big pass plays of 62 and 45 yards. Take those two plays away, and they had 79 yards of offense."
Adrian took control of the game by scoring with its first three offensive possessions and opening a 22-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Dragons received the opening kick and marched 61 yards in 10 plays for a 6-0 lead. Tyler Bullerman, who carried the ball 24 times for 129 yards in the contest, capped the drive with a two-yard touchdown plunge at the 7:23 mark of the period. A missed extra-point attempt followed.
A 21-yard punt return by Bullerman gave the Dragons excellent field position on the Viking 37 to start their second possession.
Three plays later, quarterback Mark Kroon raced 36 yards for a touchdown and Bullerman carried in the conversion to make it a 14-0 game at the 5:36 mark of the stanza.
A poor punt by Minneota gave the Dragon offense the ball on the Vikings’ 34 as the first period progressed.
Adrian covered the remaining yardage in five plays with Jared Henriksen scoring on a nine-yard run with 2:59 left in the period. Bullerman’s second conversion run made it a 22-0 game.
Minneota tried getting back into the game by moving the ball to the Adrian one-yard line before turning it over with a fumble that was recovered by Dragon Brian Wagner to thwart the scoring threat.
Adrian then advanced the ball 93 yards before having a touchdown pass negated by a clipping penalty. The Dragons ended up giving up the ball on downs.
The Dragons did get into the end zone moments later after Nick Voss blocked a Minneota punt and Brad Lonneman picked up the ball and carried it to the Vikings’ seven.
On second down, Seth Bullerman scored on a three-yard run. A missed extra-point attempt left the Dragons with a 28-0 lead at 2:28 left to play in the first half.
Minneota recorded its lone touchdown with 45 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
A seven-play, 73-yard drive ended by Wade Gillund tossing a four-yard touchdown pass to Josh Moe. A missed extra-point attempt followed.
The Dragons iced the game with a pair of long scoring drives in the second half.
After forcing Minneota to punt three plays into the third quarter, Adrian went on a seven-play, 73-yard drive that ended with Tyler Bullerman scoring on an 11-yard scamper. Matt Loosbrock’s extra point made the difference 35-6 at the 6:37 mark of the third quarter.
Adrian marched 61 yards in eight plays in the fourth quarter. Kroon found the end zone on a one-yard quarterback sneak before Loosbrock capped the scoring with an extra point.
Strand was pleased with his team’s performance while snapping its losing skid, but he wasn’t ready to say Adrian has turned things around with one victory.
"We’ll find out when we play in Slayton Friday. Murray County Central is 3-1 in the conference like us. They are a very big team," he said.
Game time is 7 p.m. in Slayton.

Team statistics
Adrian: 384 rushing yards, 57 passing yards, 441 total yards, 21 first downs, four penalties for 45 yards, zero turnovers.
Minneota: 45 rushing yards, 141 passing yards, 186 total yards, four first downs, four penalties for 35 yards, two turnovers.

Individual statistics
Rushing: T.Bullerman 24-129, Henriksen 10-71, S.Bullerman 7-38, Kroon 9-85, Levi Bullerman 4-13, Nate Bullerman 8-36, Kyle Dorn 1-5, Dusty Henning 2-3, Jason Say 1-4.
Passing: Kroon 5-9 for 57 yards, L.Bullerman 0-1 for zero yards.
Receiving: Lonneman 3-36, S.Bullerman 2-21.
Defense: Wagner six tackles and one fumble recovery, N.Bullerman six tackles, Dusty Spieker one fumble recovery, Voss one blocked punt.

By John Rittenhouse
Success in doubles competition proved to be the highlight of Luverne’s appearance at the annual Southwest Conference Tennis Meet played in Redwood Falls Thursday.
A pair of LHS doubles squads captured SWC championships, and another team placed second during the event.
Luverne’s titles came from the No. 1 team of Allana and Ashley Gacke and the No. 2 team of Gabe Van Dyk and Patricia Willers.
Seeded No. 3, the Gackes produced a surprise by winning the title at No. 1 doubles.
They beat Pipestone-Jasper’s Shana Haroldson and Shelly Ludolph by 7-5 and 6-4 scores in the quarterfinals before rolling to 6-1 and 7-6 victories over Redwood Valley’s No. 1-seeded team of Amanda Malecek and Olivia Schoffman in the finals.
Van Dyk and Willers were seeded No. 1 and backed the ranking while winning a pair of matches at No. 2 doubles.
They secured 6-3 and 6-2 wins over Marshall’s Ellie Ahmann and Missy Stassen in the quarterfinals before notching a pair of 6-1 victories over P-J’s Stephanie and Stacy Plahn in the championship match.
Cardinals Jenny Braa and Sarah Lange made a bid to take the title at No. 3 doubles before dropping a three-set match in the finals.
Seeded No. 1 for the event, the Luverne team posted 6-4 and 6-3 wins against Marshall’s Candice Grams and Lacy Scholten in the quarterfinals. Braa and Lange topped P-J’s Tory Hess and Vicki Van Vliet in the first set of the championship match before falling 7-5 and 7-6 in the final two sets.
Luverne secured a pair of third- and fourth-place performances in singles competition.
Amanda Aning was seeded fourth and placed third at No. 1 singles with a 1-1 record.
Rachel Tofteland was seeded second and placed third at No. 3 singles.
Chelsea Cronin drew the fifth seed and placed fourth with a 1-2 record at No. 4 singles.
Becky Antoine was seeded fourth and placed fourth at No. 2 singles with a 1-2 mark.
Luverne caps its regular season schedule by hosting Martin County West today.

Both teams were coming off home wins on Monday, but it was the Patriots who extended their winning streak by besting the Panthers 3-0.
The victory ups H-BC’s season record to 10-5. Ellsworth slips to 4-11-2.
The Patriots posted a pair of convincing wins to open the match before completing the sweep with a hard-fought win in Game 3.
H-BC got off to a great start by putting together a 10-0 run to start the match. Jamie Arp served two points and one ace, Becky Broesder served one point, one ace and had one kill, Erin Boeve had a kill and a block, Tonya Leenderts served an ace and LaDonna Sandstede served a point during the rally.
Ellsworth snapped the run when Holly Timmer served a point to make it 10-1, but the Patriots countered with a 5-2 run featuring kills by Shanna Tilstra and Broesder, one service point by Sandstede, and one point and an ace serve by Rachael DeHaan that gave them a 15-3 win.
H-BC led 2-1 in Game 2 before Tilstra served a point and registered a block, and Boeve had one kill, one block and an ace tip that gave the Patriots some separation with a 7-1 advantage.
After Julie Pommer served a point for the Panthers to make it 7-2, H-BC’s Jana Hup served two aces, Jody DeNoble served two aces and a point, and DeHaan added an ace serve during a 6-0 surge that gave the Patriots a commanding 13-2 lead.
Connie Lewis served two points and an ace to bring the Panthers within eight points at 13-5, but an ace serve by Tilstra and a point by Arp clinched a 15-5 win for H-BC.
Ellsworth got off to a good start in Game 3 with Lewis serving two points and an ace and Pommer recording a pair of kills to give the hosts a 5-0 cushion.
The Panthers were sporting a 6-2 lead when H-BC reeled off six straight points (two ace serves by Boeve, one kill and one block by Tilstra, and one service point each by DeNoble and Broesder) to gain an 8-6 lead.
H-BC still was leading by two points (13-11) when Boeve put away a 15-11 win with a kill and an ace tip.
"We played really well in the first two games," said Patriot coach Nicole Fey. "The kids came out and played real aggressively. They knew they were in a slump, and they wanted to change it by showing people what can happen when they play really hard."
For Ellsworth, which received six kills by Pommer and four blocks by Lewis, playing in three competitions in the past four days may have taken a toll on the team.
"I think our kids were shot," said Panther coach Ryan Nielsen. "We had games all day Saturday and one on Monday, and we were definitely missing something in this match. I don’t want to use that as an excuse, but I thought we could have played a lot better."
Tilstra and Boeve led the Patriots at the net with nine kills each, while DeNoble and Arp served eight and seven points respectively. Sandstede charted 24 set assists for the winners.
H-BC will compete at the Pipestone-Jasper Tourna-ment Saturday. Ellsworth hosts Edgerton tonight and Westbrook-Walnut Grove Monday before playing Faith Christian in Bigelow Tuesday.

After dropping a one-point decision to Litchfield Sept. 25, the Cardinals had a chance to make up for the loss with a game against a Marshall squad that had won one game entering Friday’s clash at Cardinal Field.
Instead of improving its position in the race for a SWC title, Luverne came back to the pack. Marshall scored 14 first-half points and never trailed in a game the Tigers eventually won by a 27-19 decision.
The loss left Luverne with a 2-1 conference mark, looking up at league unbeaten Jackson County Central in the standings. The setback has set the stage for what LHS coach Joel Swanson considers a must-win situation when the Cards travel to Redwood Falls tomorrow to meet a Redwood Valley team that takes a 1-3 conference mark into the game.
"We’re still in the conference race, but this will be a really big game for us. It’s gut-check time, and we’ll find out what we’ve got in our stomachs. What happens in this game probably will determine how the rest of our season will go," Swanson said.
The Cardinals will need to avoid the type of first half they experienced against Marshall in order to experience success in Redwood Falls.
Tiger senior Ben Wiener came up with a pair of big plays that gave Marshall a 14-0 halftime advantage.
A lost fumble ended Marshall’s opening possession of the game, but it needed only two plays to take the lead with its second possession. After a six-yard gain on first down, Wiener escaped for a 58-yard touchdown run at the 5:09 mark of the opening quarter. A missed extra-point attempt kept the score at 6-0.
Wiener’s second big play came when the Tigers were on defense in the second quarter.
Luverne had moved the ball inside Marshall’s 30-yard line when Cardinal quarterback James Fisher dropped back to pass. After being hit by a Tiger defender, the ball was jarred out of Fisher’s hands.
Wiener nabbed the ball out of the air and raced 74 yards for a touchdown with 5:30 remaining in the first half. A successful conversion pass made the difference 14-0.
Falling behind early in games has become a common trait for the Cardinals.
"We have to come out ready to play in the first quarter," Swanson said. "We’ve had bad starts in the first quarter all season, and we’ve got to turn that around. Maybe it’s my fault for not getting the kids ready to play, but I don’t know. For some reason we’re getting handled in the first quarter of our game, and we have to stop it."
Luverne dominated play in the third quarter while trimming Marshall’s lead to one point.
The Cards received the kick to start the second half and mounted an eight-play, 68-yard drive that ended with Zach Skattum scoring on a 10-yard run 3:31 into the third quarter. Fisher’s extra point cut Marshall’s lead in half at 14-7.
Luverne’s scoring drive featured two key penalties (10-yard pass interference infraction and a 15-yard face-masking penalty) on the Tigers.
The LHS defense kept the newly-gained momentum by forcing the Tigers to punt five plays into their initial possession of the second half.
The Luverne offense took over on its own 36 and covered 64 yards in seven plays before Tony Sandbulte scored from four yards away with 2:48 remaining in the third quarter.
A mishandled snap during the extra-point attempt led to an incomplete conversion pass, keeping the Tigers in front 14-13.
Luverne got the ball back when a Tiger receiver fumbled after a completed pass, and Sandbulte recovered the loose ball on the LHS 12 with 1:27 remaining in the third quarter.
The Cards picked up two first downs before giving the ball back to Marshall at the LHS 36 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Nine plays later, Tiger quarterback Sam Wiener tossed a six-yard touchdown pass to Travis Bredeson in the back of the end zone. A pass for the conversion fell incomplete, leaving the Tigers with a 20-13 cushion with 7:58 left to play.
After the Tiger defense forced LHS to punt three plays into its ensuing possession, Marshall put together a nine-play, 63-yard drive that was capped by Sam Wiener’s two-yard touchdown run with 3:21 remaining. Cody Vincent booted the extra point to increase the lead to 27-13.
As grim as the situation looked at that point, Luverne made a serious bid to knot the score in the final three minutes of the game.
With a 52-yard pass from Fisher to Andrew Norton moving the ball deep into Marshall territory, a six-play, 72-yard drive ended with Fisher tossing an 11-yard touchdown pass to Luke Iveland during a fourth-and-three situation with 1:47 left to play. A blocked extra-point attempt kept the Tigers in front, 27-19.
Luverne was unsuccessful in its attempt to recover an on-side kick, but the Cards got the ball back when Marshall fumbled three plays later and LHS defender Ryan Goebel recovered on Luverne’s 39 with 47 seconds left.
A five-yard penalty on the Tigers and a 12-yard reception by Jordan Papik moved the ball to the Marshall 44, but the threat ended when Bredeson picked off a Fisher pass with 35 seconds remaining.
"You have to give Marshall credit," Swanson said. "They came out and really took it to us in the first half. They did some really nice things, stepping up in a lot of situations and making the plays. That’s a credit to them, and we need to do more of that. We just made too many mistakes."

Team statistics
Luverne: 198 rushing yards, 153 passing yards, 351 total yards, 16 first downs, nine penalties for 80 yards, three turnovers.
Marshall: 119 rushing yards, 226 passing yards, 345 totla yards, 12 first downs, seven penalties for 66 yards, two turnovers.

Individual statistics
Rushing: Skattum 9-61, Fisher 7-52, Kyle Crable 13-38, Sandbulte 6-37, Brad Walgrave 2-7.
Passing: Fisher 9-20 for 153 yards.
Receiving: Iveland 5-77, Crable 2-12, Norton 1-52, Papik 1-12.
Defense: Skattum two sacks, Sandbulte one fumble recovery, Goebel one fumble recovery.

By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek had its way with Tri-County Conference rival Ellsworth during a volleyball match played in Ellsworth Tuesday.

By John Rittenhouse
The Luverne volleyball team experienced some ups and downs while playing a pair of road matches since last Thursday.
The Cardinals beat Worthington in a four-game match to record their first Southwest Conference win of the campaign Thursday, but they came up on the short end of a 3-0 score in Jeffers against Red Rock Central Tuesday.
Luverne, 8-7-1, is bracing for its busiest stretch of the season that includes competition in four of the next six days.
The Cards host Pipestone-Jasper and Martin County West today and Monday respectively. The Hull (Iowa) Western Christian Tournament is set for Saturday, and Luverne plays Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in Tyler Tuesday.

RRC 3, Luverne 0
A solid Falcon squad ended what was a two-match winning streak for LHS when the teams met in Jeffers Tuesday.
RRC, a talented team led by four strong seniors, outscored the Cards 45-28 during a three-game sweep.
"We played hard, but our weaknesses really showed up against a lot quicker team," said Cardinal coach Mary Jo Graphenteen. "We dug up a lot of balls, we served tough and we received serves fairly well. We just couldn’t score."
The match started in a promising way when the Cards took a 13-9 lead in Game 1, but the Falcons scored the next six points to pull out a 15-13 win.
RRC went on to post 15-5 and 15-10 wins in Games 2 and 2.
Susan Remme led LHS with eight kills. Tracey Scheidt, who was 13 of 14 serving, added six kills.

Luverne 3, Worthington 1
The Cardinal girls produced their first conference victory of the season when they bested the Trojans in a four-game match in Worthington Thursday.
Luverne came up on the short end of the first game of the clash, but the Cards raced to early leads in the next three games and won each contest to give them a 1-3 SWC record for the campaign.
"With the exception of the first game when we made a lot of mistakes, this was a really good match for us," said Cardinal coach Mary Jo Graphenteen. "We came back after that first game and did some really good things. I really felt we took another step forward in this match."
Worthington had its way in Game 1 by securing a 15-8 win, but the rest of the match belonged to LHS.
The Cards scored the first seven points in Games 2 and 3 while rolling to 15-5 and 15-10 wins.
Luverne scored the first five points of the fourth game and led 5-4 before outscoring the Trojans 10-5 the rest of the way to win 15-9.
"Our floor play is getting better," Graphenteen added. "We’re digging up a lot of balls and making them playable. Our serving was in the 90-percentile range, too. We’ve really improved a lot since the beginning of the season."
Susan Remme and Tracey Scheidt led the Cards at the net with 19 and seven kills respectively.
Scheidt was 20 of 22 serving with 14 points, and Brooke Lundgren was 20 of 21 with 13 counters.
Graphenteen said Emmy Bush filled in for the injured Emily Kuhlman as a middle hitter and did a nice job.

By John Rittenhouse
What had been a comfortable situation for the Luverne High School football team had turned into a desperate one at the conclusion of Friday’s homecoming game against Marshall.
After posting three straight wins to open the campaign, including two victories against the 1999 Southwest Conference co-champions (Windom and Worthington), Luverne’s season has soured.