Sports

A late INT for a touchdown helped seal the deal for host Pipestone Area as they held off Redwood Valley 23-14 Saturday afternoon in Section 3AA semifinal football action.The Arrows (8-2) now advance to face number one seed and unbeaten JCC (10-0) in the Section 3AA title game.The Cardinals meanwhile end a successful season with a mark of 7-3, two of those losses coming to the Arrows, although this one was much close than their meeting in the regular season (28-6).Down 16-14 with 1:30 to go in the fourth quarter the Cards got the ball back with a chance to win.

It’s been an historic run for the Redwood Valley girls volleyball team as they look to capture back-to-back Section 3AA titles for the first time in school history Saturday night in Marshall.The Cardinals are 24-6 overall and will play in the Section 3AA-South Sub-Section title tonight and most likely the Section 3AA title game on Saturday.A big part of that success the past few seasons has been the play and leadership of the veteran senior trio of Kendall Huhnerkoch, Cali Johnson and Hailyn Ourada.Since their sophomore campaign, the trio has led the Cardinals to a record of 73-22, including a Section 3AA title, 31-4 record and State Tournament berth a season ago.

With a 3-0 win over New Ulm on Monday the Redwood Valley girls volleyball team will head into the postseason as the Section 3AA favorites.Senior Cali Johnson recorded her 1,000th career dig in the Cardinals 25-11, 25-10, 25-18 win and will be a part of a strong senior group that will be looking to head back to State for the second straight season.Kendall Huhnerkoch had 16 kills and 12 digs, Johnson added 13 kills and 10 digs, Hailyn Ourada added 37 set assists, four kills and six digs, Caitlin Flinn had three kills, Gabby Berg added eight kills and Addison Schmidt had two kills.The Cardinals (23-6) are the top seed in the south half of the bracket and are currently ranked eighth in all of Class AA according to QRF points.No other team in the Section is even in the top 25 (NL/Spicer is ranked 27th out of the North half) and the Cardinals have dominated their way to a perfect 9-0 Section record.

Wayne Cook and Brian Langeland will join a number of individuals with local ties to be inducted into the Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame at the 34th annual Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame Banquet Saturday evening at Jackpot Junction Casino in Morton.A total of 19 individuals will be honored in the player, manager, umpire, sponsor, promoter, administrator, organizer, volunteer or media category with the event biennially recognizing individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the sport of softball.Along with Cook (Umpire/Promoter) and Langeland (Player), Nick and Ann Guetter (Sponsors), Tony Price (Player) and Jack Reese (Player) of Wabasso and former 1969 Redwood Falls high school graduate Lee Patten (Player/Manager out of Bemidji/Hutchinson) will all be inducted.The notable name Cook will be one of those inducted under the Umpire/Promoter category and locals will recognize “Cookie” as a longtime umpire in the area.Cook began his love for softball as a kid watching his uncles Mel and Don Cook play for Leavenworth in the mid-60s.Later when he was attending Southwest Minnesota State University alongside twin brother Warren, the duo would coach and also play for the East College Drive Merchants in Marshall.In his final years of college at SMSU - after a brief stint in St.

It was another strong outing for the state-ranked boys and girls cross country teams as the girls finished first and the boys second at the Big South Conference Meet held in Blue Earth.The Cardinal girls dominated their way to yet another small school title as they finished with four of the top six finishers on the way to 23 team points, easily outdistancing second place Luverne (23-60) in the seven team race.The Cards top four runners all set personal bests led by junior leader Addie Thomes who finished first overall (third including all the schools) with her time of 18:50.Ellie Nelson knocked 16 seonds off of her prior best to place second (sixth overall) in 19:01, Lola Luze took 21 seconds off of her previous best to finish third (eighth overall) in 19:17 and Reese Prescott added a personal best to finish sixth (17th overall) with a time of 19:47.Newcomer Mary Slavin continued to be a big key for the Cards as the number five runner as she finished 11th with a time of 20:55, Heather Panitzke had her best race of the season setting a personal best by nearly 40 seconds to finish 15th in 21:17 and Madi Munsell was 22nd in 22:32.In JV action, Vanessa Johnson (22:08), Addie Ewald (22:14) and Aleena Vestouvanh (22:22) went 1-2-3 respectively with Annie Lunde fifth and Klaira Horejsi seventh.Big South Conference Small School Girls Team Results - Redwood Valley 23, Luverne 60, JCC 85, Pipestone 125, St.

It was a memorable night for Redwood Valley senior setter Hailyn Ourada as she recorded her 2,000th career set assist in the Cardinals 3-0 win over visiting Luverne.Ourada finished with 26 set assists to go along with five kills, five digs and three ace serves in the Cardinals (22-6) 25-22, 25-15, 25-13 victory.

The state-ranked Redwood Valley boys and girls cross country teams continued their trek towards State by competing at the competitive Perham Invitational Thursday afternoon.The Cardinal boys were second and the girls third against a field of state-ranked teams.For the boys, the Cards would finish second to a powerful Perham squad that’s ranked second in Class AA (39-89) in the 28-team race.Will Ahrens and Kilen Cilek would finish second and third respectively with times of 15:47 and 15:59.Landy Nordby established a personal best time of 16:31 to finish 14th, Tyler Robinson was 37th (17:21) and Clayton Salmon 40th (17:23).Elway Berg would finish 81st (18:26) and Thomas Gerke set a personal best to finish 95th (18:42).Aidan Salmon was 14th and Lane Breitkerutz 15th to pace the JV.For the girls, the Cards finished third behind Class AA second ranked Perham and Class AAA Brainerd.Leading the way once again was junior Addie Thomes who set a personal best by seven seconds to finish in second place with a time of 18:56.Ellie Nelson was 12th (19:29), Lola Luze 32nd (20:06), Reese Prescott 37th (20:12), Mary Slavin (20:59) was 60th, Heather Panitzke 95th (22:15) and Vanessa Johnson 114th (22:53).Annie Lunde and Madi Munsell finished 18th and 23rd respectively to pace the JV.The Cardinals were back in action Tuesday at the Big South Conference Meet in Blue Earth before gearing up for the Section 3A Meet on October 24 in Luverne.