HHS Freshman Emery Dalke works a cradle against his competition in the 106 weight class.
Junior Brekyn Ratzlaff shoots a layup in the second half against Haven.
Goessel
Basketball—The Goessel girls basketball team got a win over the Wichita Defenders, 37-26, last week.
Goessel played the Defenders close in the first half but was down at halftime, 16-14. A 14-7 run to start the second half spurred the Bluebirds to the lead, and then they held Wichita to just three points in the final quarter to secure the victory.
Cheyenne Sawyer led the way with 12 points, while Lyna Lehrmen had nine in the game.
Coming—The Bluebirds will play Little River at home on Thursday, Feb. 17.
Hillsboro
Boys basketball—A tough match-up and foul trouble kept the Hillsboro boys basketball team from continuing their win streak last week when they fell to Hesston, 63-62, in a nail-biter of a game. Earlier in the week, they doubled up Haven, 63-32, in a blowout win.
Against Haven, Hillsboro got out to a quick 12-7 run before taking a 26-13 lead into halftime. A 21-point third quarter secured the victory for Hillsboro, who easily won the game, shooting 39 percent from three and, as a team, handing out 20 assists in the game.
“It was an excellent team effort,” Hillsboro head coach Darrel Knoll said. “Defensively, we did an outstanding job limiting their points in the paint, which is the strength of their team. In fact, we outscored them 28-12 in the paint. We also forced 17 turnovers and limited them to 33 percent shooting.”
According to Knoll, Duncan Duell’s energy was the key to the victory. He had six points, five rebounds and four steals in the game.
Brekyn Ratzlaff led the way scoring with 18 points and six rebounds, while Matthew Potucek, 12 points, and Grayson Ratzlaff, 14 points, also had solid contributions.
Against Hesston, the sledding got much tougher. Hillsboro got out to a 11-7 lead early and led at halftime, 26-23. Hesston edged Hillsboro by four points in the third before playing to a stalemate in the fourth quarter.
“We did a nice job the first half of maintaining control of the game. We got good shots but didn’t shoot particularly well,” Knoll said. “We were in serious foul trouble the second half, which made it tough, but we played decently well except for a stretch where momentum really went against us. Hesston made a couple of steals and capitalized on a couple of transition baskets off of long rebounds.”
In the loss, Brekyn Ratzlaff led the way with 22 points, while Frank Wichert had 15 points and four rebounds in the game. Potucek, 14 points, and Grayson Ratzlaff, 10 points, were both in double-figures as well.
Coming—The boys will play Halstead at home on Friday.
Girls basketball—It was a tough match-up for the Hillsboro girls basketball team, who lost to Hesston, 49-38, last week.
Hillsboro got down early, 13-7, before getting the halftime score much closer at 22-20. That was as close as it got for Hillsboro, though, as they were held to just five points in the third quarter, and the comeback was difficult to complete after that.
“The game was close most of the first half. Our ladies did a great job of executing and getting to the basket,” Hillsboro head coach Nathan Hiebert said. “During the second half, we just missed a few opportunities; we also struggled to close out, as well.”
Hillsboro was led by Savannah Shahan with 14 points and two rebounds. Zaylee Werth had 10 points and six rebounds in the game.
Coming—The girls will play Halstead at home on Friday.
Wrestling—The Trojans competed at the Central Kansas League Tournament in Hillsboro on Thursday, Feb. 10. They took fourth place out of 10 teams.
“With Haven adding wrestling back to their sports programs, it was nice to have all 10 CKL schools represented at the tournament this year. This was the first time the CKL Tournament has been wrestled since the 2018-19 season due to inclement weather in 2020 and the adjustments to the post-season schedule last year due to COVID. Overall, we were very pleased with how smoothly the tournament ran and we felt pretty good about how our guys competed,” said coach Scott O’Hare. “We had some very good competition in almost every weight class, and it served as a nice primer leading into the upcoming 3-2-1A Regional Tournament next Saturday.”
Lane Rogers placed first in the 182 weight class after winning all five rounds. This is the third straight week that Rogers has made the championship finals. He has improved his season record to 29-7.
“It was awesome seeing all three of our seniors that competed earn spots on the podium by placing in the top three in their weight class. Unfortunately, senior Filow Cruz was not able to compete. Along with seniors Garrett Helmer and Eli Dalke placing third, fellow senior Tristan Rathbone earned the 170 pound league championship and has finished the regular season by placing in the top two in every tournament this season. These three were joined by junior Lane Rogers, who earned the league championship at 182 pounds,” said O’Hare.
Garrett Helmer and Tristan Rathbone both continue to add their names to the Hillsboro High School wrestling record books. Helmer surpassed 100 career wins in high school while he improved his season record to 36-6. Rathbone broke the record for the most pins in a single season. He has improved his season record to 36-4 with 32 wins by pin.
“We have one final week of practice to prepare for the 3-2-1A Regional Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 19. We are excited to be hosting the tournament here at Hillsboro in Robert C. Brown gymnasium. Action begins at 10 a.m.,” said O’Hare.
Coming—The Trojans will be will be hosting a KSHSAA 3-2-1A Regional Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 19. It will begin at 10 a.m. The top four placer winners in each weight class will advance to the 3-2-1A State Championships in Hays on Feb. 25 and 26.
Peabody
Boys basketball—The Peabody-Burns boys defeated the Centre boys, 60-52, on Friday, Feb. 11. There was not a girls game.
Coming—The Warriors compete next at home against Wichita Classical on Feb. 18.
