The Luverne Cardinal volleyball team put up a good fight before falling to defending Southwest Conference champion Jackson County Central in Jackson Thursday.

Luverne staged a rally to post a two-point win in the opening game of the match, but the Huskies went on to outscore LHS 45-23 the rest of the night while recording a 3-1 victory.

The loss left the Cards with a 0-2 Southwest Conference record and a 6-5-1 mark overall.

Although LHS came up on the short end on the floor, it wasn't due to a lack of effort.

"We dug up a lot of balls and played hard in between points," said Cardinal coach Mary Jo Graphenteen. "We just didn't score enough points. We really are working hard. We just do not get any easy points or easy wins."

Luverne's determination led to a late run in Game 1 that gave the Cards a 16-14 victory.

The Cards led 8-5 in Game 2 before the Huskies went on a 10-0 run that gave them a 15-8 win.

JCC prevailed 15-8 in Game 3 before using a 6-0 run in Game 4 to pull away and gain a 15-7 win.

"If we can hang in there, cut down the number of unforced errors and improve on finding the open holes on the court, we'll do great. We'll just have to go back to the drawing board and keep working at it," Graphenteen added.

Fifteen missed serves hurt the Cards in the match, but Amy Nunez had a good night at the line by completing 11 of 13 attempts and registering three aces.

Susan Remme and Nicole Aaker led the Cards at the net with 13 and four kills respectively.

Luverne hosts Windom tonight and Lincoln HI Tuesday.

Members of the Luverne, Adrian-Edgerton and Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth cross country teams had an early engagement Saturday.

All three programs from the Star Herald coverage area converged in Worthington to run in the annual Worthington Turkey Trot in the morning.

Runners from all three programs made impacts in the different races.

The Adrian-Edgerton boys ran their way to a third-place finish in the team competition, and the Luverne boys placed eighth out of nine teams.

A-E's girls capped a seven-team field in varsity competition. Luverne didn't field a complete team, but the Cards did have two fine performances from varsity girls.

H-BC-E competed in the junior high and junior varsity races, producing two individual championships and one team title.

Meet officials award trophies for the top 10 finishers in varsity competition, and two Luverne girls picked up some hardware.

Hannah and Sadie Dietrich finished fifth and ninth with respective 16:15 and 16:36 times.

Krissi Thier led the Harrier girls during the varsity race by placing 21st with a time of 17:25.

Ashley Diller (32nd in 18:22), Kelly Banck (33rd in 18:34), Lacey Heitkamp (35th in 18:40) and Sarah Kruger (39th in 18:48) made contributions to A-E's team effort. Ashley Henning placed 46th in 19:37 without influencing the team tally.

Jason Eickhoff picked up a trophy and led the A-E boys to their third-place performance in the varsity standings by finishing eighth with a time of 18:28.

Paul Honermann (12th in 18:44), Wade Ulmer (22nd in 19:25), Jake Salter (28th in 19:42) and Derek Vastenhout (29th in 19:44) round out A-E's point total. Josh Markl and Todd Alberty placed 45th and 58th in 20:21 and 23:00 without contributing to the team cause.

Nick Otten led the Luverne boys in varsity competition by placing 13th in 18:50.

Jesse Kuhlman (30th in 19:45), Tony Kopp (40th in 20:04), Jeff Luethje (52nd in 21:17) and Kyle Bitterman (55th in 21:34) helped the Cards place eighth as a team.

Brad Haak and Tyler Bush made meet history for H-BC-E.

Haak won the boys' junior varsity race and set a meet record that has stood since 1994 with his time of 11:09. Bush won the boys' junior high race and set a meet record that was established in 1996 with a time of 5:45.

The H-BC-E boys won the team competition at the junior high level.

Luverne, H-BC-E and A-E run at meets in Jackson today and Slayton Tuesday. H-BC-E and A-E go to Princeton Saturday.

Here's a look at the varsity team standings and the rest of the individual results from the Worthington Turkey Trot.

Boys' standings: Murray County Central 57, New ulm 64, A-E 99, Windom 109, Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin 119, Worthington 124, Southwest Christian 139, Luverne 190, Southwest Star Concept-Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster 228.

Girls' standings: SSC-SV-RL-B 67, MCC 80, Tracy-Milroy 93, NU 124, Windom 141, Worthington 155, A-E 160.

Girls' junior varsity

Luverne: Nicole Cronquist, 10th, 15:27; Suzanne Gluf, 16th, 16:00.

A-E: Jamie Koehne, 27th, 19:16.

H-BC-E: Shanna Tilstra, third, 14:13; Bev Wurpts, fifth, 14:34; Connie Lewis, seventh, 14:55.

Boys' junior varsity

Luverne: Kevin Klay, 33rd, 15:28.

A-E: Jonathon Beukelman, 21st, 13:36; Kelly Seeman, 32nd, 14:12; Paul Poppen, 34th, 14:36.

H-BC-E, Haak, first, 11:09; Nathan Fick, fourth, 12:07; Matt Buck, sixth, 12:18; Lee Jackson, seventh, 12:30.

Girls' junior high

Luverne: Victoria Arends, sixth, 7:15; Amanda Saum, eighth, 7:23; Breanna Studer, 18th, 7:42; Jessica Willers, 23rd, 8:00; Michelle Riddle, 33rd, 9:00.

A-E: Samantha Ferguson, 14th, 7:32; Abbey Henning, 16th, 7:38; Sidney Miner, 29th, 8:22; Jenny Weiss, 33rd, 8:39.

H-BC-E: Cassi Tilstra, third, 6:48; Amanda Tilstra, 30th, 8:26.

Boys' junior high

Luverne: Ruston Aaker, fourth, 6:23; Michael Nelson, 26th, 7:23; Travis Halffman, 27th, 7:30.

A-E: Brandon Bullerman, sixth, 6:25; Joey Bullerman, 20th, 6:59; Marcus Uithoven, 37th, 9:20; Aldon Vaselaar, 41st, 10:59.

H-BC-E: Bush, first, 5:45; Kale Wiertzema, 12th, 6:46; Travis Broesder, 16th, 6:50; Derek Haak, 23rd, 7:01; Justin Hinks, 38th, 9:40.

The teams combined efforts to score 86 points and compile 667 yards during a wild Southwest Ridge Conference tilt that served as Ellsworth's 2000 Homecoming game.

When the game was complete, H-BC-E celebrated a 56-30 win that lifted its record to 3-0 for the campaign.

Considering H-BC-E was limited to five touchdowns and 30 points during the first two games of the season, Friday's offensive eruption was a welcome but unexpected treat for the Patriots.

H-BC-E erupted for 35 points in the first half and iced the win with a 21-point fourth quarter.

"I don't know where all of that scoring came from," said Patriot coach Dan Ellingson. "I just hope we didn't use all of it up in one night."

Actually, Ellingson knew exactly why H-BC-E was able to score 56 points against the Quasars. The Patriots were able to move the ball through the air and on the ground against SSC, racking up 393 yards worth of total offense.

"This was the first game we were able to pass and run the ball well, and that opened things up for us. You can do a lot more things (to a defense) when you can pass and run. That's what happened Friday," he said.

The stage was set for a high-scoring contest in the first quarter when the teams scored a combined 28 points.

H-BC-E received the kick to open the game. On the first play from scrimmage, Lyle DeBoer ran for a 43-yard gain to the SSC three-yard line. He covered the final three yards during the next play, and the first of six extra points by Eric Joens gave the Patriots a 7-0 cushion 30 seconds into the game.

After the Patriot defense forced a punt during its first appearance on the field, DeBoer came up big again when he returned a punt 61 yards for a touchdown at the 9:22 mark of the opening period to make the difference 14-0.

The rest of the first quarter belonged to SSC.

Quasar quarterback Tyler Leopold tossed a 46-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Rogers with 9:06 left to play in the stanza, and Josh Henkels ran for an 11-yard score at the 3:07 mark. A Leopold-to-Rogers conversion passed knotted the score at 14 after Henkels' touchdown.

The momentum switched back to H-BC-E's favor in the second quarter, when the Patriots scored 21 points to gain a 35-14 halftime cushion.

Patriot quarterback David Top, who completed 10 of 14 passes for 224 yards in the game, tossed a screen pass to Chris Reid that turned into a 63-yard touchdown at the 8:50 mark of the period.

Top and Kevin Van Batavia connected for a four-yard touchdown pass at 6:02, and DeBoer scored on a three-yard run 56 seconds later to cap the 21-point uprising.

SSC responded to H-BC-E's big second quarter by scoring 16 points in the third period to make the difference 35-30.

Leopold hit Rogers for a six-yard touchdown pass with 6:19 left to play in the quarter, and the same combination clicked for a successful conversion pass.

Leopold then scored on a one-yard run before Henkels carried in a two-point conversion to make it a five-point difference (35-30) with 2:53 remaining in the stanza.

H-BC-E put the game away in the fourth quarter by using a key play on special teams to set up one touchdown and using a pair of SSC turnovers to score two others.

The Patriot offense was on the move late in the third quarter before the SSC defense forced a fourth-down situation. H-BC-E lined up in punting formation on fourth down, but DeBoer ran with the ball once he caught the snap and picked up 17 yards for a first down. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Chris Willers scored on a 12-yard jaunt before running in the two-point conversion to make it a 43-30 game.

H-BC-E defender Pat Nelson set up another score when he recovered an SSC fumble moments later.

A 20-yard touchdown pass from Top to Willers followed the fumble recovery with 8:43 left to play, but a missed extra point kept the score at 49-30.

Willers then recovered a fumble on the SSC 12, from where Reid found the end zone on first down. When Joens added the extra point, the scoring was complete with 6:41 remaining.

The downside of H-BC-E's win was the fact that the team yielded a season-high 30 points to the Quasars. Ellingson, however, seemed unconcerned with that fact.

"They had a couple of big plays against us, but this was one of those games where you expected that to happen. We knew going into the game that SSC was a team that could score points. We just had to score more than they did," he concluded.

H-BC-E plays Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster in Brewster tomorrow. The Raiders are 1-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

Team statistics

H-BC-E: 169 rushing yards, 224 passing yards, 393 total yards, 16 first downs, six penalties for 45 yards, one turnover.

SSC: 134 rushing yards, 140 passing yards, 274 total yards, 12 first downs, 11 penalties for 38 yards, four turnovers.

Individual statistics

Rushing: DeBoer 11-101, Reid 18-56, Willers 2-25, Top 4-minus 5, Curt Schilling 2-minus eight.

Passing: Top 10-14 for 224 yards.

Receiving: Crawford 3-94, Willers 2-41, Darin DeBoer 2-14, Reid 1-63, L.DeBoer 1-8, Van Batavia 1-4.

Defense: Crawford 11 tackles, one fumble recovery, one interception; L.DeBoer nine tackles, Willers nine tackles, Brant Deutsch three tackles and one fumble recovery, Nelson two tackles and one fumble recovery, Lee Walraven five tackles and one sack.

Playing a Worthington team that was selected by many as the SWC favorite in 2000, the Cardinals secured a stunning 24-13 road victory and served notice that they will have a say in what happens in the title chase the rest of the season.

The win over the Trojans, who entered the game as the state's eighth-ranked Class 2A team, gives Luverne a 3-0 record overall and the outright conference lead with a 2-0 mark. Only LHS and Jackson County Central, which is 1-0 in the loop, have not lost a league game this season.

There is a downside to Luverne's early season success, that now includes victories over last year's SWC co-champions (Windom and Worthington). Instead of being an underdog, Luverne will enter its remaining games as one of the top contenders for a league championship.

The fact that the Cardinals will be a target the rest of the year is not lost on LHS coach Joel Swanson, who will do everything he can to keep his players from becoming complacent,

"I just don't want to see our kids become overconfident. We still have a lot of room for improvement, and still are making a lot of inexperienced mistakes. The big thing is the kids have stepped it up and are meeting our goal of improving each week," he said.

The way things unfolded against Worthington, Swanson has reason to be concerned with overconfidence. After falling behind 7-0 in the first four minutes, LHS dominated play while scoring 24 consecutive points to put the game away.

Luverne's defense limited a high-powered Trojan offense to 242 yards and nine first downs while taking the ball away from WHS five times.

Led by a 194-yard rushing performance by senior tailback Brad Walgrave, Luverne's offense compiled 354 yards and 15 first downs while turning the ball over once.

"I think we were a little tight to start the game," Swanson admitted. "They broke off a big running play early in the game to take the lead, but our kids responded well after that. We didn't give up any more big plays, and that's always the key against Worthington."

The defenses of both teams forced punts to start the game, but Worthington was aided by good field position after Luverne's first punt when a nice return gave the Trojans the ball on the LHS 38-yard line.

A five-yard motion penalty pushed the ball back to the 43, where Trojan back Anthony Wilson took the ball on first down and ran his way through the Cardinal defense for a long touchdown. When Wilson added the extra point, the Trojans had a 7-0 advantage 3:44 into the game.

Instead of being intimidated by Worthington's quick strike, Luverne responded to the challenge like a true champion hopeful.

The Cardinal offense overcame two penalties during an 11-play, 65-yard drive that ended with Walgrave scoring on an eight-yard run at the 2:50 mark of the opening period.

James Fisher, who completed key 11- and 12-yard third-down passes to Luke Iveland during the drive, added the extra point to knot the score at seven.

Luverne nearly took its first lead of the game before the first quarter after Fisher intercepted a pass two plays into Worthington's next offensive possession.

A 54-yard Fisher-to-Iveland pass on second down moved the ball inside Worthington's 10, but a fumble two plays later was recovered by the Trojans on their two with 14 seconds left in the first quarter.

Luverne's defense forced the Trojans to punt five plays later, and a 36-yard return by Walgrave gave the Cards the ball on the Trojan 40.

The Cardinals covered 40 yards in seven plays with Zach Skattum capping the march with a one-yard plunge with 8:35 remaining in the first half. Fisher's extra point made it a 14-7 game.

Luverne's second touchdown march featured 14-yard runs by Fisher and Walgrave.

Neither team was able to generate a scoring threat in the final 8:35 of the first half, but Worthington opened the second half by moving the ball inside Luverne's 20 with six consecutive runs.

On a second-and-three play, a blitzing Skattum forced a fumble during an attempted exchange between the Worthington quarterback and running back, and Cardinal Aaron Lass recovered the loose ball on the Trojan 18.

"That was a big play," Swanson said. "They came out storming in the second half and took it right to us, but then we got that big play. We had a blitz called and came up with the big turnover."

Worthington's defense was stunned when the potential tying drive ended with a fumble, and the Cardinal offense took advantage of the situation. Luverne went on a seven-play, 82-yard scoring drive featuring 38- and 18-yard runs by Walgrave and ending with Fisher and Iveland hooking up for a 21-yard touchdown pass with 4:06 left to play in the third quarter. Fisher's kick made the difference 21-7.

A 31-yard field goal by Fisher in the fourth quarter iced the game for LHS.

Worthington put together a five-play, 46-yard drive that was capped by Watson's six-yard touchdown run with 1:01 left to play, but the outcome had been settled by then.

Luverne hosts Litchfield tomorrow before continuing its quest for an SWC title. Litchfield is 1-2 overall, but it led Class 2A power Albany before falling in the fourth quarter Friday.

Team statistics

Luverne: 242 rushing yards, 112 passing yards, 354 total yards, 15 first downs, six penalties for 40 yards, one turnover.

Worthington: 156 rushing yards, 68 passing yards, 224 total yards, nine first downs, five penalties for 35 yards, five turnovers.

Individual statistics

Rushing: Walgrave 30-194, Tony Sandbulte 8-35, Ryan Goebel 7-24, Skattum 6-10, Fisher 6-minus 21.

Passing: Fisher 5-11 for 112 yards.

Receiving: Iveland 4-98, Tyler Scheidt 1-14.

Defense: Fisher two interceptions, Goebel one interception and one fumble recovery, Lass one fumble recovery, Sandbulte one sack.

The Hills-Beaver Creek-Ellsworth and Southwest Star Concept football teams got together for an offensive shootout in Ellsworth Friday.

The Cardinals edged Sioux Falls Roosevelt by one point and topped Brandon Valley (S.D.) by five points during home matches played Thursday and Tuesday respectively. LHS posted a five-point conference win in Worthington Monday.

Luverne will put its three-match winning streak on the line during home matches against Pipestone-Jasper and Marshall today and Monday respectively.

Luverne 6, BV 1

LHS went 3-0 in doubles play and took two of three singles matches during Tuesday's five-point home win over the Lynx.

All three Cardinal doubles teams dropped the first sets of their matches before rallying to win the next two sets.

Allana and Ashley Gacke were 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 winners over Katy Bly and Mandy Bonander at No. 1, Gabe Van Dyk and Patricia Willers prevailed 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 against Marine Graham and Crystal Selchert at No. 2, and Sarah Lange and Jenny Braa notched a 3-6, 6-3 and 6-1 win over Crystal Meyer and Kelly Bariak at No. 3.

Amanda Aning, Becky Antoine and Rachel Tofteland posted straight set wins at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 singles respectively.

Aning topped Abby Erickson by 6-0 and 6-3 scores, Antoine was a 6-0, 6-1 victor over Jessi Wehrkamp, and Tofteland bested Kelly Larson by 7-6 and 6-3 tallies.

BV's Hillary Green handed Lexi Jauert a pair of 6-1 setbacks in No. 4 singles.

Luverne 6, Worthington 1

The Cardinal girls collected their first conference win of the season when they disposed of the Trojans by five points in Worthington Monday.

Luverne swept all three doubles matches and went 3-1 in singles during its winning performance.

After falling 6-4 in the first set against Nadine Wolf and Lindsey Radloff, Luverne's No. 1 doubles team of Allana and Ashley Gacke rebounded to post 7-5 and 6-0 in sets two and three to take their match.

Cardinals Gabe Van Dyk and Patricia Willers nailed down 6-1 and 6-2 wins against Lindsay Stewart and Liz Anderson at No. 2 doubles, and the No. 3 team of Jenny Braa and Sarah Lange won by 6-1 and 6-2 counts against Sarah Liapis and Traci Nelson.

Luverne's Amanda Aning posted a pair of 6-2 wins against Jessica Elsing at No. 1 singles, Becky Antoine was a 6-2, 6-0 victor over Abby Wiltrout at No. 2 and Rachel Tofteland was a 7-6, 6-3 winner against Lisa Jackson at No. 3.

Trojan Lindsay Meier handed Lexi Jauert 6-3 and 6-4 setbacks at No. 4 singles.

Luverne 4, Roosevelt 3

The Cardinals surpassed the .500 mark for the season with a one-point home win over Sioux Falls Roosevelt.

The teams split four singles contests during the match. Luverne went 2-1 in doubles to record the win.

Luverne's doubles victories came from the No. 2 and No. 3 teams.

Gabe Van Dyk and Patricia Willers secured 6-3 and 6-1 wins against Sara Austad and Brynn Minnaert at No. 2. Jenny Braa and Sarah Lange nailed down 6-1 and 6-2 victories over Chelsey Krull and Gina Pulford at No. 3.

Roosevelt's Marin Nordstrom and Carrie Pudenz saddled Allana and Ashley Gacke with a pair of 6-2 setbacks at No. 1 doubles.

Rachel Tofteland and Chelsea Cronin posted Luverne's singles wins at the No. 3 and No. 4 slots.

Tofteland topped Adriaana Hembree by 6-2 and 6-1 counts at No. 3. Cronin was a 7-6, 6-2 victor over Ashley Miller at No. 4.

Roosevelt's Melissa Schager recorded a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win against Amanda Aning at No. 1 singles. Kerri Burkard topped Becky Antoine 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2.

The Luverne tennis team put together its longest winning streak of the season by winning three straight matches since last Thursday.

An inexperienced Luverne High School football team did some growing up during Friday's Southwest Conference clash in Worthington.

By Sara Quam

A Monday train accident near Manley in Rock County resulted in no serious injuries.

Nathaniel Van Gorkom, Larchwood, Iowa, parked his 1979 Datson on a railroad crossing about one half mile east of County Road 17.

Burlington Northern operator William Whear, Dakota Dunes, S.D., saw the vehicle and attempted to stop.

The train struck the car at 12:10 a.m. with Van Gorkom inside and pushed it 13,098 feet down the tracks.

Van Gorkom was released from Sioux Valley Hospital, Sioux Falls, Tuesday.