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.

ADEL—Opening the season on Thursday, Aug. 26 at the ADM quad, the Algona Bulldogs volleyball squad dropped three matches. The red-and-black fell to ADM by the score of 21-13 and 21-8, lost to Harlan by the count of 21-11 and 21-10 and dropped a 23-21, 21-18 and 9-15 decision to Newton.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 2 Advance.

FORT DODGE—Going 3-2 during the day, the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears volleyball squad participated on Saturday, Aug. 28 in the St. Edmond tournament.
Webster City won the six-team tourney with a perfect 5-0 record as both Aplington-Parkersburg and the black-and-gold went 3-2 during the day.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 2 Advance.

GARNER—The North Union Warriors’ volleyball squad opened the 2021 season on Saturday, Aug. 28 at the Garner-Hayfield/Ventura tournament.
The green-black-and-silver went 2-2 during the day as they defeated West Fork by the score of 21-11 and 21-11 along with topping Mason City Newman by the score of 21-16 and 21-16.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 2 Advance.
 

WEST BEND—West Bend-Mallard held a 2-1 game lead but Sioux Central fought back to win the final two sets to earn a hard-fought Twin Lakes Conference volleyball match on Thursday, Aug. 26 in five sets.
The visitors won the opening game by the score of 20-25 before the purple-and-gold took the second set by the score of 25-9 and the third game by the count of 25-16. The Rebels fought back to win the fourth set 14-25 and took the final game 11-15.
 

MILFORD—Erupting for 21 first period points and then letting the defense make those points stand up, the North Union Warriors football team earned a hard-fought 21-20 victory on Friday, Aug. 27 over the Okoboji Pioneers.
After building a 21-7 first quarter advantage, the green-black-and-silver held on for the win by forcing three turnovers. 
 
See the full story in the Sept. 2 Advance.

NEWELL—Two big quarters proved to be the difference as the Newell-Fonda Mustangs defeated the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines 54-12 in the non-district season football opener on Friday, Aug. 27.
The home team scored 21 points in both the first and third quarters while each team scored 12 points in the second period and were scoreless in the fourth stanza.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 2 Advance. 

PERRY—The Algona swim team showed a lot of improvement from Tuesday’s night season opener but fell just short on Thursday, Aug. 26 as the Perry Bluejays edged the red-and-black by the score of 80-67.
The lone first place for the Bulldogs came in the 50-yard freestyle event as Emily Paulson won with her winning time of 29.71 with the squad placing second in eight different events.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 2 Advance.

GOWRIE—Both the West Bend-Mallard Wolverine boys and girls cross-country squads opened the 2021 season at the Southeast Valley Invitational on Thursday, Aug. 26.
Both squads did not have enough runners for a team score.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 2 Advance.

SPENCER—Junior Ryan Stundahl was the runner-up while his team placed fourth overall in the season opening cross-country meet for the Algona Bulldogs at the Spencer Invitational on Thursday, Aug. 26.
The red-and-black were fourth in the 12-team field. Bishop Garrigan also competed.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 2 Advance.

SPENCER—Junior Moriah Knapp opened the 2021 season in impressive fashion by placing first on Thursday, Aug. 26 by over a minute at the Spencer Invitational for the Algona Bulldog girls’ cross-country squad.
The red-and-black also had a good debut as a team as the Bulldogs finished in second place. Bishop Garrigan runners also competed.
 
See the full story in the Sept. 2 Advance.

ALGONA—Two teams and three individuals will be inducted into the 2021 Algona High School Wall of Fame Friday, Aug. 27.
Tom Claude, an athlete and community member; Howie Stephenson, a basketball coach; Dave Rosonke, a basketball coach; the 1996 boys basketball team and the 2005 volleyball team are being honored. 

ALGONA—Ben Kern has previously won the Randy Buscher Memorial Algona Am four times before this year during his outstanding golfing career.
But it is a good bet that the former Algona High School graduate will not soon forget his fifth one. Kern chipped in from about 25 yards out off the ninth green for an eagle to win the 2021 title on the 45th and final hole of the tournament on Sunday, Aug. 8.