EXIRA (Oct. 8) -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton kept its playoff hopes alive Friday night with a thrilling 50-47 home win over Boyer Valley. The Spartans were led by quarterback Trey Petersen’s 509 passing yards, four touchdown passes and three TD runs as the team improved to 4-3 overall and 2-3 in 8-Player, District 10. Boyer Valley dropped to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the district. Exira-EHK can earn a playoff spot Friday (Oct.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (Oct. 5) -- It was another tough night in the win-loss column, but Harlan Community may have found something to build on during the late stages of Tuesday’s Hawkeye Ten volleyball triangular at St. Albert. The Cyclones were swept by the eighth-ranked (1A) Saintes in the opening match 15-25, 22-25, 15-25, then lost to fifth-ranked (4A) Glenwood 15-25, 15-25, 21-25.

 ADEL (Oct. 8) -- Friday night’s matchup between Harlan Community and Adel-DeSoto-Minburn is most likely the de facto championship game in Class 3A, District 6. The top-ranked Cyclones enter the contest at 6-0 overall and 2-0 in district play following one-sided wins over Saydel (64-0) and Atlantic (55-7) in which they scored 99 first-half points. The level of competition goes up a few notches this week against ninth-ranked ADM (5-1, 2-0).

 AVOCA (Oct. 5) -- The AHSTW volleyball team closed out regular-season play with a pair of Western Iowa Conference home wins earlier this week, rallying past Logan-Magnolia in five Monday night and sweeping Audubon 3-0 on Tuesday. The Lady Vikes’ second and third straight WIC wins improved their record to 23-7 overall and 4-4 in league play going into the WIC Tournament (Oct.

 SIDNEY (Oct. 1) -- AHSTW started out fast with 21 first-quarter points and continued to pull away last Friday night, beating Sidney 44-6 to even its record at 3-3 overall.

 MANNING (Oct.

 ANITA (Oct.

 ATLANTIC (Oct.

 MANNING (Sept. 30) -- The AHSTW volleyball team picked up its second Western Iowa Conference win of the season on Thursday night, sweeping IKM-Manning 25-12, 25-20, 25-7. The Lady Vikes improved to 21-7 overall and 2-4 in the WIC. IKM-Manning fell to 1-16 overall and 1-5 in league play. AHSTW senior Natalie Hagadon hammered 17 kills against the Wolves and had an excellent efficiency of .464.

 HARLAN -- Local race car drivers Mike Nichols of Harlan and Jason Fusselman, Avoca, both won feature races at this year’s Tiny Lund Memorial, held Sept. 24-25 at the Shelby County Speedway. Nichols won the Pizza Ranch Stock Cars A-Feature race on Friday night, Sept. 24.

 DENISON (Sept. 28) -- Placing five runners in the top nine overall, the Harlan Community girls posted a dominating team score of 26 to win Tuesday’s Denison-Schleswig Cross Country Invitational by 40 points. The Cyclone girls moved up to seventh in this week’s Class 3A team rankings and avenged a head-to-head loss against No. 2-ranked (1A) Logan-Magnolia from a week earlier at Tri-Center.

 AMES (Oct. 2) -- Saturday’s Kansas at Iowa State football game will include a Jayhawk player with local ties in redshirt freshman Trevor Kardell. Kardell, number 45 on the Kansas roster, is a 6-foot-5, 234-pound tight end from Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

 ATLANTIC (Oct. 1) -- Following a one-year hiatus in the series, Harlan Community will renew an old football rivalry Friday night when it faces Atlantic at the Trojan Bowl. The top-ranked Cyclones are off to a 1-0 start in Class 3A, District 6 (5-0 overall) after crushing Saydel 64-0 last week at Merrill Field. The Trojans (1-4) lost their district opener at ADM 40-16 after holding an early 13-0 lead.

 AVOCA (Sept. 28) -- The AHSTW volleyball team continues to search for that big signature win in the Western Iowa Conference. The Lady Vikes appeared to be on their way Tuesday night, taking two of the first three sets vs. Underwood and leading most of the fifth and deciding “Race to 15.” Senior Natalie Hagadon’s booming 27th kill tied set five at 12-12 and seemed to give AHSTW the momentum it needed.

 RED OAK (Sept. 28) -- Harlan Community suffered its fourth straight Hawkeye Ten Conference volleyball loss on Tuesday night, recording zero ace serves and no blocks in a 25-17, 25-9, 25-17 defeat at Red Oak. The Cyclones, who have now lost eight of their last 10 matches, fell to 12-14 overall and 2-4 in conference play. They will have a week off to prepare for Tuesday’s triangular at Council Bluffs St. Albert (4:30 p.m.) vs. the No.