This is the first weekend of college football and college volleyball news in the Sunday notebook. The pace picks up a little next week and we'll add some college cross country to the mix.
There's also amateur baseball and racing news here. Let's get to it.
Football
Jackson County Central graduate Nico Feroni is a 6-foot, 190-pound junior linebacker at Dakota State, which opened its season with a 6-0 win over Dakota Wesleyan in Mitchell.
Feroni had three pass breakups, with two coming on consecutive plays in the second quarter. The other was on a fourth-and-two play in the third quarter. He recorded one tackle for the Trojans.
Connor Tordsen, a 6-4, 235-pound senior defensive end from Fairmont, had one tackle for Dakota State.
The NAIA Trojans play the first of three straight home games in Madison next Saturday, hosting NCAA Division III Wisconsin-LaCrosse.
JCC graduate Damian Meyer-Andre is a 5-11, 160-pound wide receiver on the Minnesota West football roster.
The Bluejays opened their season Saturday with a 43-18 lost to Minnesota State Fergus Falls. Minnesota West hosts North Dakota State College of Science at 1:30 p.m. next Saturday at Worthington.
Volleyball
Jackson County Central graduate Alaina Wolff, a 5-6 freshman libero at Wayne State, returned to Jackson with her Wildcat teammates for a scrimmage vs. NSIC rival Concordia University-St. Paul Saturday. More on that will be detailed in an upcoming newsletter.
There were a lot of other things going on yesterday, so not everyone who wanted to be there could, but it was a cool event for those that were able to make it. A number of current players in the JCC program were there before they headed to St. James to start their season, as were quite a few parents of players from the past few years.
Having watched assorted Burmeister girls play for Southwest Minnesota State against Concordia both at the PE Gym in Marshall and Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul for a decade or so, it seemed a little strange to see legendary Golden Bears coach Brady Starkey at the gym in Jackson.
Starkey is a six-time NSIC Coach of the Year, a three-time national Coach of the Year and his Concordia teams have won nine NCAA championships.
The Golden Bears won 43 straight NCAA tournament matches from 2007-2014. That streak that was halted by SMSU at the NSIC tournament and the Mustangs went on to a second-place finish a the national tourney in Louisville.
And, I'm not too proud to point out that my now daughter-in-law, Whitney, was named to the all-tournament team at that national tournament.
Also of note, former SMSU player and assistant coach Devin Diedrich is now on Starkey's coaching staff at Concordia.
More volleyball
Two JCC grads are on rosters of teams that played each other on Saturday.
Alicia Brandt is a 6-foot freshman MB at Waldorf, while Grace Brinkman is a freshman setter at Briar Cliff.
Their teams played at the Charger Invite hosted by Briar Cliff in Sioux City Saturday, with Waldorf winning 3-1.
The Warriors went 2-1 in that event, while the Chargers were 1-2.
Molly Brinkman is a 5-5 defensive specialist for Mount Marty University, which opened its season with a 3-1 loss to Concordia (Neb.).
Molly had 11 digs, one kill and one block for the Lancers. Next for Mount Marty is a home match vs. Presentation on Tuesday.
Also out of the GPAC, Dakota Wesleyan, coached by Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield graduate Lindsey Wilber, has started the season 5-0 and has yet to lose a set.
The Tigers match vs. Dakota State on Tuesday has been postponed. Wesleyan is scheduled to go to Bellevue, Neb. for four matches Thursday-Saturday.
Amateur baseball
Luverne's second-round game vs. Eagle Lake at the state Class C amateur baseball tournament Saturday was postponed to 7 p.m. Sunday at Chaska.
Jackson's Gavin Jacobsen and Ben Scheevel were drafted by the Redbirds for the state tourney.
Racing
Knoxville Raceway held its final sprint car show of the season last night.
Brian Brown (Grain Valley, Mo.) won the 410 feature, but Davey Heskin (St. Michael) held on to win the track championship.
In the 360 class, Scott Bogucki (McLaren Vale, SA, Austrailia) won Saturday. Brandon Halverson (Jackson) was 12th in feature after he was fifth in his heat race and 14th in time trials.
Clint Garner (Sioux Falls) won the 360 track championship. Kaleb Johnson (Sioux Falls) finished sixth.
NOSA sprint cars will run at Huset's tonight.
The four-day Power Series Nationals are next weekend. They'll run Friday and Saturday at Jackson Motorplex and then at Huset's Sunday and Monday.
Jody Rosenboom (Rock Rapids) has a 75-point lead over Brant O'Banion (Parker, S.D.) in the Midwest Sprint Touring Series point standings.
Remaining on the MSTS schedule are next weekend and then the season concludes Sept. 18 at Rock Rapids.