Additions to Tower Park and the business community were discussed at the Jefferson City Council meeting Sept. 6.

Ongoing sewer issues at the Union County Courthouse have prompted an emergency situation to fix old cast iron sewer lines. Curt Hlavacek of Midwest Pipe Lining out of Watertown, SD was present at the Union County Board of County Commission meeting Sept. 20 to discuss his business and how the courthouse could benefit from their services.

The Dakota Valley cross country team travelled to Yankton Trails Park to run against some bigger schools and strong competition on Sept. 13 in the Sioux Falls Christian Invite. Race courses for the varsity 5K, the JV 4K and middle school 3K all took place on the warm day. “Another hot meet,” coach Tiffany Wendling said. “There were a lot of teams at Sioux Falls Christian today and a lot of really strong teams which always makes for a great meet.”

The varsity cross country runners for Dakota Valley travelled to Tyndall, SD to participate in the Bon Homme Invite on Monday, Sept. 19. A lot of hardware and success was achieved on the extremely hot day and dizzying course.

The Panther volleyball team had a busy week of competition. They travelled to Harrisburg Tuesday, Sept. 13 and hosted Canton two days later. Both matches were competitive with Dakota Valley showcasing strong play in a multitude of areas.

The Dakota Valley high school softball team won’t start their season until the spring, but a group of over 20 girls, ranging in grades 8th-12th, have been getting lots of reps during the months of August and September. Head coach T.C. Wienandt and assistant coach Jason Anderson have coordinated a fall ball league that allows the Panthers to play against surrounding area teams on Sundays at the Dakota Valley fields. The Panthers also recently participated in competitions at Historic Hubbard Park in Sioux City on Saturday, Sept. 17. The match-up at Hubbard Park involved a grandstand announcer and three backto- back games. Game 1 for the Panthers, versus Sioux City Moons 16U, started the day at the ballpark and was a success as Dakota Valley got the win 15-1. Freshman Annie Bourne was named player of the week by the game day directors for pitching 2 shutout innings and allowing only 1 hit with 2 strikeouts. Bourne also had a hit and RBI in the game.

It was a great Thursday for the Dakota Valley boys golf team Sept. 15 as they were crowned champions at the Elk-Point Jefferson Invite.

Saturday, Sept. 17 had the Dakota Valley dance team up early and travelling north to Brookings to take on competition from some of the best Class A and Class AA schools in the area. The event took place at Swiftel Center. The dance squad performed their jazz routine and pom routine for the crowds. Once again, despite going up against bigger schools, Dakota Valley showed dominance. They placed 5th in jazz and earned a high 2nd place score for their pom routine. The Panthers scored 272.5 for jazz and 295 for pom which gave them a combined average score of 283.75. This high overall score was more than enough to earn the team 2nd place overall champs. They finished just behind Brandon Valley who had a score of 294.75 and well ahead of 3rd place Sioux Falls Washington who had a combined score of 277.25. Next up for the Dakota Valley dance team is a competition in Harrisburg on Saturday, Sept. 24.

Tough match-ups in soccer faced both the girls and boys this past week for Dakota Valley. The girls had two contests, one was versus West Central on Tuesday, Sept. 13 and the other was versus Sioux Falls Christian on Saturday, Sept. 17. For the first match-up the Panther girls travelled to Hartford and fell short to a strong West Central squad in a 0-6 loss. It was observed that the girls played hard and the score may sound a bit deceiving as many good things were noted by the coaches and crowd. They appear to be coming together well as a team, despite being a young roster. The Sept. 17 game was an away match for the ladies and they lost 0-2 to the Sioux Falls Christian Chargers.

A long road trip on Friday, Sept. 16 proved to be worth the windshield time as the Panther football team travelled to Millbank to take on the Bulldogs. It was a strong win for the Panthers who left the field with a 33-6 victory. “We played well in all three phases of the game against Milbank,” coach Jeff VanDenHul stated. “[It’s] a lot of fun to watch your team play hard and play as a team.” Senior Lake Kistner led in rushing with 73 yards on 5 carries. Quarterback Ethan Anema completed over 60 percent of his passes for 209 yards on the night. Anema also ran in the 1st touchdown of the game for the Panthers which started the momentum that stayed in high gear all night. Anema would go on to connect a pass to senior Jaxon Hennies in the 1st quarter for the second score of the contest. Between the pass and Hennies’ run, the Panthers blasted the last 90 yards of the field for the touchdown. Trae Piel would then complete a pass to senior Randy Rosenquist in the 2nd quarter for a 19-0 lead with 9 minutes left in the 1st half.