Last week, Weekender asked students to volunteer teams of two to four students for a race through Jonamac Orchard’s corn maze. The response was overwhelming, with more than 30 groups replying in the first two days. With bragging rights at stake, as well as a hefty amount of Halloween candy awaiting the victor, these three teams hit the maze running. Each team had a Weekender reporter tagging along to catch every wrong turn, every face-first plunge and every vulgarity shouted at the masked ghouls lurking in the wings.

Meet the teams and hear their stories.

If you thought those mazes you did in grade school were corny, Malta has a corny maze for you.

No, seriously, a huge maze out of corn.

The 10-acre Jonamac Orchard Corn Maze, 19412 Shabbona Road, is not something you can sit down with and finish in less than five minutes like those Highlights magazines in your dentist’s waiting room.

This maze takes the average voyager about an hour to complete.

Each year the maze is cut out by “The Maize,” the world’s largest maze company that specializes in etching creative patterns in cornfields around the world.

This year’s pattern is the DeKalb Genetics Corporation’s winged ear of corn, a logo that can be seen near many cornfields in DeKalb County.

The saying accompanying the historic design is “Strong Roots, Strong Yields,” to recognize “the important role this local company played in the ability of our present-day agriculture to feed the world,” according to the orchard’s Web site.

If you venture into the corn maze, you had better bring your walking shoes. Even though it looks small, the paths total three miles in length.

The Haunted Maze is open through Sunday, Oct. 31 from dusk to 10 p.m. Admission for the maze is $7 for adults and $5 for kids ages 6 to 12.

Maps are available for the directionally challenged and no flashlights are allowed in the maze.

For more information on the maze, you can visit the orchard’s Web site at www.jonamacorchard.com.