Eagles go 2-2 in their portion of tournament

Volleyball

     Midland hosted its annual invitational tournament Sept. 5. Due to COVID-19 concerns, the 10-team event was split into two, with five of the teams competing in Monticello and the other five in Wyoming.

     The Eagles (2-11) went 2-2 in a five-team, round robin format, starting with a 21-14, 21-15 win over Calamus-Wheatland.

     Against Cal-Wheat, Allison Paulsen had six kills, Alyssa Streets had five and Arianna Hacke had four. Hope Saroka made seven assists, and Madisyn Kreel had six. Ella Rupp had 10 digs. Hacke had four blocks.

     The Eagles then lost to Central City 12-21, 9-21. Midland had 15 digs, led by Gracie Harrington with five and Allison Paulsen with three. Paulsen also had two kills.

     Midland bounced back to defeat Morningstar Academy 21-5, 21-9. The Eagles had 13 kills in that match, led by Hacke with five and Allison Paulsen with three Saroka made seven assists, and served 10-for-11 with two aces. Hacke had six digs, and Saroka had five.

     The final match was a three-set loss to Lone Tree by scores of 16-21, 25-23, 10-15. Kreel made eight assists, and Saroka had five. Kill leaders were Streets with five, Paulsen with four and Hacke with three. Streets served 14-for-14 with four aces. Allison Paulsen and Rupp had two aces apiece.

     Defensively, Rupp had 11 of the team’s 43 digs, followed by Maisie Paulsen with eight, Hacke with seven, and Saroka with six.

     On Sept. 10, the Eagles played host to Edgewood-Colesburg, and lost in three sets by scores of 11-25, 15-25, 17-25. Gracie Franzen and Hacke each had three kills in the match. Saroka made five assists, and Kreel had four. Rupp had 11 digs, and Allison Paulsen had nine digs and two blocks. Streets served 11-for-11.

     Midland then competed in the Wilton tournament Sept. 12, playing five matches.

     The Eagles lost to Wilton 6-21, 7-21. Kreel had four assists in the match. Maisie Paulsen served 4-for-4.

     Against Winfield-Mount Union, Midland lost 8-21, 8-21. Rupp had six digs in that match. Allison Paulsen had three kills, and Kreel made three assists.

     Next was a 17-21, 15-21 loss to Hillcrest Academy. Allison Paulsen had five kills in that match, and served 9-for-9 with two aces. Kreel made eight assists. Rupp led the team in digs with 13.

     Midland then lost to Lisbon 15-21, 13-21. Kreel made eight assists, and Hacke led the team in kills with three. Rupp had 10 digs. Maisie Paulsen served 9-for-9 with an ace.

     The last match of the tournament for Midland was a 13-21, 13-21 loss to Mount Pleasant. Rupp had eight digs, while Streets, Hacke and Harrington each had a block. Kreel made seven assists.

Football

     A 32-point Midland barrage in the second quarter opened up a 46-12 halftime lead, and the Eagles went on to defeat Central Elkader 78-12 in Eight-player, District 3 football action.

     The game was originally scheduled for Sept. 11, but was postponed by wet weather and played Saturday morning, Sept. 12, on the artificial turf field at Dyersville Beckman.

     The Eagles (1-0, 1-1) took well to the surface, racking up 324 rushing yards on the way to the win. Cayden Miller carried 15 times for 128 yards and two touchdowns, and Iziek Soper had six carries for 96 yards and three scores. Kole Michaud and Jake Arnell each had a rushing touchdown as well.

     Midland also had two touchdown passes, from Carson Hunter and Owen Sterk, and those were hauled in for scores by Jamisen Dodge and Shayden Hansen.

     Defensively, Caden Ballou had an interception, which he returned three yards for a touchdown, and Zain Sauer picked off a pass as well. Leading tacklers for Midland were Soper with 8.5, Sauer with seven, Ballou with six, and Jensen Orr with 5.5.

     Prior to the Central Elkader game, the Eagles played at Tripoli Sept. 4, and lost by a score of 42-6. Tripoli took a 22-0 lead into halftime, then scored twice more to lead 36-0 after three periods.

     Midland’s score came on a six-yard run by Cayden Miller late in the fourth quarter.

     The Eagles had 75 total rushing yards, led by Miller with 14 carries for 15 yards. Carson Hunter completed two of five passes for 23 yards.

     Defensively, Caden Ballou and Iziek Soper led the team with nine tackles apiece. Carson Hunter had eight, and Kole Michaud had six. Zain Sauer made an interception. Jamisen Dodge and Kaleb Westphal had fumble recoveries.

Cross country

     Midland had a pair of poor-weather cross country meets last week.

     At Tipton Sept. 18, the Eagles competed on a cold, rainy, windy day, and finished 15^th with 398 points.

     “This was only the second day of rain, so the course was in pretty good shape and it showed in our times,” Midland coach Jon Eganhouse said.

     Trenton Rickles led the team with a time of 18 minutes, 49 seconds. He was followed by Tristan Kunde in 20:45, Milo Smith in 21:36, Jordan Buford in 22:32, and Bryce Rushford in 25:24.

     The conditioned worsened by the time Midland ran at Northeast of Goose Lake Sept. 10.

     “There were many spots of standing water, and our times reflected the sloppiness,” Eganhouse said.

     Rickles finished 11^th and had a time of 20:07, Smith finished in 21:19, followed by Kunde in 21:48, Buford in 23:02, Jay Bentley in 25:41, and Rushford in 25:52.

     The Eagles were fourth as a team, with 96 points.