Girls State Basketball Day 1

The first day of the 2008 Girls State Basketball Tournament turned out to be the last day for the two area teams.
North Loup-Scotia fell to defending Class D-2 state champion Ewing while Grand Island Central Catholic lost to undefeated Cambridge in Class C-2.
Both teams lost by double digits. Both teams struggled to get the offense going.
While the loss will sting for a while, it must be remembered that only 48 teams get to be state tournament participants, and only half of them get to play more than once.
GICC and NLS both put together solid seasons that should be remembered and appreciated.

Boone Central fans impressive

I've been to a lot of games this year. I haven't added them up, but I've probably watched more than 50 at least. All too often, I've had loud, obnoxious fans sitting right behind me, complaining about how the referees were awful and the coach didn't know what he was doing.

Monday I was at the Class C-1, District 4 final at Aurora between Hastings St. Cecilia and Boone Central. I would have to say the Boone Central fans sitting behind me were as good as any fans I've seen all year. Maybe even in the last couple of years.

Sure, there were a few minor calls at the refs to call the hand check, but it was quite a pleasant experience to sit among a group of fans without one yelling how the refs were against them and didn't know what they were doing.

So thank you to all those Boone Central fans. Your team didn't win, but you were all winners in my book.

Girls State Basketball

They are the few, the proud, the girls state basketball tournament qualifiers from The Independent's coverage area.

This year only two of the 44 area teams earned a trip to Lincoln, the lowest in recent memory.

North Loup-Scotia earned the only district championship of the area teams by beating Lindsay Holy Family. The Wildcats face Ewing in the first round of a tough Class D-2 field in the 4 vs. 5 matchup. With the top eight teams in the wild card standings qualified, D-2 will be an interesting class with competitive match-ups for three days.

Grand Island Central Catholic earned a wild card in C-2 and faces undefeated Cambridge. The Crusaders would have met the Trojans in the district final if they had beaten Ravenna in their subdistrict. Instead they'll face Cambridge at state. I guess that's cutting out the middle man.

Boys post season under way

The boys are now headed into the subdistrict finals for the lower classes and so far there have been a couple of surprises. Some may have been a bit surprised to see Gibbon upset Class C-2, No. 3 Grand Island Central Catholic 50-46 Tuesday night in overtime. The Crusaders were unable to get enough offense going to win this game. Spencer Fahey had 27 points, but one player scoring usually isn't enough.

Gibbon's Josh and Jordan Reinertson carried the Buffaloes with more than a little help from their teammates. The Buffaloes have a huge task ahead against No. 1 Ravenna on Thursday, but Gibbon did take the Bluejays to overtime before falling in the Lou-Platte Conference semifinals. Don't be surprised if this is another tough, close game. Gibbon would probably prefer to keep this game in the 40s or 50s. Ravenna would love to score 70, but my guess is the Bluejays won't get that many against the Buffaloes.

Meanwhile in the Class C-1, Subdistrict 8 at Grand Island Senior High, Jake Hamburger shot a very good Hastings St. Cecilia team past St. Paul 56-52 by making 6 of 8 from 3-point range. The Bluehawks against Minden in the subdsitrict final Thursday is one of the top match ups in the state.

So is the C2-2 final at Hastings SC with Heartland (19-2) taking on Deshler (20-1). After falling to Doniphan-Trumbull 46-40 in the regular season finale on Friday, Heartland survived with an overtime win over Thayer Central on Tuesday.

One of the big surprises was 4-16 Rock County beating 14-8 Sargent in the D2-8 subdistrict. Rock County trailed 39-20 at the half, but outscored the Bulldogs 45-17 in the second half to take a 65-56 victory.

Girls BB districts set

Sites and times for girls basketball district finals in classes C-1, C-2, D-1 and D-2 were announced today. All games will be held on Friday, Feb. 22.

Six area teams have advanced to within one win of the state tournament.

In Class C-1, Ord (12-8) looks to upset Crofton (21-1). The game will be held in Neligh at 7 p.m.

In Class C-2 Ravenna (19-5), after back-to-back wins over 18-win teams, now takes on undefeated Cambridge (21-0) in Lexington at 7 p.m.

Two teams are still alive in Class D-1. Kenesaw (16-6) lost four of five to close out the regular season but stunned Silver Lake in the subdistrict final. The Blue Devils (16-6) face Lawrence-Nelson (14-8) at Adams Central at 7 p.m. Also Osceola (12-10) will play Elgin Pope John (22-2) at Columbus High at 7:30 p.m.

Two area teams also remain in Class D-2. Giltner (18-4) faces the challenge of Falls City Sacred Heart (22-1) in Wilber at 7:30 p.m. while North Loup-Scotia (21-1) looks to earn a return trip to state against Lindsay Holy Family (14-7) in Fullerton at 7 p.m.

In the wild card watch, St. Paul saw teams that it needed to win on Thursday lose and its point total drop it to ninth, ending the Wildcats' season after a loss to Minden.

In Class C-2, Grand Island Central Catholic needs Perkins County, Cambridge and Sutton to win to have a shot at the second wild card. Elmwood-Murdock appears to have the first one locked up. This puts Ravenna in a must-win against Cambridge to get to state.

An early look at state wrestling

With a hotly contest weekend of district wrestling action just behind us, area fans will barely have time to regather themselves as the three-day state tournament run begins Thursday at the Qwest Center in Omaha.

Who are some of the top wrestlers to watch? Well, let's start with the list of unbeaten grapplers, provided by the NSAA. This list includes three area athletes in Logan Williams of Central City, Hadley Cooksley of Grand Island Northwest and Riley Santin of Palmer.

Undefeated Wrestlers
Class A
130--Alexander Bridgeford, Omaha Burke (26-0-11)
135--RaVaughn Perkins, Omaha North (17-0-10)
160--Warner Phipps, Kearney (39-0-12)
Class B
119--Logan Williams, Central City (34-0-11)
152--Mark Fiala, Seward (40-0-11)
171--Conor Schnell, Alliance (33-0-11)
215--Kevin Barrett, Boys Town (35-0-11)
285--Hadley Cooksley, Northwest (30-0-12)
Class C
103--Shawn Nagel, Kimball (33-0-10)
119--Zachary Adams, Norfolk Catholic (33-0-12)
140--Scott Noah, Kimball (37-0-12)
145--Travis Worm, David City (31-0-11)
152--Michael Klinginsmith, Kearney Catholic (38-0-11)
152--Austin Hergott, Norfolk Catholic (32-0-12)
Class D
103--Jordan Fowlkes, Newman Grove (39-0-11
112--Devin Zitek, East Butler (29-0-12
125--Jess Wells, Anselmo-Merna (20-0-12)
130--Tyler Gifford, Banner County (40-0-11)
140--Bryan Mejstrik, Howells (37-0-11)
140--Ethan Kahrs, Franklin (33-0-12)
145--Erik Payne, East Butler (22-0-12)
145--Jerad Gubbels, Randolph (34-0-11)
160--Chase Klingelhoefer, Amherst (38-0-12)
171--Riley Santin, Palmer (37-0-10)
215--Eric Burenheide, Howells (35-0-12)
215--Joe Bob Haas, Hemingford (39-0-11)
285--Dustin Bundy, Dundy County-Stratton (22-0-12)
285--Tanner Timperley, Stanton (30-0-12)

Also, here is a list of returning state medalists from the Independent's coverage area:

Area Returning Medalists
Class A
A112--Isaiah Aguilar, Grand Island, 6/A103/06
A125--Alec Chanthapatheth, Grand Island, 6/A125/07
A140--Riley Allen, Grand Island, 5/A130/07
A160--Jason Brisbin, Grand Island, 6/A160/07
A189--Nathan Westerby, Grand Island, 5/A189/07
Class B
B103--Nicholas Helmer, Grand Island Northwest, 5/B103/07
B119--Logan Williams, Central City, 3/C112/07, 6/C103/06
B135--Alex Rostvet, Adams Central, 6/B130/07
B135--Noland Broekemier, Central City, 6/C125/07
B152--Tyson Martin, Boone Central, 4/B145/07
B160--Jeff Mills, Grand Island Northwest, 5/B145/07
B215--Dex Schwieger, Aurora, 4/B215/07
B285--Hadley Cooksley, Grand Island Northwest, 3/B215/07, 5/B215/06
Class C
C103--Brandon Morse, Sargent/Burwell, 5/C103/07
C112--Sean Trampe, Ord, 1/C103/07, 5/C103/06
C119--Josh Albright, Ravenna, 5/C112/07
C130--Brandon Starkey, St. Paul, 6/C119/07
C135--Bruce Zurek, Sargent/Burwell, 3/C119/06, 6/D103/05
C145--Matt Long, Ravenna, 4/C145/07
C171--Mathew Duffy, Kenesaw/Shelton, 6/C160/07
C189--Noah Steele, Ravenna, 3/C189/07
C215--Willy Larraga, Gibbon, 6/C215/07
Class D
D112--Trenton Nekoliczak, Greeley-Wolbach/Cedar Rapids, 1/D103/07, 6/D103/06
D130--Corbey Grause, High Plains Community, 3/D125/07, 6/D119/06
D130--Brian Mills, Ansley/Arcadia, 6/D130/07
D171--Riley Santin, Palmer, 5/D171/07
D189--Michael Swanson, Nebraska Christian, 6/D160/06

Prep football schedules out

The NSAA held its every-other-year test of its servers when it released the high school football schedules for the next two seasons this morning.

All of the schedules are available at nssahome.org.

A look at the schedules for the four Grand Island schools:

GRAND ISLAND SENIOR HIGH
New opponents—Omaha Central (making it the third straight year the defending Class A champion comes to G.I.), Lincoln Southwest, Lincoln Northeast.
Still opponents—Kearney, Norfolk, North Platte, Fremont, Lincoln North Star, Lincoln High.
No longer opponents—Lincoln East, Millard North, Lincoln Southeast.

GRAND ISLAND NORTHWEST
New opponents—York, Columbus Lakeview, Ogallala, Seward, Adams Central.
Still opponents—Crete, Holdrege, Aurora, Hastings
No longer opponents—Fairbury, Lexington, Cozad, Gering, McCook.

GRAND ISLAND CENTRAL CATHOLIC
New opponents—Superior, Doniphan-Trumbull, Hastings St. Cecilia.
Still opponents—Boone Central, Centura, St. Paul, Fillmore Central, Central City.
No longer opponents—Milford, Wood River, Ord.

HEARTLAND LUTHERANSargent
New opponents—Lawrence-Nelson, Clay Center, Sargent.
Still opponents—Cedar Rapids, Pleasanton, Hampton, North Loup-Scotia, Litchfield.
No longer opponents—Silver Lake, Giltner, Sumner-Eddyville-Miller.