Sports

The Saints came within three points of winning their third-straight game, but instead, KMS fell to Parkers Prairie, 14-12, in the Saints’ annual Homecoming game, Friday night in Murdock.

Both teams had two touchdowns, but Parkers Prairie added two extra-point kicks, while the Saints went empty on their two conversion attempts.

KMS, which falls to 2-3 overall and 2-2 in the Mid-State District, held a 13-6 edge in first downs and 256-182 in total yards, but the Saints hurt themselves with nine penalties and one lost fumble.

“The story of this game was too many penalties, including many on mental mistakes, along with some close spots that didn’t go our way,” KMS head coach Eric Kauffmann said.  “This is a hard one to swallow.  We had two close short-yardage plays near our end zone that really cost us, both coming up short of a first down by an inch.  This a game of inches and it proved that again tonight.”

The Benson girls tennis team is 15-1 overall heading into its final regular-season match of the season against Osakis, Monday in Benson.

The Braves beat Yellow Medicine East (6-1), Milbank, SD (5-4), and Lac qui Parle (5-2) last week to raise their record to 15-1 overall and 7-1 in the WCC to finish second behind Minnewaska Area (8-0).

The match against Osakis will also determine the second seed in the upcoming Section 6A Tourney, set to begin Monday at Fitness Evolution in Sartell.

Benson also competed in the WCC Individual Tourney, Saturday, and earning championships for the Braves were Sophia Curriel at fourth singles, and Grace Ricard and Olivia Hoffman at second doubles...

The Benson football team outgained the Falcons by 70 yards during their sub-district showdown in Grove City, Friday night, and also registered their first interception of the season, but ACGC used an early return of a fumble for a touchdown, 203 yards rushing, and several costly Benson penalties to beat the Braves in a key section game, 28-19.

Benson went up 7-6 with a touchdown pass from Layton Connelly to Max Peterson and pulled to within 14-13 at the end of the first half when Ty Hedman hit Peterson for a 90-yard scoring play.

ACGC went up 28-13 with the first two touchdowns of the second half, but Benson had one last chance when Brett Sulier hauled in a 45-yard pass from Connelly for a touchdown, but when the extra-point kick failed, the Braves were too far back with only a few minutes left in the game.

The KMS football team pulled out an 8-7 victory at Kimball Area, Friday, picking up its first win of the 2016 season in the process.  The Saints trailed 7-0 at halftime before scoring on a one-yard run by Caleb Collins in the third quarter, and Collins also connected up with Weston Gjerde for the winning two-point conversion.

It was an even game between the two teams as both teams had eight first downs and KMS gained 185 total yards on 52 plays compared to 195 yards on 55 plays for Kimball, which dropped to 0-3 overall.

“A win is a win, no matter how you look at it,” KMS head coach Eric Kauffmann said.  “We knew going into the game that they were going to have a hard time running the ball against us, so we practiced against the pass all week and made some changes and it paid off.”

The KMS volleyball team suffered a couple of tough blows last week as the Saints lost in five games to Canby, Thursday, in a match that also saw senior setter Sam Gjerde go down with a knee injury.

The Saints opened up last week’s action with a three-game sweep of Dawson-Boyd last Tuesday night, but two nights later, KMS fell to Canby in five games, 16-25, 25-19, 20-25, 30-28, 15-8, while also losing Gjerde to an injury that could impact the remainder of the season for the Saints.

KMS, which dropped to 8-2 overall and 3-1 in the Camden Conference, is still in a three-way tie for first place in the Camden North Conference with Prinsburg CMCS and MACCRAY.

The Saints have three matches this week, including a home match with Prinsburg, Tuesday (yesterday).  KMS also is set to play at Kimball Area, Monday, and at YME, Thursday (tomorrow)...

The girls tennis team just keeps rolling along as the Braves topped Morris Area last Tuesday night in Morris, 5-2, to improve their record to 11-1 overall and 4-1 in the WCC.

The Braves fell to Minnewaska Area during their previous match, Sept. 8, ending a 10-match winning streak to open up the season, but Benson didn’t waste any time starting a new one at the expense of the Tigers.

Benson can still earn a co-share of the WCC title if Melrose tops Minnewaska Area when the two teams meet Sept. 27.  

The Braves also have a shot at the second seed in the Section 6A Team Tourney behind Minnewaska, but that will depend upon the outcome of an Oct. 3 matchup at home against Osakis.

Grace Ricard and Olivia Hoffman, who have played mostly second doubles, continue to lead the girls tennis team with 12-0 records, while Rose McDonald and Cassie Fugleberg are both 10-2, Kellie Enderson is 9-3, and Gracie Grussing and Olivia Vergin are both 8-4.

The Benson volleyball team had a busy week last week, splitting a pair of WCC matches last Tuesday and Thursday before going 1-3 to place sixth at the Minnewaska Area Tournament, Saturday.

The Braves opened up the week with a three-game loss to Sauk Centre last Tuesday night at home, but came back two nights later to win at ACGC in five games to improve its WCC record at 2-3.

On Saturday, Benson went 1-2 during pool play at Minnewaska Area, losing two matches by tiebreakers, before losing to Ortonville in three games in the fifth-place match.

Benson, 3-7 overall, has another busy week this week beginning with a home match against Montevideo, Tuesday (yesterday) and continuing with a match at Melrose, Thursday (tomorrow), and the Willmar Tournament, Saturday...

The Benson football team played with the visiting Morris Area Tigers for one half, Friday night on Brock Field, but the Tigers proved to be too much in the second half, outscoring the Braves 20-6 to earn a 41-21 victory.

Benson, which pulled to within 21-15 with a touchdown late in the first half, lost its top defensive player for the second half due to an injury.  Brett Sulier, who also starts at fullback, did not play the second half due to a hand injury.  His status for this Friday night was not known by presstime.

“We assessed the situation at halftime and in the best interest of the player and to not risk further injury, I opted to sit the player out the second half,” Benson head coach Scott Gonnerman said.  “We all want to win in the worst way, but I will always take and put the care and health of our players first.

The Saints are off and running!

The KMS volleyball team opened up the season with a 3-0 victory over Benson last Monday night in Kerkhoven, and then came back three nights later to sweep Minnewaska Area in another home match, 25-15, 25-7, 25-23.

The 2-0 start should give the Saints confidence as they head into a busy second-week of action this week.

“Against Minnewaska Area, the girls came out a little more relaxed with a match under their belts,” coach Joquel Molenaar said.  “We took advantage of a lot of mistakes by Minnewaska Area in the first two games, and then, after struggling a bit in game three, the girls were able to play disciplined and finish off the match win.”

KMS was set to open up the Camden Conference schedule with a home match against Renville County West, Tuesday (yesterday) followed by a match at Lac qui Parle, Thursday (tomorrow), and the Browerville Tourney, Saturday...

The Benson volleyball team opened up the 2016 season with a pair of 3-0 losses at KMS, last Monday night and at BOLD, Thursday.

The Braves are coming off a 5-19 season from a year ago and lost four key players from last year’s team, but do return a good nucleus of talent for the upcoming season.

This week, Benson is set to host Morris Area-CA, Tuesday (yesterday) before playing at Minnewaska Area, Thursday (tomorrow).

The complete Benson varsity volleyball roster for 2016 includes seniors Sophie Ascheman, Nicole Berens, Presley Gonnerman, Amanda Nissen, Megan Amundson, Victoria Pagel, Dana Rud, Kaitlyn Knutson, and Danielle Himley; and juniors Courtney McNeill and Anna Gosson...