Eagles move to 2-0 in district play

Football

     Midland upped its Eight-player, District 4 record to 2-0, and went to 3-1 overall, with a 72-20 rout of Easton Valley Friday, Sept. 15 in Wyoming.

     The Eagles scored 32 unanswered points in the first quarter, and led 54-6 at halftime.

     “Our goal was to get off to a fast start and dominate the football game,” Midland coach Casey Hack said. “Offensively we were very effective in controlling what we wanted to do. Britan Martens played his best game. Our line, tight end and fullback were amazing in opening up holes for our running backs and protecting our quarterback.”

     The Eagles racked up 350 rushing yards, led by Austin Smith, 11 carries for 136 yards and three touchdowns; quarterback Britan Martens, seven carries for 100 yards and two scores; and Griffin Gravel, four carries for 75 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown run. Brady Pestka also scored, on a seven-yard run.

     Martens completed all six of his pass attempts, for 106 yards and three touchdowns. Smith caught two passes for 63 yards and a touchdown, and Carter Mohr caught three for 39 yards and two touchdowns.

     Top tacklers included Griffin Gravel with nine, Carson Rupp with five, Fisher Bisinger, Drew Gravel and Hunter Rushford with 4.5 apiece; and Hunter Shoaff with four. Bisinger made two interceptions.

     “We knew Easton Valley wanted to pass the ball,” Hack said. “We wanted to avoid the big play. They caught us on one pass at the end of the first half, otherwise we were dominating all night.”

     The Eagles will play Iowa Valley (1-0, 3-1) in Marengo Friday, Sept. 22.

Volleyball

     Midland (0-2, 0-11) had a pair of Tri-Rivers Conference volleyball matches last week, beginning with a trip to Alburnett for a Sept. 12 showdown.

     The Eagles lost to Alburnett 7-25, 18-25, 15-25. Midland did have 17 kills as a team. Delanie Uppena led the squad with four of those, while Mikayla Dosland, Drew Jensen and Morgan Soper had three apiece. Emma Dusanek and Calli Markmann had two kills each. Dosland made seven assists, and Markmann had five. Uppena had nine digs.

     On Sept. 14, the Eagles played host to Springville, and lost by scores of 18-25, 7-25, 8-25. Uppena had four kills, and Dosland made five assists. Ella Rupp and Jensen had five digs apiece.

     “We played well in the first set, but we struggled to stay with Springville in the second and third sets,” Midland coach Eric Smith said. “Even with the loss, our girls showed they have it in them to compete against the best.”

     Next, the Eagles competed in the Lisbon Invitatonal Saturday, Sept. 16. Midland lost three matches, to Lisbon, Anamosa and Calamus-Wheatland.

     Against Lisbon, the Eagles fell 9-21, 3-21. Uppena had two kills and seven digs. Markmann had three assists, and Dosland had two.

     Midland lost to Anamosa 8-21, 16-21. Drew Jensen and Uppena had two kills apiece, and Uppena had 10 digs. Markmann served four aces.

     The Eagles lost a close one to Calamus-Wheatland, by scores of 21-23, 19-21. Uppena had five kills, and Dusanek had three. Markmann put up eight assists. Markmann and Jensen had six digs apiece. Soper, Jensen and Markmann each had a block.

     “We looked sluggish in our first two matches,” Smith said. “As the day went on we starting playing with more energy. Against Cal-Wheat, we played as a single unit and came up just shy.”

Cross country

     Midland hosted its annual cross country invitational Monday, Sept. 11 at Little Bear Country Club in Wyoming.

     The Eagles had two runners complete the boys’ varsity race. Owen Doll finished 59^th overall with a time of 23 minutes 16 seconds. Ryan Wariner was 62^nd in 25:57.

     Bellevue was the boys’ team champion with 37 points, Calamus-Wheatland was second with 71, and Durant took third with 94.

     Bellevue Marquette won the girls’ race with 47 points, followed by North Cedar with 52 and Camanche with 108.