The Atlantic Trojans are one of two teams in the district without a district loss, and they will look to keep that way as they face off against the Greene County Rams Friday night. The Trojans have just three games remaining and all of them are of the upmost importance. The Formula is simple. If the Trojans win their next two games, they’re in. However, with Greene County coming of a loss to Carroll, head coach Joe Brummer knows that the Greene County Rams will be desperate to avoid a second district loss.

Yet again, the Atlantic defense will have to face a mobile quarterback. Not only has Greene County quarterback Zack Stadler thrown for nearly a thousand yards, but he is also second on the team in rushing. That being said, the Trojans have fared well against the numerous mobile quarterbacks they faced this year. The fact that they’ve seen this many is no coincidence.

In addition to the mobility of Stadler, Atlantic will have to be prepared to defend down the field.

The offense has been hitting its stride as of late. Ethan Mcneal has Eclipsed 150 yards in each of the last three games while the offense is averaging over 41 points per game through that same stretch. Although you won’t see Atlantic fix what’s not broken, they do have some wrinkles in their back pocket.

Ultimately, if Atlantic is going to walk away with a win, they will need to do what’s made them successful this season. Control the line of scrimmage, run the ball efficiently, and win the turnover battle.

You can catch all the action on KJAN with pregame coverage starting at 6:30 with Kickoff scheduled for 7 pm.

Another day means another win for the Riverside Bulldogs as they defeated the Treynor Cardinals 3-0 on Thursday night. Although the Bulldogs won all three sets, the Cardinals didn’t make it easy. Neither side was able to go on long, extended runs, as the middle part of all three sets went back and forth. However, Riverside always seemed to find the extra gear to pull away at the end.

As has been the case all season, it was a total team effort for Riverside. Defensively, four bulldogs had ten or more digs. Sophia Fenner led the team with 14, including two that seemed improbable at best, to keep rallies alive.  Up front, sophomore Vivian Gross continues to be a factor as both she and Arabella Singleton had three blocks. Offensively, the combination of Bentley Rone, Lily Reed, Sydney Somers, and Ashley Kelley was a perfect mix of finesse and power. Somers provided the power, leading the way with 16 kills. Rone and Kelly were precise with their sets, with both picking up double-digit assists, which also opened the door for Rone to pick up some kills with her unassuming pushovers that continuously put Treynor in a tough spot.

Although the Bulldogs weren’t dominant, nothing was too big for them to handle. They weren’t behind very often, but when they were, it wasn’t for long. The only question mark in the match was the struggles Treynor had with service errors, and with sets of 25-19, 25-21, and 25-22, it could’ve changed the course of a set or two. However, it likely wouldn’t have changed the outcome as Riverisde was the better team.

Riverside is in the midst of its toughest stretch of the season, and head coach Brooke Flathers credited her team’s response to the challenges that have been thrown their way, especially against the second-place team in the conference.

Fenner’s defensive skills continue to be impressive, and this has a lot to do with her efforts in practice.

The pushover ball from Rone not only looked good, but was successful. The success of the play has a lot to do with how good Rone is at distributing, but it is also something the back row looks to set up for her.

With the end of the season in sight, the goal for the Bulldogs remains the focus for this team, and despite their 28-0 record, it doesn’t appear that complacency will be an issue.

The Bulldogs will compete in the CAM tournament on Saturday before beginning the Western Iowa Conference tournament next week.

The annual cross country meet at Nishna Hills was ran on Thursday with the Atlantic Girls’ finishing sixth and the boys’ team finishing tenth. Between all six races ranging from middle school to high school varsity there were 23 teams that competed. The running conditions were ideal for the varsity races at 5:00 and 5:30 with that crisp fall air and cool breeze in the atmosphere. In the boys’ varsity race, Lincoln Pius X went 1-2-3 to win the race as a team in a landslide finishing with 26 points. The top Atlantic finisher was Sophomore Mason Betts who placed ninth and ran a 17:11.4 5K. Betts was surrounded by Riverside athletes as the top three Bulldog runners finished eighth, tenth and eleventh. Leading the way for Riverside was Brody Henderson running a 17:09.8. The Bulldogs came in second with 73 points, followed by Red Oak, Earlham and Kuemper Catholic rounding out the top five. Atlantic’s tenth place finish resulted in 261 points.

In the girls’ race St. Albert’s Lilli Denton finished roughly 50 seconds before the second-place finisher resulting in a landslide victory for her. The first Trojan to cross the finish line was Senior Katrina Williams in 16th place running a 21:25.1. After Williams, it was a 25th place finish for Freshman Kaitlyn Hickman with a run of 22:07.9. Lincoln Pius X won the girls’ race as well with 43 points. Behind the Thunderbolts was Treynor, Harlan, Glenwood, Earlham and Atlantic finishing sixth place with 148 points.

Senior Katrina Williams was grateful to run her home course one last time.

The familiarity of the course gave seemed to keep Atlantic more comfortable compared to other places.

Williams said the breeze made it more difficult on the second half.

Head Coach Dan Vargason was pleased with the effort out of the girls’ team.

Vargason applauded Betts’ performance on the course.

The goal is Fort Dodge moving forward for the Trojans.

Atlantic is back in action at the Hawkeye Ten Conference Meet in Shenendoah Thursday, October 16th.