Sports News
Back in action at Butler County Motorplex
Fans got to see SLMR late models during an expanded program at Butler County Motorplex Friday night.
Racing resumed after a two-week layoff, as the June 11 races were rained out.
The rainier conditions that hit the area later in the weekend held off Friday night, allowing the scheduled program to go off without a hitch.
Mike Marushak took the lead on the 10th lap and went on to victory in the late model feature race.
Travis Dickes moved into second. Joe Kosiski placed third ahead of Dylan Smith.
Todd Bell, Don Smith and Jason O'Brien took turns in the lead before Marushak got the lead for good.
Todd Bell led the first lap of the SLMR Late Model A-feature. Don Smith led lap two and Jason O'Brien took the lead on lap three. Smith took back the lead on lap five and continued until lap eight when Robbie Andersen took the lead. The lead changed again on lap ten as Mike Marushak took the lead. Marushak continued for the win. Travis Dickes moved up to take second with Joe Kosiski in third and Dylan Smith fourth.
Jesse Sobbing's run of feature victories in the IMCA Sport Modifieds came to an end Friday. Sobbing was hoping to win his sixth straight feature race at the speedway.
Zack Reicks led the first 10 laps before Anthony Kobus took the top spot. He held the lead for just two laps before Nathan Kobus took it. Nathan went on to win with Anthony in second place. Sobbing placed third ahead of Kyle Prauner.
That was enough to extend Sobbing's lead over Prauner to 13 points in the season standings.
Shannon Anderson never relinquished the lead from Brady Fernau after taking it in the fourth lap of the IMCA Hobby Stock A feature.
Brandon Kresha moved up into second place, followed by Branden Wergin and Lee Kracht.
Anderson now holds a four-point lead over Kresha in the season standings after Friday's victory.
John Sedlachek led the IMCA Sport Compact A feature from start to finish. Nick Hitz moved up to take second followed by Darick Lamberson and Larry Cronin.
Hitz cut into Darick Lamberson's lead on the season standings, but still trails by 11 points.
Chris Alcorn won the IMCA Modified A feature, followed by Dylan Smith, Jacob Anson and Jason Gaver.
Smith's runner up finish gives him a two-point lead in the closest race among the four regular divisions. He has 229 points, two more than Gaver and seven more than Alcorn.
Garrett Rech and Hitz won the sport compact heats.
Fernau and Lonnie Greuter were victorious in the hobby stock heats.
Nathan Kobus and Reick won the sport modified heats.
James Kleinheksel and Kyle Berck captured the modified heats.
Butler County Motorplex
June 18 results
IMCA Sport Compact Division
Heat One: 1. Garrett Rech; 2. Larry Cronin; 3. Jordan Uehling.
Heat Two: 1. Nic Hitz; 2. John Sedlachek; 3. Levi Stoakes.
A Feature: 1. Sedlachek; 2. Hitz; 3. Darick Lamberson; 4. Cronin; 5. Uehling; 6. Justice Colson; 7. Trevor Pecena.
IMCA Hobby Stock Division
Heat One: 1. Brady Fernau; 2. Lee Kracht; 3. Shannon Anderson.
Heat Two: 1. Lonnie Greuter; 2. Tiffany Bittner; 3. Rudy Brunkhorst.
A Feature: 1. Anderson; 2. Brandon Kresha; 3. Branden Wergin; 4. Kracht; 5. Fernau; 6. Bittner; 7. Tony Rost.
IMCA Sport Modified Division
Heat One: 1. Nathan Kobus; 2. Jesse Sobbing; 3. Kyle Pecena.
Heat Two: 1. Zack Reicks; 2. Brad Brabec,; 3. Anthony Kobus.
A Feature: 1. N. Kobus; 2. A. Kobus; 3. Sobbing; 4. Kyle Prauner; 5. Reicks; 6. K. Pecena; 7. Kevin Betzen; 8. Nick Topil.
IMCA Modified Division
Heat One: 1. James. Kleinheksel; 2. Scott Styskal; 3. Jason Gaver.
Heat Two: 1. Kyle Berck; 2. Chris Alcorn; 3. Shane Hiatt.
A Feature; 1. Alcorn; 2. Dylan Smith; 3. Jacob Anson; 4. Gaver; 5. Hiatt; 6. Styskal;7. Shane Stutzman; 8. Chad Andersen.
SLMR Late Models
Heat One: 1. Travis Dickes; 2. Travis Roth; 3. Robbie Andersen.
Heat Two: 1. Joe Kosiski; 2. Dylan Smith; 3. Todd Bell.
Heat Three: 1. Mike Marushak; 2. Mike Wiarda; 3. Jason O'Brien.
A Feature: 1. Marushak; 2. Dickes; 3. Kosiski; 4. Smith; 5. Berck; 6. Andersen; 7. Wiarda; 8. Steve Kempt.
Season Points Standings
IMCA Sport Compact
1. Darick Lamberson 228; 2. Nic Hitz 217; 3. Justice Colson 175; 4. (Tie) Larry Cronin and Erica Cronin 171; 6. Mike Poland 168; 7. Hunter Wergin 162; 8. Justin Hitz 161; 9. John Sedlachek 152; 10. Jordan Uehling 148.
IMCA Hobby Stock
1. Shannon Anderson 228; 2. Brandon Kresha 224; 3. Lee Kracht 215; 4. Jim Buss 204; 5. Quinten Spragg 195; 6. Branden Wergin 189; 7. Terry Greuter 190; 8. Kyle Ligenza 177; 9. Andrew Gehring 173; 10. Lonnie Greuter 170.
IMCA Sport Modified
1. Jesse Sobbing 238; 2. Kyle Prauner 225; 3. Nelson Vollbrecht 197; 4. Nick Topil 196; 5. Kevin Betzen 185; 6. (Tie) Brad Brabec and Kevin Kloke 178; 8. Anthony Roth 163; 9. Denny Berghahn Jr. 161; 10. Nathan Kobus 159.
IMCA Modified
1. Dylan Smith 229; 2. Jason Gaver 227; 3. Chris Alcorn 222; 4. Scott Styskal 217; 5. Shane Hiatt 211; 6. Chad Andersen 204; 7. Jacob Anson 194; 8. Mike Stearns 186; 9. James Kleinheksel 166; 10. Tim Richmond 155.
Brainard, David City split softball doubleheader
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional sports stories this week, just click on the 'Sports' link above.
By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
The Brainard 18-&-Under softball team got its offense untracked in time to lead
Brainard defeated
Pitcher Jenna Beringer, who shut down Brainard in the opener, retired the side in order to start the game.
Things didn't go so well for her in the second, as she walked five batters and hit another.
That opened the door for a six-run outburst by Brainard.
Courtney Betzen singled in two runners. Dakota Duer and Nikki Kozisek added RBI-singles later in the game.
Stacy Zetocha and Kyla Witzel drew bases-loaded walks.
That six run lead didn't last long.
Morgan Otte tied the game when she drilled a two-out triple to score Mariah Conyers and Taylor Stara.
Bre Romshek singled in Otte to give
Duer walked and stole second and third base in the fourth inning. She scored on Zetocha's single to tie the game.
Zetocha advanced to second on an error on the hit, the first of the key errors that cost
Witzel reached on a high throw from short that allowed Zetocha to score the lead run.
Betzen walked to lead off the second. She moved to second on a passed ball and third on an errant throw by the catcher. She was still at third base with two outs.
Beringer walked Duer, with ball four being a wild pitch that allowed Betzen to score.
Kozisek reached second on an error. Duer scored on an error at third.
Kozisek picked up the win in relief of Kyla Witzel. She allowed three runs on three hits over three innings.
Beringer took the loss, allowing seven earned runs over six innings. She allowed just five hits and struck out 12, but walked seven.
Duer was 1-for-2 with three runs scored for Brainard. Staci Zetocha and Betzen each scored two runs and drove in two.
Otte drove in three runs and scored twice for
The first game was all
Tow of those errors came in the first inning. Otte had a RBI-double in the frame, helping
Bri Romshek singled in Conyers as part of a two-run second inning.
Kristen Vandenberg's sacrifice bunt scored Shayla Novak in the third.
Jasmine
Butler County Motorplex report, July 9
Fans had plenty of action as they got in for half price due to the night being Fan Appreciation night at the Motroplex Friday night. They also witnessed a driver get his 100th Career win.
Zach Reicks took the lead from Ron Allen in the first of two IMCA Northern Sport Mod heat races and continued for the win. Nelson Vollbrecht moved into second on the final lap with Allen dropping to third and fourth went to Brad Brabec. Denny Berghahn Jr. controlled the second heat race from start to finish for the win. Anthony Roth moved up to finish second followed by Sean Manning and Joe Wallenhaupt.
IMCA Sport Compact driver Hunter Wergin dominated the first of two heat races in their division. Justice Colson controlled second followed by Melissa Cronin and Darick Lamberson. Heat number two found Levi Stoakes controlling the race until the final lap as Jordan Uehling stole the win. Stoakes finished second with Darrin Pecka third and Nic Hitz fourth.
Mike Densberger controlled the first of three IMCA Modified heat races for the win. Shane Hiatt finished second, Chris Alcorn was third and fourth went to Scott Bivens. Dylan Smith won the second heat after taking the lead from Jacob Anson on lap two. Anson maintained second place as Scott Styskal and Chad Hurley rounded out the top four. Chad Anderson won the final Modified heat race. Second place went to Jason Gaver, Shane Stutzman was third and Mike Stearns was fourth.
Tony Scheffler led the distance in the first of two IMCA Hobby Stock heat races for a win. Soctt Olsafka took second followed by Lee Kracht and Eric Hanson. Jason Kohl led lap number one in the second heat race but Brandon Kresha took control on lap two and continued for the win. Tiffany Bittner moved up for second with Shannon Anderson third and Kyle Ligenza fourth.
Melissa Cronin led the first seven laps in the IMCA Sport Compact feature. Levi Stoakes took the lead on lap eight and continued for a win. Hunter Wergin finished in second as Jordan Heuling and Darick Lamberson rounded out the top four.
Kevin Kloke led the first five laps of the IMCA Northern Sport Mod feature but then had mechanical problems ending his night early. Ron Allen took the lead on lap six but Jesse Sobbing took the front position one lap later and continued for the win. Denny B erghahn Jr. finished in second with Anthony Roth third and Kevin Betzen fourth.
Tony Scheffler led the first lap in the IMCA Hobby Stock feature but developed mechanical problems sending him out of the race. Shannon Anderson took the lead on lap number two and continued his lead for the win. Anderson's win was win number 100 in his racing career. Tiffany Bittner moved up to second with three laps remaining. Third went to Scott Olsafka and fourth was Lee Kracht.
The IMCA Modified A-feature had plenty of actions as drivers battled for the lead. Mike Densberger led lap number one but Mike Stearns took the lead on lap two. Stearns continued to lead until lap number six as Chad Andersen took control of the race and got the win by .029 seconds over Dylan Smith. Jacob Anson moved up to take third and Chris Alcorn was fourth.
IMCA Sport Compact Results
Heat 1: 2x Hunter Wergin, 13 Justice Colson, 5M Melissa Cronin, 31 Darick Lamberson
Heat 2: 58J Jordan Uehling, 3H Levi Stoakes, 65 Darrin Pecka, 11 Nic Hitz
A-Feature: 3H Levi Stoakes, 2x Hunter Wergin, 58J Jordan Uehling, 31 Darick Lamberson, 30 Erica Cronin, 54 Trevor Pecena, 2Q Tara Quade, 65 Darrin Pecka, 11 Nic Hitz, 5M Melissa Cronin, 55 Garrett Rech, 13 Justice Colson, 8 Kylie Rech, 95x Justin Hitz
IMCA Hobby Stock Results
Heat 1: 1 Tony Scheffler, 33s Scott Olsafka, 10K Lee Kracht, 33 Eric Hanson.
Heat 2: 21 Brandon Kresha, 95B Tiffany Bittner, 78 Shannon Anderson, 16K Kyle Ligenza.
A-Feature: 78 Shannon Anderson, 95B Tiffany Bittner, 33s Scott Olsafka, 10K Lee Kracht, 21 Brandon Kresha, 17K Nick Kimmel, 32 Lonnie Grueter, 16s Derek Sehi, 25 Brady Fernau, 33 Eric Hanson, 61B Branden Wergin, 16K Kyle Ligenza, 23R Andrew Gehring, 27 Jason Kohl, 1 Tony Scheffler, 29E Jim Buss.
IMCA Northern Sport Mod Results
Heat 1: 7R Zach Reicks, 11x Nelson Vollbrecht, 26x Ron Allen, 1B Brad Brabec.
Heat 2: 6 Denny Berghahn Jr., 60 Anthony Roth, 52M Sean Manning, 4w Joe Wallenhaupt.
A-Feature: 99 Jesse Sobbing, 6 Denny Berghahn Jr., 60 Anthony Roth, 42 Kevin Betzen, 11x Nelson Vollbrecht, 7R Zach Reicks, 7T Nick Topil, 26x Ron Allen, 1B Brad Brabec, 4w Joe Wollenhaupt, 18 Dion Kovar, 16A Austin Svoboda, 6x Denny Berghahn Sr., 52M Sean Manning, 13K Anthony Kobus, z35 Kevin Kloke.
IMCA Modified Results
Heat 1: 81 Mike Densberger, 21H Shane Hiatt, 3 Chris Alcorn, s56 Scott Bivens.
Heat 2: 95 Dylan Smith, 13J Jacob Anson, 26 Scott Styskal, 38 Chad Hurley.
Heat 3: 8c Chad Andersen, B18 Jason Gaver, 22s Shane Stutzman, 2x Mike Stearns
A-Feature: 8C Chad Andersen, 95 Dylan Smith, 13J Jacob Anson, 3 Chris Alcorn, 2x Mike Stearns, 26 Scott Styskal, 81 Mike Densberger, B18 Jason Gaver, 21H Shane Hiatt, s56 Scott Bivens, 3L Brian Levander, 74 Jarrod Wiechert, 38 Chad Hurley, 33R Tim Richmond, 7w James Kleinheksel, 5 Dana Dankert, 5P Bob Philipps.
DC Juniors walk past Val Titans
By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
Throwing strikes proved to be the simplest recipe for success for the David City Legion Juniors.
David City (7-1) only outhit Valparaiso 8-5.
The difference was that four Valparaiso pitchers combined to walk 12 batters and hit six more. David City pitchers hit one without any walks.
As a result, David City had numerous opportunities to score and did so often.
David City scored three runs in each of the first four innings then five more in the fifth in the game shortened by mercy rule.
With the tying run 90 feet away, David City pitcher Tyler Stastny struck out Ryan Schneider to preserve the lead.
David City, just as it did in the first inning, got its top three hitters in the order on to score.
This time, the Juniors didn't even need a hit to score. Will McCawley and Levi Kreitman were hit by pitches and Derek Worm walked to load the bases.
Valparaiso starter Jackson Maxwell hit Jared Longenecker to bring in a run. Reliever Eli Phillips walked Cleyton Hartman and Max Mirovsky to increase David City's lead to 6-2.
The David City pitching staff did the rest. Stastny retired seven of the last eight hitters he faced. Derek Worm and Jared Longenecker each pitched shutout innings. The trio combined to strike out seven Valparaiso batters.
McCawley, Kreitman and Worm scored four runs apiece. Worm was 2-for-2 with two hit-by-pitches and a walk, driving in three.
McCawley was 1-for-1 with a double, two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Kreitman was hit by a pitch twice and walked once
Longenecker drove in three runs while Hartman drove in two.
Stastny allowed two runs on four hits over three innings to get the win.
DC Seniors Sweep Seward
By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
The David City Legion Seniors kept Seward from getting the clutch hit.
That simple task, executed multiple times, allowed
Seward only had two innings all night where it didn't have at least one baserunner.
The opening game went right town to the wire, as
Kyle Einspahr singled to left, scoring Wurdeman. Hans was safe at third on the play. Einspahr, the would-be winning run, advanced to second on the throw to third.
Conner Majerus put down a squeeze bunt.
Holland didn't led Seward get close after that, needing six pitches to strike out Logan Henning and Eric Heidemann to end the game.
Vavrina also needed to get out of a couple of jams. He struck out 10 while allowing only four hits over six innings. He did hit four batters and walk two.
Seward had a golden opportunity to tie or take the lead in the first with runners at second and third with nobody out.
Vavrina sandwiched swinging 0-2 strikeouts of Hans and Garrett Allgayer around an Einspahr pop out to second.
Seward had the bases loaded with two outs in the third, but Vavrina struck out Majerus swinging at a 0-2 pitch.
The hosts had the same situation in the sixth, but Vavrina got Wilcox to ground out to second.
Wilcox did his part to get Seward the victory. He allowed only two hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walking two.
It wasn't enough.
Will McCawley walked on a full count to start the game. He moved to second on a wild pitch.
Aaron Rerucha dropped a bunt down. He reached safely on a throwing error by the pitcher with McCawley scoring as a result.
Wilcox got out of the inning without further damage when he got Clete DeWispelare to ground out to third with the bases loaded.
McCawley scored
Vavrina scored McCawley with a RBI-groundout to second.
Vavrina and Buresh singled in the first inning for
The visitors jumped on starter Conner Majerus in the second inning of the nightcap.
Nolan Vandenberg reached second on an error by the first baseman to start the frame. DeWispelare doubled in Vandenberg. Curtis Blowers singled in DeWispelare to give
Two errors on a ground ball hit by Vavrina allowed two more runs to score. Vavrina score on a Buresh single to give
That would be it for
He allowed one run in the third when the first three Seward hitters reached before he retired the next there. Einspahr doubled in Hahn in the sixth, but the hosts wouldn't get have another hitter reach.
Buresh allowed the two earned runs on six hits. He struck out one and walked two.
Einspahr pitched five-and-two-thirds innings of shutout relief. He struck out six and walked two.
Blowers was eventually tagged out trying to score on the play, leaving David City no runs in the inning instead of allowing Buresh to come up with the bases loaded.
Blowers and Dustin Hain had two hits each for
Majerus allowed seven runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks in an inning-and-a-third.
David City Seniors head to state
Game 1: DC vs Daykin Meridian, 11 a.m. Friday, Tri-County Field south of DeWitt.
The David City American Legion Seniors team found its stride in the Class C Area 4 tournament, winning all four games to take the title.
The seniors were scheduled to play Daykin-Meridian at 11 a.m. Friday at the Tri-County High School field south of DeWitt.
Some of the late inning breakdowns that cost games earlier in the season did not happen in the tournament.
The team qualified by beating the top seed seed, Adams-Sterling, 12-6 in the finals on Tuesday.
After a slow start, down by two runs in the first inning, the David City bats came alive in the third and scored all the runs the team would need to win.
Aaron Rerucha led off with a single, Jordan Vavrina was hit by a pitch and went to first, and David Holland bunted for a single to load the bases. Will McCawley drew a walk, Nate Roh hit a base hit safety squeeze play, and Clete DeWispelare reached base on an A-S error. Levi Kreitman got a walk, and Doug Daro bunted for a base hit.
The bases were loaded with two out when Rerucha came up for his second time in the inning.
He hit a standup double off the left field fence, clearing the bases and making the score 8-3.
Adams scored two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth but never mounted a solid threat.
David City answered with four runs in the fifth inning after Daro Reached base on an error, Rerucha was hit by a pitch, Jordan Vavrina hit the left center gap with a double, scoring two.
Vavrina then came home on a double by David Holland. Levi Kreitman was the last rn David City would score bon a base hit by Nolan Vandenberg.
Hitting leaders: Daro 1-4, Rerucha, 2-3, Vavrina 1-3, Holland 2-3, McCawley, 1-3, Roh, 1-3, Vandenberg, 1-3; Clete Dewispelare pitched the first ining before being relieved by Rerucha, who recorded 7 strikeouts, 2 hits, 4 walks, and 2 hit by pitch.
David City defeated Elmwood Murdock 16-5 to open the tournament, then defeated Weeping Water, 2-0, And Adams Sterling 3-1 on Sunday. Adams Sterling defeated Malcom 3-2 to get back into the finals.
Adams Sterling had defeated Pawnee County 10-0 and Wilber 5-0 on their way to the semi finals against David City.
The winner of DC v. Daykin-Meridian will play the winner of Wakefield v. Alma at 5 p.m. Saturday. The loser would play at 11 a.m. Saturday.
David City shuts out Daykin Meridian in State opener
DC plays at 5 p.m. SaturdayThe David City American Legion Seniors team was methodical in the opening game of the Class C State American Legion Tournament at Tri County on Friday, shutting out Daykin-Meridian 5-0 at the Tri County Cody Park south of DeWitt.
David City used aggressive base running, especially after seeing that D-M catcher Kyle Rohr had some difficulty getting a good throw to second base. Both Pitchers, David Holland for David City, and Jonah Jordening for D-M, played the entire game.
"David Holland pitched a fantastic game," said coach Steve Rerucha, noting that David City was in good pitching shape for the tournament after getting entire games out of its pitchers at districts in three games, and six innings out of Aaron Rerucha in the finals.
Holland had two strikeouts Friday but succeeded in getting batters to hit the ball on the ground in the infield. He gave up three hits and walked two, and hit one batter with a pitch.
David City left runners on the bases in two instances but had the defense to overcome any threats from D-M.
David City batters adjusted to Jordening's slower pitching speed.
"The kids are used to hitting faster pitches but they did well," Rerucha said. "I think they were very confident and they did not get into the relaxed mode."
David City started the scoring in the first when Aaron Rerucha got on base when he was hit by a pitch. Jordan Vavrina smacked a liner to second base but was able to beat the throw to first, advancing Rerucha to third.
With David Holland batting, Jordening threw a wild pitch and Rerucha came home before Rohr could make the throw back to the pitcher.
David City added two runs in the third inning, with Clete DeWispelare and Nolan Vandenberg drawing walks, then coming home on the strength of a shot by Doug Daro to deep center. More scoring opportunity was wasted when Rerucha drew a walk and Jordan Vavrina was hit by a pitch to load the bases. An infield flyout by Holland ended the inning.
Meanwhile, D-M failed to get into scoring position. Ethan Pearson made it to third on a wild pitch in the second inning, and no other D-M base runners would make it that far.
David City defense was solid. In the fourth inning, shortstop Aaron Rerucha grabbed liners to throw out Kyle Rohr and Pearson at first. Then Levi Kreitman grabbed an infield hit and threw out Blake Miller.
Fifth inning, more of the same. First baseman Vavrina caught a fly ball, and Kreitman threw out Dustin Rohr and Dylon Knudson at first.
Clete DeWiseplare got on base with a single in the fifth inning and then advanced to second when Kreitman hit into a fielder's choice to third. A bad throw to second allowed DeWispelare to head for third, and he came home when Jordening threw a wild pitch to Nolan Vandenberg.
On Saturday, David City will play in Game 7 on the bracket at 5 p.m. against the winner of the Wakefield-Alma game played l late Friday. Daykin Meridian proceeds to the 11 a.m. consolation bracket game.
In other action, St. Paul defeated Elkhorn Mt. Michael 4-2 in Game 2, so St. Paul will move on to the 8 p.m. Saturday game to play the winner of Tri-County and Creighton.
Hitting leaders: Daro, two hits, two RBI; Vavrina 2, DeWispelare1, Roh, 1.
Photo Caption:
David City's Nolan Vandenberg rounds third base after Doug Daro hit a double to center field in Friday's 5-0 victory over Daykin Meridian.
Photo by Larry Peirce/Banner-Press
Dwight Val heads to state tourney
Game 1: Dwight Val vs. Central City, 11 a.m. Saturday at Schuyler
For the second time in the Class B Area 4 American Legion Tournament, the Dwight Valparaiso Legion Seniors had a tough game with Wahoo State Bank.
Dwight Val prevailed in the game on Tuesday, but not until they were able to contain Wahoo's late game threat. Ryley Cidlik, who entered the game in the bottom of the sixth, struck out Josh Fisher after the top of the order, Jake Bruner, Dylan McGill and Zach Trede had loaded the bases.
That set up Bryon Simon to bat. He hit a line drive, which was scooped up by Phill McNally at shortstop, who threw to second baseman Taylor Cieslik to tag the base and get Trede before throwing to first for the double play.
That put the Dwight Val team in the first round of the state tournament against Central City at 11 a.m. Saturday in Schuyler.
Dwight Val was looking at a second game if they were unable to get Wahoo's best batters in the seventh.
"That first out was the key," Coach Bob McNally said. He said it was critical to get the out after Bruner hit a blooper in the infield, and Cidlik overthrew first to enable the first baserunner. Cidlik then walked McGill and Trede.
Dwight Val had missed the opportunity to put more points on the board by leaving three on base at the end of their seventh inning at bat.
Cieslik walked to score Andy Pierce, but on a Gideon Gillispie Bunt, Bryan Sid was caught sliding into third base for the first out. McNally struck out for the second out and Jared Brenner popped out to third for the third out.
Coach McNally said the team was hot at the right time of the year, winning nine in a row after being 11-10 when the district seeds were made. He noted that seven of the losses came to six Class A teams, giving the team experience with faster pitching than commonly found in Class B.
Dwight Val managed to score steadily through the game, starting with McNally's walk in the first, followed by a smash by Cieslik down the left field line to make it 1-0.
Gillispie bunted in the second to get on base, and Ken Ohnoutka singled. With two outs, Cieslik hit a 2-run RBI to center.
Wahoo scored in the second after Trede got on base with a hit to deep left center. With two outs, Brandon Walling drove Trede home to get Wahoo on the board.
In the bottom of the sixth, Dwight Val led 6-1 when Wahoo made things interesting.
Dylan McGill drew a walk from Ben Prater, who started as Dwight Val's pitcher. Prater then hit Trede with a pitch to put him on base. Cidlik came into relieve Prater, and Ben Fisher hit a single to score McGill, and Bryon Simons hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Trede. Cidlik struck out Walling, but Christian Hohl and Jake Berry drove in two more runs, making the score 6-5.
In the top of the seventh, Pierce scored an insurance run after drawing a walk. Taylor Cieslik got his fourth RBI of the game, knocking in Pierce.
Dwight Val started the tournament with an 11-5 win over Utica-Beaver Crossing before getting by Wahoo State Bank 6-4; and Seward, 14-0. Wahoo came back to defeat Seward 10-7 to get into the finals.
If Dwight Val defeats Central City on Saturday, they will play the winner of the Gretna-Gering game at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Hitting leaders:
Cieslik, 3, 4 RBI Pierce, 2, Gillespie, Ohnoutka, Cidlik 1, McNally 2, Brenner 1 SAC.
Pitching: Cidlik 2 strikeouts, Prater, 3.
Dwight Val holds on in the clutch at S-O-S
By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
Consistent pitching was a precious and rare commodity at Stromsburg Thursday night, but clutch hitting was even more rare for Stromsburg-Osceola-Shelby.
Dwight-Valparaiso cashed in more opportunities to escape
S-O-S left 14 baserunners stranded in the contest while Dwight-Val left only five.
Dwight-Valparaiso (8-3) never trailed in the contest, but had to tiptoe through more drama than it would have liked.
Ben Prater, making his first appearance on the mound since shutting out
He came in after Seth Houdersheldt singled and Anthony Snyder walked against starter Phil McNally in the sixth.
Prater walked Ryan Beebe and gave up a RBI-single to Dale Kramer. Aaron Dahl walked to force in Snyder, cutting the lead to 13-8 with just one out.
That's when Prater buckled down, striking out Kyler LeSuer and getting Isaac Moore to hit a high popout to short.
That didn't last for Prater, as Mitch Walkup, Houdersheldt and Snyder. Prater hit Beebe with a pitch to bring in a run. After Kramer's RBI-groundout, he hit Zach Oquist to reload the bases.
Dwight-Val changed pitchers again, bringing in Ryley Cidlik.
S-O-S, which started the previous inning down by seven, had the winning the run at the plate.
Cidlik struck out Dahl swinging at a 3-2 pitch, then got LeSuer to hit a fly ball to shallow center that a charging Kenny Ohnoutka got under for the final out.
It was the third time S-O-S would leave the bases loaded.
Dwight-Val built up a five-run lead with a four-run third inning.
Gideon Gillispie singled with one out before Ryan Tvrdy reached on a fiedler's choice.
McNally later came up with a two-run triple, then scoring on Cidlik's double.
It took four batters for S-O-S to be back within two runs.
Isaas Moore singled in LeSuer, then scored on Walkup's triple. Houdersheldt hit a sacrifice fly to left to cut the Dwight-Val lead to 8-6.
Dwight-Val picked up what proved to be five big insurance runs in the sixth.
Tvrdy and Prater walked before Pierce was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out.
McNally and Cidlik drew bases-loaded walks to increase the lead to 10-6.
McNally scored on an errant throw by the pitcher on a throw home.
Reliever Dale Kramer hit Gillispie with a pitch to bring in another run.
The S-O-S catcher tried to pick Gillispie off first, but the throw got away from him.
That allowed Sydik to score.
The first baseman's throw to third, where Mike McNally advanced, was wild.
McNally tried to score, but the third baseman threw him out at home.
S-O-S outhit Dwight-Valparaiso 14-5, but couldn't overcome the stranded baserunners.
Dwight Val loses in semis
The Dwight-Valparaiso Legion Seniors made it to the semifinals before getting knocked off at the Wahoo Tournament last weekend.
Dwight-Valparaiso defeated Wakefield 8-6 and Omaha South 9-1 in the tournament Saturday before falling 9-4 to the Millard Sox Sunday.
Millard converted 12 hits into nine runs, hitting three different solo home runs.
Dwight-Val (5-3) had 10 hits, but left eight men on base.
Phil McNally and Ryley Cidlik were each 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Kenny Ohnoutka was 1-for-3 with a triple.
McNally took the loss, allowing nine runs on 12 hits in six-and-one-third innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Bryan Sydik finished up in relief.
Cidlik picked things up Saturday after struggling with command in his first couple outings of the season. He allowed one hit and recorded 17 of a possible 18 outs by strikeout.
The Kansas State recruit now has struck out 36 batters in 13-and-two-thirds innings so far this season.
Having walked 11 in seven-and-two-thirds innings in his first two outings, Cidlik walked four in the victory.
Andy Pierce was 2-for-3 with a triple and three runs scored. Cidlik was 1-for-4 with a home run and two runs scored. Jared Brenner was 1-for-3 with a double.
Dwight-Val spread its offense around against Wakefield, getting six singles by six players. Seven different hitters also drew walks.
McNally was 1-for-3 with three runs scored. Ben Prater, Sydik and Taylor Cieslik were each 1-for-2 with a walk.
Prater pitched a complete-game victory. He struck out six and walked three over seven innings. He allowed six runs on five hits.
Dwight-Valparaiso is scheduled for a run of home games - starting with David City Tuesday. The Seniors are scheduled to host Lakeview Thursday and Adams Sunday before hosting Schuyler next Tuesday.
Dwight-Val stuns DC again
By Kreig RitterBanner-Press Sports Editor
They almost had an unplanned doubleheader in Valparaiso Tuesday night.
For the second time in eight days, the Dwight-Valparaiso Legion Seniors came back late to defeat David City.
It took them much longer to finish the job.
Ben Prater scored the winning on on a throwing error in the bottom of the 13th inning to lift Dwight-Val past David City 8-7.
Tuesday's game wasn't just a near-doubleheader in length, but in feel.
The two teams were tied 7-7 through six innings, then neither scored through the next six.
Prater walked on a 3-2 pitch to lead off the bottom of the 13th.
Taylor Cieslik bunted him over to second.
With Phil McNally at the plate, Aaron Rerucha threw a pitch that bounced away from catcher Will McCawley.
Prater took off for third, reaching when McCawley's throw was high and past Levi Kreitman.
Prater effectively had Kreitman screeened from being able to chase the ball down. He took off for home, scoring easily.
The play made a Rerucha a tough-luck loser, as he allowed just one hit in six-and-one-third innings of relief.
It was also the only time Dwight-Val led in the contest.
Prater's involvment in the victory didn't come down to the final run. He threw three hitless innings of relief to get the win. He also drilled a two-run homer in the team's big sixth inning rally.
The home run cut David City's lead down to 7-6.
David City reliever David Holland hit Phil McNalley with a 1-1 pitch with one out, then walked Ryley Cidlik with a full count. Holland struck out Jared Brenner, but Kenny Ohnoutka tied the game with a two-out bloop double.
Both teams ran into outs. Dwight-Val committed big musicues early, lining into double plays in the first and third innings.
Ohnoutka was thrown out at home by first baseman Clete DeWispelare to end the second inning after catcher Rerucha threw out strikeout victim Brandon Wallroff.
Cieslik was thrown out at second trying to stretch his third inning single into a double.
David City's woes came later.
Doug Daro walked to lead off the seventh. He stole second easily since nobody covered the bag, but was thrown out trying to advance to third.
Dustin Hain walked to start the eight, but was erased on a double-play when McCawley popped a bunt try to pitcher Bryan Sydik.
David City's last great chance to score came in the 11th.
Prater hit Rerucha with a pitch, then walked Vavrina on a full count to start the inning.
Levi Kreitman's grounder to short moved the runners over.
Michael Buresh hit a grounder to third and Rerucha was eventually tagged out in a rundown at home.
David City still had runners at second and third, but Prater got Daro to line out to him on the next pitch.
The visitors also missed out on a golden opportunity to pad their lead in the sixth.
Vavrina's one-out double put David City up by three, but Sydik retired Kreitman on a popup to second and Buresh on a flyball to right.
Sydik wound up with a no-decision, but his pitching was a big factor in the win. He allowed three runs on six eight over eight innings of relief, striking out eight.
Girls trio wins gold at State Meet
By Kreig RitterBanner-Press Sports Editor
The area's three best girls track athletes all delivered gold-medal-winning performances at this weekend's State Track Meet at Omaha Burke.
Aquinas senior Mary Klosterman, East Butler senior Marissa Bongers and Aquinas freshman Marissa DeWispelare each won state titles over the two days at the meet.
Their efforts, along with those of others -- notably East Butler sophomore Cassie Aerts -- helped both teams place fifth.
Aquinas scored 43 points in Class C, which Laurel-Concord won with 71 points. East Butler scored 46 points in Class D, which Lindsay Holy Family won with 67 points.
Klosterman's fourth title was her first in the 400 meters. The senior didn't crack the 60-second barrier in the event, but peaked down the stretch.
Her best regular season time was 59.7 seconds, but she ran a 59.2 to win the District C-3 meet. She blistered the Burke Stadium course for a time of 58.84 seconds in the preliminary.
That was a prelude to Saturday, when Klosterman and Tri-County sophomore Syndey Holtmeier dueled for the title.
Klosterman almost ran into Holtmeier's lane in the final 40 meters, but held her position and edged Holtmeier for the victory by four-hundredths of a second.
The senior's winning time of 57.63 seconds is a new school record, breaking the mark of
It was Klosterman's fourth career gold medal. She won the 100-meter hurdles in 2007 and 2009 and was a member of the state championship 2009 1,600 relay.
Bongers is also no stranger to success at the state meet, having set the Class C State record in the 800 with her all-class gold time of 2:15.16.
The senior didn't best that mark, but ran the second-fastest open 800 of her career. She won the Class D 800 with a time of 2:17.62, finishing over two-seconds ahead of runner-up Andrea Weeder of Holy Family.
DeWispelare dominated in her victory.
The freshman was in sole possession of the lead over the final seven laps of the 3,200 Friday.
She won with a time of 11:41.38, second fastest in school history behind her winning time of 11:38 at the Centennial Conference meet two days earlier.
DeWispelare won the race by nearly 17 seconds over runner-up Kristin Steffen of Crofton.
Klosterman wasn't the only area girl to set a new school record, but the only one to win while doing so.
The first three runners in the Class C 1,600 all crossed the finish line within eight-tenths of a second of each other.
DeWispelare placed third with a time of 5:24.9 that broke her old record of 5:27.3 set at the Aquinas Invite April 30.
Aerts also placed third with her record-breaking effort. She ran the 3,200 in 11:50.83, breaking her old mark of 12:03.
Bongers and Aerts had help in starting the meet off well for the Tigers.
Kylee Sisel and Donnita Helman teamed up with them to place second in the 3,200 relay Friday with a time of 10:01.99, just under two seconds off the school record and second-fastest time in school history.
Bongers finished with her first four-medal day at State. The senior placed third in the 400 with a time of 59.86 seconds. Around an hour later, she still had enough left in the tank to place second in the 1,600 with a time of 5:32.35.
The senior and Aerts ran close in their final race together, as the sophomore placed third with at ime of 5:32.75.
Klosterman, running three races each day, medaled in all of them.
She placed third in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.63 and sixth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 48.7 seconds.
Senior Cortny Novacek delivered even greater results in the high jump. Having placed eighth in the event the last two years, Novacek took second with a jump of 5'2".
Aerts, despite running in the first heat of the 800, placed seventh in the 800 with a time of 2:29.34..
No drama as DC wins S-O-S rematch
By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
There was last at-bat drama in the second meeting between the David City Legion Seniors and Stromsburg-Osceola-Shelby this season.
S-O-S pitchers Ryan Beebe and Derek Swanson combined to walk nine batters over the first four innings, six of whom scored.
That was in contrast to
Beebe struck out 12 in a no-decision that night, but struggled from the start to find the strike zone in the rematch.
Doug Daro and Jordan Vavrina drew four pitch walks before Beebe hit Levi Kreitman to load the bases.
Michael Buresh drilled a double to left center to clear the bases, giving
That would be all
Things completely fell apart for S-O-S in the fourth after Beebe appeared to settle down, retiring five batters in a row.
It would have been six, but Doug Daro reached on a grounder to second when the throw was dropped.
That play, with one out in the fourth, opened the floodgates.
Beebe walked Will McCawley. Swanson walked Vavrina to load the bases.
Kreitman hit a RBI-single to left, the only ball to leave the infield in the inning.
Buresh and DeWispelare followed with RBI-infield singles. Holland, Curtis Blowers and Daro all drew bases-loaded walks.
S-O-S Juniors stun David City late
By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
The David City Legion Juniors went quiet offensively down the stretch, leaving them with little margin for error at Stromsburg-Osceola-Shelby.
S-O-S scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to rally for a 3-2 victory over
The winning run scored when
With Alex Snyder on second and two outs, Aaron Neujahr hit a grounder to short. The throw was in time, but the first baseman missed the bag.
Snyder, running on contact, kept going and slid under the throw from first to score the inning run.
Seth Hoffman kicked off the late heroics when he drilled a 3-2 pitch to right center for a leadoff triple.
He scored on Micah Riley's groundout to third, which was the second out.
Snyder, who was 3-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch, singled to left past the shortstop. He stole second to set up the final play.
The seventh inning might not have mattered so much if
Jared Longenecker's single with no outs in the fourth was the last hit and the last ball to leave the infield for the
Just as he did in the Great Plains League tournament last year, S-O-S pitcher Brandon Johnson frustrated
Defensive miscues on the part of S-O-S (9-2) gave
Levi Kreitman, who'd drawn a leadoff walk scored an errant pickoff throw to tie the game at 1-1 in the fourth.
Tyler Stastny reached on an errant throw by the S-O-S shortstop to start the fifth inning.
Michael Byers reached on another errant throw by the shortstop.
Derek Worm pit down a squeeze bunt, scoring Stastny. Worm reached when Johnson overran the ball.
SOS falls to St. Paul in finals
GIBBON -- A late-season run came to a close for the Shelby-Osceola-Stromsburg Senior American Legion baseball team, falling 8-4 Monday night to St. Paul in the Area C-6 District Tournament, a game short of the state tournament.The Seniors defeated St. Paul 10-2 earlier in the day to force the second game. "We played seven games in six days," SOS coach Bob Zelasney said. "We ran out of gas pitching wise."
Isaac Moore carried the team with an impressive complete game performance in the first contest. Ryan Beebe provided the offense with a home run and three RBIs.
Beebe offered to take the start for SOS in the second game. "He said he felt fine, but by the third inning he didn't have much on his fastball," Zelasney said.
The coach then turned to junior call up Brandon Johnson. He struggled initially, surrendering a three-run home run to the first batter he faced, but he eventually settled down and kept SOS within striking distance. But, the rally never came.
Zelasney said he and the staff thanked the boys for the season.
"We just told that we were proud of them," he said. "We felt there was no other team in any other district that could have played as many games as we did and win as many games as this team did."
The senior class proved to be instrumental in turning this season into a winning one.
"They were a big part of the SOS program," Zelasney said. "They've battled in every game. They battled to the end."
Despite the loss, SOS played a strong tournament, winning five games over six days.
"They were playing some of the best baseball toward the end," Zelasney said. "We played seven games and we hit 13 or 14 home runs. We had about double digit hits in every game. We played good defense here. I think we only ended up with four or five errors in seven games."
The experience could carry over to the returning players as motivation.
"We got some of those juniors (SOS Rebels) to help us next year," Zelasney said. "We've got a good group coming back. I hope they build off of this."
Area C-6 District Tournament
Monday at Gibbon
Game One
St. Paul 000 100 1 - 2 4 5
SOS (20-13) 004 501 X - 10 13 2
Pitching: WP ‰Û" Isaac Moore. LP - Dave Prohl.
Leading Hitters: Ryan Beebe 3-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI; Mitch Walkup 3-3 2 RBI; Isaac Moore 2-4, HR, RBI.
Game Two
St. Paul 110 312 0 - 8 11 0
SOS 111 010 0 - 4 7 0
Pitching: WP - Casey Poss. LP - Ryan Beebe.
Leading Hitters: Seth Houdersheldt 2-3, RBI. Ryan Beebe 1-2, RBI. Anthony Snyder 1-2, RBI.
Terriers take the floor for the last time
Editor's note: Next year, Rising City High School's athletes will join the team of the district the school will merge with in 2011-12. This is a story about the last Terrior team to take the basketball floor for a game.By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
The sun is setting on the Rising City boys' basketball team.Literally.
The team is waiting inside its bus in the parking lot at Clarkson High School.
It turns out the team has arrived a little too early in preparation for its subdistrict contest, as the roads weren't as bad as anticipated.
In a winter full of snowstorms and ground blizzards, it's understandable.
While the last light of the day disappears, the Terriers make their way into the gym.
It's been a struggle in recent years for the program, which is set to end when the season does.
The eight players who'll wear the blue-and-white of RCHS are clearly very loose.
Basketballs are tossed and caught, some with mock acrobatic moves. There is an impromptu dance by one as "What I Like About You" plays over the P.A. system. Another busts out the air guitar when "Kerosene" follows suit.
There's no pressure on a winless team. When you've lost games by scores like 78-11, 70-6 and 55-8, you're clearly not carrying the burdens of a "State title or bust."
Players don't seem to be affected by the defeats. There aren't a lot of unhappy or angry faces.
For one thing, they're getting to play. Last year's team had to forfeit a game in the same round, because it only had four healthy players.
One of those players, John Potter, arrives. The lone senior and leader in pretty much every category on that team, Potter greets his former teammates, offering handshakes and quick hugs.
There's not much for the coaches to do but wait, read the paper and maybe check out the caliber of food available in the hospitality room.
It eventually becomes time to get into pre-game warmup mode, which includes looks and actions of greater focus on the task ahead.
Head coach John Schoenrock addresses the team. He starts with a simple question.
"Do you want this to be your last game?"
To a man, the Terriers respond with "No."
Schoenrock goes over the particulars, what the team will do defensively, the importance of rebounding.
But he knows that for the team to pull the upset, it will have to score.
He outlines the importance of proper floor spacing to spread out the defense. He emphasizes that each player has to be in the right spot, telling one, "Don't freelance. We need to know where you're at out there."
The team clearly shows no fear once the game starts. It's within 13-9 in the first quarter.
Then the turnovers pile up in rapid fashion, with the points piling up just as fast.
It's soon 37-11 Panthers.
By halftime, it's 52-18 and as the players and coaches make their way to the locker room, they know that there will be no Cinderella story. Prague will play Dodge the next night. All that's left of Rising City's program is 16 minutes of basketball.
The Terriers are determined to make the most of those minutes, not backing down, even when the game and season are clearly over.
They outscore the Panthers 15-6 over the last four minutes of the third quarter. Considering they averaged just over 20 points per game, it's an impressive display of determination.
But no amount of drives to the basket or layups off steals can stop time. The clock eventually runs out as Terrier fans chant. "We. Are. Proud. Of You. Say 'We are proud of you.'"
The scoreboard reads: "Home: 90, Visitor: 45"
There were no regrets on the part of the players, none of whom quit during a trying season.
Trent Sutton, a junior who'll graduate early this year to go into the Army, says, "I thought our effort was great. We put our heart into it. We've got a great group of guys. We worked our butt off and played a great game."
It wasn't always easy, trying to keep it together.
"There were moments where they were not quite together, but in the end, they got together and decided that couldn't happen. There was no fracturing. They ended as a single unit," Schoenrock says.
It's not easy trying to prepare throughout a season, knowing it's your last, knowing that there is no future of the program to consider.
Schoenrock tried to stay focused on the task at hand, trying to get the kids prepared for each coming opponent.
"It's been an odd experience. We've really tried to make the best of it. To be sure. I don't know how I feel now that it's over. I'm sure it'll hit me later when I've had time to think about it," he says.
Sutton is happy with how the Terriers held up through tying circumstances.
"We had a lot of spirit and worked together. We love each other like brothers. It stinks it has to end like this," he says
There is little left to do but pose for pictures with family.
The team gets together for one last team photo. Before they do, as they stand huddled together, arms in the air, Sutton yells, "Alright guys, this is the last time we get to say this....
'Go Terriers!"
Area high school football schedules for 2010, 2011
Here are the recently released schedules for area high school football teams in 2010 and 2011
David City 2010 Schedule:
Week 0 BYE
Week 1 @
Week 2
Week 3 @ Norfolk Catholic
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6 @ Raymond Central
Week 7 @
Week 8
David City 2011 Schedule:
Week 0 BYE
Week 1
Week 2 @
Week 3
Week 4 @
Week 5 @
Week 6 Raymond Central
Week 7
Week 8 @
Aquinas 2010 Schedule:
Week 0 @ Weeping Water
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3 @
Week 4 BYE
Week 5 @ Wisner-Pilger
Week 6
Week 7 @
Week 8
Aquinas 2011 Schedule:
Week 0 Weeping Water
Week 1 @
Week 2 @
Week 3 Archbishop Bergan
Week 4 BYE
Week 5 Wisner-Pilger
Week 6 @
Week 7
Week 8 @
East Butler 2010 Schedule:
Week 0 Lyons-Decatur Northeast
Week 1 BYE
Week 2 High Plains
Week 3 @ West Point Central Catholic
Week 4 @ Cedar Bluffs
Week 5 Osceola
Week 6 @ Nebraska Christian
Week 7 @ McCool Junction
Week 8
East Butler 2011 Schedule:
Week 0 @ Lyons-Decatur Northeast
Week 1 BYE
Week 2 @ High Plains
Week 3
Week 4 Cedar Bluffs
Week 5 @ Osceola
Week 6
Week 7 McCool Junction
Week 8 @
Shelby 2010 Schedule:
Week 0 Giltner
Week 1 @ Newman Grove
Week 2 @ Friend
Week 3
Week 4 McCool Junction
Week 5 BYE
Week 6 @ Cedar Bluffs
Week 7 Osceola
Week 8 @
Shelby 2011 Schedule:
Week 0 @ Giltner
Week 1 Newman Grove
Week 2 Friend
Week 3 @
Week 4 @ McCool Junction
Week 5 BYE
Week 6 Cedar Bluffs
Week 7 @ Osceola
Week 8
DC boys second at Milford invite
The David City boys track team notched another runner-up finish last week.
The Scouts placed second at the Milford Booster Invite April 13, scoring 97.5 points in the process.
Tri-County won the team title with 124 points.
Matt Unger led the Scouts, capturing their only victory of the day with a winning time of 2:07.41 in the 800 meters. The junior also placed second in the 1,600 with a time of 4:47.2.
Brad Meusch tripled jumped 40'5 1/2" and ran the 300 hurdles in 44.3 seconds to place second.
The 1,600 relay team of Seth Behrens, Justin Chmelka, Aaron Rerucha and Aaron Schmid placed second with a time of 3:41.9 in the 1,600 relay.
Steven Varela placed third in the 300 hurdles. The junior joined Nolan Pittman, Nathan Shultz and Levi Magnuson on the third-placed 3,200 relay team.
Derek Jorgensen placed third in the 200 while Behrens did so in the long jump. Jeremiah Miller took third in the discus and fourth in the shot put.
Meusch (110 hurdles), Shultz (1,600) and Austin Havlena (long jump) also placed fourth for David City.
Milford Booster Invite
Boys Division
Team Standings
1. Tri-County 124; 2. David City 97.5; 3. Milford 82.5; 4. Wahoo 69; 5. Centennial 55; 6. Southern 38; 7. Ashland-Greenwood 31; 8. Ray. Central 30.
Event results
High jump - 1. (Meet record) Wullenaber (C) 6'9"; 2. Klein (M) 6'1"; 3. Murphy (S) 5'11"; 4. Dahle (M) 5'9"; 5. (Tie) Riesen (TC) and Schmid (DC) 5'9".
Long jump - 1. (Meet record) Wullenwaber (C) 23'1"; 2. Milliken (W) 21'10 1/4"; 3. Behrens (DC) 20'2 1/2"; 4. Havlena (DC) 20'2"; 5. Barr (S) 19'9 1/4"; 6. Mumma (AG) 19'3 1/4".
Triple jump - 1. Barr (S) 41'2'; 2. Meusch (DC) 40'5 1/2"; 3. Gillispie (RC) 39'11 3/4"; 4. Davenport (M) 39'10 1/4"; 5. Schmid (DC) 38'5 1/4"; 6. Kruse (TC) 38'1 3/4".
Shot put - 1. Lindgren (W) 48'11"; 2. Hahn (TC) 46'6"; 3. Geiler (M) 44'9"; 4. Miller (DC) 44'5"; 5. Nelson (W) 43'; 6. Kubik (AG) 42'9"./
Discus - 1. Lindgren (W) 161'4 1/2"; 2. Hahn (TC) 139'9 1/2"; 3. Miller (DC) 137'5"; 4. Moeller (TC) 128'4"; 5. Geiler (M) 126'10"; 6. Heser (C) 119'4".
Pole vault -
100 - 1. (Meet record) Wullenwaber (C) 10.63; 2. Matzner (TC) 10.83; 3. Milliken (W) 10.9; 4. Pecka (RC) 11.03; 5. Jorgensen (DC) 11.23; 6. Vantine (M) 11.36.
200 - 1. (Meet record) Matzner (TC) 22.48; 2. Wullenwaber (C) 22.52; 3. Jorgensen (DC) 23.36; 4. Pecka (RC) 23.51; 5. Wortman 23.6; 7. Meyers (AG) 23.67.
400 - 1. Mumma (AG) 52.91; 2. Wortman (M) 53.51; 3. Higgins (M) 55.27; 4. Mooney (C) 55.39; 5. Chmelka (DC) 55.91; 6. Rerucha (DC) 56.93.
800 - 1. Unger (DC) 2:07.5; 2. Barry (W) 2:08.4; 3. Kowalski (TC) 2:10.9; 4. Tegtmeier (M) 2:12.7; 5. Kitrell (AG) 2:12.8; 6. Mooney (C) 2:13.1.
1,600 - 1. Collins (TC) 4:47; 2. Unger (DC) 4:47.2; 3. Kowalski (TC) 4:56.7; 4. Shultz (DC) 4:59; 5. Christensen (RC) 5:06; 6. Cook (W) 5:14.7.
3,200 - 1. Collins (TC) 11:08.6; 2. Williams (M) 11:30.7; 3. McCain (TC) 11:40.2; 4. Houseman (S) 11:59.7; 5. Dobesh (W) 12:00.4; 6. Gropp (W) 12:17.9.
110 hurdles - 1. McKeever (S) 15.36; 2. Haake (TC) 15.37; 3. Gillispie (RC) 16.03; 4. Meusch (DC) 16.08; 5. Lewandowski (W) 16.09; 6. Skov (AG) 17.41.
300 hurdles - 1. Haake (TC) 43.89; 2. Meusch (DC) 44.29; 3. Varela (DC) 46.44; 4. Kruse (TC) 46.60; 5. Gillispie (RC) 47.26; 6. Kersten (W) 47.38.
400 relay - 1. Wahoo (Lewandowki, Subbert, Kavan, Milliken) 45.96; 2. Tri-County 46.37; 3. Milford 46.45; 4. Ray.C entral 46.78; 5. Ashland-Greenwood 46.96; 6. David City (Stonewall,C hmelka, Jorgensen, Havlena) 47.77.
1,600 relay - 1. Tri-County (Collins, Schuerman, Wheelock, Matzner) 3:39.93; 2. David City (Behrens, Chmelka, Rerucha, Schmid) 3:41.87; 3. Ashland-Greenwood 3:45.05; 4. Milford 3:46.38; 5. Southern 3:57.52; 6. Centennial 4:05.07.
3,200 relay - 1. Milford (Tegtmeier, Higgins, unknown, Martin) 9:11.38; 2. Wahoo 9:20.49; 3. David City (Pittman, Varela, Shultz, Maguson) 9:21.22; 4. Southern 9:23.85; 5. Ray. Central 9:23.96; 6. Ashland-Greenwood 10:23.76.
TO THE WIRE - David City's Aaron Schmid starts the anchor leg of the 1,600 relay after getting the baton from teammate Aaron Rerucha. The Scouts placed second in the event at the Milford Booster Invite.
DC wins second conference wrestling title in three years
The Scouts, ranked eighth in Class C, won six of a possible 10 championships on the way to the title.
David City finished the meet with 181.5 points. Last year's champion, Wilber-Clatonia, finished second with 146 points, three ahead of Tri-County and four ahead of Thayer Central.
Wemhoff, ranked third at 145 pounds, edged Luke DeLong of Fillmore Central 4-2 after needing just 60 seconds total to pin his first two opponents.
Rerucha, ranked third at 152 pounds, also won a 4-2 decision. He defeated Wilber-Clatonia's Dillon Bates in the finals after pinning his first two opponents.
Schwartz, ranked fourth at 215 pounds, defeated Centennial's Ethan Heser 21-5 after pinning his first two opponents in the first period.
Varela continued his senior season turnaround. The 140-pounder didn't place at last year's SNC meet. He pinned all four of his opponents, taking care of Heartland's Seth Schaldecker in 2:43 for the title.
Worm pinned his three opponents, dispatching Sam Lindley of Tri-County in 4:34 in the 160-pound final.
Nathan Styskal placed third at 125 pounds. Michael Buresh, forced to injury default in his last match, placed fourth at 171 pounds.
David City competes at the District C-3 meet at Centennial Friday and Saturday. The district includes three ranked teams - No. 2 Central City, No. 5 Wood River and the Scouts.
SNC Meet
Dwight Val outhits everybody for Great Plains League title
Dwight-Valparaiso's bats were clearly too much for a tired Shelby-Osceola-Stromsburg team that just finished a draining slugfest to enter the finals of the Great Plains Legion Seniors Tournament Saturday night at the David City Ball Complex.To top it off, S-O-S was playing its third day in a row, and its fourth game since falling to Dwight-Val 10-2 in the second round. Meanwhile, Dwight-Val had won a shortened contest, finishing off David City in six innings, 11-3.
A half-hour before the game, S-O-S completed its long trip through the consolation bracket with Derek Swanson's two-run homer to end a 12-11 contest over David City.
"Going into this (finals) game I knew it was going to be tough to beat Dwight-Val twice," said S-O-S coach Bob Zelasney.
When it became apparent that the S-O-S pitching was ineffective against Dwight-Val, Zelasney brought in the substitutes. He also was considering the team's chances in upcoming district tournament play.
"We were running short on arms," Zelasney said. "We didn't want to throw some of our other pitchers."
He also didn't mind getting some of his younger players some experience.
"We had some kids that hadn't played in this tournament," he said. "They were here every game and they deserve to play, and their parents are here."
What could Dwight-Val coach Bob McNally say about his team's third straight shortened game?
His team was hitting the ball all over the place.
"This is a tough task to play a tough game and then come back and play another one," he said of the S-O-S efforts.
Pitcher Anthony Snyder finished the S-O-S victory over David City and started the game against Dwight-Val.
He stayed strong through the fist inning. Forcing a blooper by Taylor Cieslik to center and striking out Ryley Cidlik and Andy Pierce.
Ryan Beebe got S-O-S on the board with a single to score Derek Swanson.
Then the floodgates broke in the top of the second, with Dwight-Val scoring eight runs on eight hits and two errors, and leaving three men on base. Seven runs had scored before Ryley Cidlik popped up for the first out.
There was no quit in the S-O-S team, but Dwight-Val's picher, Ben Prater didn't worry too much about home plate while he allowed two runs in the bottom of the third on one hit by S-O-S.
Taylor Cieslik, Jared Brenner, Cidlik and Pierce scored in the top of the third, and the substitutions started.
Ryan Beebe got on base for S-O-S in the third, but Jared Hopwood hit into a double play to end the inning.
Heath Leitz and Houterscheldt added runs for S-O-S in the bottom of the fifth to bring the score to 17-5. Dwight-Val finished the game with 17 hits.
East Butler girls runner-up in State Class D-1 basketball
By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
The second-ranked Tigers finished second in the Class D-1 State Tournament, losing 57-52 to third-ranked Elkhorn Valley in the championship game at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Saturday morning.
"We just fell too far behind," East Butler Coach Gerry Reinsch said. "We had too many dumb fouls and turnovers in the first half. We had trouble running our offense and weren't aggressive in the first half."
"They made me pull my hair out during the game, but our girls played with a lot of heart and were able to get it done,'' Elkhorn Valley Coach Brendan Dittmer said.
East Butler (22-4) is one of just four area teams to reach the finals of the girls' state tournament.
The Falcons' physical style of play had carried them to two decisive tournament victories going into the finals. They held Stapleton-McPherson County to 7-of-37 shooting with 31 turnovers in a 44-20 first round victory Thursday afternoon. They flustered previous No. 1 Silver Lake with an 18-4 second half run in a 62-51 semifinal victory Friday morning.
That record was somewhat deceptive, as the Falcons had losses to the likes of C-1 semifinalist Lutheran High Northeast, C-1 No. 8 Crofton (twice) and C-1 contender Norfolk Catholic.
"We have played a lot of good teams. It's the type of schedule that will toughen you up and that's what it did. That's a tremendous credit to our kids, who learned from those teams and really improved," Dittmer said.
"Playing a good schedule definitely helps. I think Elkhorn Valley and us played the two toughest schedules of the teams in the tournament and it showed," Reinsch said.
The Tigers dug themselves too deep of a hole. Baskets by Sonya Legate and Halle Dittrich gave Elkhorn Valley a 37-22 lead with 7:16 remaining in the third quarter.
"That killed us. We wanted to get back in the game right away and then they get two easy baskets," Reinsch said. "Give them credit. They're a good team overall and their size was just too much for us."
The Falcons were on the verge of blowing the game wide open, but they knew the Tigers were dangerous.
"We knew it was coming," Dittrich said, "so we just had to keep our heads."
East Butler picked up its defensive intensity. The Falcons were 6-of-21 from the floor with 13 turnovers after building that 15-point lead.
Senior Marissa Bongers her had second straight slow first half, scoring just four points as the Falcons built their lead.
But just as she did against Humphrey Friday, Bongers picked up her pace in the second half. She hit four straight free throws to cut the Elkhorn Valley lead to 47-39 going into the fourth quarter.
The senior finished with 16 of her 20 points in the half.
“The Bongers girl is amazing. We knew she could put the team on her shoulders and carry it," Dittmer said.
Donnita Helman also picked up offensively. She hit a runner for two of her tourney-high 11 points.
Michaela Janak followed with a basket before Bongers scored off a steal and layup to cut the Elkhorn Valley lead to 50-48 with 5:16 remaining.
That's when the Falcons called timeout.
"I ranted and raved for a little while, which, ironically, calms them down," Dittmer said. "We talked about what we needed to do. We talked about where the open passes were going to be, the open passing lanes, and what they needed to do on defense."
East Butler had its chances. Jamie Henseleit stole the ball after the Tigers forced a turnover.
Sadie Rich hit a jumper to increase the lead. After a missed Tiger shot, Kyleigh Parham hit a free throw to put the Falcons up by four with 3:22 remaining.
The Tigers got a Bongers basket to get back within two. They had a possession to tie the game, but Helman's floating runner came up short. Sammi Rech stole the ball, but Chelsea Komenda couldn't get the jumper to fall.
Michaela Janak got a steal to get the ball back again.
Bongers was fouled on a shot attempt. She hit the first free throw, but the tying shot rolled off.
The Tigers turned the ball over on their next possession, setting up Parham's free throw that made it a two-possession game with 19.8 seconds left.
"I'm proud of the girls. They never quit, which I knew they wouldn't. I think we had Elkhorn Valley on their heels. If we could have just gotten the lead or tied the game, I liked our chances," Reinsch said.
Elkhorn Valley made its first half push by beating the Tigers at their own game, getting to the free throw line.
The Falcons were 13-of-15 at the foul line in the first half.
"We talked about that. The reason we won yesterday was we shot 28 free throws to (Humphrey's) six. Kids get excited being in a championship game like this and we just got too aggressive," Reinsch said.
Elkhorn Valley's accuracy in the first half was also an improvement on their first two tournament games, when they shot a combined 21-of-39 (54 percent) at the stripe.
East Butler got a basket from Helman on the first possession of the second quarter to cut Elkhorn Valley's lead to 15-14.
Four Falcons scored in a 12-2 run to put the team up 27-16 with 5:08 left in the half.
"Their defense was tough and physical. They have a lot of big bodies who can get up and down the floor. We had trouble running a lot of plays we wanted to because of how big and physical they were," Reinsch said.
"They're the most physical team I've ever played," Janak said.
"We really have good depth and girls that can do a lot of things, so we're able to play that style of ball," Dittmer said.
The Tigers had won seven straight games without three-year starter Brittany Karber after she suffered a season-ending torn ACL. Saturday was when Karber's absence caught up to them.
"Absolutely. This was a game where we really could have used Brittany. The rebounding would have been more even with her in there. If we have her, I think we're state champions, but it's a credit to the girls we had that they gave it a great run without her. We were that close to winning it."
Karber became one of the team's biggest fans and did her best to supply motivation and advice as needed.
"It was tough being stuck on the bench, but I'm really happy with what they did. They did a great job of stepping up and getting here. I just tried to motivate them and get them to keep their heads up," she said.
The game ultimately seemed less like one the Tigers lost and more like one where the clock just ran out on them.
While there were tears and disappointment after the game, there were also smiles as the Tigers could look back on one of the most successful seasons in program history.
"It's been great. I couldn't ask for a better team to be a part of," Sisel said. "We were hoping to win today. That didn't happen, but we tried our best. I'm still happy with the results. A medal and a trophy is still a pretty good season."
"It's been an awesome experience," Bongers said. "Everybody contributed and did something to get us here. We just focused on each team we played and didn't look ahead. We wanted to win today. We came up short, we left everything we had out there. Elkhorn Valley's a good team."
The Tigers move on without four seniors - Bongers (the school's career scoring leader), Karber, Chelsea Komenda and Sisel.
"They're a great group. I'm really proud of them. They've come an awfully long way through the years. They're good kids and good leaders. Getting to the state championship is a credit to them."
It won't be the same not having the ability to put Bongers' name in the scorebook any longer.
"We're going to miss her a lot. You don't get players like that to come along very often. She was so athletic at and could do so many things. We've got a lot of work to do," Reinsch said. "At the same time, we return some good players who got a lot of good experience and we've got some younger players who could step up."
Bongers finished with 20 points, 13 rebounds and four steals. Helman added five rebounds and four assists. Komenda also had four assists. Sisel had four rebounds and three assists. Janak also hadd four rebounds. Sammi Rech got four steals.
Dittrich led a balanced Falcon attack with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Rich scored 12 points as well. Legate scored nine points. Parham had 13 rebounds, eight points and three steals. Cami Oelsligle added eight points, four rebounds and three steals. Jamie Henseleit had a game-high
five assists.
Photo Caption:
WHAT A RUN – From left – East Butler seniors Chelsea Komenda, Kylee Sisel, Marissa Bongers and Brittany Karber (who has out with a knee injury) get to sit with the Class D-1 runner-up trophy during postgame ceremonies Saturday. The Tigers went to state in three of the four seasons the four were part of the program. Bongers and Karber started the last three seasons while Komenda and Sisel started the last two. East Butler defeated Howells and Humphrey in the tournament before dropping a close game to Elkhorn Valley in the championship game. Photo by Kreig Ritter.
Roncalli handles Monarchs, wins DC tournament
By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
Coming off their biggest win of the season, the Aquinas Monarchs couldn't keep up with Omaha Roncalli.
The Crimson Pride scored 19 unanswered points in the first half, pulling away to a 66-35 victory over the Aquinas boys in the championship of the David City Holiday Tournament Dec. 30
"Their tempo was just way too fast," Aquinas Coach Jarred Royal said. "I felt if we could make it a halfcourt game, we had a shot. They did a good job getting us out of what we wanted it to do. They sped us up and got us going too fast."
The Monarchs, who defeated David City the previous night, got a Jordan Vavrina basket to go up 9-5 with 4:10 left in the first quarter.
Aquinas wouldn't score again for six-and-a-half minutes.
Donte Williams and Jack Haley scored six points each to help the Pride take a 24-9 lead with 6:48 left to go in the first half.
Roncalli's ability to hit from outside made a huge difference. The team was 10-of-22 from three-point range while the Monarchs missed all seven of their attempts.
Lee Sabata led Aquinas with 10 points and nine rebounds. Kelby Vandenberg grabbed 10 rebounds. Tony Birkel had four assists.
Alitz led Roncalli with 12 points and five assists. Haley scored 11 points. Williams had eight rebounds.
Aquinas hosts Schuyler Friday and Logan View Saturday. The Monarchs will be at Twin River Tuesday.
Aquinas' Comte moves on to semis
Aquinas senior Alex Comte won a 4-0 decision in the 171 lb. class over Jordan Nelson of Winside to advance to the semi finals of the Class D State Wrestling Championship. Comte fended off Nelsons attempts at a throw through the last half of the third period. Comte, 31-7, pinned Heath Shannon of Franklin in the first round. The semi finals begin at 6 p.m. Friday at the Qwest Center in Omaha.Senior Brian Prigge lost his quarterfinal match to Zachary Brokaw, a junior from Winside. Prigge moves on to the consolations set for 12:30 p.m. Friday.
In other quarterfinal action, East Butler senior Taylor Cieslik lost his 152 lb quarterfinal match. He was pinned by Plainview seniorTeran Boyer of Plainview 27 seconds into the match.
East Butler 135 lb senior Tanner Ratkovec's match ended when he suffered a serious injury in his match with Hunter Timmons of Medicine Valley. Timmons was disqualified for an illegal throw. Ratkovec was taken to Creighton University Medical Center. The extent of his injuries were not known as of late Thursday.
East Butler girls defeat Humphrey in D-1 semifinals
Bulldogs in the semifinals of the Class D-1 State Tournament at Pershing Center Friday morning.
"It's an incredible feeling," East Butler junior Sammi Rech said. "We thought that we could win if we got here and that's what we're doing. It feels so good to win with all the fans here. It's a great atmosphere."
"Chelsea (Komenda) and Kylee (Sisel) did a tremendous job defensively," East Butler Coach Gerry Reinsch said. "I told them before the game that the defense rested on their shoulders.
They played awfully well and the rest of the girls picked up from there."
"We've seen that triangle-and-two a lot," Humphrey Coach Blake Anderson said. "We've been able to attack it before. The thing is that the way East Butler play, it wears on you. We had some girls step up for Leann, but we just couldn't make enough shots overall.
Frauendorfer finished with 18 points, right at her average. Osten, who averaged 15. 5 points per game, was held to six points on 2-of-15 shooting.
The other big story for East Butler was how the team picked up the slack when leading scorer Marissa Bongers struggled in the first half.
Averaging 24 points per game coming in, Bongers was held to four points on 2-of-11 shooting in the first half.
"I knew they'd be paying attention to me after I scored 34 yesterday. The girls all picked me up. They hit some big threes, which is awesome. That made the game for us," Bongers said.
The Tigers still held a 23-21 halftime lead, though, as Chelsea Komenda, Kylee Sisel and Cassie Aerts all hit outside shots.
"They all stepped up to hit some big shots for us," Reinsch said. "Chelsea hit three threes, just like she did against Aquinas. That's two big games we don't win if she doesn't hit those threes."
"I've been working all season on those shots. I've been staying at the end of practice and
"Fouls hurt us. We had six or seven fouls in the first quarter, so we couldn't go man, or else they'd shot 30 free throws like they did yesterday," Anderson said. "We had to kind of pack it in against them, but we packed it in a little too much. We didn't get into the passing lanes at times and they hurt us."
Komenda finished with a season-high 11 points, hitting a trio of three-pointers in the contest.
"I told all of our perimeter players that they've been working on their outside shot all season long. This is the point where it can all pay off. Shoot that shot like you're going to bury it. We shot with confidence," Reinsch said.
The game followed some similarities to the Tigers' opening round win over Howells.
Second, there was the solid defense that kept the Tigers in the game, as they only trailed 8-7 after the first quarter.
Third, and most crucial, was how the Tigers responded to an opposition run in the third quarter.
Tara Wemhoff hit a pair of free throws. Frauendorfer and Osten hit layups before Wemhoff hit a jumper to cap an 8-0 run that tied the teams at 33-all with 2:07 to go in the third.
Freshman Donnita Helman hit a jumper from the free throw line 23 seconds later.
Helman has started all season with a lineup that featured four senior starters when healthy.
She didn't miss a beat when asked what she'd learned from those seniors
"Teamwork. We all get the ball to each other and pick each other up. We work together so well. They've been an inspiration," she said.
Marissa Bongers stole the ball on an inbounds play and raised downcourt for a three-point play with 1:23 left in the third.
Bongers hit two shots in the first minute of the fourth quarter to increase the lead to 42-35.
Bongers finished the game with 21 points after scoring 17 in the second half.
"She's a great player. She's going to get her points. Nobody's going to be able to shut her down completely. What makes her so tough is how she hits the offensive boards. She hurt us with putbacks," Anderson said.
The basket that started that run was a sidelines inbounds play on a give-and-go where the senior got a wide-open layup.
"That's a play we put in years ago," Reinsch said. "I was watching Nebraska play Michigan State and Michigan State ran the play for (future NBA player) Steve Smith and he got a wide open dunk. We've used it our last three games and gotten a layup each time out of it. It's a play
we save for when we really need it and we needed it today."
The Tigers struggled at the foul line in the last minute to open the door for the Bulldogs.
A Frauendorfer three-pointer, followed by a pair of Megan Kallweit free throws had them within 52-47 with 14.8 seconds left.
Bongers missed a pair of free throws, but Sisel got the offensive rebound on the held ball with 13.2 seconds left.
Komenda would hit a free throw with eight seconds left to clinch the game as both teams would empty their benches.
The victory resulted in East Butler's first trip to a state title game since 1988.
"This is great for the girls, but this is for the program, too, for all the great players we've had," Reinsch said. "We've had a lot of great players who never got the chance to get this far, but they did a lot for the program and helped give us something to shoot for."
While the Tigers' seniors are either two- or three-year starters, players like Helman had to watch recent teams. Her cousin, Hannah, is one of the tip five scorers in program history and another cousin, Heather, was last year's starting point guard.
"I watched my cousins all the time. It was my dream to be here in the state championship. Now, we're going to the championship game. I can't believe it," she said.
One player enjoying the chance to compete again was junior guard Lindsey Dobesh, who missed 10 games with a stress fracture in one of her feet.
"It's so exciting. The doctors told me I could be back in time for the district final. I was able to come back in play in that game. To be able to play at state, it's an awesome experience," she said.
Bongers added eight rebounds and five steals to go with her 21 points. Helman had six rebounds and five assists. Sisel also had six rebounds.
Frauendorfer finished with 10 rebounds and three steals for the Bulldogs. Wallin had five assists and four steals. Osten had five rebounds and four assists. Wemhoff and Klassen also had five rebounds each. Kallweit scored eight points.
Photo caption:
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY – East Butler players erupt off the bench at the end of the team’s 53-47 victory over Humphrey in the Class D-1 semifinals at Pershing Center Friday morning. The jubilant team members are, from left – Michaela Janak (50), Marissa Bongers, Chelsea Komenda (10), Donnita Helman, Kylee Sisel.
Scouts third at SNC tournament
That followed a 51-45 semifinal loss to Milford Thursday.
The Broncos (12-6) opened the season with a 55-41 win at David City Dec. 3.
David City did a much better job defensively and on the boards in the rematch.
The Scouts broke an early 4-4 tie by getting to the foul line. Seth Behrens hit a pair of free throws. Jerade Clark scored on a putback, then added four straight free throws to put the Scouts up 12-6 with 1:43 left in the first.
Centennial pulled within 12-9 on a driving basket by Braylon Gierhan, but Behrens scored off the drive with 12 seconds left to put the Scouts up by five after a quarter.
Aaron Schmid hit a pair of shots in the first 90 seconds of the second to put David City up 18-9. The team still had a nine-point lead at halftime.
Austin Havlena opened the third quarter with a steal and layup. Schmid hit two more shots to put David City up 30-17 with 5:30 left in the third.
David City opened the fourth with a basket inside by Clark and a three-pointer by Brian Glock to go up by 14 points.
Still trailing by 14 with under three minutes left, the Broncos made one last push. A three-point play by Gierhan cut the lead to nine, then a K.J. Gierhan cut it down to 41-35.
The Scouts would put the game away at the line, as Behrens and Havlena combined to hit four straight free throws in the last minutes.
Clark led David City with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Schmid had 12 points and eight rebounds. Behrens added nine points and six rebounds.
Tyler Wullenwaber and Braylon Gierhan scored nine points each for Centennial.
One bad quarter ultimately cost the Scouts a shot at repeating as tournament champions.
The Eagles outscored the Scouts 16-7, with Jacob Weber scoring seven points, to take a five-point halftime lead.
David City (11-6), which defeated the Eagles 49-48 Jan. 9 in David City, was stuck playing catch-up from that point on.
Milford contained part of the Scouts' inside game, limiting Schmid to a season-low four points.
The Eagles' victory avenged a 49-48 loss at David City Jan. 9.
Clark finished with 17 points and nine rebounds for the Scouts. Behrens scored 14 points. Schmid had eight rebounds and five assists. Havlena had three steals.
Weber scored 20 points to lead Milford.
The Scouts played at Osceola Tuesday.
David City travels to Wilber-Clatonia Friday in a chance to knock off this year's tournament champions. The Wolverines (15-2) edged Milford (13-4) 36-33 in the championship game.
The Scouts defeated Wilber-Clatonia 63-53 for the 2009 tournament championship.
Centennial 9 6 9 11-35
C - Wullenwaber 4 1-1 9, B. Gierhan 4 1-1 9, Ortmeier 0 0-0 0, Ken. Kucera 1 0-0 2, J. DeWaard 2 4-6 8, K.J. Gierhan 2 0-0 5, Kea. Kucera 1 0-0 2, Koski 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 6-8 38.
DC - Havlena 2-6 2-4 7, Behrens 2-11 5-6 9, Chmelka 1-1 0-0 2, Clark 4-8 4-4 12, Schmid 6-12 0-1 12, Castillo 0-0 0-0 0, Glock 1-2 0-0 3, Thege 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-40 11-16 45.
Three-point goals: DC 2-6 (Havlena 1-3, Behrens 0-2, Glock 1-1), C 1-NA (K.J. Gierhan 1). Rebounds: DC 30 (Clark 12), C NA. Assists: DC 7 (Behrens, Schmid 2), C NA. Steals: DC 6 (Havlena, Glock 2), C NA. Turnovers: DC 8, C NA. Total fouls: DC 10, C 19. Fouled out: none.
Thursday game
DC - Havlena 1-4 0-0 3, Behrens 5-15 2-2 14, Chmelka 1-2 0-0 2, Clark 8-10 1-2 17, Schmid 1-10 2-4 4, Castillo 0-0 0-0 0, Glock 2-8 0-0 4, Thege 0-2 1-2 1, McDonald 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-51 6-10 45.
M - Weber 8 4-6 20, Plessel 2 2-2 7, Anderson 0 3-4 3, Davenport 1 0-0 2, Herman 4 0-1 8, Roth 0 0-0 0, Klein 3 0-0 6, Dahle 2 0-0 5. Totals: 20 9-13 51.
Three-point goals: DC 3-13 (Havlena 1-2, Behrens 2-5, Chmelka 0-1, Glock 0-5), M 2 (Plessel 1, Dahle 1). Rebounds: DC 24 (Clark 9), M NA. Assists: DC 7 (Schmid 5), M NA. Steals: DC 4 (Havlena 3), M NA. Turnovers: DC 13, M NA. Total fouls: DC 14, M 10. Fouled out: none.
Aquinas girls capture DC tournament
By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
Already missing one key component, the Aquinas girls' basketball team had to survive losing another.
Mary Klosterman's two free throws with 41.5 seconds left lifted the Monarchs to a 50-49 win over North Bend in the championship game of the David City Holiday Tournament Dec. 30.
Aquinas (6-1) had to play the entire game without starting point guard Rachel Stara, who injured her shoulder in the team's first round win over David City.
Losing a player who'd averaged 7.5 assists and 6.5 steals over the previous two games was tough enough, but then the Monarchs lost senior all-stater Katie Holoubek, who fouled out with 4:01 remaining.
"I was close to having us start to work the clock and make them foul us. We were starting to get a tiny bit of momentum, then Katie picks up that fifth foul and it's 'Here we go,'" Aquinas Coach Joe Pipal said.
North Bend (5-1) responded when Holoubek fouled out, going on an 11-1 run to take a 49-48 lead with 1:02 left.
The Monarchs went inside, with Klosterman getting fouled on a shot attempt. She hit both free throws to put Aquinas up.
Hull couldn't get a three to drop. After a Monarch turnover, Gross-Rhode got a wide-open look at the top of the key, but missed the three.
Klosterman missed the front of a one-and-one, but Megan Engel got the offensive rebound. Amy Baumert wound up stealing the ball in the corner. With Engel in defensive position, the Tigers called timeout with 3.9 seconds remaining.
The ball wound up in Baumert's hands. With a defender on her, she was forced to pass the ball to Julia Mlnarick, who had to force up a jumper that missed as time expired.
Holoubek was a big factor while she was on the floor, finishing with 22 points (14 in the second half), nine rebounds and four steals.
Sophomore Amanda Novacek got the start for Stara. She had 13 points and three assists.
Gross-Rhode led North Bend with 20 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. Hull had 11 points, six rebounds and five assists. Settles and Katie Dvorak had five rebounds apiece.
Aquinas hosted Omaha Concordia Tuesday. The Monarchs are scheduled to host East Butler Thursday and Logan View Saturday before traveling to Twin River next Tuesday.
Dwight-Val rallies past DC
Three outs away from extending their season-opening winning streak to five games, the David City Legion Seniors fell apart at the finish against Dwight-Valparaiso.
Dwight-Val ralled with six runs in the seventh inning to take a 9-5 victory at the David City Ball Complex May 31.
Ben Prater led off with a single.
Phil McNally hit a double play grounder, but the
Jared Brenner followed with a two-run triple and the floodgates opened.
Two more errors followed in the inning and Kenny Ohnoutka later singled in a pair of runs to give Dwight-Val a five-run lead.
Jordan Vavrina tripled off reliever Ben Prater to lead off the inning.
Michael Buresh walked with one out before Levi Kreitman singled in Vavrina.
Prater got the win in a reversal of the team's win at Schuyler the previous week.
That night, Prater had trouble finding the strike zone as a starter and Ryley Cidlik picked him up to get the victory.
Prater walked just one batter in three innings of relief to defeat
Cidlik, as he did that night, struggled again, missing down low.
He walked six over the first four innings and hit another, but didn't give up a hit over that span.
He retired Kreitman on a fly ball to right with two on to end the first. He struck out Buresh and Kreitman with two on in the third.
The hosts took the lead by chasing Cidlik off the mound in the fifth.
Vavrina hit a leadoff double and scored on Clete DeWispelare's single.
Buresh greeted Prater with a RBI-single, but the reliever picked him off first for the first out.
Prater retired Kreitman on a fly ball and Vandenberg on a grounder to keep the deficit at a run.
Dwight-Val one run in the first and two more in the third without a RBI thanks to three
Aaron Rerucha dodged some bullets along the way.
Dwight-Val had two on with two outs in the third, but Rerucha struck out Brandon Wallroff.
McNally and Brenner walked to lead off the fifth, but McNally was thrown out trying to steal.
Rerucha retired Cieslik on a grounder to second and Bryan Sydik on a strike out.
The
Prater struck out four in his three innings of work while Cidlik struck out nine in four-plus.
Brenner and Ohnoutka drove in two runs each for Dwight-Val. Prater was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. McNally walked twice. Brenner was 1-for-3 with a walk while Sydik was 1-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.
Vavrina was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored for
East Butler girls defeat Howells in Class D-1 opener
The East Butler girls basketball team took advantage as Howells racked up the fouls in a 55-44 victory for the Tigers in the first round of the Class D-1 State Tournament.
It was the first win for East Butler in the state tournament since 2001. The team had lost in the first round in its two subsequent appearances in 2007 and 2008.
"Any time you win in the state tournament, it's a pretty big deal. They brought
"I'm just so glad to win this first game. I'm so excited. We wanted this all year," East Butler senior Kylee Sisel said.
"We've been working hard for this for all four years. We wanted to come out strong and show what we could do," senior Marissa Bongers said.
The Tigers still led the Bobcats (15-8) at that point by getting to the foul line 14 times.
"It was a tightly called game. Marissa played with a desire to win and took over the game. There's nothing we could do except work as hard as we could and try to limit what she could do." Howells Coach Scott Polacek said.
"She just finds a way to score. She got some steals and deflections and that got us going. She got some big baskets in transition and some huge putbacks. She's just so athletic. She can find ways to make things happen for us," Reinsch said.
"We said that if they were going to play us man-to-man, we're driving to the basket and getting to the line. We thought we could get them to foul us and that kind of panned out again."
It was Howells who started quickly. Jessica Bartling and Amber Burenheide hit three-pointers to help the Bobcats take a 10-4 lead midway through the first quarter.
The Tiger defense buckled down, holding Howells to 2-of-9 shooting with 13 turnovers the rest of the half.
Bongers scored 11 points in an 11-0 run that gave the Tigers a 15-10 lead in the second quarter.
The key stretch came in the third quarter.
The Tigers came through by outscoring Howells 16-6 the rest of the quarter to take a 10-point lead.
A Bongers free throw gave East Butler the lead for good. She cashed in a three-point play on the next possession.
Michaela Janak added another basket on the Tigers' next trip downcourt to put the team up by six.
The Bobcats, who defeated East Butler 60-51 at the Howells Holiday Tournament Dec. 29, got no closer than eight points in the fourth quarter.
Down by 12, they got a pair of Burenheide free throws, then a Makenzie Polacek basket to pull within 46-38 with 3:36 left in the game.
The Tigers ran over 30 seconds off the clock.
East Butler ran more time off, this time getting a Chelsea Komenda layup off a high post pass by Donnita Helman to put the Tigers up 50-38 with 1:44 remaining.
"We said that if they were going to play us man-to-man, we're driving to the basket and getting to the line. We thought we could get them to foul us and that kind of panned out," Reinsch said.
The Tigers pulled off the state tournament victory without senior starter Brittany Karber, out with a late-season knee injury.
"I've been playing basketball with her for a long time. I really wish she could play here, but we had other girls step up. We all pick each other up out there," Bongers said.
"I thought Michaela gave us some good minutes. She had a couple of steals and a big bucket in that run. Kaitlyn did a really good job when she came in, getting a couple of rebounds and a steal. Sammi got some big rebounds. It was just a good effort overall," Reinsch said.
Defense certainly helped. While Burenheide scored a team-high 18 points, the Tigers held sisters Kortney and Kaitlyn Janata to nine points on a combined 3-of-16 shooting.
"Our emphasis was on the inside game and getting backside help," Reinsch said. "We got a few steals and we defended them well inside. It certainly didn't help them when Kortney Janata got into foul trouble. That certainly affected her offense."
"Defense and rebounding were big," Komenda said. "Our defense needed to step up. We worked harder in practice on defense and our rebounding has definitely improved."
Bongers also had 10 rebounds and five steals for the Tigers. Komenda scored eight points. Donnita Helman added seven points and three steals. Sisel had six rebounds. Rech handed out four assists. Janak had three steals.
Kaitlyn Janata and Polacek led Howells with seven and six rebounds, respectively. Bartling had three assists while Burenheide had three steals.
Photo caption:
NOT HARD ENOUGH -- Howells’ Kourtney Janata fouls East Butler’s Marissa Bongers. The Tiger senior made the layup and the free throw for the three-point play on the way to a 34-point performance in the team’s 11-point victory. Janata, Howells’ leading scorer, was held to three points before she fouled out. Bongers, the all-time career leading scorer in team history, scored 77 points for the Tigers on the tournament. Photo by Kreig Ritter
East Butler, Humphrey advance to semi-finals
East Butler didn't let Howells get a second win against the Tigers in the opening round of the Class D-1 State Basketball Tournament on Thursday in Lincoln. The Tigers led at halftime and defeated the Bobcats 55-44 on Thursday morning at Lincoln North Star. Howells handed East Butler one its three losses earlier in the year.
Next up is Humphrey, a 49-46 winner in overtime over No. 7 Kenesaw.
East Butler and Humphrey tip off at 9:30 a.m. Friday at Pershing.
On the other side of the bracket, top seeded Silver Lake, a 59-30 winner over Brady, takes on Elkhorn Valley, which breezed by SMC 44-20.
The D-1 Championship game is set for 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Bob Devaney Sports Center. The consolation game is at noon Saturday at Lincoln High.
East Butler girls snap out of skid, coast past Leigh
The East Butler girls snapped out of a two-game losing skid with a 61-30 victory over Leigh at the Howells Holiday Tournament Dec. 30.
The victory gave the Tigers third place in the tournament.
It came a day after East Butler (5-2) lost 60-51 to Howells in the first round.
The Tiger defense dominated the consolation contest. The team held the Panthers (1-6) to 28 percent (10-of-36) shooting with 22 turnovers.
Marissa Bongers and Kylee Sisel combined for 11 points in a 15-0 run that gave the Tigers a 24-8 lead early in the second quarter.
Bongers finished with 30 points. The senior is now the school's career scoring leader, with 1,145 points. She broke the previous mark of 1,127 by Vickie Kocian.
Sisel had 10 points and eight rebounds for the Tigers. Brittany Karber had eight rebounds and four assists. Donnita Helman grabbed six rebounds.
Adrian Bruhn and Lauren Settje scored six points each for Leigh.
The Tigers took a 13-9 lead after the first quarter against Howells, but couldn't hold on as Howells got the lead by halftime.
Free throws made a big difference, especially in the second half. Howells shot 70 percent (12-of-17) from the line in the half while the Tigers shot 50 percent (12-of-24).
Bongers had six rebounds to go with her 20 points. Helman had 11 points and six rebounds. Karber had seven rebounds and three assists. Sammi Rech had five rebounds.
Bartling led Howells with 16 points and five steals for Howells (6-1), which defeated Coleridge 56-32 in the championship game. Kaitlyn Janata had 14 points and seven boards against the Tigers.
East Butler visits Aquinas Thursday before hosting Shelby Friday and Conestoga next Tuesday.
Tigers edge Leigh, win Howells Holiday title
The East Butler boys basketball team extended its winning streak to six by taking the Howells Holiday Tournament title.
The Tigers edged Leigh 46-44 in the championship game Dec. 30.
East Butler (6-2) used a strong inside game, among other things, to counteract the opposition's willingness to take outside shots.
The Tigers were outscored 42-9 from three-point range in the tournament, but held an 80-38 edge on points from two-point distance.
Ryley Cidlik finished with 20 points, six steals and four assists. Vince Aerts added 12 points and three assists. Cameron Smith had nine rebounds and five assists.
Josh Wendt and Blake Brabec scored 18 points each to lead Leigh (4-3).
The Tigers outrebounded Howells 32-22 to help overcome the Bobcats' six made three-pointers.
Cidlik led East Butler with 24 points, 12 rebounds and five steals. Smith had 10 points, five rebounds and three assists. Alan Vandenberg and Aerts each had six rebounds and three assists. Todd Pernicek dished out four assists.
Sam Schlautman scored 12 points to lead Howells (5-1), which defeated Coleridge 58-20 for third place. Brian Bayer chipped in 10 points.
East Butler hosts Shelby Friday and Conestoga next Tuesday.
Decade's top ten sports stories
By Kreig Ritter
Banner-Press Sports Editor
It turned out to be an eventful decade in area sports. State championships, school records, even a World Cup championship.Here's a look at the top 10 stories from the area over the last 10 years.
#1 - Wrestling Capital of Nebraska
David City and Aquinas were no strangers to wrestling success by the time the 2003-2004 season rolled around.
The Monarchs had won back-to-back state titles in 2001 and 2002, part of a run of three state titles, a runner-up finish and two third-place finishes in the previous decade.
David City had four straight runner-up finishes to start the '90s, then rebuilt. That resulted in a runner-up finish in 2003 that had the team confident it could win the school's first state title since 1984.
The two teams met twice during the regular season. The Monarchs defeated David City 37-31 as part of the Butler County Triangular.
David City edged Aquinas for second place at the Boone Central Invite just over two weeks later.
The Scouts then won the District C-3 title with 199 points, finishing 21.5 points ahead of the runner-up Monarchs.
David City had eight qualifiers while Aquinas had seven, enough quality depth for the two teams to establish themselves as the best in Class C.
Friday night's championship semifinals were an incredible display of local talent. The two schools had 10 wrestlers in the semifinals. All 10 of them won.
David City had a three-point lead over Aquinas heading into the final day, but no wrestlers in the consolation bracket.
The Monarchs, meanwhile, got come crucial points from sophomore Andrew Daro, who came back from a second-round loss to finish third.
That meant Aquinas had the lead when the 13 area wrestlers (East Butler had three finalists in Class D) walked in the Parade of Champions.
Rob Daro got Aquinas started in the finals with a 2-1 win over West Holt's Patrick Lamkin for the 125-pound title.
David City's Jared Pickett followed with a 7-2 win over Thayer Central's Joey Koch in the 130-pound finals to get David City back within 5.5 points.
The crucial swing match followed at 135 pounds. David City's Jason Pickett had lost twice all season, both times to Aquinas' Aaron Karpisek. But Pickett came in with a 6-2 win over Karpisek in the district finals.
Karpisek got a big reversal in the first period to take the lead and held off Pickett the rest of the way for a 5-2 victory.
Sophomore Jared Meister followed with Aquinas' third straight title victory, defeating Thayer Central's Craig Degenhardt 4-3 for the 140-pound title.
The three straight victories meant David City would have to win out in the rest of its matches to take the title.
The Scouts wound up with three more runner-up medals. Anthony Hruska lost to Lincoln Christian's Addison Negley in the 152-pound final. Matt Kastl, who'd go on to win the state title in 2005, lost by pin to Aquinas Josh Coufal at 215 pounds. Danny Colburn lost a decision to Bennington's Andy Christensen for the 275-pound title.
Coufal gave the Monarchs a school-record four state champions in one season, breaking the record of three set in 1994 and 1996.
Aquinas also got a runner-up finish from Adam Osborn at 160 pounds. The Monarchs' seven qualifiers lost just four matches at state.
The result - Aquinas' third state title in four years. They scored 141.5 points. David City was second with 122 points.
It was a historic finish that wasn't likely to be repeated any time soon.
East Butler, by the way, finished fourth in 2004, with Andy Valenti winning the 145-pound title in Class D. Brandon Jisa (135 pounds) and Josh Hlavac (275) placed second.
In the five years since the historic season, the best finishes for any area team has been third - Aquinas in Class D in 2006 and East Butler in Class D in 2008.
#2 - Last One To Leave Dwight, Please Turn Out the Lights
A unique set of circumstances combined to give Dwight two quality baseball teams in 2005.
The Dwight Seniors had most of their 2004 state-qualifying team back.
Most of the Dwight Juniors' 2004 state championship team was eligible to stay down at the junior level, but pitcher Matt Komenda had to move up.
Rather than break up the Junior team, the decision was made to move the Juniors team up and created a second senior team - Dwight-Rising City.
Both teams expected to have good seasons, but it wound up being even better for the area than anticipated.
Dwight, with the more experienced team rolled through the regular season with a 25-1 record.
Dwight-Rising City, younger and with a tougher schedule, still posted a 15-8 mark.
The first to qualify for state was Dwight-Rising City, which defeated Yutan, Wymore and Bennington twice.
The back-to-back wins over Bennington, which had turned into a bit of a rivalry, was one of the season's highlights.
Dwight swept its district with wins over Campbell, Harvard, Hebron and Meridian, but was in a bigger district. Then heavy rains in Wilber rendered the field unplayable for two days, meaning Dwight didn't win its district title until two days before the state tournament started and five days after Dwight-Rising City won its title.
Dwight-Rising City started its tournament with a 7-0 win over Creighton.
Dwight dug itself a hole with a 7-6 loss in eight innings to Chappell.
That meant Dwight would have to win five games in four days to win the title.
Dwight-Rising City defeated Shelton-Gibbon, Chappell and West Point to advance tot the title game.
Dwight responded to its challenge, defeating Elkhorn Mt. Michael, Shelton-Gibbon and Chappell to force matchup for the title between Dwight's two teams.
Dwight-Rising City had the upper hand, only needing to win once while Dwight would have to win twice on that Tuesday night.
The real upper hand was pitching. The combination of the late district tournament and the first round loss, at the end, left Dwight without a lot of pitching left to try to win the title.
Dwight pitcher Matt Komenda inadvertently got beaned in the back of the head by catcher Mike Lanik on Zitek's steal of second in the second inning. That opened the door for a four-run inning that put Dwight up 4-1.
Joel Zitek had pitched a complete-game in the 3-1 district title victory over Meridian, then tossed a four-hit shutout against Elkhorn Mt. Michael on two days rest. He got the call against Dwight-Rising City, but was pitching on fumes with his third start in seven days.
Unable to get much zip on his fastball, he had Dwight-Rising City hitters waiting on the curveball.
Dwight-Rising City scored four runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead for good. The team went on to take an 11-5 victory.
It was a historic season, one where the two teams posted a combined record of 55-10 when not playing each other.
It turned out to be a one-year deal, as the number of players dropped in the program overall.
There would be no more seniors state titles in Dwight the rest of the decade. The left arm of Wymore's Jacob Diekmann almost single-handedly kept the 2006 team from making it to state. The 2007 and 2008 teams qualified, however. By 2009, the Seniors, due to a lack of numbers, had to co-op with Valparaiso. The co-op team made it to the Class B state tournament.
While there were some hard feelings with the split of the Dwight teams, in the end, the teams handled things well. The fans came together to support their teams and each other, knowing they were witnessing history not likely to be repeated any time soon.
#3- Pursuit of Gold
As noted in greater detail in the 2009 Year in Review, it's been quite a journey for Curt Tomasevicz.
He helped Shelby to team success in athletics. There were the back-to-back state semifinalists in football. There were the trips to state basketball, including a near-state title when the team lost in overtime in the semifinals to a Johnson-Brock team that won the state title game by 30 points.
Then came the University of Nebraska, where Tomasevicz earned an engineering degree as well as lettering in his senior season on the football team.
Shelby, Nebraska is a town that's had some athletic success but one look at the terrain doesn't reveal much in the way of opportunities for alpine competition.
You won't find a sky lift or a hill for bobsledding.
But Tomasevicz, through connections at UNL, was convinced to try out for the bobsled team, which has converted athletes from other sports.
As it turned out, Tomasevicz' athletic skill set (he still holds the SHS triple jump record) translated well into bobsledding.
He was part of the sixth-place four-man bobsled team at the 2006 Winter Olympics and the 2009 World Cup Championship team.
Now, he's part of a team that's one of the favorites to win Olympic Gold in Feburary.
#4 - Don't Call It An Upset
The Aquinas boys basketball team had clearly been building up to something special in 2006.
The Monarchs, with a young core of players, had a developing program. The team with a mostly older roster, qualified for state in 2003, then took its lumps at times with a young team in 2004.
Aquinas came back with a strong 2005 season, posting an 18-5 record, losing by eight points to eventual Class C-1 runner-up Wahoo Neumann in subdistrict play.
Things clicked for the Monarchs in 2006. The team's only losses in the regular season were to Wahoo Neumann, arguably the best team in Class C-1 over the course of the season.
Aquinas put together an 18-2 regular season, then beat Weeping Water by 44 points, East Butler by 36 and Nebraska City Lourdes by 22 in district play. Defeating three winning teams by that kind of margin was impressive, but the Monarchs weren't done.
The Monarchs rolled through their first two games at State.
They had a 43-5 advantage in points off turnovers in a 68-26 win over Sutherland, with three players scoring in double figures. Brian Birkel had 15 points. Jared Bemis scored 13 while Craig Nickolite chipped in 11.
Four players scored in double figures, led by Birkel's 22, in a 73-45 thumping of Plainview in the semifinals.
Despite that kind of postseason success and Aquinas' overall record, the Monarchs were a bit overlooked heading into the finals.
That's because they were playing Ravenna. The Bluejays were the defending Class C-2 champions with loads of experience and talent. Their only loss during over two seasons had been by four points to Bellevue West, which settled for second in Class A with an overtime loss to Omaha Central.
Ravenna kept cranking up three-point shots, not attacking much inside to try to get Aquinas 6'9" senior Matt Plasek into foul trouble.
The strategy worked when the Bluejays were hitting. They were 11-of-26 from three-point range in building a 44-32 lead with 3:28 left in the third quarter.
Ravenna would go just 2-of-17 from beyond the arc the rest of the game, opening the door for Aquinas to rally.
A Nickolite three-pointer from the corner to end the third quarter and a Bemis basket to start the fourth had the Monarchs within 47-44.
Nickolite got a steal and eventually scored with 3:45 left to give the team the lead for good.
Bemis added another basket 91 seconds later to increase the lead to three.
Then Birkel, who hadn't hit a three-pointer all day, drilled one to put Aquinas up 58-52 with 1:17 left.
The Monarchs would hold on from there for a 60-55 victory.
It was a game decided by starters. Ravenna played one sub for eight minutes. Aquinas played one sub for 25 seconds.
All season long, Aquinas had a balanced attack and the title game was no different - 16 points for Bemis, 14 for Kyle Eller and 10 each for Nickolite, Birkel and Plasek, with Plasek also grabbing 15 rebounds.
Ravenna was deservedly the favorite, but Aquinas' state title (its first since winning Class C-1 in 1997) should have come as no shock. Losing just twice against a quality schedule was no fluke.
The Monarchs were the real deal in 2006, a fact the rest of the state became fully aware of with one of the state championships' all-time greatest comebacks.
#5 - The Monkey's Off the Back
As outlined in greater detail in the 2009 Year in Review, the Aquinas volleyball team made history.
The Monarchs had been to the state tournament the previous two years, but lost both times. In fact, they'd never won a set in their previous trips to the tournament.
On Nov. 1, Aquinas was sitting with a 6-7 record, albeit against a tough early schedule.
The Monarchs clicked down the stretch, winning 20 of their final 21 matches on the way to the state championship.
Aquinas survived a couple of five-set battles to defeat Fremont Bergan in the district final and Bridgeport in the first round at state.
Once the Monarchs got that first state victory out of the way, they rolled. They dominated North Platte St. Pat's in straight sets in the semifinals and dispatched Sandy Creek in similar fashion in the finals.
Aquinas was led by its senior co-captains - Jenna Beringer, Katie Holoubek and Mary Klosterman - as well as some strong contributors in its junior class in starters Kristine Fiala, Emily Kobza and Shania Steager.
The Monarchs' state championship was a nice exclamation point on what's been the best run in volleyball in school history.
The 2008 team set the school record for wins, a mark that lasted until this year's team tied it with the win over Bridgeport and broke it with the wins over St. Pat's and Sandy Creek.
#6 - As Easy as 1-2-3
There have been many quality individual track-and-field performances in the area over the past 30 years - multiple state titles, state records and all-class golds.
One of the best came from David City senior Cherette Mastny in 2000.
Mastny put together two days that haven't been duplicated since, winning the Class C championships in the 100, 200 and 400 meter runs.
Two other athletes won two individual events the same year. East Butler's Tyson Buresh won both Class C hurdle races in 2007. Lynsey Kreikemeier won the 400 and 800 for Aquinas that same year, also running on the winning 1,600 relay.
But no other area athlete was accomplished winning three individual titles at state this decade.
Mastny got off to a slow start in the 100 meters, but still won her heat in a time of 12.87 seconds. That was the third fastest time in preliminaries.
The senior got off to a cleaner start on Saturday, enough to win with a time of 12.51 seconds. She finished .21 seconds ahead of runner-up Rochelle Schmidt of Republican Valley, who won the long jump and triple jump.
The next final for Mastny was the 400, which was one of the premier events in that class and a rematch of the district meet the week before. Lincoln Lutheran's Ashley Selig, a future standout at Nebraska, had won the district meet over Mastny in the 400. Aquinas' Kate Semin, the school's record holder in the event at the time, wasn't far behind Selig and Mastny.
In all, five runners ran times under 60 seconds in the preliminaries.
Running from the second lane, Mastny overtook Selig to win with a school record time of 57.15 seconds. Selig was second in 57.98 seconds while Semin placed third in 58.98 seconds.
That left the 200, which had been the senior's best event throughout the season. She had the fastest time in Class C at 25.6 seconds.
She didn't top that mark, but still won easily, by almost a full second, with a time of 25.72 seconds.
Mastny would go on to compete at Chadron State. To date, she is still the last state track champion David City High has had.
#7 - Back-and-Forth, Back-and-Forth
The Aquinas boys track team won the Class C title in 2005, only the fourth area boys track title in area history.
The next year, the Monarchs were striving to become the third area track team to win back-to-back state titles. The David City St. Mary's boys did it in 1960 and 1961. The Aquinas girls did it in 1981 and 1982.
East Butler had finished third just two seasons before.
The two teams put together quality regular seasons, finishing strong. The Tigers dominated the Central Seven Conference meet, scoring more points than the next three teams did combined.
In a much tougher conference - the Centennial - Aquinas placed third.
In between, the two teams were both at the Bergan Invite where the Tigers were second and the Monarchs were third behind Wahoo Neumann.
The next week, Aquinas won the district title with 118 points, three more than East Butler.
Both teams had hopes of doing well at state. They certainly did. What couldn't be known ahead of time were the twists and turns to get there.
The Tigers, thanks to medal-winning efforts from Jordan Makovicka in the long jump and Tyler Pelan as well as a runner-up finish from their 400-relay team of Pelan, Tyson Buresh, Adam Pekarek and Deron Jakub, appeared to be in good shape going into the 1,600 meters.
Anthony Aerts had already won the 3,200 for East Butler. He was one of the favorites in the 1,600. He was in second with one lap left, but the energy he'd put into winning the 3,200, along with the cumulative effects of the heat in Burke Stadium, left Aerts without his usual finishing kick. He didn't place.
That opened the door for Aquinas, which had two of the top 300 hurdle runners in the state in Kyle Eller and T.J. Glock. Eller already had won the 110 hurdles while Glock had the fastest prelim time in the 300.
East Butler, meanwhile, had the school's all-time best hurdle runner in Buresh, who'd placed third in the 110s, in the field.
Glock had the lead going down the straightaway with Buresh and Eller in pursuit.
Hurdles are a race where timing is paramount and Glock came up on the last hurdle too fast. He was forced to slow down in order to clear the last hurdle.
Buresh and Eller sprinted past, with North Platte St. Pat's Dane Carlini passing Glock for fourth at the finish.
The race put East Butler in the lead in the team standings and eliminated Aquinas.
All the Tigers could do at that point was wait, as they had no competitors left.
It all came down to the 1,600 relay. Tri-County needed to win the event to overtake the Tigers. The Monarchs, meanwhile, were trailing the Trojans by just two points and hoping to overtake them for second.
Tri-County, running in the first heat, easily won in a time of 3:28.07.
The second heat turned into a two-team battle between Aquinas' unit of Eller, Ryan Sabata, Brian Birkel and Glock and Laurel-Concord.
Laurel-Concord won, but East Butler had to wait for the official times to be posted to know whether it was state champion or runner-up.
Finally, the times appeared on the scoreboard with Laurel-Concord having won in a time of 3:28.79.
It was one of a number of close timings that went in East Butler's favor. Pelan was five-hundredths of a second from not medaling. The 400 relay team was seven-hundredths of a second away from finishing third instead of second.
Aquinas settled for third in the relay and at state, a tough finish for one of the best three-year runs in area track and field history.
For East Butler, it was the school's first track title. In fact, it's the only track title won by an area school outside of David City limits.
#8 - The Fall of the Central Eight Empire
Back in the 1980s, a group of schools in Eastern Nebraska joined together to form a new conference.
Stromsburg, Osceola, Fullerton and Genoa left the Goldenrod Conference. Shelby left the Crossroads. East Butler left the East Central Nebraska Conference. David City left the Capitol Conference. Nebraska Lutheran, a relatively new school that had been an independent.
The new Central Eight resulted in a conference chock full of competitive athletes and a lot of interesting battles over the years.
Conference schools won 10 state championships in athletics, as follows --
Track - Osceola boys, 2003
Wrestling - East Butler, 1997 and 1999, Stromsburg-Osceola, 1998.
Girls Basketball - Genoa, 1992
Football - Stromsburg, 1999 and East Butler, 1989
Cross Country - East Butler girls, 1996, 2004 and 2005.
In addition, these teams were state runner-up
Wrestling - David City, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993, East Butler 1998
Boys Basketball - Shelby, 1992 and 2004
Girls Basketball - East Butler, 1988
Volleyball - David City, 1985
Football - David City, 1986 and Osceola, 1989
That doesn't count the various Top 10 teams produced by the quality athletes in the conference.
Membership remained steady until the early part of the decade.
In 2001, Nebraska Lutheran left to join the Frontier Conference, made up of smaller schools at a more competitive level. Friend replaced Lutheran to keep the conference at eight members.
Things were changing, though.
David City, which had joined the conference originally because of fears its enrollment wouldn't have the team competitive in the Capitol, was easily the largest school in the Central Eight.
The team tried to join the Southern Nebraska Conference earlier, but were rebuffed at that time.
Things changed when Superior expressed an interest in the SNC. Conference officials approached David City officials to see if they were still interested. They were, joining the 12-team conference as a full-time member in 2004.
East Butler was next to go. Knowing a big enrollment drop was coming, the school opted to go back to the ECNC in 2006.
That left the conference as the Central Six. Osceola, Fullerton and Shelby remained as original member schools. Stromsburg had merged with Benedict to form Cross County. Genoa, Monroe and Silver Creek had merged to form Twin River. Friend had been in for less than a decade.
Efforts were made to expand the conference. Overtures were made to Exeter-Milligan and High Plains from the Crossroads and Palmer and Nebraska Christian from the Goldenrod. All were turned down.
The conference soldiered on as the Central Six for a couple of years, but then Wymore Southern announced it was leaving the SNC for the Pioneer Conference, due to declining enrollment.
That left an opening that Cross County, which built a new school south of Stromsburg, opted to fill.
That was the death knell for the conference. Shelby and Osceola left to join the Crossroads Conference, which was looking to boost its membership with some of its members facing closure or merger in coming years. Fullerton joined the Cornhusker Conference. Twin River and Friend, for now, are in no full-time conference although Friend is on its way to the Pioneer.
The conference lasted 20 years as the Central Eight, then five more years as the Central Seven and Central Six before calling it quits.
For now, area conference memberships are stable, but more change could be on the horizon.
With dropping enrollments, there will be more mergers and closures that will lead to realignment and, potentially, new conferences in the future.
#9 - Back-to-Back, Back-to-Back
Rising City briefly had cross country earlier this decade.
David City, despite being the largest school in the area for over 20 years, didn't add the sport until 2009.
Shelby's never offered it.
That's pretty much left the sport to Aquinas and East Butler.
The two schools combined to win a state title four years in a row. The Aquinas boys won in 2002 and 2003. The East Butler girls won in 2004 and 2005.
The Monarchs had spent 10 years out of the Top 10 at state, but went from eighth in 1999 to seventh in 2000 to third in 2001.
The difference in 2002 was the addition of freshman Anthony Aerts and Ryan Dinkelman to the squad, which had three of its top four runners back.
They finished fourth at conference with sophomore Matt Brandt winning and Aerts placing fourth.
The next week, Brandt was unavailable for the district meet, but the Monarchs won the title with Aerts, Dinkelman and Matt Kratochvil all medaling.
Brandt was back for the state meet and he edged Aerts for fourth place by just over a half-second. Dinkelman and Kratochvil both finished in the Top 40.
That was enough for the Monarchs to win by eight points over Kearney Catholic.
With the top three runners back, Aquinas was poised for more success in 2003.
The Monarchs moved up to second in conference, with Aerts placing third, Brandt fourth and Dinkelman eighth.
Brandt and Aerts finished 1-2 in the district, with Dinkelman in sixth, to help Aquinas repeat as district champions.
The Monarchs needed their depth at state. Aerts placed sixth. Brandt, feeling off physically, struggled to a 17th place finish.
With the junior not placing as highly as hoped, the Monarchs needed help down the line. Dinkelman placed 21st and Kratochvil placed 31st, both improvements from the previous season.
That was enough for Aquinas to win the title with 56 points, four less than Bertrand.
The Monarchs' dreams of a three-peat were dealt a blow when Aerts transferred to East Butler. He'd finish second at state in 2004 and win it in 2005.
Aquinas finished second, one point behind Malcolm, in 2004, with Brandt and Dinkelman both medaling.
East Butler's girls climbed in similar fashion. They placed fourth in 2002 and third in 2003 (one point out of second).
The anchor of the 2004 team was senior Anne Pesek. She'd finished fifth the previous two seasons.
The Tigers had three of their top runners back, then got a boost from the additions of freshman Korissah Spatz and sophomore transfer Andrea Aerts.
East Butler ended Oakland-Craig's run of five straight district titles, scoring just 18 points.
The Tigers' top five runners medaled that day - Pesek, Spatz and Mari Pesek finished second through fourth. Aerts placed ninth while Lisa Rech placed tenth.
That depth came through again the next week at state.
Anne Pesek's third straight fifth-place finish as the anchor. Spatz also medaled, placing ninth. Throw in Mari Pesek's 20th-place finish and Aerts' 23rd place finish and you have the recipe for a fairly easy title run.
The Tigers scored 41 points, finishing 26 ahead of Morrill.
With everybody but Anne Pesek back, East Butler was a favorite in 2005.
The Monarchs won the district title with 17 points, 52 ahead of a solid Aquinas team.
Spatz won the district title, followed by Aerts in third and Katie McGrath in fifth. Mari Pesek added a ninth-place finish.
The state meet was a battle. Spatz bettered her previous state time by 23 seconds, but placed 16th and had to be treated for dehydration after the race.
In fact, East Butler didn't have any medalists at state. Spatz was the first to cross, one spot ahead of Aerts. McGrath placed 22nd while Mari Pesek placed 25th.
It was a nervous wait of almost 20 minutes after the race finished. Winside had three medalists. Bayard had two medalists, including the individual champion.
But East Butler's depth held up, as the four runners finishing relatively high made the difference. The Tigers scored 53 points, finishing five ahead of Winside and 10 ahead of Bayard.
Crofton's emergence ended East Butler's title run the following season, as the Tigers, who lost three key seniors and had Spatz hurt, finished sixth behind Aerts' 11th-place finish and freshman Marissa Bongers' 15th-place effort.
#10 - Doing It For Tad
The David City Legion Seniors were already motivated to get to the state tournament in 2007.
Nine of the team's players were on the 2004 Juniors team that qualified for state, the first David City team to make it since the '80s.
However, the team wound up with tragic and unwanted motivation during that 2007 season.
Player Tad DeWispelare and his girlfriend, Renee Palensky, were killed in a car accident on June 18.
It was stunning blow to all who knew the two students, but for DeWispelare's baseball tournament, the team quickly had to play again while working through its grief.
Less than 48 hours after learning of his death, they opened a tournament in York with a 5-0 win over Waverly.
They attended his funeral on a Saturday, then captured an emotional 10-9 win over Seward that night.
The run ended with a hard-fought 6-4 loss to Aurora in the title game.
David City played the rest of the season with DeWispelare, one of those 2004 Juniors players, clearly in their hearts. His No. 10 jersey hung in the dugout for every game. His name and jersey number were written onto caps and gloves. Matt Croghan, one of his closest friends, always drew the No. 10 on the dirt in foul territory after pre-game introductions.
The Seniors answered a 16-3 loss to Valparaiso by immediately beating that team 9-3 in the next game for the Great Plains League Tournament title.
David City defeated Utica-Beaver Crossing 7-3, Valparaiso 8-1, Seward 2-1 and Wahoo 5-1 to win the District B-4 title.
Pitchers Jake Romshek, Travis Polacek and Jake Miriovsky combined to allow three earned runs on 16 hits and six walks in 28 innings in the tournament.
The game against Seward had one of those moments that made one wonder if there was some sort of divine intervention.
David City was holding on to that 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh. Seward had the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate with two outs. The hitter fouled a pitch off. The ball looked for all the world like it was going foul, but the ball curved back in and first baseman Andy Fuxa made the catch against the fence for the last out.
Things were tougher at the state tournament. St. Paul scored five unearned runs, all with two outs in an inning, in a 5-4 win over David City in the opener.
The next day, Polacek and Miriovsky each drilled two-run homers to lift David City to a 7-5 win over Mead.
David City's tourney run came to an end on the third day. Beatrice jumped on the Seniors early, scoring 11 runs in the third three innings on the way to a 13-5 victory.
While David City didn't get the state championship, it accomplished a lot in 2007, not the least of which was showing determination and unity that honored the memory of No. 10.
Honorable Mention Stories
East Butler's Marissa Bongers and Aquinas' Luke Lavicky set Class C state records in track. Bongers in the 800 in 2009 and Lavicky in the 110 hurdles in 2005.
Shelby boys qualify for state basketball in 2001, capping run of four straight trips to state
Three area boys basketball teams - Shelby, East Butler and Aquinas - make it to state in 2000
Dwight Legion Juniors win 2004 state tournament
East Butler girls basketball team reaches 2001 state semifinals
Shelby boys basketball team reaches 2004 title game
East Butler football team reaches semifinals in 2004
Aquinas boys win state track in 2005
Aquinas football team reaches the semifinals in 2004, 2005 and 2009
East Butler's Dave Struebing and Gary McGrath, successful long-time coaches in football and wrestling, respectively, retire from coaching.
David City Legion Baseball sends Juniors to state in 2004
Aquinas girls finish second at state track in 2007
Aquinas Lynsey Kreikemeier breaking the school's 800 meter record the last five times she ran it, finishing with the Class C state title
East Butler boys set school records in winning Class C 400 and 1,600 relays in 2004
East Butler girls basketball team earns back-to-back state basketball trips in 2007 and 2008
Dwight Seniors make it to state in 2008, then Dwight-Val Seniors go in 2009
Dwight Juniors, with three wins in regular season, make it to state in 2009
Aquinas boys win outright Centennial conference titles in track, the school's first, in 2004 and 2005
Andrew Daro wins Class D state title match at 160 pounds on torn ACL in 2006
East Butler football team in 2005 upset in playoffs by Blue Hill in game that included an ultralight plane, flown by an impaired pilot, crashing near the stands. Everyone survived the crash. The then-unbeaten Tigers didn't survive the Bobcats, losing 12-6