O'Neill Sends Eight To State Wrestling Tournament

david fox rolls his opponent over in district action held last Saturday in Norfolk. Fox was the 152 lb. District Champion. Photo courtesy Jody Fox.

With their second trip to the Norfolk Catholic High School in a weeks time the O’Neill Eagle grapplers ushered in the start of the post season with their participation in the C-2 District Wrestling Tournament held in the Norfolk Catholic Activities Center.  The young Eagle squad competed against wrestlers from 15 other schools in and around Northeast Nebraska for a chance to punch their ticket to the newly renamed Century Link Center in Omaha and the 2012 NSAA State Wrestling Championships.  Only the top four wrestlers in each weight class earn this opportunity.  The Eagles sent a full and healthy line-up into action on Friday and Saturday. These wrestlers who finished in third a week previously to champion Madison and runner-up Battle Creek at the Mid-States Conference tournament got off to a very quick start and never looked back.  The Eagles placed four wrestlers into the championship finals and brought another four through to the consolation finals for a total of eight state qualifiers.  They scored 171.5 team points to finish in second behind Madison’s 206 points and ahead of third place Battle Creek’s 118.5 points and fourth place West Point-Beemer’s 118 points. David Fox who went in as fourth seed had a break out performance wrestling his way through a very tough bracket to district championship honors at 152 lbs.  David avenged a loss from the previous week when he scored a 13-3 victory over Trae Deader of Madison in the finals. Freshman classmate Blake Walters, who came in as the number two seed  joined him at the top of the medal stand, after defeating Colby Wolff of Stanton in his final match of the tournament at 120 lbs.  Jon Marvin and Joe Gillham took home runner-up honors in the 106 lbs. weight class and 113 lbs. weight class respectively; while Spencer Knopp placed third at 182 lbs.  O’Neill had three individuals placing fourth:  Cory Rowse, at 132 lbs; Morgan Sterns, at 195 lbs; and Thomas Schipporeit, at 220 lbs. 

“Our kids really responded well to what we went through last week.  We spent a lot of time talking about how if we wanted to be a good team we needed everyone to contribute.  We couldn’t just expect a handful of guys to be our point scorers and expect to have a chance at a district plaque.  I’m really proud of the fact that all of our wrestlers contributed in this result.  I know I’ve got some guys with some heavy hearts after falling a little short individually but they were huge in pushing us past West Point and Battle Creek.  Our boys won a lot of matches that on paper they weren’t suppose to win; they showed a lot of heart.  Overall, I’d say it was a good day to be an Eagle,” commented coach Bryan Corkle. 

The Eagles will be in action on Thursday morning at the Century Link Center in Omaha starting at 9:30 a.m.  The tournament concludes with the finals, which begin on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. and air on NET. 

Lady Cards Get Feathers Ruffled

Jessi Pongratz holds her ground against a West Holt player last Thursday in Atkinson.

The St. Mary's Lady Cardinals have had a rough week in basketball, completing a five game series in eight days. The legs were a little wobbly and points were extremely scarce as the ball wouldn't fall in the bucket. West Boyd Lady Spartan's and West Holt Huskies handed out season ending road losses to St. Mary's. Hopefully a few days rest will get St. Mary's back on track and try to improve their season record of 18-4 as they head into Sub-districts, Tuesday in Neligh. In action against West Boyd, Jessi Simons and Brooke Bauer led the team in scoring with 10 points each. Brooke recorded a double-double with her 13 rebounds. Justine Blumenstock just missed having a double-double as she chipped in nine points and grabbed 10 boards. Bridget Schneider dished out seven assists in the loss. Missed shots and turn-overs were a huge factor in our 41-35 loss. 

Junior Varsity Lady Card's

 Defeat West Boyd 

Alejandra Vergara and Marisa Miles led SMH junior varsity in scoring with nine and seven points in a 36-33 victory over the Young Lady Spartans. This was an intensely physical and defensive game all the way. West Boyd pressed through-out the contest keeping us out of a running game. Addie Wetzel had a big night on the glass as she pulled down 11 rebounds. Erin Boyle and Alejandra each recorded five steals against the Spartans. 

Huskies Win Over Lady Cards 

When you can't buy a basket! The other teams going to win, unless their in the same boat. Cold shooting and not getting much needed rebounds led to the loss. Defensively we played remarkably well. Most games, if you finish with only 12 turn-overs you come out on top. That wasn't the case here. Brooke Bauer and Megan Schneider led in scoring with 14 and 10 points in the 53-42 loss. At one time late in the game, we were able to cut a 13 point lead down to two points but missed free throws and great shooting by West Holt kept them on top until the final buzzer. Bridget Schneider led the team in steals and assists with seven each," said Coach Vaterna.

Next action for the Lady Cards is sub-district action in Neligh on Tuesday,  Feb. 14. JV 

Huskies Defeat JV Cards

"We knew going into this game would be a real physical one. After barely beating this same team of Lady Huskies, earlier in the season. They were able to settle the score in another close one as they notched a 36-28 victory against us. Addie Wetzel, Erin Boyle and Marisa Miles pulled in 23 rebounds in the contest. Carli Baseggio led in scoring with seven points. Emily Everitt and Addie followed with six points each. St. Marys' Junior Varsity wraps up the season with a 17-2 record," said Coach Vaterna.

Ewing Tigers Fall To Stuart Broncos 55-45

Last week the Ewing Tigers faced off against the C/O Cyclones and lost  49-51. The Tigers offense was unable to get on track  until the fourth quarter on Tuesday night at Orchard. The Tigers managed just 17 points through the first three quarters but exploded for 24 fourth quarter points to manage a spirted comeback from an 18-point deficit to cut the Cyclone lead to five in the fourth quarter, but were unable to claim the victory.  Blake Cunningham led the way with 15 points and six rebounds, while Robert Nordby has 12 points and 13 rebounds.

“We were just not very efficient offensively through the majority of this ballgame, we did not take care of the ball, handle their press, or execute in the half-court.  Defensively, we did not have great intensity or urgency and we dug too big of a hole for ourself to get back into the ballgame.”

The Ewing Tigers faced off against Stuart last week and got stuck with a loss losing 55-45.

The Tigers were only down one 22-21 at halftime, but the Broncos had too much Ryan Larabee in the second half, as the 6’6” Bronco accounted for 19 second half points and 27 for the game to pace the Broncos.  

The Tigers battled until late in the game making it a five-point contest but could not knock down the big shot when needed late in the game.  The Tigers were led by a double-double from Blake Cunningham with 16 points and 11 rebounds.  Jake Walton and Robert Nordby chipped in with eight points each.  Damian Summers led the way in assists with five.

“We competed really hard in this ballgame and did some good things that we can use to help spring us into sub-district action next week.  We need to continue working on reducing turnovers and increasing our defensive intensity and rebounding.  We feel we can compete in our sub-district,” said Coach Appleby.

Cardinals Win Three Improve To 21-0

Tait Sibbel stretches out to get the rebound in action at West Holt last Thursday evening.

The St. Mary's Cardinals varsity improved to 21-0 with three victories this past week. On Monday, the Cards entertained St. Edward in a make-up game from Dec.3. On Tuesday and Thursday the Cards took to the road as they visited West Boyd and West Holt.

On Monday, the Cardinals jumped out to a 28-2 first quarter lead and never looked back for a 67-28 victory over St. Ed. All 15 varsity team members saw plenty of action in the contest. Tait Sibbel and Connor Connot paced the Cardinal offense with 14 and 11 points respectively. Ty Eiler and Kyle Pardun chipped in with eight points apiece as 12 Cards scored. 

Four Cardinals each pulled down four rebounds; Kyle Loecker, Jared Tomjack, David Shields and Tom Chvala. Eiler and Adam Moon each handed out five assists.

Tuesday the trip to Spencer to take on the 15-3 West Boyd Spartans proved to be a very hard fought 60-59 overtime victory. Senior Tait Sibbel led the offense with 24 points and sophomore Adam Moon added 15 tallies. Moon and Tom Chvala led the rebound chart with 11 caroms each. Ty Eiler again led the ball handling with nine assists while Moon and Tyler Timmerman added five and four assists each. Moon also led the defense with three steals.

On Thursday, the Cards traveled to West Holt to play their sixth game in 10 days against the Huskies. The always rugged Huskies gave the Cardinals all they wanted as the Cards eventually pulled away for a 63-43 victory. Tait Sibbel again led the Cardinals with 23 points and Tom Chvala led the rebounding with 14 boards while Moon and Connor Connot added eight each. Ty Eiler led the assist column with eight while Tyler Timmerman contributed five. On defense Moon led with five blocked shots and two steals. Chvala contributed three blocked shots and Sibbel three steals.

St. Mary's will have their final regular season game on Friday as Elgin/Elgin Pope John comes to town. The junior high contest begins at 4 p.m. followed by freshman at 5 p.m., junior varsity at 6:15 and varsity at 8 p.m.