LE MARS — Spencer gave Le Mars a run for their money Tuesday night in Lakes Conference play, twice pushing the ‘Dogs to extra points before ultimately falling in four sets. “It’s always tough to play at Le Mars because they always have such a strong home crowd presence,” Tiger volleyball coach Karl Reiter said. “The student section is rowdy, and it provides a great atmosphere.”...

SIOUX RAPIDS — Manson Northwest Webster handed Sioux Central a sweep on the volleyball floor Tuesday night, but the victory wasn’t nearly as easy as it would seem. The Rebels pushed game one all the way to the 30s and appeared to have a game winning kill along the back line that would have ended the set with a score of 31-29. However, the ball was ultimately ruled out, tying it up at 30...

ESTHERVILLE — Iowa Lakes Community College announced Wednesday that the Iowa Lakes softball team will host a youth softball camp on Saturday, Oct. 6. The camp will be held at the Iowa Lakes softball field, located on the corner of 18th Street and Seventh Avenue, on the Estherville campus...

The Northwest All-Stars, including Trevor Cooke, Kaden Miller and Jace Danborn, of Spencer, placed third at the PGA Jr. League Regional over the weekend at Beloit Club in Beloit, Wisconsin. Four teams competed at the regional with the TPC Twin Cities All-Stars coming out on top. The Northwest All-Stars went 1-2 in the Jr. League action, beating The Legend Clubs All-Stars.

A very warm late summer evening saw the all-time leading UMSS POWRi Lucas Oil feature winner add another victory, as Brooke Tatnell executed a clean sweep at the Midwest Power Series event at the Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer Friday. "The Awesome Aussie" made the trek down from his U.S. residence in Forest Lake, Minnesota, to do double duty in the Protofab No. 63 sprint car in UMSS 360 winged sprint car action and the Vermeer No. 55 car in the IRA 410 portion of the program...

One hundred and twelve participants from Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota traveled to the Clay County Fair Tuesday morning to take part in the annual Antique Tractor Pull. Twenty-four classes were available for drivers to compete in with first- and second-place prizes awarded to those who ranked among the highest. ...

FOREST CITY — It’s been a season of baby steps for the Spencer volleyball team, and the squad made a couple more Saturday at the always challenging Forest City tournament despite dropping five of six matches. “It’s always a really good level of competition and at a good time in our season with an opportunity to do really well,” Tiger volleyball coach Karl Reiter said of the tournament. ...

CARROLL —  Spencer’s cross country squads took part in their first weekend race of the year Saturday, running the Kuemper Catholic Invitational at Swan Lake State Park. The Tiger girls were a bit shorthanded with just five runners at the event, but they continued to be anchored by the Fisher sisters as freshman Brenna Fisher edged junior Elisa Fisher by three seconds for second and third place respectively...

FORT DODGE — Spencer’s swim girls traveled to the Gary Winkler Invitational Saturday, going toe-to-toe with some of the biggest schools in the state, including a Dowling Catholic team that nearly doubled up the rest of the field in the team standings with a final score of 527.5...

SIOUX RAPIDS — Sioux Central continued to slug its way through the season without starting fullback Ben Hargens Friday night, but senior quarterback Jake Hanson stepped up in a big way, scoring two touchdowns on the ground and two in the air in a 31-6 drubbing of South O’Brien...

WEST BEND — Coming off a game in which they scored their first points of the season against the then-No. 2-ranked team in 8-player, the Clay Central-Everly Mavericks had some positive vibes going into Friday’s tilt with West Bend-Mallard. The Wolverines aggressively killed those vibes early on and kept the hammer down for a 72-0 win over the Mavs...

HUMBOLDT — Last year’s how did that one get away loss to Humboldt on the road was avenged by the Spencer Tigers Friday night as Isaiah Spencer pounded the rock 32 times for 182 yards and Michael Storey hauled in three Gage Garnatz passes for 103 yards to supply the bulk of the offense in a 24-12 victory...

SIOUX RAPIDS — Dawson Hatch led the way for the Sioux Central Rebels Thursday night during the Chris Smith Invitational held at Sioux Rapids Golf and Country Club. Hatch ran his 5K in 16:48.66 to place eighth in the field of 78 runners, leading Sioux Central to a sixth place finish at their home meet...

ESTHERVILLE — Wednesday the Iowa Lakes volleyball team hosted its first conference game of the 2018 season. The Lakers defeated the Ellsworth Community College Panthers with a 3-1 victory. Starting extremely slow with multiple hitting errors, the Lakers fell short in the first set of the night, 25-22...

LAST YEAR Spencer rolled into Humboldt riding high off a 33-12 comeback victory over Central Lyon/George-Little Rock and needed just five plays to take a 7-0 lead over the Wildcats. However, untimely turnovers, including a fumble at the goal line on what would have been an 88-yard touchdown run just before halftime, and a surprising ground-and-pound approach from Humboldt in the second half put the Tigers on their heels. ...

SIOUX CITY — Spencer’s volleyball girls suffered another sweep defeat Thursday night when they traveled to Bishop Heelan High School, but Tiger coach Karl Reiter was encouraged by what he saw against the stiff competition. “We’re starting to correct some bad habits,” Reiter said. ...

IMCA modifieds dive into the west bank at CCF Speedway with the midway lights in full swing Wednesday night during the IMCA Blue Ribbon Show at the Clay County Fair. Just shy of 100 cars took to the track during the final IMCA racing night of 2018. Due to space and time constraints, results from the races can be found at spencerdailyreporter.com. Fans looking for a little more dirt action at the Sleep Number Grandstand can attend the Outlaw Elite National Truck and Tractor Pull Thursday at 2 p.m. and/or 6:30 p.m with tickets being good for both sessions. Friday night the CCF Sprint Car Triple Header will showcase 410, 360 and non-wing sprint cars on the 3/8-mile track. Hot laps are scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. with racing scheduled to get underway at 7:30 p.m.

Anchored by a gigantic front line and back line wizardy from libero Payton Ahrenstorff, Spirit Lake gave Spencer fits Tuesday night during the two squads’ Lakes Conference opener, dropping the Tigers in straight sets. “They are a very solid passing team, especially with Payton Ahrenstorff covering all that she covers, and a very tall offense to play, so it’s hard to put them out of system and off their game,” Spencer volleyball coach Karl Reiter said...

STORM LAKE — Spencer’s cross country girls narrowly missed out on a third straight meet victory to start the season Tuesday night, placing second at the Storm Lake Invite with a score of 60 while Harlan, which placed four runners in the top 13, posted a 55 to take the crown...

ROCKWELL CITY — Twin Lakes Conference triangular action was unkind to the Sioux Central Rebels Tuesday night as they were toppled in straight sets by South Central Calhoun and Newell-Fonda. “Overall it was a rough night for us,” Sioux Central volleyball coach Sara Grossnickle said. ...

The Iowa Lakes men’s soccer team moved to 5-1-1 this season after taking down Central Community College Columbus 3-1 Saturday. Freshman Connor Goldsworthy started the scoring for the Lakers in the 40th minute. Julio Fernandes served a great ball into the box. Then Nicolas Likulia set a first time ball into the path of Goldsworthy to make it 1-0 Lakers...

DAVENPORT — The Iowa Lakes volleyball team traveled to Davenport this past weekend to participate in the St. Ambrose JV tournament. After a slow start on Friday, dropping two matches (0-2 loss to Blackhawk-Moline and 1-2 loss to St. Ambrose JV) the Lakers rallied back Saturday to take two wins...

MARION — The Iowa Lakes men's golf team returned to the links over the weekend to compete in the Klocke Family Classic at Hunter's Ridge Golf Course. The Lakers finished 11th out of 15 teams, posting a two-day total of 629. They moved up two spots after the second day with a team score of 305; a 19-stroke improvement from the first round of 324. ...

Photos by Nate Shaughnessy Fairgoers lined the fences and filled the stands surrounding the outdoor arena at the Clay County Fair Sunday night, taking in a full PRCA Rodeo slate presented by Barnes Rodeo Company. The night’s action began with some bucking broncos with cowboys competing bareback and with saddles. The program then moved to calf roping with cowboys racing the clock and each other to see how fast they could tie up the feisty, little cow. Cowboys waste little time or movement while getting the calves to the ground, tossing them in the air as needed.

GOWRIE — Sioux Central hit the road for some Twin Lakes Conference volleyball action Thursday night, falling to the Southeast Valley Jaguars in straight sets 25-22, 25-18, 25-19. “We could not get our offense going on the outside,” Rebel volleyball coach Sara Grossnickle said. “Our middles did a great job of stepping up and getting some great swings in, but when we have as many hitting errors as we did as a team, it is hard to come out on the winning end.”...

Spencer’s MacKenzie Bruning, pictured tossing up a set last week against Sioux Central, and the rest of the Tigers had difficulty coming out on top during their home tournament Saturday, falling to Carroll (21-16, 21-8), 3A No. 13-ranked Humboldt (21-6, 21-10), Cherokee (21-18, 21-10), Algona (21-16, 21-18) and Mason City (21-16, 21-16) without taking a set. Spencer’s record is now 1-11 with Lakes Conference play beginning Tuesday at home against Spirit Lake.

AKRON — Sioux Central paid its first visit of the season to the right hand side of the win-loss column Friday night, falling 30-14 to Akron-Westfield without the services of senior bell cow Ben Hargens. Sophomore Jayden Harder shouldered the load in Hargens stead, running 35 times for 145 yards and a score, but the Rebels accrued just 113 more yards of offense on 34 plays that didn’t go to Harder while Westerner quarterback Nick Jacobs threw for 237 and ran for 89 by himself...

ROYAL — On the plus side for Clay Central-Everly Friday night, the Mavs scored their first points on the grid iron this season, putting up 13 points. On the negative side, CC-E had to deal with No. 2-ranked Newell-Fonda which racked up 59 points for the comfortable victory...

Coming off a shutout defeat at the hands of Le Mars, MOC-Floyd Valley wasted little time getting on the board against Spencer Friday night, driving 80 yards in just over four minutes to take a 6-0 lead due to a blocked PAT. The Tigers, fresh off overcoming a 14-point first quarter deficit against Webster City a week ago, didn’t blink as quarterback Gage Garnatz went 92 yards to pay dirt on the team’s second snap of the game for a 7-6 lead. ...

The Tigers and Dutch last squared off in 2011 with MOC-Floyd Valley coming out on top 22-20 with the help of a last second Spencer field goal attempt sailing just left of the uprights. Senior Jack Randall, junior Blake Altenhofen and sophomore Matt Finnern led the Tiger rushing attack that night, combining for 182 yards on the ground in Orange City. ...

SIOUX RAPIDS — The Spencer Tigers needed a couple games to start clicking and avoiding simple mistakes against Sioux Central Tuesday night, and the Rebels made them pay, gladly logging a 2-0 set lead and then holding on for a nail-biting 26-24 victory in game four to get a 3-1 match triumph over the visiting purple and gold...

WEBSTER CITY — Spencer thoroughly needed to right the ship in week two Friday night against a 1-0 Webster City team coming off a hard-to-swallow 27-13 loss to rival Spirit Lake in the season opener. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Friday night couldn’t have started much worse as the Lynx recovered a Spencer fumble on the opening drive and scored on a 41-yard pass play one snap later. ...

ROYAL — Clay Central-Everly avoided the continuous clock in the second half for the first time since week one of last season, but the Mavericks still ended the night scoreless in a 34-0 defeat at the hands of North Iowa. The Bison didn’t complete a single pass, but a ground attack that produced 257 yards was more than enough to get past the Mavs...

SIOUX RAPIDS — Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire and Sioux Central turned in one of the fastest possible halves of football during the first two quarters Friday night, and despite the constant dwindling of the clock, all of the game’s points came in the opening 24 minutes as the Rebels took a 20-0 halftime lead that became the final...

SIOUX RAPIDS — Despite ending in a sweep victory for the Warriors, everything in Thursday’s Twin Lakes Conference volleyball matchup between Sioux Central and Alta-Aurelia came down to game two. After falling behind by five points early on in game one, the Rebels struggled closing the gap, eventually watching the Warriors walk back to the bench with a comfortable 25-13 win to put the pressure on in game two...

COON RAPIDS, Minn. — The Laker men’s soccer team moved to 2-0-1 on the season, after a 7-1 victory over Anoka-Ramsey Wednesday. Nicolas Likulia started the scoring for the Lakers in the 16th minute off a Connor Goldsworthy free kick. Fifteen minutes later Jamaican forward Jovanny Brown opened up his scoring campaign for the Lakers when he got on the end of a through ball from sophomore Levi Heholt. ...

MASON CITY — Spencer’s swim girls traveled east Thursday night for their first dual action of the season, coming up short 59-35 against the Mason City Mohawks on a night the team tried some new things. “We had a great experience swimming, and many swimmers swam new events with great finishes,” Spencer girls swim coach Amie Lawrence said...

Spencer spent week two of last year climbing out of a 12 point halftime deficit to Central Lyon/George-Little Rock by posting 33 unanswered points in the second half to move to 2-0 on the year. Webster City meanwhile put together a 41-27 win over Clear Lake with the help of a 201 yard rushing performance from now graduated feature back Zane Williams and a 108 yard effort on the ground from now senior quarterback Dylan Steen. ...

OKOBOJI — Spencer’s cross country girls built up “The Purple Wall” once again Tuesday night, placing five runners in the top seven en route to posting a score of just 23 to easily win the Spirit Lake Invite at Brooks National Golf Club by 36 points over second place MOC-Floyd Valley...

POCAHONTAS — Sioux Central volleyball put up a valiant effort in game two Tuesday against Pocahontas, eventually stomaching a 27-25 defeat in the set, but the hosting Indians had more definitive wins in games one and three to take the match win via sweep...