Eagles win, then fall in pair of games

Football

     Midland went 1-1 in its third and fourth football games of the season, to come away with a record of 1-3.

     On Sept. 3, the Eagles stormed to a 48-6 win at Calamus-Wheatland Sept. 3, rolling up 42 points in the first half.

     Brayden Grau rushed for 86 yards and two touchdowns, Zain Sauer ran for 55 yards and one score, and Caden Ballou had 43 rushing yards and two scores. Ballou and Sauer each threw a touchdown pass, with Jamisen Dodge and Jon Thomsen making touchdown receptions.

     Defensively, Seth Bixler, Owen Sterk and Wyatt Hansen had six tackles apiece. Thomsen made an interception, and Kaleb Westphal recovered a Cal-Wheat fumble.

     Midland then faced Easton Valley Sept. 10 in Wyoming, and lost 61-8, scoring on a touchdown pass from Ballou to Dodge, and on a safety in the first quarter.

     Ballou completed seven of 19 passes for 123 yards. Dodge had four catches for 115 yards. Defensively, Miller had eight tackles, Grau had seven, and Westphal had six.

Volleyball

     It was a busy start to the season for the Midland volleyball team, which played a total of 15 matches in the first two weeks of September.

     Midland (2-13) hosted its annual invitational volleyball tournament Sept. 4, and went 1-5 for the day.

     Against Central City, the Eagles lost 14-21, 15-21. Gracie Franzen made seven assists. Gracie Harrington had nine digs, and Allison Paulsen had seven.

     The Eagles then took on North Cedar, and fell 7-21, 8-21. Harrington had four digs in that match.

     Midland took Lone Tree to a third set before losing 21-15, 12-21, 10-15. Bailie Uppena and Paulsen had three kills apiece. Franzen made six assists, and Elizabeth Soper made two assists and served two aces. Anna Bartels had two blocks.

     A match against Cascade was next, and the Eagles lost 7-21, 5-21. Paulsen and Harrington had three digs apiece, and Soper had three assists.

     Against Central Elkader, Midland suffered a narrow 17-21, 18-21 defeat. Harrington had nine digs.Isabelle Ricketts and Paulsen had four kills apiece. Franzen made six assists, and Soper had five. Franzen served four aces, and Harrington served three.

     The Eagles then picked up their first win of the season, avenging the earlier loss to Lone Tree by winning 21-15, 18-21, 15-11. Midland had 25 kills in the match, led by Paulsen and Rickets with six apiece, Gatts with five and Uppena with four. Franzen made eight assists. Defensively, Paulsen and Harrington had five digs apiece. Paulsen also served five aces.

     “From the beginning of the day we were able to compete with Central City, Lone Tree and Central Elkader,” Midland coach Gennifer Schroeder said. “Cascade and North Cedar are both really talented teams, and we couldn’t start an offensive rally.

     “We had a second chance against Lone Tree after a team withdrew due to injuries, and we were able to record our first win of the season.

     “Overall, our biggest obstacles were our errors behind the service line and hitting errors.”

     On Sept. 9, the Eagles played host to Edgewood-Colesburg, and lost 17-25, 16-25, 21-25. Paulsen had six digs, Harrington had five and Uppena had four.

     Midland then played in the Wilton Tournament Sept. 11, going 1-4 for the day. The Eagles lost to Wilton 7-21, 9-21; to Winfield-Mount Union 9-21, 12-21; defeated Hillcrest Academy 27-25, 21-13; then lost to Burlington 9-21, 16-21; and to Mount Pleasant 10-21, 9-21.

     Harrington had four digs in the Wilton match. Paulsen had three kills and Franzen made three assists against Winfield-Mount Union. Paulsen had six kills and four digs against Hillcrest Academy.

     Against Burlington, Uppena had four kills. Alexis Zaruba and Soper had four digs apiece in the Mount Pleasant match.

     “I’m beyond proud with how the girls took some new roles and positions in stride and excelled during a tough tournament,” Schroeder said. “We’re getting closer to where we need to be.”

     Earlier, Midland lost its opening Tri-Rivers Conference match of the season, falling 7-25, 15-25, 17-25 at East Buchanan Sept. 2. Paulsen contributed five digs. Uppena served two aces.

     “The jitters really set in for the first set, but as the night wore on the girls really were able to work through it and compete,” the coach said. “Throughout the night there were opportunities to score, but we just couldn’t quite capitalize.”

Cross country

     The Midland Eagles had two meets in three days last week.

     On Tuesday, Sept. 7, we competed at Tipton. It was actually one of the better days that we have had at Tipton for weather. Not too hot nor wet. Trenton Rickels led with a time of 21:00 flat. He was followed by Jayson Ruley and Tristan Kunde with times of 23:45 and 24:36. Milo Smith followed them with a time of 24:38. Jay Bentley rounded out the scoring with a time of 27:02. Our sixth and seventh runners were Bryce Rushford and Vincent Kunde with times of 33:56 and 42:24. Our lone girl runner, Kaitlin Kunde, finished with a time of 32:44. The boys did finish in 11^thplace out of 13.

     On Sept. 9, we ran the Rebel meet at Goose Lake. Again, Trenton led the team and shaved 1:31 off of his time to finish in sixth place. Milo Smith was my second runner with a time of 21:42 taking almost three minutes off of his time. This is the spot I expect and need Milo to be for our team.  Tristan was third with a time of 22:13 and Jayson was 22:40. Jay and Bryce rounded out the team with times of 27:02 and 29:56. The boys finished in fourth place. Kaitlin took 3:30 off of her time for 29:19.

– Jon Eganhouse, head coach