Sports

The Benson football team fell to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, Friday night, 26-0, leaving the Braves still searching for their first win of the season with only two regular-season games to go.

Benson recovered two fumbles and recorded four sacks on the wet and muddy Grove City field, but ACGC’s running offense was too much to overcome as the Falcons scored one touchdown in each quarter and ended the game with advantages of 19-5 in first downs, 325-75 in total yards, and 68-41 in plays from scrimmage.

“We played well in the first half, but field position was not in our favor,” Benson head coach Scott Gonnerman said.  “After ACGC scored in the first quarter, we were not able to sustain any long drives and change field position.  ACGC meanwhile, took advantage of some turnovers and really forced us to have to drive 70-80 yards, which would prove to be difficult with the wet, muddy field.”

The KMS volleyball team had a disappointing week of play last week, losing a pair of four-game matches to Prinsburg and Yellow Medicine East.

KMS lost at Prinsburg last Tuesday night, 25-17, 27-25, 18-25, 25-22 as the Bluejays earned their first win of the season at the expense of the Saints.  Two nights later, KMS lost a home match with YME, 25-13, 25-9, 23-25, 25-17, giving the Saints their third-straight loss.

KMS fell to 3-5 in the Camden North Conference and 7-8 overall with the pair of losses.  This week won’t be any easier as the Saints were set to play at Minneota, Tuesday (yesterday) before hosting the Camden North-leading MACCRAY Wolverines, Thursday (tomorrow).........

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KMS routs NY Mills for Homecoming
 

The BOLD Warriors put on one of the finest displays of dominant football this sportswriter has ever seen during a 68-0 thumping of the Benson Braves, Friday night during BHS Homecoming on Brock Field.
 

BOLD scored on 12 of its 13 possessions during the game, going up 27-0 after one quarter and 54-0 by halftime.  The only time the Warriors didn’t score was their first possession of the second half when they drove to the Benson 4-yard line and faced fourth-and-goal, but were stopped for a four-yard loss by Sam Lundebrek and Matt Tolifson.
 

Benson had just 35 net yards of offense in 32 plays and one first down, and that came on a penalty.  BOLD meanwhile, had 602 yards of offense and 15 first downs.
 

The Benson volleyball team picked up another win last week, beating Minnewaska Area in four games at home last Tuesday night, 17-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-22.  Two nights later, the Braves fell to the Morris Area-CA Tigers at home, 25-12, 25-14, 25-11.

Benson improved to 3-6 in the conference and 6-13 overall after the split of matches.  After starting out the season 1-5, the Braves have gone 5-8 in their last 13 matches.

After playing the Tigers, who are tied for first place in the WCC with an 8-1 record, the Braves will play the other teams tied for first place this week.  Benson was set to play at Melrose Area, Tuesday (yesterday) before hosting Sauk Centre, Thursday (tomorrow).  After that, only three matches remain on the regular-season schedule before the start of the Section 5A Tourney....

Haylee Johnson (right) returns a shot for the Saints as Katie Krieger (1) looks on.  The Saints went 1-1 last week and are 7-6 overall heading into the second half of the schedule.

Girls tennis team wins pair of WCC matches

The Benson-KMS girls tennis team pulled out a couple of big conference wins last week to raised its WCC record to 4-3 and its overall record to 7-5.  The Braves opened up last week’s action with a 4-3 win at YME, which included four matches of three sets or tiebreakers.
Two nights later, the Braves won at Melrose, 6-1, and Saturday, Benson-KMS took part in the Litchfield Invitational where Stacy Johnson and Amy Zniewski placed third at third doubles, Brenna Knutson and Anna Samuelson were fourth at second doubles, and Gracie Lenz was fifth at second singles.
This week, another busy week is in store for the Braves, who were set to host Sauk Centre, Tuesday (yesterday) and Milbank, Thursday (tomorrow) before taking part in the WCC Tourney, Saturday at Alexandria.

The Benson Braves fell to 0-4 with a 35-16 home loss to Morris Area-CA, Friday night on Brock Field during the annual Mother-Jersey and Tackle Cancer Night.
Morris Area racked up 354 yards on the ground, including 239 yards by junior Camden Arndt, who took the first handoff of the game and went 70 yards for a touchdown.  He had 303 yards the previous week against ACGC.

“The Tigers first play from scrimmage really set the tempo and tone for Morris’ offense the rest of the night,” Benson head coach Scott Gonnerman said.  “Camden is one of the best running backs and overall athletes in the sub-district this year.  He has good size and speed, but also runs with power and cuts well.  He especially hurt us with his cut back ability as the game went on.”....

Benson volleyball team fourth at Waska Tourney

Saints fall to USA, 24-14

The KMS football team ran into a strong Upsala-Swanville Area team, Friday night at Upsala, and the Saints gave the Patriots a great battle before falling 24-14 in a Mid-State sub-district game.
USA opened up the scoring with two quick touchdowns, but the Saints came back with two touchdowns of their own to pull to within 16-14 at halftime.
The Patriots would go on to score the only touchdown of the second half, while the KMS offense was shut down by the USA defense, which forced the Saints into three turnovers.
The Saints fell to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the Mid-State Blue sub-district, while USA is in first place in the sub-district with a perfect 3-0 record.
This week, KMS has a great chance to pick up its third win as it plays at 0-3 Kimball Area at 7 p.m., Friday.