Sports

ABOVE: Senior Cade Wiseman, holding the ball, surpassed the 1,000-point career mark in the Mustangs’ 60-39 win over Hastings St. Cecilia Thursday, Feb. 25, as his 15 points in the win took his career total to 1,005 points, as the Mustangs turned their sights on the Freeman Falcons in the C2-4 district final in Adams Monday night.

RIGHT: Wiseman holds a ball commemorating his shooting feat of 1,000 career points, while Caleb Ladehoff (30), Tyler Baldwin (42), and Jackson Anderson look on following Sutton’s 21-point win over the Bluehawks.

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The Sutton Mustangs and Freeman Falcons certainly are not strangers on the basketball court. As the two teams have met up on the hardwood court 13 times over a span of 17 years, before Monday night’s C2-4 district final.

At stake was a trip to the Class C-2 state tournament, which runs March 9-13 in Lincoln.

The majority of meetings between the Mustangs and the Falcons took place in holiday tournament action from 2004 through 2015 when Sutton headed to Adams for the annual tournament. One other game, a 46-39 sub-district tournament win by Sutton over Freeman in 2013, gave the Mustangs a 7-6 series edge, as both teams won six games in 12 holiday tournament games.

Monday night, it looked as if it would be another highly contested battle between the two teams.

Anytime you pit the Sutton Fillies and Centennial Broncos together on the basketball court you’re going to get a battle beyond belief, as the two Southern Nebraska Conference teams have had epic battles game in and game out over the past few years.

This year, the Fillies and Broncos had squared off two times prior to Friday night’s C2-8 district final clash. The three battles all took place on

The three battles all took place on the Broncos home floor, as Centennial tripped the Fillies 47-40 in regular season play on Jan. 8, then claimed a 38-28 win over Sutton in the SNC title game on Feb. 8. Friday night’s challenge for a trip to

Friday night’s challenge for a trip to the Class C-2 State tournament was an even tighter clash, as a 6-3 advantage in overtime gave Centennial a 49-46 win, to end the Fillies season with a 19-7 overall record.

Fresh off a 70-37 over the Superior Wildcats just five nights before the opening round of the C2-7 Sub-District tournament, the Sutton Mustangs once again had the task at hand of hosting the Wildcats in the early game of Tuesday night’s first round in the post-season.

Initially, the Wildcats held a lead over the host Mustangs, as Sutton wouldn’t take their first lead until the 2:02 mark of the first period.

With the 6-5 lead at that point, Sutton added four more points before quarters end for a 10-5 lead in the opening stanza and never looked back. The Mustangs outscored

The Mustangs outscored Superior 17-10 in the second frame for a 27-15 lead at the half and went on a 37-21 second half run to improve to 17-7 on the year, with a 64-36 win over the Wildcats.

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The stage was set for Sutton senior Joe Hinrichs to go out as a record-setting champion, following his C-2 District championship on Feb. 13 in Battle Creek.

Hinrichs had compiled a 167-19 career record over the course of the past four years.

He needed three wins to eclipse Tyler Bailey’s career total wins of 169, established at the end of the 2015 season, but just as big, with Hinrichs’ fourth straight trip to the Nebraska State Wrestling championships, he was set up to become Sutton’s first-ever two-time state champion after winning the Class C 152-pound weight class as a junior in 2020.

His trek to the 160-pound state title this year was no easy task this past weekend, but the mindset for Hinrichs was obvious, as his battle-tested focus was like no other when he opened with his first match Friday night at the CHI Health Center in Omaha.

Senior Joe Hinrichs and sophomore Vance Smith hit the mats at Battle Creek in action at the C-2 District meet Saturday, and both would extend their seasons one more week. The Mustang duo stood upon the medal stand, with Hinrichs gaining his second straight district title, while Smith punched his first-ever ticket to the big show in Omaha.

Hinrichs, who claimed district gold in the 152-pound class a year ago, captured the top spot in the 160-pound class this year, gaining three wins to become just the fifth Sutton wrestler to qualify for state all four years during his high school career.

Other four-time state qualifiers include Austin Carlson, Evan Carlson, Derek Bailey and Ignacio Rivera.

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In light of just taking on the Fillmore Central girls in their final regular season game on Friday, Feb. 12, the Sutton Fillies took matters into their own hands in the opening round of the C2-8 Sub-District tournament, hosted by the Fillies Tuesday night.

A 19-10 first quarter run set the stage, as senior Kylie Baumert lit up the scoreboard for 11 of Sutton’s 19 points, and eventually led the Fillies to a 50-35 first-round win. Baumert finished the game with 25 points, with Sutton improving to 18-6 to advance to Thursday night’s tournament final between either Thayer Central or Superior, who played Tuesday’s late game.

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To remain relevant in the ever-changing world, agriculture must evolve and find creative solutions for positive economic growth in U.S. agriculture.

The USDA’s Economic Research Service website says, “It is widely agreed that increased productivity, arising from innovation and changes in technology, is the main contributor to economic growth in U.S. agriculture.”

A five-year employment study initiated by the USDA expects that in the United States, “employment opportunities will remain strong for new college graduates with an interest and expertise in food, agriculture, renewable natural resources and the environment” between 2020 and 2025.

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Sutton senior Joe Hinrichs will join an elite group of football players in Clay County that have been invited to play in the annual Nebraska Shrine Bowl, as the selection committee for the contest announced players that will play for either the north or south squads in the June 5 game on Foster Field at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.

Hinrichs was invited to participate on the south team during the game, making him the 10th Mustang in the history of the game to be invited. He becomes the 21st Clay County player to be invited to play.

Hinrichs is the sixth player to be invited since Sutton head coach Steve Ramer took over the Mustangs program.

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Coming off the tough 53-42 semifinal loss to Centennial in the 2021 Southern Nebraska Conference tournament, the Sutton Mustangs looked to bounce back from that setback in the battle for third place against the Heartland Huskies in the weather-delayed SNC tournament Monday night at Centennial High School.

After claiming a narrow 12-11 first-quarter lead, Sutton grabbed control of the consolation game in the middle two quarters of action, outscoring the Huskies 13-9 in both the second and third quarters, taking a 25-20 halftime lead and a 38-29 lead into the final eight minutes of play.

Both teams battled back and forth in the final frame, with Heartland gaining a narrow 15-14 scoring advantage as the Mustangs held on for a 52-44 win to improve to 14-6 as they head into the final run of the regular season.