The Bluffton boys and girls cross country teams each finished third at the muddy Northwest Conference championship meet Saturday morning, October 16, in Van Wert.
Lady Pirate freshman June Essinger captured first place in the girls race with a time of 21:32.086. She beat out 40 other girls to win the wet event.
Freshman Mackay Tuttle finished seventh in 23:58.789. Sophomore Amairi Painter ended up 10th in 24:39.803.
Bluffton won a wild 40-37 seesaw battle over Delphos Jefferson in a Northwest Conference thriller to highlight a wet Homecoming Friday night, October 15, at Harmon Field. VIDEO https://youtu.be/nNgIijfiekg
Pirate senior quarterback Nate Schaadt returned to action with a vengeance after missing the previous game nursing injuries. He accounted for 319 yards of total offense and four touchdowns, including 285 on the ground, to pace Bluffton to victory.
The visiting Bluffton volleyball team lost in three sets to Van Buren in the regular season finale Thursday evening, October 14.
The Lady Pirate record dropped to 13-9 overall with the 25-20, 25-18, 25-20 defeat.
VB improved to 17-5 with the non-conference victory.
Senior Kylie Stackhouse led Bluffton with 16 kills and three blocks. Freshman Ayla Grandey and senior Kylie Monday each contributed five kills, and Grandey added two blocks.
The Bluffton boys soccer team edged visiting Kalida 1-0 in a defensive non-conference battle Thursday evening, October 14, at Steinmetz Field. VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS_eo_G484A
With the win in their regular season finale, the Pirates improved their record to 11-3-2. Bluffton is ranked ninth in the state Div. III poll.
Kalida finished its regular season 8-6-2 with the defeat.
Pirate senior Jude Spallinger tallied the only goal of the night at the 33:33 mark.
On October 12, Bluffton University announced that Angel Velasco-Urbina (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay) has been named the Heartland Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts between the pipes..
The visiting Bluffton volleyball team led two sets to one but eventually dropped a five-set thriller to local rival Allen East in the Northwest Conference regular season finale Tuesday evening, October 12.
The Lady Pirate record dropped to 13-8 overall with the defeat. They also finished 4-4 in the NWC (fifth place) with the difficult 25-21, 21-25, 9-25, 25-23, 15-9 loss.
AE improved to 17-4 and ended up 5-3 in the NWC with the comeback victory that landed them in fourth place, one spot ahead of the Pirates, in the final standings.
