Sports

Boys and girls basketball teams from Freeman and Menno are set to square off this week in what is a classic Cornbelt Conference rivalry. The boys will take the court in Menno tonight, Thursday, Jan. 21 while the girls play in Freeman Friday, Jan. 22. JV games begin at 6:15 p.m.

Note: The calendar in this week’s Courier had the locations of the games flipped.

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER

The new football cooperative between Menno and Scotland will be known as the Jim River Trappers and will compete at the 11-man level — not 9-man as was originally expected.

Both announcements came last week after football players settled on the team name and the South Dakota High School Activities Association denied an appeal from Menno Superintendent Tom Rice, on behalf of the cooperative, to remain 9-man.

A number of local student-athletes have earned postseason accolades for their efforts during the 2020 fall sports season.

Those players include, for volleyball: Rijjy Peterson, Odalite Pankratz and Kate Miller from Freeman Public; Alivea Weber and Maria Cortes from Freeman Academy/Marion and Jesse Munkvold, Kaylie Schempp and Kylie Harriman from Menno.

For football, they include Tyce Ortman, Clayton Smith, Cole Papendick, Logan Katzer, Isiah Robertson and Blake Anderson from Canistota/Freeman and Treyton Sayler and Logan Langrock from Menno/Marion.

Freeman High School's Rijjy Peterson and Menno's Jesse Munkvold were both named to the 2020 Cornbelt Conference First Team for their play on the volleyball court this past season. Freeman's Odalite Pankratz was named to the second team while Freeman's Kate Miller and Menno's Kaylie Schempp and Kylie Harriman were named to the third team.

JEREMY WALTNER  -  PUBLISHER

More than 3½ years ago, when the coaching staff and players of the newly formed Canistota/Freeman football cooperative got together to come up with a team name, it wasn’t hard for them to settle on their pick, even if it took a little time.

The team would be the Canistota/Freeman Pride.

Tyce Ortman has been named the Class 9A/9B MVP of the Cornbelt Conference for his play during the 2020 football season. The announcement came Monday morning, Nov. 16 along with the all-conference selections for the season that wrapped up last week.

In a year without much to celebrate, Canistota/Freeman gave its fans and communities something to cheer about in a big way with another Class 9A state championship Thursday night, Nov. 12.

At 23-20, the Freeman High School volleyball team was two points away from winning an all-important first set against Chester Area in the SoDak 16 Tuesday night, Nov. 10, but the Flyers — the Chester Flyers — won the final five points to take the first set 25-23.

For the Flyers — the Freeman Flyers — it was a blow from which they would not recover.

BY JEREMY WALTNER  |  COURIER EDITOR & PUBLISHER

The Tigers delivered the first blow.

But the Pride won the fight — and the night.