ELK HORN (Sept. 20) -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton volleyball team lost a pair of Rolling Valley Conference matches last week vs. CAM and at Coon Rapids-Bayard. The Cougars swept the Spartans 25-11, 25-9, 25-12 on Tuesday night (Sept. 18) in Elk Horn. Two nights later, Exira-EHK won a set but was defeated 3-1 at Coon Rapids-Bayard (25-20, 12-25, 18-25, 16-25), dropping to 1-4 in the RVC and 1-17 overall.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (Sept.

 CRESTON (Sept.

 ADEL (Sept. 21) -- What a difference a year makes; or a month, for that matter. When glancing through Harlan Community’s 2018 football schedule in August, the Week 5 district opener at Adel-DeSoto-Minburn was not necessarily the attention grabber that it is today. The Tigers finished 1-8 last season, including a 55-7 loss in Harlan.

 WALL LAKE (Sept. 14) -- East Sac County scored two touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions in the fourth quarter last Friday night to rally past IKM-Manning, 16-14, in the final non-district game for both teams. The Wolves and Raiders will both enter district play with a 2-2 overall record. IKM-Manning, which finished with just 163 total yards, led 14-0 at halftime but was unable to score the rest of the way.

 MARTENSDALE (Sept. 14) -- The AHSTW football team beat Martensdale-St. Marys 65-8 last Friday night despite running just 25 plays from scrimmage. Let that sink in for a moment. Eight of those 25 offensive snaps went for touchdowns to go along with a 90-yard kickoff return TD by Drake Partridge. The 3rd-ranked (Class A) Vikings (4-0) averaged 15 yards per play and outgained the Blue Devils 378-113 in total offense.

 EXIRA (Sept. 14) -- Senior quarterback Josh Pettepier completed 24-of-31 passes for 336 yards and two touchdowns last Friday night as Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton stayed unbeaten with a commanding 51-20 win over Glidden-Ralston in a matchup of unbeaten football teams. The 2nd-ranked Spartans improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in 8-Player, District 8 and currently own a one-game advantage on six teams at 1-1.

 GLENWOOD (Sept. 15) -- Harlan Community won its final two matches of the day to win the bronze pool of last Saturday’s Red Oak Volleyball Tournament, which was moved to Glenwood because of renovations at the Red Oak school. HCHS finished with a 2-4 match record on the day (4-9 in sets), with all four losses coming against teams rated in the top 10 of their class. In the first round of pool play, the Cyclones lost to No.

 HARLAN (Sept. 14) -- With 6:20 left in the first half Friday night, Harlan Community found itself in a 7-7 deadlock with Atlantic.

 CARROLL (Sept.

 HARLAN (Sept. 13) -- It wasn’t always pretty, but the Harlan Community volleyball team managed to even its Hawkeye Ten record at 2-2 here Thursday night with a three-set sweep of Atlantic, 27-25, 25-13, 25-22. HCHS (8-8 overall) survived a hard-fought opening set, then finished set two on a 15-4 surge. The Cyclones took a dominating 15-2 lead in set three before struggling down the stretch.

 AVOCA (Sept.

 CARROLL (Sept. 11) -- The Harlan Community volleyball team got swept Tuesday night, but not without challenging top-ranked (3A) Kuemper Catholic in all three sets of a 20-25, 21-25, 18-25 Hawkeye Ten defeat. Just three days after losing to the Knights 11-21, 9-21 in the South Central Calhoun Tournament, HCHS showed a lot more fight in Kuemper’s home gym. Set one was tied 19-all before the Knights scored six of the last seven points.

 STORM LAKE (Sept. 11) -- The Harlan Community girls cross country team moved up eight spots to No. 4 in this week’s 3A state rankings, then went out and backed it up with authority at Tuesday’s Storm Lake Invite. Placing all seven varsity runners between sixth and 21st, the Cyclones posted a winning score of 55 to hold off eighth-ranked Spencer (60) and No. 2 Le Mars (76) in the final team standings.

 AVOCA (Sept. 11) -- Sophomore Chloe Falkena earned a 13th-place medal and four of her teammates finished in the top half of the field here Tuesday as the AHSTW girls cross country team claimed third place in their annual home meet at the Avoca Golf and Country Club. Atlantic won the girls’ team title with a score of 28, led by individual champion Taylor McCreedy and four other Trojans in the top 10.