THE BLACK AND GOLD Volume 6 Issue 7 Oct. 16, 2026
Trapshoot on Target for Great Season By: Katlyn Boydston
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On Oct. 3, the DeKalb Trapshoot Team shot at Falls City. The high scorers for the boys were Juniors Kale Cassity and Garrett Marriott for the second month in a row, hitting 48/50. The high scorer for the girls was Emma Pitts, hitting 42/50. After this meet, the school is in the top three.
MC hates Christmas
Newspaper Staff Editors-in-Chief Laci Burnett Bella Beems Assistant Editor Katlyn Boydston
FFA Advisor Aaron Medsker said the meet “went great. We had three shooters with perfect rounds, hitting 25 of 25 targets, which is by far the most we have ever had in a single month.” The three that had
Reporters Ivan Bowen Layla Griffin Lauraly Lane
Photo Credit: Mr. Medsker Pictured: Kale Cassity and Garrett Marriott with awards
Photographers
a perfect round were Cassity and Marriott, as well as Senior Gary Griffin. “I actually did really good, way better than last month,” says Senior Emma Pitts. Pitts’ goal for the next Trapshoot is to get a perfect round of 25. Cassity also feels that he did “pretty good, ran a round and got 48/50.” Kale’s goal for the next meet is to run both rounds and get 50/50. The next Trapshoot will be on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in Falls City, Nebraska.
Kiera Kuse Alyssa Rogers
Designer Gunner Delp
Guest Staff Analeesa Busby
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! Softball
Powderpuff
Softball has their final week of season! Fall sports are slowly coming to an end! Make sure to keep up!! -pg. 4
Phones down! Buckle up!
Last Friday was packed full of fun! But nobody has more fun than the Class of 2027!! -pg. 6
Safety matters, especially behind the wheel! Check out our officer’s challenge for students!! -pg. 8
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Oct. 16, 2026
Tigers Put Up Tough Fight in Homecoming Game By: Kiera Kuse
Photo Credit: Kiera Kuse Pictured: Kelsey Chatman, Cole Kovac, Syra Servaes, Aiden Bramble Photo Credit: Kiera Kuse Pictured: Senior Kaiden Myers scores a touchdown
On Friday, Oct. 9, DeKalb football scored many touchdowns. Assistant coach Jonathan Wildhaber says that “Last week's game was a really close game. We had a lot of offensive highlights, some big plays, some touchdowns. On defensive, we got some fourth down stops. It's really exciting.” During their next practice, Coach Wardlow says, “{We will focus on} just being in the right spots. As far as the game plan goes and knowing where they are going to be. Knowing where we need to be, eliminating mental mistakes and physical mistakes.“ The end score was 32-38 with a DeKalb loss. “My best moment was our first touchdown to take the lead in the first quarter. My worst was towards the end of the game and not converting on fourth down. It really just changed the game for us.” Overall, the game was really close with scoring, and they did a lot better than the other games. Right before the game, Homecoming royalty was announced. Kelsey Chatman and Cole Kovac were announced as Queen and King. Syra Servaes and Aiden Bramble were announced as Princess and Prince. This Friday, Oct. 16, the team will play a home game against Mount City. The game starts at 7 p.m. Please go support the tigers.
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Oct. 16, 2026
Cross Country Crosses Season Finish Line
What to Play
By: Gunner Delp
By: Ivan Bowen
Photo Credit: PlayStation Pictured: Minecraft Dungeons 2
Photo Credit: Coach Taylor Pictured: Andrew Giddens waiting to run
This week, Tiger Cross Country had two meets. The first was on Monday, October 12, at Tarkio, where Andrew Giddens and Ruby Farrell both medaled. On Tuesday, Oct.13, the team competed in Cameron. Coach Taylor said this meet was particularly difficult because “It was the second 5k we ran in two days. It was hot and humid outside, and the kids were tired.” Andrew Giddens says one thing he does to stay in shape is “run 2 miles a day.” He also claims that something he can work on is to “focus on my breathing more.” However, Ruby Farrel thinks that she should work on her stamina, and she also runs on a daily basis to stay prepared. Their next meet is on Saturday at West Platte.
On Sept. 29, the long-awaited Minecraft Dungeons 2 was released. After 6 years, this game is a sequel to the first game, Minecraft Dungeons. Minecraft Dungeons 2 is a dungeon crawler-style game. You fight through hordes of enemies to reach your end goal. The better gear you have, the higher your power level rises; the higher the power level, the harder the difficulty is. The main goal in this game is to hunt down and put an end to the Illager High Council, which can be done solo or with companions in multiplayer. A new addition to this game is the new dimension, The Sift. Minecraft Dungeons 2 has been a game on many people’s radar for the longest time, including mine. It is available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, Steam, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. I highly recommend checking this game if you enjoyed the first installment of the franchise.
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Oct. 16, 2026
Softball Season Comes to an End By: Layla Griffin
Photo Credit: Kiera Kuse Pictured: Khloe Weinmann races to catch a ball
On Monday, Oct. 12, the High School Softball went against Platte Valley and sadly lost. The score was 6-7. Coach Moran said, “We need to work on both mental and physical errors.” Junior Alivia Hall also said, “Make adjustments in the batter's box and fix mental errors.” We haven't had many softball games due to the weather. This season the Softball team was supposed to play 22 games, but they couldn't play some games due to weather and other things. The overall season record was 6-9. Coach Moran says, “ẗhey have been trying new skills and having a diffrent approach to the games to better improve the team for the future.” After winning the first round of Districts due to LeBlond’s forfeit, last night, the Lady Tigers took on Maysville in their first on-field District game of the season, sadly losing 0-15. However, the Lady Tigers remain in high hopes. Coach Moran says there were “a lot of new faces that started varsity or played varsity and a lot of improvement and growth througout the season!”
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Oct. 16, 2026
What to Read By: Bella Beems
Photo Credit: ebooks.com Pictured: Cover from Sheryl Scarborough’s To Catch A Killer
This week I’d love to recommend to you readers a young-adult mystery novel by Sheryl Scarborough titled To Catch A Killer.This story takes place from the point of view of Erin Blake, a not-so-normal teenage girl. Erin’s name follows her everywhere she goes because, as a toddler, Erin’s mom was killed in their house, leaving Erin alone with the dead, decaying body of her mother for three days. It was a miracle Erin, a 2-year-old, survived. But it also raises a different question: why did the killer leave Erin alive? I say killer because the case is cold and has been for the past fourteen years. The murder of her mother has hung over Erin’s head all her life; she didn’t even get the chance to know her mother at all. Erin believes it is up to her to solve the cold case, but this only leads to her loved ones around her following the same fate as her mother. I promise I am not spoiling anything! I am only a few chapters into the book, but it already has me hooked! So if you are in search of a good mystery that tells you everything but absolutely nothing at the same time and leaves you wanting to read more and more, then I recommend To Catch A Killer by Sheryl Scarborough.
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Oct. 16, 2026
Students Dance to The Beat at Homecoming By: Alyssa Rogers
This year, on October 9th, DeKalb hosted the Homecoming game and dance. This year's theme was black and gold. Mrs. Cagle says, “It was more attended than last year. Most people loved the photo area, and it seemed to go over really well.” At the dance, they provided dirty sodas and snacks. “All of the snacks and drinks were gone because of the amount of people that came; we were not expecting that many students,” said Mrs. Cagle. Among the many people who attended the dance were Senior Kyleigh Black and Freshman Keddie Rogers. There were many key moments, but many people's favorite was the dance floor. “My favorite part was Aiden Stanaford dancing like Michael Jackson and having fun.” Kyleigh Black stated, and Keddie Rogers said her favorite moment was “doing dances with my friends because it was fun and exciting to learn new dances with the people close to me.”
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Oct. 16, 2026
Seniors Win Annual Powderpuff Game By: Ivan Bowen
Photo Credit: Alyssa Rogers Pictured: Powderpuff games
On Oct. 9, the annual Powderpuff game was held in the afternoon in celebration of Homecoming. The Powderpuff games are a series of flag football games where our high school girls all compete against each other. It is held for grades 9-12. The first game was Seniors against Freshmen. The Freshmen put up a good game against the Seniors; the game went back and forth for a while until the Seniors finally won. The second game was between the Juniors and Sophomores. The Juniors triumphantly took down the Sophomores. Junior Alivia Hall said her favorite moment was when “we scored like 40 points against the Sophomores.” The third and final game was the Seniors against the Juniors. The Juniors gave all they could, but in the end the Seniors still won. Senior Camry Hanshaw said her favorite moment was “Probably whenever we won the whole Powderpuff game.”
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Oct. 16, 2026
What to Listen to By: Gunner Delp
What to Watch By: Laci Burnett
Photo Credit: Pinterest Pictured: The Fray & Buffalo Traffic Jam
Recently, I have found myself listening to quite a lot of alternative rock, along with some indie folk. Two great bands in these genres include The Fray and Buffalo Traffic Jam. The Fray is a band that formed in 2002 in Denver, Colorado, founded by Isaac Slade and co-founder Joe King. The band currently consists of only three members by the name of Joe King, being the lead vocalist; Dave Welsh, being the lead guitarist; and Ben Wysoki being on drums. Three of their top-streamed songs are How to Save a Life (2006), You Found Me (2008), and Look After You (2007). Buffalo Traffic Jam (BTJ) is a fairly new and recently formed band. They were officially formed in Bozeman, Montana, in the year of 2024 by founder Frankie Cassidy, being the lead vocalist and lead guitarist, and co-founder Nathan Ross, the mandolin, secondary guitar, and secondary vocals. Some of their most famous songs include: Fool’s Gold (2025), Forgot Your Roots (2024), and Hanging on Hope (2026). I highly recommend taking the time to really listen and pay attention to the songs listed, and many more by The Fray and Buffalo Traffic Jam.
Photo Credit: Pinterest Pictured: Movie Poster for Fantastic Mr. Fox
This week, to set the mood for fall, I highly recommend one of my all-time favorite movies, Fantastic Mr. Fox. This is a stop-motion film directed by Wes Anderson, based on the original novel by Roald Dahl. In this movie, we follow the story of Mr. and Mrs. Fox and their son Ash. After the couple’s younger days, Mr. Fox became a newspaper man, abandoning his old habits of stealing from the infamous human farmers, Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. After the couple has Ash and Mr. Fox becomes unsatisfied with how his life is going, he decides to buy a tree house across from Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. This quickly leads to him delving back into old habits and falling headfirst into trouble. This movie is easy to follow and is a cozy, fun watch. I typically put it on while I am doing work, going to bed, or just want a comfortable movie on while relaxing. I highly recommend this movie and it’s family-friendly vibes to everyone.
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Oct. 16, 2026
Phones Down! Buckle Up! By: Lauraly Lane
Photo Credit: Quoteinspecter.com Pictured:
This year, the state’s Department of Transportation and SROs around the state are doing a project called Phones Down, Buckle Up. Half of crashes that happen yearly are by people who don’t wear seatbelts. 1.6 million crashes yearly are caused by texting and driving, nearly 315,167 injuries happen from that 1.6 million. This project is going on from Oct. 14 until Dec. 18. DeKalb's SRO, Deputy Jo Mayer, and Rushville's SRO, will be in the parking lot one day during this project to see if everyone who drives is wearing a seat belt. Deputy Jo says, “We don't have a date set yet, but we will have one soon, and the kids who have their seatbelts on will be rewarded.” The school with the most drivers wearing seatbelts and not using their phones while driving will receive $ 1,500.
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Oct. 16, 2026
Don’t Miss This! 19
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Teacher Work day
Greenhand Induction/Fall Party
HS FB @ East Atchison
St. Joseph Christian XC meet
Week in the Life