Upset of Central City helps Midland's playoff chances

Football

     Midland went a long way toward securing a spot in the Eight-player football playoffs with a 40-28 upset win over sixth-ranked Central City Oct. 12 in Wyoming.

     Quarterback Britan Martens rushed 36 times for 203 yards and four touchdowns, and Carter Mohr had 17 carries for 126 yards and two scores for the Eagles (5-1, 6-3).

     Defensively, Griffin Gravel had 10 tackles, Carsen Rupp had seven, Jensen Dodge had five, while Brett Schoenherr and Hunter Shoaff had four apiece for Midland.

     The Eagles led 20-14 at halftime, 26-22 after three quarters, and outscored the Wildcats 14-6 in the final period.

     The win put Midland into a three-way tie for first place in Eight-player, District 3, along with Central City and Turkey Valley. Should the three teams remain in a tie after the last games of the regular season Oct. 12, all three would qualify for the post-season under the new qualifying rules.

     Midland will play at Lansing Kee (2-6) Friday.

Volleyball

     Midland lost a pair of matches during pool play in the Tri-Rivers Conference Volleyball Tournament Oct. 11 at Lisbon.

     The Eagles played Cedar Valley Christian in their first match, and lost by scores of 11-21, 10-21. Mikayla Dosland had seven assists in the match, as Brennah Ricketts and Delanie Uppena had three kills each. Drew Jensen and Dusanek each had four kills.

     Midland then fell to Lisbon, 7-21, 7-21. Morgan Soper had two kills and two blocks. Ella Rupp had four digs, while Dusanek and Jensen had three apiece.

     Prior to the conference tournament, the Eagles played host to Calamus-Wheatland in the final match of the regular season, and won in four sets, by scores of 15-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-23.

     Uppena had 10 kills, and Ricketts had nine. Dosland made 25 assists. The team had 84 digs, led by Uppena with 18, Ella Rupp with 13, Emma Dusanek with 12, Arianna Hacke and Jensen with 10 apiece. Uppena served 16-for-16, and Jensen had five aces.

     Midland finished the regular season with a 2-4 record in conference play, and came out of the TRC tournament with an overall mark of 3-26.

Cross country

     Midland competed in the Tri-Rivers Conference Meet Oct. 14 at Starmont. The Wildcats were led by Trent Rickels, who finished 17^th overall with a time of 18 minutes, 43 seconds. Tanner Stoll was 64^th in 22:21, Bryce Rushford ran a personal best time of 24:44, and Hunter Wink finished in 24:48.

     “The course was a little muddy, but still in decent condition,” Midland coach Jon Eganhouse said. “Trent Rickels keeps moving up the board, heading toward Midland’s top 20 (all-time) runners, which hasn’t changed since 2007.”

     The Wildcats will compete in the state qualifying meet Oct. 18 at Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

     “I am looking forward to the district meet,” Eganhouse said. “I realize we have a slim chance to move on to State, but to have the boys improve their times would be a win for us.”