My wife and I recently returned from our nine-day cruise to Alaska. Yes, we were exhausted, but we definitely checked a big trip off our bucket list. Here are some thoughts about our cruise.

Having never been on a cruise before, needless to say, my wife and I were a little worried. So, to adjust for any potential issues, we built in a day’s stay in Seattle prior to leaving on the cruise and an extra day’s stay in Seattle after we returned.

Spencer at Sioux Center

7 p.m. — Friday, Sioux Center

COACH JIM TIGHE ON SPIRIT LAKE LAST WEEK

“We knew Spirit Lake might be the best team we see on our schedule this year. We had too many turnovers and untimely penalties, especially in the second half to compete with a team as good as Spirit Lake.”

HISTORICAL MATCHUPS

Spencer had won the first two matches 46-14 before losing their third matchup 44-0.

Spencer traveled to Sioux Central for a matchup of U.S. Highway 71 schools on the volleyball court. The Tigers took the contest 3-1 against the Rebels, leaving the home school winless on the season. After Spencer won the first set before Sioux Central evened things at a game apiece. The Tigers would earn the next two sets, ending things early for the victory. (Above) Alexa Hallett, of Spencer, gets the block against Sioux Central’s Nevaeh Brauhn.

STORM LAKE — Top finishes by both the Spencer girls and boys cross country teams afforded the Tigers strong finishes at the Storm Lake meet Tuesday event.

The SHS boys finished second overall with 77 points with Nathan Rodriguez, Rylei Koppie and Carson Krogman placed on the top 10.

“Our boys are ranked 12th in 3A,” Drew Schiltz, Spencer coed cross country, said.” Looking at our boys team, we are figuring things out and it is exciting.

“We had a beautiful night for running yesterday at the Sioux Central meet,” said Kelsey Miller, Sioux Central coed coach, as her girls and boys ran well. “All of our teams and runners did a great job.”

The Sioux Central girls won the varsity division on a tie-breaker over RidgeView with the points provided by Quinn Wilkinson.

SPENCER — Make it 11.

Spirit Lake downed Spencer 41-7, racking up its 11th win in 12 games, while dominating Spencer at Dale Norton Field Friday night. The Indians racked up 500 yards of offense and 41 points, while holding the Tigers to one score and less than half as many yards at 233.

“We knew Spirit Lake might be the best team we see on our schedule this year,” said Jim Tighe, Spencer head coach, on the 15th-ranked team in the state and Class 2A final-four team.

WATERLOO — Among a field of nine programs, the Spencer-combined squad of girls finished 14.5 points back of first place of Waterloo at the Warhawk Invitational Saturday, 447.5-433 in the title space.

Amie Lawrence, Tiger head coach said, “We are very proud again of our swims and how the swimmers are working on new events to strengthen and support the team.”

SIOUX RAPIDS ― The Rebels, who were scheduled to host Spencer Monday night before traveling to Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire for another Twin Lakes contest scheduled for a 7 p.m. matchup.

Teams 1 2 3 4 5 ― T

Rebels 17 18 11 x x ― 0

Cougars 25 25 25 x x — 3

Sioux Central ― No information available.

Sawyer Hollesen proved invaluable in Friday night’s 20-10 home win against Lawton-Bronson making it two-in-a-row against a team Sioux Central have only played six times since 2008.

Sioux Central head coach Brandon Goodchild said, “One surprise was our two field goals and two PATs that we kicked by Sawyer Hollesen. He has done a nice job and it is good to have that threat.”

With a large field, the Sioux Central boys and girls competed in Holstein Saturday. The Rebel boys finished third, while girls foursome placed seventh overall.

“We had a great meet yesterday at Holstein,” said Sioux Central head coach Kelsie Miller, recognizing Lucos Wernimont placement in the top five and Linnea Bloom’s top 10 effort to lead the teams.

EMMETSBURG — On Wednesday, Sept. 11, the Iowa Lakes sports shooting team opened the 2024 ICCAC Trap League season at their home range north of Cylinder in a 100-target match against Iowa Western. Iowa Western won the team event 492 to 465 over the Lakers. Freshmen shot the top four scores for the Lakers. The Iowa Lakes Team score of 465x500 included: Joe Perrigo 96, Jacob Grau-West 95, Tristan Werner 93, Blake Bresler 93, and Paul Van Dover 88.

Lake water levels at Three Mile Lake in Union County will be lowered an additional 3 feet as a part of an ongoing lake restoration project. This drawdown began on Sept. 3.

Managers will maintain the lake at approximately 11 feet below normal pool to expose additional areas of the lake bed and shoreline for construction. Water released through the lake’s outlet structure to lower the lake level will be released slowly to avoid downstream impacts.

When we go fishing, if we get low on bait, that’s usually a good thing. It means that the fish have been biting. In my many years of fishing, I’ve had the good fortune to run low on bait a few times. I’ve even run completely out of bait on several occasions.

For the past 36 years, the Pocahontas Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Tournament — or PIGLIFT — kind of kicked off the fall walleye season! Always held the same weekend as the Iowa versus Iowa State football game, PIGLIFT is a three-partner fishing tournament where one of the partners must have lived at one time in Pocahontas, and let me tell you, these teams know how to catch walleyes.

Spencer vs. Spirit Lakes

7 p.m. — Friday, Spencer

COACH JIM TIGHE ON WEBSTER CITY

“I was really happy about how the guys competed against Webster City. We needed a good bounce back after the Humboldt loss and a quality win on the road was huge to get some early season confidence.”

HISTORICAL MATCHUPS