EMMETSBURG—Quinn Swift was the individual runner-up while his Bishop Garrigan Golden Bear team finished second to highlight the performances of three area boys’ cross-country squad on Monday, Sept. 13, at the Emmetsburg Invitational.
The black-and-gold had a team score of 68, one point behind champion Estherville-Lincoln Central. Both North Union and West Bend-Mallard did not have enough runners for a team score.

ALGONA—Hosting the first of two Saturday tournaments this season, the Algona Bulldogs volleyball team hosted the six-team Algona Classic on Saturday, Sept. 4.
The red-and-black finished the day with an overall match record of 2-3. Sioux Center, ranked No. 13 in Class 3A, won the tourney with a perfect 5-0 mark.

FORT DODGE—West Bend-Mallard erupted for 26 first quarter points and never looked back in a 70-26 district opening eight-man football victory on Friday, Sept. 3, over the St. Edmond Gaels inside Dodger Stadium.
 
See the Sept. 9 Advance for the full report. 

ALGONA—Bishop Garrigan opened eight-man district play with a hard-fought, 20-16 victory on Friday, Sept. 3, over the North Iowa Bison.
The stat sheet for the evening was as close as the scoreboard was as the home team accumulated 236 total yards while the Bison had total yardage for the night of 237.
 
See the full report in the Sept. 9 Advance. 

CLEAR LAKE—Clear Lake came out of week number one contests with a hefty No. 8 ranking in Class 2A in the latest Radio Iowa football poll.
But the Lions most likely will not keep that spot this week in the rankings after the Algona Bulldogs handed them a convincing 47-23 non-district loss to the black-and-gold on Friday, Sept. 3.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 9 Advance. 

ARMSTRONG—In just the second week of the season and the opening night of Class A district play on Friday, Sept. 3, the North Union Warriors’ football team entertained the North Butler Bearcats in their homecoming contest.
But the Bearcats were rude visitors as they went home with a 34-14 victory. The game was deadlocked at 7-7 at the end of the first stanza and North Butler led 21-14 at intermission.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 9 Advance. 

ALGONA—It was an early season Top of Iowa Conference volleyball match between two of the top teams in the league on Thursday, Sept. 2, at Bishop Garrigan. 
Lake Mills made the plays late in each set as it won the match by the scores of 25-22, 26-24 and 25-20 over the home town Golden Bears.
 
See the full report in the Sept. 9 Advance. 

WEBSTER CITY—In their second meet of the 2021 season, the Algona Bulldog boys cross-country team finished in fourth place overall on Tuesday, Aug. 31 in the 17-team field at the Lynx Invitational with a team total of 163 points.
The top place winner for the red-and-black squad was Ryan Stundahl in fourth place overall with a time of 17:27.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 9 Advance. 

MASON CITY—A pair of area boys cross country teams competed on Tuesday, Aug. 31 in the Mason City Newman Invitational along with 15 other squads.
Bishop Garrigan finished in eighth place with a team score of 194 that was one place ahead of North Union that had a team total of 211.
Quinn Swift of the black-and-gold was the top area place winner in fifth place with a time of 18:05.6. 
 
See the full story in the Sept. 9 Advance. 

WEBSTER CITY—Algona’s Moriah Knapp was the individual runner-up and the Bulldogs placed fifth overall in 17-team field with 156 points on Tuesday, Aug. 31, in the Lynx Invitational.
 
Get the full story in the Sept. 9 Advance. 

MASON CITY—North Union freshman Jacey Welbig turned in her second top 10 showing of the season on Tuesday, Aug. 31, at the Mason City Newman Invitational.
Welbig crossed the finish line with her clocking of 22:01.2 while teammate Hanna Sandvig placed 21st in 24:02.8. 
 
See the full story in the Sept. 9 Advance. 

ARMSTRONG—Opening Top of Iowa Conference play with a three-game sweep, the North Union Warriors’ volleyball avenged a loss on Saturday to North Iowa on Tuesday, Aug. 31 as the green-black-and-silver defeated the Lady Bison by the scores of 25-21, 25-17 and 25-18.
 
Get the full report in the Sept. 9 Advance. 

WEST BEND—Both squads came into the Twin Lakes Conference volleyball match looking for their first victory of the year as Manson Northwest Webster went home with a three set win over the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines on Thursday, Sept. 2.
The Cougars took the opening contest by the score of 25-20 before taking the second set by the count of 25-22 and then outlasted the purple-and-gold 27-25 in the third game.
 

ALGONA—A good night from seniors Tyler Manske and Trevon Smith along with a solid defensive effort led the Algona Bulldogs football team to a 25-0 shutout victory over the Emmetsburg E-Hawks in the season opener on Friday, Aug. 27.
Smith hauled in three touchdowns passes while Manske added another scoring strike to Caden Weber along with 65 yards rushing in the non-district victory.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 2 Advance.

   ROCKFORD—Mother Nature delayed Bishop Garrigan’s eight-man football debut 22 hours but the black-and-gold were impressive when the season opener was finally played.
The Golden Bears scored on their first play from scrimmage and went on to a 56-20 non-district win over the Rockford Warriors on Saturday, Aug. 28.
 
See the full report in the Sept. 2 Advance.