THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
— Albert Camus

PIERRE GOVERNORS SPORTS ROUNDUP

This week’s schedules:
— FRIDAY
Cross country: at Rapid City Central invitational.
Football: at Yankton, 7 p.m.
— SATURDAY
Girls tennis: home for Pierre invitational, 8 a.m.
Boys golf: at ESD tournament, Watertown, 10 a.m.
Cheer/dance: at Rapid City Stevens invitational, 11 a.m.
Girls soccer: home vs. Sioux Falls Jefferson, 1 p.m.
Boys soccer: home vs. Sioux Falls Jefferson, 3 p.m.
— TUESDAY
Girls tennis: at ESD tournament, Huron, 8 a.m.
Boys soccer: home vs. Huron, 4 p.m.
Girls soccer: home vs. Huron, 6 p.m.
Cheer/dance: at Sioux Falls O’Gorman invitational, 5 p.m.
Volleyball: at Rapid City Christian, 7 p.m.

Football: It was no contest at Box Elder as the Governors romped over Douglas, 43-0. It was 41-0 at halftime, and the second half featured a running clock as the Govs took their feet off the gas pedal. Lincoln Kienholz threw for four touchdown passes in the first half, starting with a 6-yard aerial to Cade Kaiser. Jayden Wiebe’s 55-yard punt return for a score gave Pierre a two-score lead. Kienholz connected with Jack Merkwan on a 14-yard pass play for the third score. In the second quarter it was a 50-yard pass play between Kienholz and Brecken Krueger to start things, then a 25-yard TD pass to Merkwan and a 1-yard TD plunge by Brock Moser. Pierre finished the scoring with a safety in the fourth period. Kienholz completed 11 of 17 passes for 215 yards. He was also Pierre’s leading rusher with 71 yards on seven carries. The team had 131 total rushing yards on 23 carries.

Class 11AA football:
Records: Tea Area 4-0, Pierre 3-1, Aberdeen Central 3-1, Brookings 3-1, Yankton 2-2, Watertown 2-2, Huron 1-3, Mitchell 1-3, Spearfish 1-3, Sturgis 0-4, Douglas 0-4.
Last week’s scores:
Pierre 43, Douglas 0
Brookings 30, Aberdeen Central 7
Spearfish 21, Sturgis 19
Tea Area 47, Mitchell 14
Watertown 24, Huron 22
Sioux Falls Jefferson 38, Yankton 35
This week’s games:
Pierre at Yankton
Huron at Aberdeen Central
Mitchell at Brookings
Watertown at Tea Area
Douglas at St. Thomas More
Custer at Spearfish
Sturgis at Rapid City Stevens

Volleyball: The Governors lost for the first time this season at Sioux Falls Washington, 3-0, on game scores of 16-25, 24-25, 17-25. They rebounded with a 3-0 sweep of Sioux Falls Lincoln on game scores of 25-17, 25-23, 25-22.

Boys golf: At Mitchell’s meet the Governors placed seventh but only 13 strokes behind first place. Nick Bothun tied for fourth with a 72. Jack Bartlett shot 80, Lincoln Houska 81 and Sawyer Sonnenschein 82. At Watertown’s invitational Pierre was third as a team. Bothun was eighth with a 7-over 79. Sonnenschein and Jonathon Lyons carded 80s, Houska and Bartlett 82s and Luke Olsen 88.

Cheer/dance: At the Brookings invitational the dance team placed ninth in hip hop, third in pom and eighth overall among 15 schools. At Huron’s meet the team was second in pom, fifth in hip hop and fifth overall.

Boys soccer: The Governors won at Brookings, 3-2, but lost at Yankton, 5-0. The Yankton team has lost only once all season. In the latter dual Carson Ahartz made eight saves in goal. Pierre is currently in eighth place, the last spot to hold a home game in the first round of the playoffs, and has to play #1 Jefferson Saturday. The last regular-season game next week against Huron is likely a must-win game if the Govs hope to host a playoff match.

Girls soccer: Pierre’s girls won over Brookings 5-2, and tied Yankton, 0-0. Ashlyn Vogt made five saves in the Yankton match. Pierre’s record is now 7-3-1 with two regular-season games remaining vs. Jefferson and Huron. Pierre currently stands in sixth place, which would mean hosting a first-round playoff game

Class 11AA boys soccer playoff standings:
(NOTE: The top 8 teams host first-round playoff games Oct. 5 with 16 at 1, 15 at 2, 14 at 3, 13 at 4, 12 at 5, 11 at 6, 10 at 7 and 9 at 8. The quarterfinals will be Oct. 9, the semifinals Oct. 12 and the championship game at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls Oct. 16.)
1) S.F. Jefferson 8-1-0
2) Aberdeen Central 9-1-0
3) R.C. Stevens 8-2-0
4) S.F. Washington 6-1-2
5) Yankton 9-1-1
6) Spearfish 7-2-1
7) S.F. Lincoln 4-2-4
8) Pierre 6-4-1
9) S.F. O’Gorman 3-4-3
10) S.F. Roosevelt 2-5-1
11) R.C. Central 2-5-3
12) Harrold 3-6-1
13) Brandon Valley 3-6-1
14) Watertown 2-8-3
15) Brookings 3-7-1
15) Harrisburg 2-6-3
Not qualifying: Douglas/R.C. Christian/New Underwood, Sturgis, Mitchell.

Class 11AA girls soccer playoff standings:
(See NOTE above)
1) Brandon Valley 9-1-1
2) R.C. Stevens 8-1-1
3) Aberdeen Central 9-1-0
4) R.C. Central 8-2-0
5) S.F. Lincoln 7-2-1
6) Harrisburg 6-2-3
6) Pierre 7-3-1
8) Watertown 6-7-0
9) S.F. Roosevelt 3-4-1
10) Spearfish 7-3-0
11) Mitchell 5-5-0
12) Yankton 4-5-2
13) S.F. O’Gorman 4-5-1
14) S.F. Jefferson 2-6-1
15) Sturgis 5-8-0
16) Brookings 1-9-1
Not qualifying: S.F. Washington, Huron, Douglas/R.C. Christian/New Underwood.

WEDDING DAYS

Sept. 25: Nick Jung/Natalie Nagle.
Oct. 2: Jordan Lamb/Abbey Fjeldheim.

STANLEY COUNTY BUFFALOES SPORTS ROUNDUP

Volleyball: At the Big Dakota Conference tournament the Buffaloes lost to Miller, 2-0, but won over Crow Creek, 2-0; defeated Cheyenne-Eagle Butte, 2-1, and beat Chamberlain, 2-1.

Football: The Buffaloes, after scoring their first win of the season the previous week at Sully Buttes, fell to Potter County, 40-12, and are now 1-4 heading into their homecoming game Friday.

This week’s schedules:
— THURSDAY
Volleyball: home vs. Potter County.
— FRIDAY
Football: home vs. White River.
— SATURDAY
Cross country: at Eureka-Bowdle meet.
— MONDAY
Cross country: at Miller meet.
Volleyball: at Crow Creek.

SULLY BUTTES CHARGERS SPORTS ROUNDUP

This week’s schedules:
— THURSDAY
Volleyball: at Sunshine Bible.
— SATURDAY
Volleyball: home for CSDC tournament.
— MONDAY
Cross country: at Miller meet.
— TUESDAY
Volleyball: at Potter County.

Volleyball: The Chargers swept Lyman, 3-0, and did the same to North Central, 3-0. In the latter dual Sully Buttes won on game scores of 25-17, 25-20, 25-13 and had 17 services aces and 12 kills. SB’s record is now 5-8.

COUNTDOWN

1 day: Custer State Park buffalo roundup (Sept. 24).
1 day: “Dear Evan Hansen” opens in theaters (Sept. 24).
2 days: Swarm Day at Black Hills State (Sept. 25).
2 days: “M” Day at School of Mines (Sept. 25).
2 days: Trojan Day at Dakota State (Sept. 25).
2 days: Blue & White Day at Dakota Wesleyan (Sept. 25).
2 days: Homecoming at U. of Minnesota (Sept. 25).
3 days: Crazy Horse Memorial volksmarch (Sept. 26).
4 days: Riggs High homecoming coronation (Sept. 27).
7 days: Riggs High homecoming parade (Sept. 30).
8 days: Riggs High homecoming day (Oct. 1).
8 days: S.D. Festival of Books virtual event (Oct. 1-3).
9 days: Dakota Day at USD (Oct. 2).
9 days: Gypsy Day at Northern (Oct. 2).
9 days: Cougar Day at USF (Oct. 2).
9 days: Homecoming at U. of Nebraska (Oct. 2).
11 days: State boys golf tournament, Huron (Oct. 4-5).
14 days: State girls tennis tournament, Sioux Falls (Oct. 7-9).
16 days: Viking Day at Augustana (Oct. 9).
16 days: Riggs High band at “March to the Meridian,” Yankton (Oct. 9).
16 days: Homecoming at U. Mary (Oct. 9).
21 days: Riggs High fall play (Oct. 14-16).
22 days: Minnesota Wild season opener (Oct. 15).
23 days: Soccer state championship games, Sioux Falls (Oct. 16).
25 days: Riggs High choir concert (Oct. 18).
26 days: Georgia Morse Middle School band/choir concert (Oct. 19).
28 days: Riggs High band concert (Oct. 21).

WORDS OF WISDOM

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

COLLEGE SPORTS ROUNDUP

South Dakota State rodeo (Rafe Wientjes): At last weekend’s rodeo in North Platte, Neb., Rafe placed third in tie-down. After three rodeos the SDSU men are in second place in the regional standings, and the women are fourth. The Jacks compete this weekend at Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Augustana women’s golf (Natalie Young): At the Tracy Lane Invitational in Bemidji, Minn., the Augie women placed first as a team with a 629 score, 18 strokes better than runners-up Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul. Natalie was first individual with a score of 80-72=152, the first victory of her Augustana career. She was named NSIC Player of the Week in women’s golf. The Vikings play this weekend at the Mustang Invitational hosted by Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall.

University of Sioux Falls cross country (Jessica Lutmer): Idle last weekend, the Cougars go Friday to the University of Minnesota’s Roy Griak Invitational.

Dakota Wesleyan volleyball (Gracie Olivier): The Tigers have soared to a 13-1 record. This week they won by 3-0 over Northwestern, York and Morningside. DWU, after playing Dordt last night, takes on Briar Cliff Friday.

St. Joseph’s (Pa.) men’s soccer (John Axtman): The Hawks won their Atlantic 10 conference opener over George Mason, 3-1, then won a non-conference dual over Princeton, 3-2. Now 3-5 overall, St. Joseph’s hosts UMass Saturday and Hofstra next Tuesday.

Morningside bowling (Alex Badger): The opening of the fall season is almost here for the Mustangs whose first meet is at Wauwatosa, Wis., Oct. 3-4.

South Dakota volleyball (Brooklyn Bollweg): The Coyotes lost all three matches in Wichita—3-1 to Wyoming, 3-0 to Creightron and 3-2 to Wichita State. Now 3-6, the Coyotes are home Friday vs. SDSU and Tuesday vs. NDSU.

South Dakota State football (Regan Bollweg): The unbeaten Jacks were idle last weekend but begin MVFC play Saturday at noon CDT at Indiana State. The game can be seen East River on MyUTV and West River on CW of the Black Hills.

Northern State football (Joe King, Jacob Howard): The Wolves are now 2-1 after a 40-22 win on the road at Upper Iowa. NSU is home against the University of Sioux Falls at 6 p.m. Saturday on Midco Sports Network.

Dakota State football (Collin Brueggeman, Nathan Cook): The Trojans defeated Presentation, 40-13, and are now 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the NSAA. DSU is home for Trojan Day Saturday at 4 p.m. vs. Mayville State.

Dakota Wesleyan men’s soccer (Cam Ahartz): The Tigers lost a 3-0 match to Hastings College. Now 1-7, DWU has scored only three goals in eight games. DWU played at Briar Cliff last night and hosts Dordt next Wednesday.

North Dakota State football (Grey Zabel): The Bison rolled in Maryland against Towson State, 35-7. Now 3-0, NDSU is idle this weekend leading up to the conference opener at UND Oct. 2.

Dakota Wesleyan cross country (Morgan Oedekoven): At Morningside’s meet in Sioux City, Morgan was DWU’s best at 27th place in 21:45.72, her season-best time, in the women’s 5K race. DWU runs next Oct. 1 at Briar Cliff’s invitational.

Dakota Wesleyan football (Josh Rowse): The Tigers lost at Midland College, 27-14, to fall to 1-2. DWU is home for Blue & White Day Saturday at 1 p.m. against Hastings.

Dakota State volleyball (Nicole Sarringar): The Trojans lost to Bellevue, 3-0, and defeated Morningside, 3-2. Nicole had one kill, five assists and six digs against Bellevue, and she had five assists and five digs in the Morningside win. DSU hosted Presentation last night and goes to Mayville State Saturday.

South Dakota women’s soccer (Janaina Zanin, Joana Zanin): USD defeated Iowa State, 1-0. Joana had one shot on goal. Now 5-1-2, USD is off until hosting St. Thomas Oct. 1 and Western Illinois Oct. 3.

Black HIlls State rodeo (Riley Hannum, Sydney Theobald): The Yellowjackets went to North Platte, Neb., for a pair of weekend rodeos. In the first one the BHSU women were first and the men fourth. Sydney placed seventh in barrel racing in a time of 18.36. In the second rodeo, where the BHSU women were third and the men fifth, Riley placed sixth in steer wrestling in 23.3 and placed sixth in team roping in 12.1. This weekend the BHSU rodeo team goes to Fort Dodge, Iowa.

South Dakota football: The Coyotes were impressive again in dominating at Cal Poly, 48-14. Now 2-1, USD opens league play at Missouri State Saturday at 7 p.m.

Black Hills State football (Josh Breske): The Yellowjackets lost their RMAC opener at CSU-Pueblo, 19-16. Now 2-1 overall and 0-1 in league play, BHSU is home for Swarm Day at 1 p.m. Saturday vs. Adams State.

Northwestern College (Iowa) football (Morris Hofer): The Red Raiders won their homecoming game over Doane, 38-0. Morris had one solo tackle and one assisted tackle. Now 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the GPAC, Northwestern goes to Concordia (Neb.) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Augustana football (Jett Lamb, Colton Hartford): The Vikings rolled past MSU-Moorhead, 43-17. Colton had one assisted tackle, and Jett got into the game, too. Now 3-0, Augie has a tough date Saturday at 2 p.m. at Bemidji State.

Missouri Valley Football Conference football:
Overall records: NDSU 3-0, SDSU 2-0, USD 2-1, UND 2-1, Indiana State 2-1, Southern Illinois 2-1, Northern Iowa 2-1, Illinois State 2-1, Youngstown State 1-1, Missouri State 1-1 Western Illinois 0-3.
Last week’s scores:
USD 48, Cal Poly 14
UND 38 Drake 0
NDSU 35, Towson 7
Eastern Washington 62, Western Illinois 56
Northern Iowa 44, St. Thomas 3
Illinois State 31, Eastern Illinois 24
Southern Illinois 55, Dayton 3
Indiana State 23, Eastern Kentucky 21
This week’s conference games: SDSU at Indiana State, USD at Missouri State, Western Illinois at Youngstown State, Illinois State at Southern Illinois.

PARKER’S PERSONAL NOTES

• South Dakotans who hate change aren’t going to like this, but before long they will have to use the 605 area code when making any local phone call. The 988 number will be the national suicide prevention mental health crisis lifeline in the U.S. effective July 16, 2022. Until then, 1-800-273-TALK is the lifeline number connected to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. To make the 988 number work when it becomes effective next year, all calls—local and otherwise—will have to use the area code, even when you are calling within your own area code, so start getting used to it. The first step, when you have time on your hands, is to start editing all the numbers in your phone’s contacts list so that all of them have area codes.
• It was good to run into former Pierre resident Jerid Maskovich at Billion KIA in Rapid City where he is a service adviser. I didn’t know Jerid has been living out here in Rapid for the past two years or so. He happened to be working with my daughter-in-law, and when I stopped by the dealership to pick her up, Jerid came out for a short visit to say hello.

ZESTO SHERBET SCHEDULE

Thursday: lemon.
Friday-Sunday: tutti fruitti.
Monday-Tuesday: blackberry.
Wednesday-Thursday: butter pecan.

FOOTBALL CONTEST #6

Because a Vikings kicker couldn’t make a chip-shot game-winning field goal, Jon Boer finished with a 9-1 mark instead of a perfect 10-0 score worth 20 points in last week’s contest, so he settles for 10 points. Earning 9 points for their 8-2 marks were David Ludwig and Levi Neuharth. At 7-3 for 8 points apiece were Thomas Voeltz, Eric James, Kyle Richards and Seb Axtman.

This week’s games (send your 10 winners to parkerhome16@hotmail.com by Saturday morning):
(1) Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin
(2) Nebraska at Michigan State
(3) Texas A&M at Arkansas
(4) South Dakota State at Indiana State
(5) Texas Tech at Texas
(6) Iowa State at Baylor
(7) NFL: Chicago at Cleveland
(8) NFL: Seattle at Minnesota
(9) NFL: Tampa Bay at Los Angeles Rams
(10) NFL: Green Bay at San Francisco

BASEBALL UPDATE

Minnesota Twins schedule:
— Thursday: Toronto, 6:40 p.m.
— Friday: Toronto, 7:10 p.m.
— Saturday: Toronto, 6:10 p.m.
— Sunday: Toronto, 1:10 p.m.
— Tuesday: Detroit, 6:40 p.m.
— Wednesday: Detroit, 6:40 p.m.
— Thursday: Detroit, 6:40 p.m.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I love autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it.”
— Lee Maynard

HOCKEY UPDATE

Badlands Sabres (Mason Martin): The Sabres, after losing their first two games of the new season, are now on a roll. They swept a pair from Sheridan, 7-5 and 7-5, last weekend. Mason had two goals in the Friday game and one more in the Saturday win. The Sabres’ scheduled home games against Yellowstone this weekend have been postponed until January.

Sioux Falls Stampede: The regular season begins this weekend at the USHL Fall Classic in Pittsburgh where the Stampede will play Muskegon and Chicago. The first home game is Oct. 9 vs. Lincoln.

Aberdeen Wings: The wings began their season at the NAHL Showcase in Blaine, Minn., where they compiled a 3-1 record. Aberdeen lost to Shreveport, 1-0, but scored 4-3 wins over Johnstown and Corpus Christi and a 6-3 win over Springfield. The Wings begin Central Division play Friday and Saturday at North Iowa.

Minnesota Wild: The Wild’s preseason opener is at 7 p.m. Saturday at St. Louis.

SOCCER UPDATE

Minnesota United FC: The Loons lost to Sporting Kansas City, 4-0, and defeated Los Angeles, 3-0. Minnesota is home Saturday vs. Houston.

CORONAVIRUS ROUNDUP

Yesterday’s state Department of Health report showed that there were 604 new positive cases (131 of them in Pennington County alone) since Tuesday and 7,714 current active cases statewide. Hospitalizations are at 226, and the death toll has climbed to 2,109.

Sixty-four percent of the state’s eligible population have received at least one vaccination, and 58.04% have completed vaccinations.

Some of this week’s other developments:

• Black Hills Community Theatre, after first postponing the opening of “Matilda the Musical” for a week, canceled the production entirely due to the rising COVID numbers in Rapid City and the fact that a large number of the cast members are young people. The first cast member to test positive caught COVID from her teacher at school who does not wear a mask, and subsequently several other children in the cast tested positive. Also at the Orpheum Theatre in Sioux Falls, the opening of “Lost in Vegas” has been delayed until Sept. 29-30.
• The Oglala Sioux Tribe has directed all of its members to “shelter in place,” meaning stay at home. Only essential businesses may operate and then only at 25% capacity. No gatherings of more than 10 people are permitted, masks are mandated, and schools are now operating only with distance learning. You see? Some governmental agencies know how to respond to a pandemic!
• Just as they said they would, Penn State University has suspended 117 students who have not submitted proof of COVID vaccinations nor showed up for consecutive weeks of COVID testing.
• In Chicago the two ZIP codes where the COVID rates are highest have two distinctions: (1) they have the highest number of municipal workers in the city where the police and firefighters unions oppose Mayor Lightfoot’s mask mandate; (2) those two ZIP codes also had the highest number of Donald Trump voters in the presidential election.
• On the Augustana campus in Sioux Falls 82.68% of the student body and staff have been vaccinated against COVID-19. The 17.32% unvaccinated number wouldn’t be considered good in most places, but in South Dakota it is very good.
• An executive of North Dakota’s largest health-care system said its Fargo hospital alone could use up to 300 more nurses to handle COVID-19 cases.
• Last Thursday all three of the newest-reported COVID deaths in the state were from Pennington County, and the county then had had 10 deaths in one week’s time and 222 since the pandemic began. On Friday the county reported more active cases (2,192) than at any time since the pandemic began in March 2020. The Rapid City school district reported 250 active cases among students as of that day.
• The Rapid City Rotary Club postponed its 100th anniversary gala out of concern for the health and safety of the community.
• Monument Health declared that all physicians and caregivers in all of its Black Hills facilities, including the big hospital in Rapid City, have to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 1.
• Major League Baseball is requiring all managers, coaches, trainers, and all non-playing personnel to be vaccinated in order to have field access during the postseason games which begin Oct. 5.
• In Wyoming the governor has activated 95 soldiers and airmen of the state’s National Guard to work at 24 hospitals in 17 cities.
• The United States is now averaging more than 1,900 deaths per day due to COVID-19 for the first time since March.

GOLF UPDATE

PGA Champions Tour (Tom Byrum): At the Sanford Invitational in Sioux Falls, Tom tied for 27th place and earned $14,610 for his 3-under round of 66-67-74=207. The Champions Tour plays this weekend at the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach in California.

FOOTBALL UPDATE

Minnesota Vikings: A game-winning field goal went wide right, and the Vikings lost at Arizona, 34-33, to drop to 0-2. The home opener is Sunday at 3:25 p.m. against Seattle on Fox.

Midco Sports Network live games this week:
— Friday, 6 p.m.: Sioux Falls Jefferson at Rapid City Central.
— Friday, 9:15 p.m.: Sturgis at Rapid City Stevens.
— Saturday, 6 p.m.: USF at Northern.

NFL games on local TV this weekend (subject to change by networks):
— Thursday, Carolina at Houston, 7:20 p.m., NFL Network.
— Sunday, Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City, noon, CBS.
— Sunday, Chicago at Cleveland, noon, Fox.
— Sunday, Seattle at Minnesota, 3:25 p.m., Fox.
— Sunday, Green Bay at San Francisco, 7:20 p.m., NBC.
— Monday, Philadelphia at Dallas, 7:15 p.m., ESPN.

BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES

Thursday, Sept. 23:
Vern Armstrong, Dick Howard, Mike Boring, Brett Durick, Travis Tipton, Clay Cudmore, Nora Mangan, Nate Grueb, Mary Livermont, Jeremy Engbrecht, Kim Sutton, Matthew Kenyon, Autumn Tipton, Justin Garrigan.
— 15th anniversary, Tyson/Danae Paxton.
— 4th anniversary, Cooper/Candace (Volmer) Waln.
— 4th anniversary, Dayton/Rylae (Wientjes) Jensen.
— 16th anniversary, Brett/Julie Oakland.
— 10th anniversary, Ross/Andrea Wright.
— 32nd anniversary, Mark/Beth Dutt.

Friday, Sept. 24:
Mikayla Mikkelsen, Emmett Becker, Mary Lynne Swanstrom, Lindsey (Tilberg) Jennewein, Jessi (Huber) Herrscher, Bridger Tobin, Ryan Olson, Alicia (Ripley) Schoenhard, Kirion Vogel, Nicole Smith, Tabitha Smith, Blake Paxton, Kolten Haag, Kolten Withers.
— 5th anniversary, Jalen/Tiera (Feller) Lamb.
— 5th anniversary, Miles/Shelby (Stadel) Schock.
— 15th anniversary, Adam/Shawna (Miller) Lizotte.
— 38th anniversary, Jeff/Staci Holden.
— 10th anniversary, Justin/Kelly (Kindle) Hipple.

Saturday, Sept. 25:
Sara Rankin, Charlene Lower, Brett Prue, Matt Geraets, Isaac Hall, Corwyn Mosiman, Kay Huxford, Penny Ripperger, Renee Rodgers.
— 39th anniversary, Alan/Paula Hrdlicka.
— 17th anniversary, David/Carla Madden.
— 45th anniversary, Dale/Eileen Bertsch.
— 11th anniversary, Mark/Haley (Larson) Lunders.
— 17th anniversary, Jason/Jessica (Williams) West.
— 17th anniversary, Brandt/Rebecca Becker.
— Anniversary, Roger/Peg Johnson.

Sunday, Sept. 26:
John Storsteen, Mikayla Hight, Marty Calkins, Calyn (Cronin) Hauck, Trudy Feigum, Helen Sutera, Michele Hoss, Stephanie Snow, Kim (Hipple) Hastings, Josh Williams.
— 12th anniversary, Michael/Kellee (Hewlett) Rydland.
— 18th anniversary, Joshua/Cheri (Olinger) Raymond.
— 6th anniversary, Clay/Angie Pearson.
— 56th anniversary, Tim/Janie Cass.
— 12th anniversary, Nathan/Sara (Dvorak) Becker.

Monday, Sept. 27:
Robert Sowers, Mark Mitchell, Nicole Stasch, John Williams, Gill Hedman Cheryl Seefeldt, Remington Uecker, Kevin Hipple, Ryan Ogan, Mollee (Hewlett) Madden, Kevin Colestock, Kendra (Lamb) Macke, Ken Erlenbusch, Quanna Hager, Ken Melius, Barb Nielsen, Hazel Thier.
— 24th anniversary, Brian/Jami Oakland.
— 13th anniversary, Tyson/Crystal (Boehmer) Lindekugel.

Tuesday, Sept. 28:
Mark Nielsen, Kim Otterness, Amy (Swenson) Einspahr, Erin (Titze) Herr, Sophie Hackett, Cody Hostler, Tom Byrum, Matt Mullaney, Dr. Pat Hermanson.
— 9th anniversary, Matthew/Darby (Warne) Boyd.
— 8th anniversary, Matthew/Ashley (Heikes) Riggs.
— 19th anniversary, Ron/Mary (Burtts) Wire.
— Anniversary, Allen/Jennifer (Maberry) Langfeldt.

Wednesday, Sept. 29:
Jeri Wilcox, Ellen Kub, George Sperry, Liz Vogt, Jon Kinsman, Charlie Magedanz, Tim Schaefer, Ben Clair, Brittani Scott.
— 3rd anniversary, Tyler/Rachel (Hartmann) Arbach.
— 9th anniversary, Justin/Erin (Moehring) Boggs.
— 9th anniversary, Brian/Jessica Knadle.

Thursday, Sept. 30:
Ezra Rosenau, Rod Fisher, Allison Lindbloom, Kelley Trebesch, Joey Tetzlaff, Todd Bertsch, Mike Huxford, Jim Mehlhaff, Jeff Holden, Joan Adam, Chelsey Diez, Leigh Ann Dunn, Dusty Johnson, Tonya Brady-Jones.
— 4th anniversary, Adam/Salina (Ballesteros) Sharkey.
— 10th anniversary, Jay/Lindsey (Suedkamp) Griffith.
— 4th anniversary, Austen/Abbie (Ramsey) McCloud.
— 4th anniversary, Sean/Shayna (Gross) Mehlhaff.
— 16th anniversary, Shawn/Lori (Stulken) Blom.
— 5th anniversary, Jason/Ashley (Iverson) Feyereisen.

NEWS OF PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Shelby Guthrie has been nominated as a candidate for homecoming queen at the School of Mines and Technology. The coronation program takes place tonight in Rapid City.

Pierre native Michael Zuercher will be speaking at this year’s Innovation Expo in Sioux Falls on Oct. 7. Michael is CEO and founder of Prismatic. He first founded Zuercher Technologies in 2003 and led it from a boot-strapped tech start-up into a national industry disruption in the public safety software market. To accelerate growth he led the sale of Zuercher in 2015 to a private equity-backed company and grew Zuercher by five times in three years as a division of that company. He played a key role in the sale of the joint company to Bain Capital in 2018.

Phyllis Fratzke, 85, died Sept. 15. Her funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, at Trinity Episcopal Church. Phyllis graduated from Pierre High School in 1954 and married Melvin Fratzke that year. She worked at Western States Wholesale and owned Spiffy Cleaning. She also worked at Stanley County High School, First United Methodist Church, the Hughes County courthouse and the state. She is survived by her daughters, Kathi Anderson of Fort Pierre and Lynda Fratzke of Pierre; her son, Robert (Marlys) Fratzke of Fort Pierre; six grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and three sisters, Carolyn Trautman and Darlene (Steve) Ulvestad of Pierre and Sherry (Daryl) Theobald of Aberdeen. Among those who preceded her in death were her husband, her son Randy, and her sister Marilyn.

The wedding of Chad Uhrig and Amy (Tate) Mancuso took place Sept. 19.

Jared Lindbloom’s newest song, “Running Up the Hillside,” will be released Oct. 22. Jared has been in New York since the age of 20 when he and a friend moved there and Jared went to audio production school in Greenwich Village. All the while he played in bands, wrote music and produced records. In an interview in Fame magazine recently, he said, “I’m finally finding my voice as a singer/songwriter and performer. There’s a greater sense of urgency now in wanting to share my music without the worry and pressure that I’m coming across as ‘cool.'” Asked what his biggest challenge is, Jared told the interviewer, “Overcoming my own self-doubt and feeling like I have something to offer musically through my lens and experience.” His ambitious release of his new song is raising $1,000 for underserved kids who need instruments through the Hungry for Music nonprofit. Jared is running the equivalent of a marathon over five days (5.24 miles per day for five days). His theme is “My Music Journey = Marathon.” For details go to https://linktr.ee/pinkhoneymoan. Update: There is also a Vents Magazine interview with Jared at www.ventsmagazine.com.

Abbie Pillen of the band was named Fine Arts Performer of the Week at Riggs High School.

Josh and Tessa (Bollinger) Hartmann became parents for the first time Sept. 17. Their son, Randall Oliver Hartmann, weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and measured 20 3/4 inches. Both of the baby’s grandparents are named Randall, so he is named for them, but he will be called Oliver. Tessa continues to work as an anesthetist in the Washington, D.C., area, and Josh continues his military service as a pilot of “Huey” helicopters.

The Wyndmere Public School in North Dakota where Mikal Kern is one of the principals is one of three North Dakota schools named 2021 National Blue-Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education. Besides his administrative duties there, Mikal is again an assistant football coach.

Nancy Christianson, 91, died Sept. 6. A memorial celebration is being held this (Thursday) morning at 0 a.m. at Feigum Funeral Home. Nancy grew up and graduated from high school at Luverne, Minn. She married Ray Christianson in 1957. After her sons were raised, she attended Northern State University for a teaching degree. She taught fourth grade at Lincoln Elementary School in Aberdeen until retiring in 1986. In 1988 the Christiansons moved to Pierre to be closer to some of their family members. She is survived by her sons, Mark (Mary) Christianson of Bolingbrook, Ill., and Bob (L. Ann) Christianson of Pierre; grandsons Eric and Marcus and their spouses, and a great-grandson, Alexander. She was preceded in death by her husband, a sister and two brothers.

Fort Pierre native Ben Kramer’s Hot Springs football team has a 4-1 record to date, and all four wins have been shutouts. The only points allowed by his Bison came in a 14-0 loss to St. Thomas More. Hot Springs has homecoming this week, and the Bison host Lakota Tech in their football game.

Pierre native Alisha Hunt, who lives in Sioux Falls, was married to Andrew Erickson of Windom, Minn., on Sept. 18.

Stephen and Katie Bollinger are the parents of a third child. Their son, Bauer Banks Bollinger, was born Sept. 13, weighing 6 pounds, 15.9 ounces, and measuring 19 inches. Bauer joins sister Adeline Marie, 4, and brother Jameson Jude, 1 1/2, in the family. They live in Columbia, Mo.

Scott Jones of Pierre is one of four USD alumni who will be honored with the Unleash Your Legacy Alumni Achievement Award during Dakota Day activities next week. The award for Scott, who graduated from the university in 1975, is for Service to the University. Scott has been CEO of Delta Dental of South Dakta for more than 30 years. He is also a trustee for the USD Foundation. The Delta Dental of South Dakota Foundation made a transformative gift to USD to support the dental hygiene program. Earlier this year USD broke ground for its new School of Health Sciences building that will feature the Delta Dental Oral Health Center.

Tristan Voller, son of Chris and Ashlee Voller of Billings, Mont., was discharged last Monday from a Denver hospital, but the Vollers will stay in Denver for about four weeks, at least through the first stage of Tristan’s treatment for leukemia. If things are looking good at that point, they will be able to return home to Billings for the remainder of his treatments over the next three years. Friends can send cards, letters and other mail to this address: Residence Inn Denver Central Park; Attn: Ashlee Voller; 4667 N. Central Park Blvd.; Denver CO 80238.

Senior forward Alec Richards of the St. Thomas More soccer team is done for the season due to a fractured fibula. Alec is the son of Pierre native Kyle Richards and his wife Tammy of Rapid City.

Harold Blumhardt, 80, died Sept. 18. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at Faith Lutheran Church with the funeral there at 10;30. Harold married Donna Abbott in 1968. He worked in the laundry department at St. Mary’s Hospital for 46 years and also at the meat department of Sutley’s in Fort Pierre for more than 30 years. He is survived by his daughter, Lorna; his son, Leon, and several sisters and their families.

Bob Gill has been named Kiwanian of the Year by the Pierre/Fort Pierre Kiwanis Club.

Mark and Hana (Bloomberg) Fretta of Denver are the parents of a son, Max Everett Fretta, who was born Sept. 21. Hana is an education specialist at Esri, an information technology company.

Kurtis Matzen, 64, died Sept. 18 under hospice care at the Aurora-Brule Nursing Home in White Lake. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. at the Onida Presbyterian Church with the funeral there at 11:00. The son of the late Dick and Alma (Eller) Matzen went to elementary school in Onida and graduated from St. Coletta’s School in Jefferson, Wis., in 1975. He farmed with his family his entire life. Survivors include his sister, Linda Aaker; his brother, Joe (Codi) Matzen, and six nephews and nieces.

Stran Scott and Bailey Siedschlaw are reigning over Stanley County High’s homecoming this week after being crowned at the coronation Monday night.

Delores Lounsbury, 82, Fort Pierre, died Sept. 21 at Avera St. Mary’s Hospital. Visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m. this Friday at the Isburg Funeral Chapel with the funeral there at 10:30. Delores grew up in Sisseton and Huron and graduated from Huron High School. She married Burton Lounsbury in 1956, and they moved to Pierre in 1960. She worked at St. Mary’s Hospital for more than 40 years. After retiring she joined Burt on a farm near Alpena. They later moved into Huron, then to Blunt and Fort Pierre. Delores is survived by three sons, Wayne (Tami) Lounsbury of Williston, N.D., Burt Jr. (Sandy) Lounsbury of Los Lunas, N.M., and Bruce (Brenda) Lounsbury of Fort Pierre; eight grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; her sister, Phyllis Loeffelbein; and her brothers, Virgil (Jojo) Nelson, Phillip (Gloria) Nelson, Ronnie (Ruth) Nelson and Loren (Rhonda) Nelson.

PONDER THIS

“My faith in Jesus Christ exempts me from:

1) putting my wants above the needs of others.

2) claiming my freedom in Christ as a liberty to act without responsibility.

3) refusing to protect the most vulnerable in our midst.

You may have your own political or personal reasons not to receive the COVID vaccination to safeguard life, but please stop claiming your faith in Jesus Christ as justification.”
— The Rev. Keith Marshall, Hope Lutheran Church, Enumclaw, Wash.