What’s orange and black and out of the playoffs?

Sheldon’s football team.

After falling behind 7-0 at halftime of Friday night’s Class 2A playoff opener, fourth-ranked Spirit Lake scored 35 unanswered points to knock the Orabs (a portmanteau of the school’s colors orange and black) out of the postseason with a 35-7 victory in Spirit Lake.

Predator became prey Friday night in the Harris-Lake Park Wolves’ Eight-Player football playoff matchup with the eighth-ranked Newell-Fonda Mustangs. The Wolves hung with their hosts for more than a half, but a 27-6 second-half score put the Mustangs over the top 55-26 and ended Harris-Lake Park’s season.

Okoboji’s football team saw its season come to an end Thursday, Oct. 20 with a Week 9 road loss to Forest City. The Indians scored three touchdowns in the first half of a 42-6 win over the Pioneers in Forest City.

Spirit Lake’s volleyball season ended Wednesday, Oct. 19 with a 3-1 loss to Sheldon in the Class 3A Region 1 tournament semifinal in Sheldon.

The Indians won a thrilling 30-28 opening set, but struggled to match the Orabs in the next three, falling 25-15, 25-13 and 25-19.

Okoboji will be well-represented at the 2022 Iowa High School Cross Country Championships in Fort Dodge following a stellar showing at the Class 2A state qualifying meet held Thursday, Oct. 20 in Orange City.

The Okoboji boys squad — led by district champ Evan Osler and runner-up Trigg Heimdal — won a district title and qualified as a team, while the girls fell one point shy of qualifying. Maryn Frein will represent the girls at state after her fifth-place finish.

Spirit Lake will send a pair of runners to the state cross country meet after Brandon Hughes and Katelyn Krieger placed in the top 15 individually at the Class 2A state qualifying meet held Thursday, Oct. 20 at Landsmeer Golf Club in Orange City.

Krieger placed fourth in the girls race, finishing in 20 minutes, 20.6 seconds. Hughes placed third in the boys race, finishing in 16:59.3.

Harris-Lake Park junior Landon Greve capped a solid cross country season at the Class 1A state qualifying meet hosted by Ridge View on Thursday, Oct. 20.

Greve placed 28th at the meet in Holstein, finishing in 19 minutes, 3.71 seconds.

Iowa’s pheasant opener is this Saturday. Like many pheasant hunters, I can hardly wait. There is just something special about seeing that gaudy ringneck rooster burst from the cover.

Fishing pressure is something that seems to be more of a factor in more places. Although sometimes we don’t like the additional fishing pressure, it’s not all bad. Fishing is a good thing for almost all of us almost all of the time. Following are some thoughts on fishing pressure and how to deal with it.

On Friday, Oct. 14, my wife and I took a little road trip to Sioux Falls to meet Darial’s sister to get our supply of eggs, tomatoes and green beans from their farm and, yes, for the gals to head out shopping.

Fall is a great time to catch fish in Iowa’s rivers. A unique angling challenge is hidden around every bend.

“You are never far from one of Iowa’s many rivers,” said Greg Gelwicks, Iowa DNR interior rivers research biologist. “Fall is a great time to give them a try.”

Despite going on the road to open postseason play Monday night, Spirit Lake kept its winning streak alive with a 3-1 win over Rock Valley in the opening round of the Class 3A regional tournament in Rock Valley. The Indians fell behind following a 25-17 loss in the first set but reeled off three straight wins (25-15, 25-16 and 25-18) to push its current win streak to eight games and advance in the postseason.

Harris-Lake Park wrapped its regular season and clinched a share of the Eight-Player District 2 title with a dominant win over North Iowa on Friday, Oct. 14. The Wolves walloped the Bison 68-6 in Lake Park after suffering a lopsided loss to fellow District 2 champion West Bend-Mallard the previous week.

Okoboji ran into a buzzsaw Friday night in a matchup with second-ranked and unbeaten Central Lyon/George-Little Rock. The Lions scored on offense, defense and special teams to take a 21-0 lead in the first 4 minutes of a 62-6 win over the Pioneers in Milford on Oct. 14.

Spirit Lake ended its regular season with a perfect 8-0 record following a lopsided win over 2021 Class 2A state champion Southeast Valley on Friday, Oct. 14. The Indians didn’t play particularly well but played well enough to earn a 24-6 victory over the Jaguars in Gowrie.