No. 8 Menno will host No. 9 Freeman Academy/Marion in the Region 5B Tournament play-in game Monday, Feb. 21. The game has been moved from the evening to 2 p.m. because of expected incoming winter weather. The winner of Monday's game will travel to top-seed Centerville Tuesday.  In other action on Tuesday, No. 4 Freeman will face No. 5 Scotland at 7:30 p.m. in Centerville. Also, No. 2 Viborg-Hurley will face No. 7 Gayville-Volin and No. 3 Irene-Wakonda will play No. 6 Alcester-Hudson; both of those games are hosted by Viborg-Hurley.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY JEREMY WALTNER On March 5, 2021, with Freeman Academy/Marion facing Viborg-Hurley in the third round of the Region 5B Tournament, Connor Epp dazzled the crowded house inside the Freeman High School gym with the game of his life: 25 points, eight assists, five steals and five rebounds. But that’s not what he remembers.

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER Between teams, team personnel and fans, as many as 1,500 people are expected to pack the Freeman High School gym this coming Saturday, Feb. 19 as the local school district hosts the Region 2B Wrestling Tournament for the third time since 2014. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. sharp with action beginning at 9:30 a.m. The finals are expected to be underway by 5 p.m.

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER School boards from Freeman Public, Marion and Freeman Academy have all voted unanimously in favor of forming a new football cooperative starting this fall. The Freeman board OK’d the four-year agreement at a special meeting Tuesday morning, Feb. 8; Freeman Academy approved the proposal Tuesday evening; and the Marion board signed off on the deal at its own special meeting Monday night, Feb. 7.

A task force meeting that included school leadership from Freeman Public, Marion and Freeman Academy held Wednesday night, Feb. 2 at Freeman Academy has provided some direction regarding the possibility of a sports cooperative between the three schools.

This photo shows Freeman wresting standout Kirk Wallman competing in the state tournament back in 1989 — his senior season. Wallman memorably finished his high school career with a 201-0 record and six state championships — the first South Dakota wrester ever to achieve that accomplishment (and there has been only one since). Wallman, of course, was part of a Wallman wrestling dynasty that started with his father, Gary "Smoky," and also included older brother Troy and younger brother Cory, who each won four titles.

And just like that, the Canistota/Freeman Pride are no more. Five weeks after the football cooperative played in its fourth consecutive state championship game and in its fifth postseason in as many years, the Canistota School Board voted 4-1 to dissolve the partnership. The action came Monday night, Dec. 13.

The competition phase of the 2021-22 winter sports season starts this Friday night, Dec. 3 when the Freeman Public girls host Colman-Egan and the Freeman Academy/Marion girls travel to Colome. The Menno boys and girls will follow suit by hosting Tripp-Delmont/Armour in a doubleheader on Friday, Dec. 10, and the FA/Marion boys will start their season at Centerville on Dec. 14. More than two months of basketball action will follow as boys and girls teams from Freeman Academy/Marion, Freeman Public and Menno take to a season with varying expectations.

Freeman High School juniors Kate Miller and Erin Uecker have been named to the Cornbelt Conference First Team for their play on the volleyball court this past season. The all-conference teams were announced earlier this week. Miller and Uecker are joined by Bridgewater-Emery’s Julia Weber (MVP), Taylor Schallenkamp and Casey Meyer and Irene-Wakonda’s Willa Freeman and Nora O’Malley on the first team.

JEREMY WALTNER  - PUBLISHER The Canistota/Freeman 2021 football season will be remembered largely for its peaks and valleys — exciting come-from-behind victories, losses that should have been wins, setbacks and surprises, and the raw emotion that goes with both expectations and reality. In that regard, last week’s Class 9AA championship game was a microcosm of the past three months — a hard-fought battle in which fans clung tightly to hope, relished in optimism, were never too comfortable, and nervous about how it all might end. The end?