ELMWOOD - For three quarters, the ninth-seeded Hi-Line football team stood toe-to-toe at eight-seeded Elmwood-Murdock Friday night, even after missed opportunities had cost the Bulls a chance to play with the lead.

LINCOLN - The Southwest football team’s 5-3 regular season was rewarded with a berth in the Class D6 playoffs Friday. Their reward came with a pricetag, though, as the Roughriders were shipped to Lincoln to face one of the very best six-man teams in the State.

GRAND ISLAND - In what turned out to more of a slog than a dress rehearsal for the State Tournament, the secondseeded Cambridge volleyball team did what it was supposed to with 15th-seeded Bancorft-Rosalie in saturday’s district final at Grand Island Central Catholic. Cambridge improved to 29-2 with a 25-20, 25-10, 25-21 win over the Panthers to clinch their second-consecutive trip to State and their third in five seasons.

KEARNEY - Eleven local athletes, including two teams, took part in the Class D State Cross Country Meet Friday in Kearney. The Cambridge girls finished 15th and the Hi-Line girls were 18th in the girls race. Cambridge’s Brenna Deterding led all local individuals with a 29th place finish in the girls’ race. Deterding also finished 29th in the race a year ago. Her time of 22:00 was 46 seconds back of medal contention and 28 seconds back of the top 20. The Trojans’ Rachel Harris finished 74th with a time of 23:23. Harris was 44th after a 6:47 opening mile. Kori Koeppen rounded out the team score with 92nd place and a time of 24:20. JoLie Farr and Jensyn Weiss finished 113th and 114th with marks of 26:28.

PAXTON - Needing a road victory to clinch a spot in the playoffs, the Southwest football team made just enough plays to get the job done Thursday at Paxton. After trailing throughout much of the first half, Southwest (5-3) closed the second quarter with a flurry, scoring twice on long touchdown throws from Hunter Cunningham over the final three minutes to claim a 31-22 advantage at the break.

NELIGH - The Cambridge football season came to a close Thursday with a 70-22 loss to third-seeded Neligh-Oakdale (8-1). Cambridge (4-5) got off to a stumbling start and fell in a 28-0 hole after a quarter.

CAMBRIDGE - The Cambridge and Hi-Line volleyball teams squared off in the first round of the Subdistrict D1-11 Tournament Monday as the Trojans ended the Hi-Line season with a 25-8, 25-16, 25-7 victory.

CAMBRIDGE - The Arapahoe volleyball team saw its season come to a close with a 25-15, 25-20, 25-9 loss to No. 3 Maywood-Hayes Center at the Subdistrict D1-11 Tournament in Cambridge.

BARTLEY - The Southern Valley volleyball team saw its season end Monday at the Subdistrict C2-11 Tournament as the Eagles fell to South Loup, 25-17, 25-23, 25-21. The Eagles had opportunities, particularly in the second set, but the Bobcats had the answers and extended rallied with their defense. Statistical information was not available. Southern Valley finished its season 13-16.

Cambridge hands Maywood-Hayes Center second defeat CAMBRIDGE-For the better part of the opening set in Tuesday’s subdistrict final with Maywood-Hayes Center, the Cambridge volleyball team could do virtually nothing right. Their passing broke down, they couldn’t cover the Wolves’ tipping offense and MHC was rolling away with a 21-8 lead.