Sports

Cardinals roll past Chargers

Outscoring MVL 20-6 in the second half the Redwood Valley Cardinals topped the Chargers 27-6 in a battle of upcoming Section 3AA foes.The Cardinals (5-2) wrapped up the regular season Wednesday night at Luverne as part of MEA week and will host a first round playoff game Tuesday night at Inglis Field.Barring an upset by Pipestone over JCC, the Cards should enter the postseason as the number two seed regardless of what happened in Luverne.Friday on a wet, windy night at Inglis Field the Cards battled through the conditions to tame MVL with nice balance on offense (201 yards passing and 130 yards rushing).A one-yard plunge from Ethan Louwagie would give the Cards a 7-0 lead in the second quarter and they would not relinquish it the rest of the game.Zach Wilson hauled in a 19-yard touchdown reception from Louwagie to make it 13-0 in the third quarter.MVL would finally get on the board on a 47-yard pass from Kaden Peterson to Bradyn Kube but the Cards came right back and made it a two score lead on a 5-yard run from Lane Cooper.Ryder Crawford would cap things off in the fourth quarter on a 22-yard touchdown catch from Louwagie.Cooper would finish with 16 carries for 65 yards and added one catch for 20 yards.Brandon Lang had six catches for 80 yards, Max Fuhr added two catches for 24 yards, Wilson had three catches for 55 yards and a score and Crawford added one catch for 22 yards and a score.Louwagie was 13-for-19 passing for 201 yards, two touchdowns and one INT and added 20 yards rushing and a score.Kooper Johnson added nine carries for 45 yards.Defensively the Cards were led by Johnson with 12 tackles (four solo) and a tackle-for-loss.Jordan Matson racked up 10 tackles (four solo) and a tackle-for-loss, Cooper had 11 tackles (five solo) and a tackle-for-loss, Louwagie added seven tackles, Crawford picked off a pass, Taylor Schweiss had five tackles and a tackle-for-loss, Andrew Peterson added 10 tackles (three solo), Griffin Evans had five tackles and Max Dillon added five tackles, a tackle-for-loss and a blocked PAT.

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Ourada reaches 1,000 point milestone in Cardinal victory

It was a memorable afternoon for Redwood Valley’s Hailyn Ourada as she surpassed 1,000 career set assists in the Cards thrilling 3-2 non-conference win over Wabasso.The Cardinals now sit with a mark of 26-3 overall and will be the number one seed in the upcoming Section 3AA-South Tournament.The Cardinals - ranked 11th in Class AA - sit with only three losses on the season, two of those losses to powerhouses Marshall (23-5) and Minneota (24-3) and also to Watertown (SD) in the finals of the Jimmy John’s Tournament recently in Marshall.They are unbeaten against Section 3AA opponents - including a win over North top seed Paynesville Area Monday night - this season and will be the favorite to win the Section when action gets underway Friday, October 27.Ourada recorded her 1,000th career set assist in Redwood Valley’s come from behind 3-2 win over Wabasso Thursday afternoon in a battle of state-ranked opponents held in Wabasso.The Cards were fortunate to escape with a win over the Tomahawk Conference champion Rabbits (15-8), dropping the first two sets by scores of 26-24, 26-24 before rallying to win the next three 25-15, 25-12, 15-11.Ourada finished with 51 sets assists in the win to go along with 10 digs.

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Cardinal runners wrap up regular season

The state-ranked Redwood Valley boys and girls cross country teams wrapped up the regular season by winning the Minnewaska Invitational held last Tuesday at the Minnewaska Golf Club.The Cardinal girls once again dominated the small four-team race by having five of the top six finishers.Addie Thomes was first (19:53), Lola Luze finished in second (20:05), Madi Munsell was third (20:13), Ellie Nelson fifth (20:47) and Reese Prescott placed sixth (21:10).Annie Lunde would finish in 12th (21:43) with a season best and Karsyn Ramey had a personal best to finish 25th (23:31).Heather Panitzke, Ming Lin and Aleena Vetsouvanh went 1-2-3 in the JV race.The Cardinal boys meanwhile held off Sauk Centre (26-41) for the team title.Will Ahrens was first overall (16:06) with teammate Kilen Cilek placing second (16:30).Landyn Nordby was back in the line-up and finished in fifth (17:31), Mason Anderson set a new personal best by 10 seconds to place eighth (18:05), Clayton Salmon was 10th (18:14), Elway Berg 13th (18:30) and Tyler Robinson 14th (18:40).Joe Gerke was first in the JV race with a personal best time of 18:48, Aidan Salmon was second and Lane Breitkreutz third as he knocked 46 seconds off his season best.The Cards were back in action Tuesday at the Big South Conference Meet and will prepare for the Section 3A race that will take place Thursday, Oct.

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Rabbit netters claim Tomahawk Conference title

The Wabasso girls volleyball team recently claimed their first outright Tomahawk Conference title since 2018.The Rabbits (15-8) - ranked ninth in Class A - finished 7-1 in conference play and appeared to share the title with BL/Hector-Stewart - who defeated the Rabbits 3-0 - but the Mustangs were forced to forfeit a win over New Ulm Cathedral for using an ineligible player and instead would finish 6-2.The Rabbits have played well this season but face an uphill task despite being ranked in the top ten with four other teams in Section 3A ranked ahead of them (Minneota, RTR, Canby and RCW).Thursday the Rabbits showed they can play with anybody by losing a heartbreaker to a strong Redwood Valley team 3-2.The Rabbits got up 2-0 with 26-24 wins in the first two sets but would drop the next three 25-15, 25-12, 15-11.Alivia Olson would finish with 12 kills, an ace block and two ace serves.Camryn Irlbeck had nine kills and two ace blocks, Avery Carlson added eight kills, three ace serves, an ace block and 21 digs and Sara Carlson had 39 set assists, eight digs and was 16-for-16 serving with an ace.Audrey Johnson added 21 digs.---The Cedar Mountain girls volleyball team recently finished second in the final Tomahawk Conference standings with a mark of 6-2.The Cougars topped New Ulm Cathedral 3-1 in a tight match-up (25-23, 23-25, 25-20, 26-24).Aubrey Steffl led the way with 12 kills and 14 digs.Kendra Erickson had 27 set assists, four kills and seven digs and Hailey Hollar added 10 kills and 11 digs.Reagyn Kleinschmidt had seven kills, Kenley Schiller added four, Cloey Wildt had three and Lauren Baringer had 13 digs.

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Cougar netters pick up victories

The Cedar Mountain girls volleyball team went 3-2 over the weekend at the Jimmy John’s Tournament held in Marshall.The Cougars (14-6) opened up with wins over YME (25-11, 25-16) and Adrian-Ellsworth (25-15, 25-22).Hailey Hollar had 24 kills and 24 digs, Kendra Erickson added 48 set assists and 19 digs and Aubrey Steffl had 12 kills and 17 digs.Reagyn Kleinschmidt added 11 kills, Kenley Schiller had four kills and Lauren Baringer added eight digs.On day two the Cougars would top Cleveland (25-20, 25-23) before falling to Redwood Valley (25-22, 25-13) and RTR (25-11, 25-15).Hollar finished with 28 kills and 39 digs, Erickson added 61 set assists, two kills and 13 digs and Kleinschmidt had seven kills.Steffl added 15 kills and 17 digs, Baringer had 18 digs and Schiller had four kills and four digs.---Wabasso topped Springfield in recent Tomahawk Conference girls volleyball action.The Rabbits (15-7) won 3-0 - 25-9, 25-21, 25-23 - over the Tigers to improve to 7-1 in conference play.Alivia Olson had 15 kills, two blocks and was 9-for-9 serving with an ace.Camryn Irlbeck had eight kills and four blocks and Avery Carlson added seven kills, was 19-for-19 serving with an ace and had 14 digs.Sara Carlson finished with 40 set assists and was 11-for-11 serving with three aces, Audren Johnson had 14 digs, Lyla Kittelson had two blocks and two ace serves and Natasha Doubler added nine digs.The Rabbits also fell to RCW in a recent non-conference match-up 3-1 (24-26, 25-16, 15-25, 19-25).Sara Carlson finished with 36 set assists, 13 digs and two ace blocks.Olson had 22 kills and was 12-for-13 serving with an ace and Avery Carlson had seven kills, 15 digs and an ace block.Johnson added 18 digs, Kittelson had two ace blocks and was 24-for-26 serving with four aces, Irlbeck had six blocks (four solo) and Doubler added 13 digs.

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Cardinal runners continue postseason tune-up

The state-ranked Redwood Valley boys and girls cross country teams continued their tune-up for the upcoming postseason by winning the BOLD Invitational Thursday on a windy, fall day at the Olivia Golf Club.The Cardinal girls smoked the field, finishing with six girls in the top 10 to score 19 team points easily outdistancing second place MCC (57) and GFW (69) in the six team race.Addie Thomes finished in first with a time of 19:48 and Lola Luze was right behind in second (19:59).Madi Munsell (20:23) would finish fourth, Ellie Nelson (20:35) was fifth and Reese Prescott seventh (21:14).Annie Lunde (21:53) recorded a season best to finish 10th and Karsyn Ramey set a new personal best of 23:38 to finish in 21st.Klaira Horesji (23:46) was second in the JV race race, Ming Lin third, Paige Kaupang fourth and Sophia Bidinger fifth.The Redwood Valley boys also claimed the title, edging a good MCC squad by a single point (27-28) despite Landyn Nordby not in the line-up.Will Ahrens rolled to the individual title with a time of 16:02.Teammate Kilen Cilek was second (16:30), Clayton Salmon placed fifth (17:55), Aidan Salmon was ninth (18:23), Mason Anderson was 10th (18:25), Tyler Robinson 12th (18:34) and Elway Berg 15th (18:47).Joe Gerke and Thomas Gerke finished one-two in the JV race.

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Cardinals dominate Wolverines

Racking up 440 yards of total offense the Redwood Valley Cardinals rolled to a 34-0 win over host Sibley East Friday night in a battle of Section 3AA foes.The Cardinals (4-2) also shined on defense, allowing just 34 total yards for the Wolverines (2-4) and just two first downs on 33 plays the entire contest.With the win the Cards remain entrenched as the number two seed - behind unbeaten JCC (6-0) - heading into an important Friday night contest with MVL (3-3) at Inglis Field.Friday night the Cards would take a 20-0 lead into the half and put it in cruise control from there, as the Wolverines had no answer for the Cardinal passing attack.Senior Brandon Lang had his second record tying three touchdown game of the season as he hauled in seven catches for 182 yards and three scores.

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