Senior Lane Rogers was one of five wrestlers from Hillsboro that made it to compete in the state championship tournament.
Senior David Schaefer competed in his first state wrestling tournament over the weekend. Hillsboro sent five wrestlers to compete at state.
David Schafer, Sutton Redger, Lane Rogers, Aaron Hein and Anthony Fickes represented Trojan Wrestling at the state championship tournament in Hays this weekend.
Goessel
Boys basketball – The Bluebirds played against Udall on Tuesday, Feb. 21 where they won with a final score of 62-49.
They played against Solomon at sub-state on Friday, Feb. 24. The Bluebirds won 47-35.
Hillsboro
Girls Basketball – The Trojan girls played their last regular game of the season against Hoisington on Tuesday, Feb. 21. They won 45-32 which ends their season as 9-0 undefeated in CKL league, 17-3 overall.
“Super proud of the girls effort to finish our regular season. We played really well against Hoisington who is a very well coached and good team. They marched us in size and have the ability to really shoot it. We did a great job playing within ourselves with confidence throughout the game. They hit big shots and we responded over and over again with under a 10 point lead most of the game,” said Coach Micah Ratzlaff. “These girls have continued to show up and enjoy the process. They deserve every bit of the success we have had. It’s been a blessing to work with coach Boldt and coach Loewen. They keep me in check and have been amazing with the team! The girls are so lucky to have them. We will keep the same mentality rolling into sub-state next week and just continue to try to play good basketball. The sky is the limit with this team.”
Boy’s basketball – The boys had a rough loss in the game against Hoisington on Tuesday, Feb. 21 where they lost by one point. The final score was 43-42.
“It was a tough loss at Hoisington. It was one of those physical games that makes both teams struggle to make shots. We shot 39.5% while Hoisington shot 41.5%. The biggest problem in the game was that we gave up too many transition points,” said Coach Darrel Knoll.
The Trojan’s defense in the half court was good and for the most part, they forced Hoisington to take contested shots.
“We just were not able to create transition for ourselves after we made a stop,” said Knoll.
The game was tied 7 times and Hoisington made the go ahead shot with 11 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win at the buzzer with a shot that just rimmed out,” said Knoll.
Brekyn Ratzlaff had a really good offensive game, scoring 30 points on 10/17 shooting and 6/7 from the free throw line. Ratzlaff also added three assists.
Wyatt Plenert led in rebounding with seven.
“We have improved every game down the stretch and have been playing good basketball. We need to learn from this loss and play our best basketball from here on out,” said Knoll.
Wrestling – The Trojan wrestlers didn’t bring home any hardware, but they worked hard at the State Championships and represented USD 410 well.
Coach Scott O’Hare said, “The State Wrestling Tournament always provides such a roller coaster of emotions. There is the initial excitement of being there, the joy and thrills with every win one of our wrestlers earn, the disappointment with each loss, and heartache for our guys that get eliminated with their season or wrestling career coming to an abrupt end. Although we returned with no state medals, overall the guys performed pretty well and competed hard.”
The results were as follows:
120 Anthony Fickes (20-14)
- Champ. Round 1 – Garret Holmes (Silver Lake) 35-15 won by fall over Anthony Fickes (Hillsboro) 20-14 (Fall 1:20)
- Cons. Round 1 – Anthony Fickes (Hillsboro) 20-14 won by major decision over Payton Haley (Anthony/Harper-Chaparral) 22-22 (MD 11-0)
- Cons. Round 2 – Rance Vessar (Effingham-Atchison Co Community) 19-15 won by fall over Anthony Fickes (Hillsboro) 20-14 (Fall 4:31)
138 Aaron Hein (33-19)
- Champ. Round 1 – Colin Menold (Sabetha) 43-4 won by fall over Aaron Hein (Hillsboro) 33-19 (Fall 0:14)
- Cons. Round 1 – Brennen Pfannenstiel (Norton Community) 27-13 won by fall over Aaron Hein (Hillsboro) 33-19 (Fall 0:20)
157 David Schafer (33-19)
- Champ. Round 1 – Jonathan Renyer (Sabetha) 31-3 won by decision over David Schafer (Hillsboro) 33-19 (Dec 10-7)
- Cons. Round 1 – David Schafer (Hillsboro) 33-19 won by fall over Riley Bohl (Minneapolis) 30-15 (Fall 3:28)
- Cons. Round 2 – David Schafer (Hillsboro) 33-19 won by fall over Garrett Watson (Caney-Caney Valley) 26-12 (Fall 3:45)
- Cons. Round 3 – Seth Keeten (Phillipsburg) 15-6 won by fall over David Schafer (Hillsboro) 33-19 (Fall 1:50)
165 Sutton Redger (31-11)
- Champ. Round 1 – Sutton Redger (Hillsboro) 31-11 won by tech fall over Alex Mater (Hoisington) 14-20 (TF-1.5 5:27 (18-2))
- Quarterfinal – Bricen Lee (Effingham-Atchison Co Community) 40-4 won by decision over Sutton Redger (Hillsboro) 31-11 (Dec 6-1)
- Cons. Round 2 – Augustus Johns (Minneapolis) 41-10 won by decision over Sutton Redger (Hillsboro) 31-11 (Dec 5-4)
175 Lane Rogers (22-10)
- Champ. Round 1 – Mac Chambers (Gypsum-Southeast of Saline) 37-3 won by fall over Lane Rogers (Hillsboro) 22-10 (Fall 0:54)
- Cons. Round 1 – Lane Rogers (Hillsboro) 22-10 won by fall over Trenton Rollenhagen (Silver Lake) 28-21 (Fall 4:04)
- Cons. Round 2 – Lane Rogers (Hillsboro) 22-10 won by decision over Thane Stuhlsatz (Garden Plain) 25-12 (Dec 11-6)
- Cons. Round 3 – Brayden Strobel (Russell) 24-12 won by fall over Lane Rogers (Hillsboro) 22-10 (Fall 1:34)
The Trojans opened the tournament on Friday morning a bit rough with a combination of very tough matchups, as well as beginning to fight nerves and anxiety. Freshman Sutton Redger picked up a strong win in the opening round, but Anthony Fickes, Aaron Hein, David Schafer and Lane Rogers all suffered opening round losses.
In the championship quarterfinals, Redger suffered his first loss of the tournament to the eventual 5th place finisher by a score of 6-1.
“We had a much better closing round on Friday with Fickes, Schafer, and Rogers all picking up wins to advance to the second day,” said O’Hare.
The group came out strong on Saturday morning. Fickes started things off with a solid first match, opening a 5-1 lead before being pinned late in the match and getting eliminated.
Schafer was matched up against an opponent that had beaten him last week at the Regional Tournament. He came out looking great, taking a big lead before winning by fall.
Redger suffered his second loss in a hard fought 5-4 match against another top 6 placer.
Rogers closed out the round with a nice 11-6 win against an opponent he had lost to earlier in the season.
The wins by Schafer and Rogers advanced them to the consolation quarterfinals and one win away from earning a trip to the podium. Unfortunately, they both lost and were eliminated in the next round, their seasons coming to an end.
“We are certainly going to miss David and Lane’s leadership. They both have incredible work ethics, positive attitudes, and have been awesome role models for our young team. However, it is exciting to look ahead to next season with the number of wrestlers we will have returning, including three state qualifiers, along with a few incoming experienced freshmen. We are also hopeful to have a few more girls joining the program,” said O’Hare.
