Hills-Beaver Creek's impressive play during the initial stages of the 2000 season continued Monday when the Patriots rolled to a 3-0 home victory over Adrian.

The Patriots won a tight battle in Game 1 by a 15-12 tally before coasting to 15-1 and 15-4 victories in Games 2 and 3.

H-BC improved its season record to 6-2 with the win, giving the Patriots one of their best starts in a volleyball campaign.

"The whole team was really in sync out there," said Patriot coach Nicole Fey. "We got stuck on the sixth point in Game 1, but we were able to come back and win it. We came out really strong in Games 2 and 3 and kept up until they were over."

With Tonya Leenderts recording two kills, Shanna Tilstra adding another, and LaDonna Sandstede, Jamie Arp and Becky Broesder serving aces, H-BC opened a 6-1 cushion in Game 1.

Adrian countered with an eight-point run served by Jennifer Wolf and featuring three kills by Becky Knips and another one from Autumn Wolf to take a 9-6 advantage.

A kill by Erin Boeve followed by three straight service points from Shanna Tilstra put the Patriots in front 10-9, but Knips countered with two ace serves and another point to give the Dragons a 12-10 lead.

H-BC's Broesder then served a five-point run featuring a kill and a block by Boeve to give the Patriots a 15-12 victory.

The Patriots used one service point by Sandstede and a six-point run by Leenderts featuring two ace serves and a kill by Broesder to gain a 7-0 cushion in Game 2.

Knips ended the run with a service point for AHS, but four-point runs served by Arp and Sandstede gave H-BC a 15-1 win.

Game 3 was deadlocked at four when H-BC went on an 11-0 run to win 15-4.

Boeve had two blocks, two kills and an ace tip during the rally. Sandstede served one ace and another point, Broesder and Brittney Olson served aces, Jamie Brandt had a kill and Jody DeNoble added an ace tip to the final run.

Sandstede, who was 40 of 40 setting with 13 assists, was 15 of 16 serving with 11 points and two aces. Broesder, who was nine of 11 spiking with four kills, went 13 of 14 with 12 points and three aces at the line.

Boeve's night featured nine of 11 hitting with four kills and five ace blocks. Leenderts and Tilstra added three kills each.

Adrian, which slipped to 0-8 with the loss, received a five-kill, nine-of-11 (three aces and six points) serving performance from Knips.

Jenna Honermann had six assists for the Dragons. Jennifer Wolf was nine of 11 serving with eight points and two aces.

"Our serving hurt us, especially in the last two games," said Dragon coach Kim Hoff. "Our serve receive was not very good either. We need to concentrate more on getting the passes to the setter. We had a lead late in the first game; we're just having a hard time in trying to finish games out right now."

The Patriots host Fulda and Central Lyon Monday and Tuesday.

Adrian hosts Mountain Lake Butterfield-Odin tonight before playing road matches against Russell-Tyler-Ruthton and Edgerton Monday and Tuesday.

The Luverne defense limited Windom to 105 total yards and two first downs and set up a pair of LHS touchdowns with two of the three turnovers it created in the game.

Luverne's offense racked up 294 yards and scored 27 first-half points to turn what was expected to be a tight game into a rout early.

All in all, it was a great conference win for the Cardinals.

"It was a really good effort all the way around," said Luverne coach Joel Swanson. "We made the plays on offense, defense and on special teams. The kids came out and executed well in all areas of the game."

Windom is a team that earned a share of the SWC title last season, but it was the Cardinals who were playing championship-type ball on Friday. Luverne scored two touchdowns in each of the first two quarters while opening a 27-0 lead.

The Eagles did score late in the first half and midway through the third quarter to trim the difference to 15 points.

Luverne, however, put the game away with a fourth-quarter touchdown.

A dominating Luverne defense set the tone for the night by forcing Windom to punt four plays into its opening possession of the game.

The Luverne offense took over on the Cardinal 46-yard line, where tailback Brad Walgrave received the ball on first down before dashing 54 yards for a touchdown at the 9:25 mark of the opening period. James Fisher added the extra point to make it a 7-0 game.

"We got great field position from our defense, and we ran an option play that froze a lot of their defenders on first down. That was really nice to see," Swanson said of Luverne's early tally.

Luverne's defense gave its offensive counterparts great field position again as the first quarter progressed when linebacker Tony Sandbulte intercepted a pass on the Windom 20.

After a three-yard gain on first down, Cardinal quarterback Fisher carried the ball 17 yards for a touchdown before booting the extra point to make it a 14-0 game at the 4:29 mark of the stanza.

Two longer drives after a pair of three-and-out series by Windom helped the Cardinals put the game out of reach in the second quarter.

Luverne's most impressive march of the game developed late in the first quarter and early in the second stanza, when the Cards moved the ball 57 yards in nine plays.

The drive appeared to be on the verge of ending without any points when LHS faced a fourth-and-nine situation on the Eagle 18.

The Cards then stunned Windom when Fisher hooked up with Ryan Goebel for an 18-yard touchdown pass. A failed two-point conversion kept the difference at 20-0 with 10:26 remaining in the first half.

Luverne made it a 27-0 game two possessions later.

Walgrave, who carried the ball 12 times for 105 yards in the game, capped a six-play, 43-yard drive with a 13-yard scamper. Fisher's third extra point followed at the 1:33 mark of the second quarter.

Windom, which was unable to produce an offensive first down in the first 22 minutes of the opening half, got back into the contest with a three-play, 65-yard advancement capped by Kole Zimmerman's 36-yard touchdown pass to Josh Whiting with 54 seconds left in the first half.

Cardinal Zach Skattum blocked the extra-point attempt to keep the score at 27-6.

Windom made some adjustments that confused the Luverne offense in the second half.

Luverne's first possession of the first half ended with an interception three plays into the quarter, and a three-and-out series followed.

The LHS third possession proved costly as Zimmerman picked off a Fisher pass on first down and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown with 5:04 remaining in the third quarter.

Windom's attempt for a two-point conversion failed, but the Eagles had trimmed what was a 27-point deficit to a 15-point (27-12) difference in a span of eight minutes.

Luverne had the opportunity to regain the momentum with two more offensive possessions late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter, but the Cards had to punt after limited success each time.

The second punt, however, pinned the Eagle offense on its own 10 with 9:42 left to play.

A fumble on first down was recovered by Sandbulte on the Windom five-yard line, and he scored three plays later on a one-yard plunge. Fisher's kick capped the scoring with 8:25 left to play.

Any chances of a Windom rally ended when Fisher intercepted a pass with 5:48 remaining. Luverne's second team offense ran the remaining time off the clock to preserve a 34-12 win.

By beating Windom, Luverne receives an opportunity to knock off both of the SWC's co-champions from 1999 in consecutive weeks.

The Cards travel to Worthington, a team LHS beat last season, to take on the 2-0 Trojans tomorrow night.

"Worthington has a lot of players coming back from last year, and they are everyone's favorite in the SWC this year. They are a really fast team that has only given up one touchdown this year. The big key for us is to prevent them from getting big plays. Our kids will have to come ready to play because Worthington is the toughest team we've faced so far this season," Swanson said.

Team statistics

Luverne: 277 rushing yards, 27 passing yards, 294 total yards, 11 first downs, five penalties for 50 yards, two turnovers.

Windom: 71 rushing yards, 34 passing yards, 105 total yards, two first downs, three penalties for 15 yards, three turnovers.

Individual statistics

Rushing: Walgrave 12-105, Sandbulte 9-44, Goebel 4-25, Kyle Crable 2-7, Fisher 6-25, Skattum 6-14, Aaron Schmidt 3-21, Joel Evans 5-23, Marcus Walgrave 1-2, Pete Connell 1-6.

Passing: Fisher 2-7 for 27 yards.

Receiving: Goebel 1-18, Jordan Papik 1-9.

Defense: Skattum one blocked extra point; Brian Osterday one sack, Craig Bosch one-half sack, Brent Hulstein one-half sack, Fisher one interception, Sandbulte one fumble recovery and one interception.

The Dragons were expected to be challenged by a talented Knights team, but it was Adrian that dominated play during its 2000 home opener.

Adrian compiled 338 yards and 18 first downs while limiting R-T-R to 128 yards and four first downs during a convincing win.

"We played really well," said Dragon coach Randy Strand. "R-T-R is supposed to be one of the top dogs in our conference. Our kids stepped up and played pretty well against them."

The passing efficiency of quarterback Mark Kroon and relentless running by Tyler Bullerman led Adrian's offensive unit during the game.

Kroon completed nine of 11 passes and tossed for two touchdowns in the contest. Bullerman carried the ball a staggering 32 times for 137 yards.

With the Dragon defense blanking R-T-R through the first three quarters, all the pieces were in place for a convincing victory.

Adrian scored 19 first-half points to take control of the game.

After losing the ball due to a questionable fumble during its first offensive possession of the game, AHS scored three consecutive touchdowns to dampen the spirit of R-T-R.

The Dragons gained a 6-0 lead when Kroon hooked up with Brad Lonneman for a six-yard touchdown pass during a third down situation late in the first quarter. The ensuing attempt for an extra point sailed wide left of the uprights.

A pair of second-quarter touchdowns increased Adrian's lead to 19-0.

Bullerman carried in his first of two touchdowns when he found the end zone from three yards away. Kroon's attempt to run for a two-point conversion came up short.

The Dragon quarterback got some revenge when he tossed his second touchdown pass of the game late in the first half.

Lonneman, who latched onto six receptions for 77 yards during the game, hauled in a seven-yard strike from Kroon for his second touchdown. Levi Bullerman's extra point made the difference 19-0.

The score remained 19-0 until both teams produced fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Adrian extended its lead to 25-0 after Bullerman scored on a three-yard plunge.

R-T-R trimmed the difference to 19 when Brett Serreyn found the end zone from eight yards away late in the contest.

Adrian's drive for a second consecutive LSC title will be put on hold this week as the Dragons travel to Jackson to take on the Jackson County Central Huskies tomorrow.

JCC takes a 2-0 record into tomorrow's tilt after rolling to a 38-0 victory in Redwood Falls Friday.

JCC is one of two teams that beat Adrian during the 1999 campaign.

Team statistics

Adrian: 228 rushing yards, 110 passing yards, 338 total yards, 18 first downs, four penalties for 40 yards, three turnovers.

R-T-R: 112 rushing yards, 16 passing yards, 128 total yards, four first downs, one penalty for five yards, one turnover.

Adrian raised its Little Sioux Conference football record to 2-0 with a 25-6 victory over Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in Adrian Friday.

The Luverne Cardinals got off to a rousing start in Southwest Conference football play by trouncing Windom 34-12 at Cardinal Field Friday.

The Cards topped Worthington, Springfield and Southwest Christian during the event while falling to Blue Earth Area during the nine-team event.

The nine teams were evenly divided into three-team pools to start the tournament. After playing two matches against the others in their pool, the pool winners formed another pool, the teams that placed second formed another pool and the third-place finishers formed a final pool for two more matches of play.

Luverne, which was placed in a pool with Worthington and BEA to start play, went 1-1 in the morning to earn a spot in the second pool for afternoon play.

The Cards beat Springfield and SWC in the afternoon, and their 3-1 overall record for the day gave them fourth place at tournament's end.

BEA, which beat both Luverne and Worthington in the morning session, went 0-2 in the afternoon. That allowed the Cards to pass BEA in the final standings.

Luverne opened the morning session of the tournament by securing 15-13 and 15-5 victories over Southwest Conference foe Worthington.

Then the Cards met BEA and came up on the short end of a 2-1 score in a three-game match.

BEA nipped LHS 16-14 in Game 1 before the Cards evened the match with a 15-12 win in Game 2. BEA prevailed 15-12 in the finale.

Competing in a pool consisting of teams that placed second in pool play during the morning, Luverne had a good afternoon that featured LHS winning four of five games and taking two matches.

The Cards recorded 15-12 and 15-5 wins against Springfield to start the afternoon session.

After dropping a 15-12 decision against SWC during Game 1 of the final match, Luverne rallied to post a pair of 15-11 wins to steal the match.

"We took another step forward Saturday," said pleased Mary Jo Graphenteen, the LHS coach. "By looking at the scores, you can tell we played in a lot of close games. We won some and we lost some of those games. If we can cut down on the number of unforced errors we made, it will help us a great deal."

A good share of Luverne's unforced errors came at the service line during the tournament. The Cards completed an unacceptable 84 percent of their serves for the day.

"Our only major downfall was in serving. You can get by with serving 84 percent when you have a lot of aces, but we didn't get many aces. Serving mistakes stopped a lot of our rallies," Graphenteen said.

Lisa Mulder had a good serving day for the Cards, completing 32 of 34 attempts and scoring 24 points.

Susan Remme and Missy Boomgaarden had 30 and 24 kills respectively.

Setter Brooke Lundgren was given credit by coach Graphenteen for spreading the ball around well during the tournament.

Amy Nunez and Nicole Aaker did a great job of coming off the bench and making things happen for LHS, according to the coach.

The 6-4-1 Cardinals play in Jackson tonight.

Luverne won three of four matches and placed fourth overall during the annual Cardinal Volleyball Tournament Saturday.

Net farm income is projected to increase $2.6 billion this fall, but nearly half of that income will come from direct government payments.

"This is not the way a good, wise and fair farm policy should work," said Nobles County Farmers Union president R.J. Mulder. "It's time Congress recognizes that the Freedom to Farm Act has failed and that there is no fairness in the 1996 Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act."

Direct government payments have increased from $7.3 billion in 1996 to a projected $22.7 billion this year, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That increase came during a time when proponents of a new farm policy said increased market income would replace an ever-declining pool of government payments, which were scheduled to be eliminated in 2002.

"Farmers want a price from the marketplace - not a check from the government," Mulder said. "But for that to happen, farmers need leverage in the marketplace that current U.S. farm policy does not provide."

Since 1996, commodity prices have dropped 45 percent for wheat, 49 percent for corn, 35 percent for soybeans, and the floor price for milk has fallen 13 percent. During that same time, the surplus amount of wheat and soybeans has grown 250 percent while the corn surplus has shot up 512 percent.

The value of agricultural exports has dropped from $60 billion in 1996 to $49 billion this year during a time when the North American Free Trade Agreement, the discussion of globalized trade policies in the World Trade Organization and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China were supposed to help U.S. farmers export their way to prosperity.

Farmers Union believes that Congress must raise marketing loan rates, extend the period in which farmers can repay those loans, increase the dairy support price and enact measures that stop the market and corporate concentration that is crippling rural America.

"The facts make it clear that this farm policy is not working," Mulder said. "Congress must revamp federal farm policy so it's fair to taxpayers and the farmers who produce this nation's food supply."

Keeping leaves out of the street is an important step homeowners can take to protect water quality in Minnesota's lakes and streams. Leaves are a source of phosphorus that can degrade water quality, said Bob Mugaas, Hennepin County educator with the University of Minnesota Extension Service.

"When leaves fall from our deciduous trees in the fall, they often accumulate on hard surface areas such as streets and driveways," said Mugaas. "Then they may begin to decompose, releasing both organic and inorganic forms of phosphorus. When it rains runoff water can carry this phosphorus into storm sewers and then into nearby bodies of water."

"As cars travel over leaves in streets and driveways, they further grind up the leaves, making them even more susceptible to decomposing while lying on the street."

When there is a heavy rainfall, leaves themselves can be carried directly into lakes and rivers, said Mugaas. Tree leaves can also blow directly into lakes, ponds, and lakes and rivers.

During the growing season, and especially in the spring, tree seeds and sometimes fruits are often dropped liberally onto the ground and the street. "Just as with leaves, traffic driving over these materials crushes them and breaks them up, making them easier to decompose or be carried away in runoff water," said Mugaas. "Like leaves, these materials contain phosphorus and other plant nutrients."

Mugaas does not advocate eliminating trees from our surroundings. "What we can do," he said, "is to keep our street areas clean of leaves and seeds. We can rake or sweep them up during the growing season, especially spring and fall. They can be used for mulching other areas of the landscape. In the case of seeds and fruits, it may be a good idea to compost them to avoid having little tree seedlings sprouting all over the landscape."

Keeping leaves out of the driveways and streets in front of our homes is a way we can each contribute to cleaner runoff and cleaner lakes and streams, said Mugaas. "And it should go without saying that we should not blow grass clippings into the street or onto hard surface areas where they can run off," he adds. "Blow clippings back onto the lawn where they can be chopped up even further with consecutive passes of the mower. Keeping lawn clippings on the lawn contributes the equivalent of about one to one and one-half applications of fertilizer per year back to your lawn."