DENISON -- With an assist or two from Glenwood, the Harlan Community volleyball team is just one win removed from a third consecutive outright championship in the Hawkeye Ten Conference. HCHS improved to 8-1 in league play (32-5 overall) with a 25-12, 25-19, 25-13 sweep at Denison-Schleswig Monday night, maintaining its share of first place with Kuemper Catholic.

 LAKE CITY -- The IKM-Manning Wolves played some of their best volleyball of the year in Tuesday night’s Class 2-A regional opener at South Central Calhoun, then nearly let it all slip away. With their backs squarely up against the wall, however, the Wolves responded in a big way, scoring 15 of the last 21 points to outlast the Titans 25-11, 25-21, 21-25, 22-25, 15-9 and keep their season alive. IKM-Manning improved its record to 15-14 overall

 MISSOURI VALLEY -- Less than two minutes into the game last Friday, IKM-Manning’s Jared Vollstedt returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown against Missouri Valley. He was only getting started. Before the night was over, Vollstedt added two rushing touchdowns, a 94-yard kickoff return TD and a 100-yard interception return score.

 ATLANTIC -- Harlan Community finished just a few places places shy of a championship sweep at Thursday’s Hawkeye Ten Conference Cross Country Meet. The Cyclone boys defended their team title by 54 points over Lewis Central while the girls finished just two points behind champion Denison-Schleswig at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club. One year after claiming its first H-10 title since 1983, the Cyclone boys improved their score by 12 points a

 GLENWOOD -- Harlan Community used a big-play offense, a bend-but-don’t-break defense and a strong finish Friday night to take down unbeaten Glenwood, 38-14, in a game that was much more competitive than the final score. Leading just 21-14 with 9:30 remaining, the seventh-ranked Cyclones responded with an 87-yard touchdown drive, a record-breaking ninth field goal by Ethan Knudson and a Josh Cheek pick-six to pull away late and climb to second

 EXIRA -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton bounced back from its first loss of the year in a big way Friday night, routing Boyer Valley 61-6 to improve to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in District 1. The Spartans built a 48-6 lead by halftime, riding the three-pronged rushing attack of quarterback Brady Hansen and running backs Drew Buckholdt and Martin Olson.

 AVOCA -- IKM-Manning outlasted Underwood in five highly-competitive sets, 25-22, 25-22, 21-25, 26-28, 15-7, on Thursday night to earn third place in the 2015 Western Iowa Conference Volleyball Tournament.

 HARLAN -- Fighting off some mid-match bouts of sluggishness, the Harlan Community volleyball team was still able to finish off a Senior Night sweep of Creston here Tuesday, winning 25-16, 25-22, 25-17, to maintain its share of first place in the Hawkeye Ten Conference. The 2nd-ranked (Class 4-A) Cyclones took control of game one with a 9-1 run and never trailed in game three, but had their hands full throughout a second set that was tightly c

GLENWOOD -- What a difference a year can make. Last season at this time, the Harlan Community and Glenwood football teams had won four out of 14 games en route to a combined overall record of 5-13 and a 2-10 mark in district play.

 MANNING -- The IKM-Manning defense forced six turnovers, including Noah Harlow’s 58-yard fumble return touchdown, in last Friday’s 30-6, non-district home win over Manson Northwest Webster. The Wolves trailed 6-0 after the first quarter - ironically due to a 58-yard fumble return score by the Cougars - before scoring 30 unanswered points to improve to 5-2 on the season.

 UNDERWOOD -- Nick Pedersen passed for 146 yards and three touchdowns and the Underwood defense held AHSTW to just 73 total yards last Friday night as the fifth-ranked (1-A) Eagles beat the 10th-ranked Vikings, 40-0, to stay undefeated on the year. The game was marred by a season-ending knee injury suffered by AHSTW senior quarterback and safety Nate Herbst in the first quarter.

 NEWELL -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton did everything but win the game in last Friday’s battle of 8-Player unbeatens at Newell-Fonda. Tied at 35 with the top-ranked and defending state champion Mustangs, the 6th-ranked Spartans were driving for the possible game-winning score when disaster struck inside the 20-yard line. With just 29 seconds left, Newell-Fonda’s Cole Wise scooped up a Spartan fumble and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown, givi

 CRESTON – In 38 years and 443 games as the Harlan Community head football coach, it’s quite possible that Curt Bladt has never had a team accomplish what the 2015 Cyclones did Friday night against Creston/Orient-Macksburg. From a powerful rushing attack to an effective short-passing game to the press box coaches’ halftime suggestions, it was all clicking offensively as the Cyclones racked up 607 total yards and scored on all nine possessions

 HULL -- Losing only to Western Christian in a pair of tightly-contested matches, the Harlan Community volleyball team placed second with a 4-2 record at Saturday’s Wolfpack Kooima-Kaemingk Classic in Hull. HCHS finished second in Pool A to Western Christian following a 17-21, 19-21 loss in the morning, then set up a rematch in the championship round after sweeping Sioux City Bishop Heelan 21-13, 21-15 in the semifinals. The 2nd-ranked (Class

Ethan Knudson's field goal and a Josh Cheek 25-yard interception return make a tight game appear much more wide open. HCHS quarterback Kyle Juhl threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns in Harlan's win over Glenwood.