Playing in the first year of a football cooperative, not only has Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy qualified for the postseason, the Phoenix are hosting a game. F/M/FA will entertain Florence-Henry next Thursday night, Oct. 20 in the first round of the 9AA playoffs, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. The Phoenix are the No. 7 seed and take a 6-2 record into the postseason while the No. 10 Falcons are 4-4.

Freeman Academy/Marion junior Tavin Schroeder and sophomore Finley McConniel finished second and third at Wednesday afternoon’s Region 3B Cross-Country Meet in Burke to lead the Bearcats to a narrow win in the team standings. Sophomore Hayden Schmidt and junior Jayson Allison also turned in top-20 finishes for FA/Marion, which edged Mitchell Christian 20 to 21. Gregory was third with 22 points.

Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy lost for the second time this season, falling to Corsica-Stickney 48-18 in Corsica Friday night, Oct. 7. The Phoenix dropped to 5-2 while the Jaguars improved to 6-1. Corsica-Stickney is ranked No. 3 in Class 9B.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER Even though the Jim River Trappers have concluded their regular season — they have a bye this week in the ninth and final week of play — they’re still practicing this week. That’s because there’s a chance the Menno/Scotland football cooperative will sneak into the postseason.

A successful soccer season at Freeman Academy came to an end in Rapid City Tuesday evening, Oct. 4 when the Bobcats fell to St. Thomas More 7-0 in the opening round of the playoffs. St. Thomas More was the No. 3 seed with a 9-4 record while Freeman Academy entered the postseason as the No. 6 seed and with a 6-3 record.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER The Freeman Academy soccer team may have dropped a home game to Vermillion 6-0 Tuesday evening, Sept. 27, but in the larger scheme of things that really doesn’t matter. Because it looks like the Bobcats are going to the playoffs. With the regular season set to end next week, Freeman Academy — which includes players from Freeman Public, Marion and Parker — will most likely finish sixth among 11 teams in the Class A division, which would give the Bobcats the final spot in the state tournament field.

The Jim River football team evened up its record at 3-3 after starting the season 0-2 with a 19-0 win at Wagner Friday night, Sept. 23. The Trappers scored touchdowns in the first, third and fourth quarters to pull away from the Red Raiders, who dropped to 2-4 on the season. Jim River’s touchdowns came on a 1- and 2-yard run by Ajay Herrboldt and a 61-yard scamper by Logan Sayler.

Freshman quarterback Riley Tschetter threw for all six of Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy’s touchdowns to lead the Phoenix to a 44-22 homecoming win over Colome Friday afternoon, Sept. 23 in Freeman. The win moved the Phoenix to 4-1 while the Cowboys dropped to 2-3.

Top-ranked and defending Class 9AA champion Howard proved to be too much for Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy as the Tigers (5-0) routed the Phoenix (3-1) 51-0 in Howard Friday night, Sept. 16. Howard’s explosive offense put up 528 total yards and averaged 12.3 yards per play while F/M/FA tallied just 120 yards and 2.5 yards per play.

If Phoenix football wasn’t the talk of the town before, it certainly deserves to be in the conversation now. Competing in just their third game as a cooperative, the Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy football team knocked off No. 2 Avon in Class 9AA action Friday night, Sept. 2. The Phoenix built a 22-0 halftime lead and hung on for 34-24 win on the road to improve to 3-0 on the season. The Pirates fell to 2-1.