Strong start leads to Homecoming victory

Football

     Quick starts have had much to do with the Midland Eagles’ football success this season, and their Sept. 28 Homecoming game against West Central of Maynard was no exception.

     The Eagles (3-1, 6-1) jumped to a 26-0 first quarter lead, held a 40-0 halftime advantage, and went on to defeat West Central 60-21.

     Griffin Gravel rushed 15 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns for Midland. Quarterback Britan Martens had 77 rushing yards, while Wilson Buckwalter and Alex Smith had 58 and 57, respectively. Smith had a pair of rushing touchdowns, and Buckwalter had one.

     Martens passed for 68 yards and two scores, with Jensen Dodge making two catches for 40 yards and two touchdowns, and Peyton Rupp catching two passes for 28. Ethan Orr had an eight-yard touchdown catch, from Rupp.

     Defensive leaders included Trevor Gudenkauf and Orr with five tackles apiece and Carson Hunter with four. Gudenkauf and Smith each had an interception; Gudenkauf returned his 43 yards. Dodge had a 66-yard kickoff return for a score.

Volleyball

     Midland picked up its second win of the season in a Tri-Rivers Conference volleyball match at Clinton Prince of Peace Sept. 25.

     The Eagles (1-3, 2-23) lost the first set 22-25, but then won three straight, 25-18, 25-19, 25-20.

     Delanie Uppena posted 14 kills in the match, while Mikayla Dosland, Arianna Hacke and Morgan Soper had six apiece. Dosland put up 27 assists.

     The team had 61 digs, led by Emma Dusanek with 16, Ella Rupp with 11 and Uppena with 11. Drew Jensen served 17-for-17 with four aces, and Uppena also served 17-for-17. Brennah Ricketts had five aces, and Rupp had four. Jensen had four blocks, and Soper had two.

     On Sept. 27, the Eagles traveled to Lisbon and lost in three sets, 15-25, 11-25, 12-25. Soper had six kills, Dosland made 13 assists, while Dusanek, Rupp and Dosland had nine digs apiece.

Cross country

     Midland’s boys finished seventh in the Bill Bails Invitational Cross Country Meet Sept. 24 at the 3-30 Club in Lowden, hosted by North Cedar, but that in itself was a big accomplishment.

     “The most important part of this meet is that we had enough runners to have a team score,” Midland coach Jon Eganhouse said. “We scored 237 points, but hopefully we can get the ball rolling for the future and keep scoring.

     “I guessed it has been about 10 years since we have fielded a scoring boys’ team.”

     Trent Rickels finished 17^th overall with a personal record time of 19 minutes, 1 second. Tanner Stoll had a time of 22:20, while Hunter Wink, Bryce Rushford and Jacob Ervin had times of 27:31, 27:52 and 34:31 respectively.

     “When we have a team, the competition moves from running a group of individuals to running as a team,” Eganhouse said. “When the runners realize that every place is important, the attitude to a meet changes.”