Tyce Ortman scored a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter, Isiah Robertson scampered for a 66-yard touchdown run and Collin Helma caught a 63-yard touchdown pass from Ortman as Canistota/Freeman built a 32-0 lead over Chester Area in the first round of the Class 9A playoffs in Freeman Thursday night, Oct. 22. The Pride ended up winning 48-14 behind 128 rushing yards from Ortman and 83 from Robertson; Blake Anderson also ran for a touchdown and a two-yard conversion to keep Canistota/Freeman well in front.

Because of a significant winter weather event moving through the Black Hills on Saturday, the South Dakota High School Activities Association has moved the races to earlier in the day. The Class B girls will now run at 9:30 a.m. MST (not 10 a.m.) with the Class B boys to follow at 10 a.m. The final race of the day, the Class A boys, is now scheduled to being at 2:30 p.m.

JEREMY WALTNER  -  PUBLISHER One more race to run. That’s what Morgan Edelman has been thinking this week as she prepares for the 2020 State Cross Country Meet at Hart Ranch in Rapid City this coming Saturday, Oct. 23. The Menno senior will join 122 other Class B runners from across the state scheduled to cross the 5,000-meter course in a race that begins at 10 a.m. MST after placing 13th at last week’s Region 3B meet in Platte.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER Titus Roesler runs to win. To that end, this has been a good cross-country season for the Freeman Academy senior, who has owned the Class B field throughout the year and ran away with the Region 5B championship last week in Platte. Roesler finished the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes, 33 seconds and nearly 45 seconds in front of the Bon Homme’s Nate Hall, who finished second.

Freeman Public remains undefeated in October and now stands at 13-6 after a 3-1 win over Hanson at Alexandria Tuesday night, Oct. 20. The Flyers beat the Beavers (5-13) 25-19, 25-18, 16-25, 25-9 behind 16 kills, 23 digs and five aces from senior Rijjy Peterson. Kate Miller added seven kills, 12 digs and a pair of aces, Mesa Mehlhaf had six kills, and Cara Maske and Ava Ammann shared the set assists with 18 and 15, respectively.

Canistota Superintendent Larry Nebelsick confirmed Monday morning, Oct. 19, that there are several cases of COVID-19 in the junior high, but the Canistota/Freeman football team is not impacted. One Canistota volleyball player will miss tonight’s home match against Irene-Wakonda, but there is no reason for alarm, he said.

Canistota/Freeman finished the season 7-1 after a 40-0 win over Hanson Friday night, Oct. 16 while Menno/Marion lost to Irene-Wakonda 30-26 in Menno's homecoming game. A win would have qualified the Razorbacks for postseason play; instead they finish their final season as a cooperative with a 1-7 record. The Eagles improved to 2-6.

Menno won for the third time in four matches with a 3-1 victory over Mitchell Christian Thursday night, Oct. 15 in Menno. The Wolves downed the Golden Eagles 22-25, 25-18, 25-14, 25-22 and improved to 7-9. Mitchell Christian dropped to 2-11.

The Freeman Academy/Marion boys cross-country team won the meet, FA’s Jada Koerner was third while Menno’s Ashton Massey, Morgan Edelman and Kadeyn Ulmer all finished in the top 20 at the Region 3B Meet in Platte on Wednesday and will run at state in Rapid City Saturday, Oct. 24. Check back for full results.

Freeman Public took down Oldham-Ramonda/Rutland 3-1 in volleyball action Tuesday night, Oct. 8 while Menno held off Hanson in five sets. The Flyers won 25-14, 25-14, 22-25, 25-21 behind 13 kills and 15 digs from senior Rijjy Peterson. Oddy Pankratz added eight kills, 18 digs, 10 set assists and four aces while Ava Ammann had 20 set assists and 10 digs. The win moved Freeman to 12-6 while ORR dropped to 5-11.