DENISON -- Overcoming a sluggish start in each set, Harlan Community played better volleyball as the night went along to sweep Denison-Schleswig 25-20, 25-15, 25-11 in Tuesday’s Hawkeye Ten Conference opener. Just three days after HCHS won its home tournament and Denison went 0-4 at the AHSTW Tourney, the Monarchs came ready to play on their home floor, leading most of the opening set and going ahead 16-13 to force a Cyclone timeout. HCHS sti

 JEFFERSON (Sept.

 LOGAN -- The IKM-Manning and AHSTW cross country teams combined to earn five individual medals, including three top-six finishes, at Tuesday’s Logan-Magnolia Invitational. The IKM-M boys placed seventh out of 12 full-squad teams with a score of 133 and the AHSTW boys took eighth with a 216. The Lady Vikes, meanwhile, placed sixth out of 12 girls teams with a 167. The IKM-Manning girls had just two runners competing but both fared quite well.

 WALNUT -- The AHSTW volleyball team placed second in Pool A and reached the championship bracket of its home tournament last Saturday (Aug.

 EXIRA -- The 2017 Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton football team returns 13 letter winners on a current roster of 28 players, but is a young group overall with just four seniors compared to seven juniors, 10 sophomores and seven freshmen. The Spartans, who were defeated by third-ranked Audubon 55-14 in last week’s 8-Player, non-district opener, will look to continue a seven-year run of playoff appearances this fall as Tom Petersen’s squad also rebui

 SHENANDOAH -- Junior running backs Gabe Pauley and Korbin Martin both rushed for more than 100 yards and two touchdowns last Friday night (August 25) as AHSTW opened the football season with a commanding 55-18 non-district win at Shenandoah. Pauley carried the ball 10 times for 163 yards and Martin added 115 yards on 11 attempts, including a 56-yard scoring run to open the second half. The Vikings led 28-14 at halftime before pulling away wit

 HARLAN -- Willie Baughman couldn’t have asked for a much better start to his first year as the Harlan Community High School head volleyball coach. Baughman’s squad stayed undefeated until their sixth and final match of Saturday’s season-opening Cyclone Tournament, finishing 5-1 overall and winning the gold pool championship via tiebreaker criteria over Treynor and Indianola. All three gold pool teams entered the final round with 4-0 records b

 HARLAN -- All things considered, it wasn’t a bad season opener for the Harlan Community football team. Less than 10 hours prior to kickoff Friday night, HCHS coaches learned that senior quarterback Deren Schmitz’s right pinky finger was broken and would require surgery, putting him out of action indefinitely. Six and a half minutes into the first quarter, the Cyclones had netted only six yards on three offensive series and trailed 14-0 agains

 WALL LAKE -- Stephen Grimm rushed for two touchdowns and Carter Irlmeier capped the scoring on a 21-yard TD run with 3:59 to play as IKM-Manning opened the football season with a 21-7 non-district win at East Sac County Friday night. The game was tied 7-7 at the half before the Wolves put together two long scoring drives to pull away. The first was a seven-play, 85-yard possession in the third quarter, capped by a Grimm four-yard run.

 AUDUBON -- The Audubon Wheelers proved as good as advertised in Friday night’s 8-Player season opener vs.

 GLENWOOD -- Greichaly Kaster placed second and Abby Alberti came in eighth on Saturday, leading the Harlan Community girls to a second-place team finish in the season-opening Glenwood Ram Cross Country Meet at Glenwood Lake Park. The Cyclone girls scored a 75 with their top five varsity places, trailing only the host Rams (51) for first overall.

 HARLAN (August 25) -- The Harlan Community football team’s revamped defense will be tested right off the bat here Friday night - perhaps their biggest test of the season - when Max Duggan and the Lewis Central Titans come to Merrill Field for a Week 1 non-district game at 7:30. Duggan, still just a junior, has become one of the nation’s highest-rated quarterback recruits in the 2019 class.

 AREA -- Three area volleyball teams will open the 2017 season in two separate tournaments this Saturday (August 26) at Harlan and Avoca. Harlan Community will host the annual Cyclone Tournament, starting at 8:30 a.m., with IKM-Manning also in the field for the first time. In the first round of pool play, HCHS will face East Sac County and Logan-Magnolia. IKM-Manning will play Abraham Lincoln and Treynor.

 AVOCA -- No matter which position group you’re talking about - linemen, backs, offense, defense, receivers or the secondary - the AHSTW football team has experience and talent returning at every spot on the field. While graduation surely took away several terrific players from last year’s 8-2 playoff qualifier and Class 1-A, District 7 runner-up, the pieces are in place for another outstanding Viking season on the gridiron. Sixth-year AHSTW h

 MANNING -- The IKM-Manning football team missed the playoffs for just the second time in nine years last fall, but the Wolves were much closer to a postseason berth than their 5-4 overall record and 4-3 district mark would indicate. In a 14-8 home loss to Class 1-A, District 7 champion Logan-Magnolia, IKM-M’s final drive stalled at the 5-yard-line.