With Payten Lehmann (2) looking on, Julie Mackey (11) spikes this ball past a Postville defender Thursday in West Union. The junior helped the TigerHawks dominate the net with her eight kills. She also went 20-20 serving with five aces. (Jerry Wadian photo)

TigerHawk VB dispatches Pirates

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

 In its only match last week the NFV volleyball team beat visiting Postville in three straight sets, 25-17, 25-16, and 25-21.

In the first two sets, the TigerHawks took commanding early leads and never let the visitors get long runs. The final set was close almost all the way, but the game Pirates were just outgunned.

Zach Massman (32) levels the Anamosa QB for a sack in NFV’s 28-21 win over Anamosa Friday in Fayette. Massman was also a factor in the final 49 seconds as the TigerHawks sacked the QB three times in four plays. (Jerry Wadian photo)

NFV wins nail-biter in Fayette

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

The big District 4 game pitting air Anamosa against ground-and-pound NFV Friday was moved to Harms-Eischeid Stadium on the Upper Iowa University campus because the recent round of heavy rains made Ron Wymer Field in West Union unfit to play on.

The Blue Raiders were picked by NFV head coach Bob Lape as a contender in the district race, while the TigerHawks considered themselves a dark-horse candidate. With both teams sporting 1-3 records, the game was a crucial contest to separate contender from   pretender.

 As expected, the game was a real thriller as NFV stopped a late drive to prevail, 28-21.

South Winn cross country impresses in Elkader

Zakary Kriener

News Writer
zkriener@fayettepublishing.com

The South Winn cross country program had a strong showing at Thursday’s meet hosted by Central Elkader.

The Class 1A No. 7 Warrior boys earned a dominant win by placing all five finishers inside the top 10 and scoring 26 points. Runner-up Dunkerton finished with 70 points, while Central was third with 73 points.

Leading the charge for the Warrior runners was No. 17-ranked individual Paul Hageman, who captured the individual title with a time of 18:22.79. 

South Winn quarterback Jacob Herold lunges across the goal line for six during Friday night’s 49-0 win over Starmont on Homecoming. Along with the rushing score, Herold tossed four touchdown passes in the first half of the contest. (Zakary Kriener photo)

Warriors win big on Homecoming

Zakary Kriener

News Writer
zkriener@fayettepublishing.com

The Warriors improved to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in district play after Friday night’s 49-0 Homecoming win over Starmont.

In a game that lasted only 24 minutes due to the Stars forfeiting after halftime, South Winn was rolling in all aspects of the game.

“We had a nice balanced attack on offense, we created five turnovers on defense, and we blocked a couple of punts (on special teams),” said head coach Jason Ohrt after the win. “Overall, this was a nice win.”

Senior Gracie Schmitt returns a serve during last week’s win over cross-county rival Turkey Valley on Thursday. Schmitt had a team-high eight kills and an impressive four aces in the victory. (Zakary Kriener photo)

Warrior volleyball notches 3 wins

Zakary Kriener

News Writer
zkriener@fayettepublishing.com

The Warrior volleyball team had a strong week of play on the court, going 3-1, including a win over Upper Iowa Conference foe Turkey Valley and a 2-1 showing at a weekend tournament.

Turkey Valley

South Winn hosted the Trojans of Turkey Valley on Thursday evening in Calmar and won in dominating fashion.

The Warriors came out on top of consecutive 25-13, 25-12, and 25-22 sets to win the match.

WC VB earns pair of victories

Zakary Kriener

News Writer
zkriener@fayettepublishing.com

The West Central volleyball team picked up a pair of wins over Clarksville and Postville. Later in the week, the squad competed in a tournament at West Delaware High School, going 0-3 on the day.

Clarksville

The Blue Devils traveled to Clarksville Tuesday, Sept. 11, and won three close matches by scores of 25-23, 25-23, and 25-16.

Sophomore Bryleigh Rouse led the team with nine kills while senior Kenadie Betz had a team-high 26 assists.

West Central quarterback Adam Dolf had a stellar night on Friday, completing 16 of 26 passes for 243 yards and four touchdowns (all to Aidan Nelson). The senior also rushed for 106 yards and two additional touchdowns in the Blue Devils’ 58-46 loss to Central Elkader. (Jerry Wadian photo)

Blue Devils fall in barnburner

Zakary Kriener

News Writer
zkriener@fayettepublishing.com

Scoring was not hard to come by during Friday night’s matchup between West Central and Central Elkader. With over 100 points scored between the two area teams, the Blue Devils came up just short of their second win of the football season.

Central Elkader took the early advantage in the first quarter, jumping out to a 12-0 lead before Taylor Hepperle rattled off a 71-yard touchdown run to make the score 12-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Quarterback Adam Dolf tied the game up early in the second quarter on a short run, but the Warriors of Central responded with a touchdown of their own.

Taylor Ney drives toward the finish during the recent TigerHawk Invitational. Last week the NFV sophomore ran the course at Starmont in 27:10. (Jerry Wadian photo)

TigerHawk XC looking inward

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

“We’re going to have to buckle down and look inward to assess if individuals are willing to work harder for the improvement I expect to see,” commented NFV head cross country coach Neal Bentley after his teams ran Tuesday, Sept. 11, at Starmont.

It’s not that the TigerHawks ran poorly, but the overall times were down from last previous week’s TigerHawk Invitational in West Union. 

As a team, the boys finished eighth in the 23-team field and sixth among the Class 2A/3A squads.

Caleb O’Hare led the boys with a time of 18:14, placing him eighth overall. Weller Clark was 12^th in 18:36.

The girls were 16^th overall and 11^th out of 12 in Class 2A/3A. Brynn Gamm finished 20^th in 22:03 to lead the girls.

NFV libero Emma Ney had to perform a few contortions to get to this ball and dig it out in recent action. Thursday in Lansing, Ney had six digs and an assist in the TigerHawks’ 3-1 victory over Kee. (Jerry Wadian photo)

TigerHawk VB dumps Kee

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

 NFV volleyball beat Kee, 3-1, Thursday in Lansing. The game scores were 23-25, 25-10, 25-22, and 25-15.

“It was a great team effort!” exclaimed co-head coach Jared Tilleraas after the TigerHawks won their first UIC match of the season.

Game one saw NFV shoot itself in the foot with nine kill errors and four missed serves. Despite that, the TigerHawks led, 22-20, but left the home team off the hook by losing five of the next six points.

From the looks on the faces of NFV’s Gunner Rodgers (7) and Seth Meyer (76), this Denver runner is in for a hard landing Friday in Denver. The duo combined for the crunching tackle as the TigerHawks walked off with the season’s first win, 48-12. (Jerry Wadian photos)

TigerHawks explode for a win, 48-12

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

 It took a while for NFV to get on track Friday night in Denver, but once it did, the TigerHawks dominated the game.

Neither team could do anything on its first possession. The TigerHawks picked up a first down in their second possession on a 25-yard pass from Brooks Hovden to Zach Massman, but a penalty killed the drive.