Sports

With an overall record of 20-9, the St. Paul softball team secured their spot in Friday’s C-6 District Final in Wisner after splitting games in the Subdistrict C-8 tournament Monday afternoon. The Wildcats entered the C-8 tournament seeded second and drew a first-round matchup with a familiar foe in Centura/Central Valley. St. Paul toppled the Diamonds twice previously in the season, and the outcome of Monday’s game was no different.

The St. Paul Wildcats are no strangers to tough competition on the cross country course. However, last week, during their final outing of the regular season, the Wildcats found themselves racing against an entirely different level of talent when they traveled to David City to battle at the David City Aquinas Invite.

With four minutes to go in the first half of last Friday night’s District C1-5 matchup between St. Paul and Adams Central, it looked as though the Wildcats had a shot at spoiling the Patriots’ homecoming. However, within ninety seconds, the Wildcats’ chances of depriving the Patriots of their sixth win of the season, and St. Paul securing their second victory of the year, rapidly disappeared, as the Adams County kids scored two quick touchdowns, which were key in their 34-3 victory.

The St. Paul volleyball team improved its record to 17-4 with a pair of wins last week. On Tuesday, the Wildcats entertained the Central City Bison from the comfort of their home gymnasium and came out on top 25-18, 25-11, 259. Central City played the Wildcats close in the first set, as the teams found themselves tied at 15-15. It was at that point that the St. Paul offense came to life and scored ten of the next thirteen points to take the set. St. Paul continued the momentum into the second set and held leads of 16-7 and 19-10. In the third frame of the match, Rowynn Hansel served the first eleven points, and the Bison would get no closer than nine the rest of the way.

Five weeks into the high school football season, many coaches across the Cornhusker State may still have questions about how their team would stack up against the best competition in their class. Last Thursday evening, St.

For the second straight week, members of the St. Paul cross country team were greeted with friendly terrain, and, just like they had the week before, the Wildcats capitalized on the opportunity. Friday afternoon, St. Paul joined a talented field of competitors from northeast Nebraska at the Boone Central Invite, yet the team was still able to hold their own. On the course at the Albion Country Club, the Wildcats secured a fifthplace finish in the boys’ race. Powered by the performance of Christopher Thomas, St. Paul scored eighty-seven points at the eight-team meet. Columbus Scotus won the team title at the Cardinals’ invite with just twenty-one points. Thomas paced the Wildcats with a thirteenth-place finish after the junior came into the chute at 19:54 for the hardware. Other members of the Wildcats’ team to represent in the varsity competition were Roman Lentz, Jack Thede, and Jack Kramer.

The Central Valley football team was 2.8 seconds away from spoiling Elm Creek’s homecoming celebration last Friday, but the Cougars’ comefrom- behind effort was stymied as the Buffaloes earned the victory in dramatic fashion, completing a last-second Hail Mary to win 52-48.