DCG cross country pair claim gold, volleyball on a tear, golf wins big

You don’t have to look far to see the sparks flying to start the Mustangs’ new school year. (Note: Events covered Aug. 27-Sept. 3.)

Football (0-1)

For a third year in a row, it came down to one possession for the Mustangs in their season opener, as Gilbert won a 35-28 overtime game.

Providing plenty of fireworks compared to last year’s 14-12 loss to the Tigers, the Mustangs found a wealth of success with Tate Perrin under center as he accounted for all four of the team’s touchdowns.

With rare efficiency, Perrin completed 12-of-15 passes for 178 yards and linked up with Hudson Heidgerken (94 yards, 4 receptions) and Wyatt Valenta (71 yds, 7 rec) for touchdowns. But that was not the end of Perrin’s story, as he also found the end zone twice on the ground. With Perrin leading the boat race, the Mustangs found room for just 11 rushing attempts.

In comparison, the Tigers found ways to keep the Mustangs on the field with controlled possessions. Carrying the ball a wild 40 times on his own, running back Will Hawthorne put up 272 yards and four touchdowns against DCG. That led to the Tigers running 67 plays compared to 39 from the DCG sideline.

Volleyball (9-1)

The ninth-ranked Mustangs put in a load of work in Week 2, climbing up to eight wins on the season after putting Washington (2x), Urbandale and Ballard to bed at the Grinnell tournament on Saturday. The lone blemish this season came at the hands that day against 2023 state semifinalist, sixth-ranked Clear Creek Amana in a 2-0 loss.

Outside of that game, the Mustangs won eight of nine sets, only giving up a two-point loss to Ballard.

So far, the amount of playing time has kept Gwen Farley hot in her sophomore campaign as she’s second in the class with 167 assists, and classmate Maggie Leifker’s efficiency at the net has her ranked fourth, building upon her fiery freshman year.

Cross Country

Capturing their first crown of the year, the Mustang boys dominated their Dallas Center course on Tuesday, peaking with sophomore Graham Ibeling’s top time.

At 16 minutes 33 seconds, Ibeling was 15 seconds ahead of the next runner through and 1:20 above his pace as a freshman. Four of the next six runners were all wearing red and white, with Sam Mora claiming third place at 16:51.

Ibeling was joined at the top with fellow sophomore Piper Messerly grabbing gold in the girls’ trials, at 19:04. That was 25 seconds faster than her pace on the same trail last year. Fifth-place Maddy Stevens at 19:48 saw a similar reduction.

Golf

Playing among a crowd of 16 teams at the Aug. 27 invitational in Fort Dodge, the Mustangs pulled out a massive win. Shooting a combined 287, DCG held a three stroke advantage over second place Waukee Northwest and four above third place Norwalk.

While Noah Moberg has capture plenty of accolades as a state qualifier, it was a pair of younger teammates that commanded the course. Sophomore Gavin Drake tied at the top with a 69 for the day, closely chased by freshman Chase Perrin at 71. Moberg was closed behind at 11th with a 73.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: DCG cross country pair claim gold, volleyball on a tear, golf wins big