Sports

The Sandy Creek Cougar boys had a good start to the 2024 track and field season with a third-place finish at the Sutton Invite, Tuesday, March 19.

Owen Oglesby would be part of 23 of Sandy Creek’s 74 points with one firstplace finish and a fifthplace finish in a couple of individual running events then would team up in the 4x100 and get first and 4x400 and get sixth.

Ben Sullivan would place third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.76 seconds and Owen Oglesby would finish fifth with a time of 11.80 seconds, and winning time from Hastings St. Cecilia, Jenson Anderson in a time of 11.34 seconds.

In the 200-meter dash Owen Oglesby finished first with a time of 23.77, Oliver Oglesby finished third with a time of 24.08 and Sullivan finished fifth with a time of 24.32.

The season-opening Doane University indoor track and field meet earned the Sutton track teams a trio of medals, as the March 15 meet brought home one individual medal, with sophomore Keith Kliewer placing fourth in the 800-meter run, while both the girls and boys 4x400-meter relay teams medaled.

Kliewer’s fourth place finish in the 800-meter run came with a time of two minutes, 17.6 seconds, with the event title going to Thomas Birch of Grand Island Central Catholic with a gold medal time of 2:13.31.

The Fillies team of Reagan Robinson, Madylinn Bautista, Jadlynn Kinney, and Kaci Yost placed fifth overall in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 4:39.74.

Bishop Neumann ran away with the event title with a time of 4;28.72, beating a time of 4:31.67 turned in by Tri County for second place in the event.

A total of 11 basketball players from Sandy Creek and Sutton High Schools were honored this past week by the Southern Nebraska Conference for their play during the 2023-24 season. On the boys side of the post-season honors, a pair of Sandy Creek players were tabbed as first-team selections by the conference, as junior Ethan Shaw and sophomore Oliver Oglesby were joined by Dan Stoner of Fillmore Central, Sam Souerdyke of Thayer Central and Alex Hirschfeld of Centennial on the first-team. Second-team honors went to Sutton senior Cole Baumert. Baumert was joined on the second- team by Clayton Zavodny of David City, Jarin Tweedy of Fillmore Central, Gran Kuhlmann of Wilber-Clatonia, and Devin Slawnyk of Centennial.

Sutton junior, Aidan Jones was tabbed as a third-team selection. Jones was joined by Brock Dubbs of David City, Carter Skleba of Wilber-Clatonia, Blake Starr of Fairbury, and Carson Asche of Fillmore Central.

GIRLS HONORS

The Sutton Mustangs 2023-24 basketball season was a tale of two season as the Mustangs finished the month of December with a 3-5 record, before winning seven of their next nine games to head into the Southern Nebraska Conference tournament with a 9-7 record, including a six-game winning streak, beating Ravenna, Fairbury, Thayer Central, Milford, and Sandy Creek, and taking down David City in the opening round of the SNC tournament.

Following their 55-51 first round win over the Scouts, Sandy Creek gained revenge on the Mustangs with a 32-24 semifinal win, after Sutton upended the Cougars 38-30 a week earlier.

The loss to Sandy Creek sent the Mustangs to the consolation game with Fillmore Central, with the Panthers claiming a narrow 46-41 win, placing Sutton fourth in the SNC tournament.

Sutton then won two of their final three regular season games with wins over Wilber- Clatonia and Superior, while the Panthers again set the Mustangs back.

The Sutton Youth Football program has announced that it’s second annual “Spring Thaw” football camp is drawing near, as the camp is slated to begin Tuesday, March 19 with an offensive basics camp, running from 4-6 p.m., followed by a defensive and special teams basics camp, Thursday, March 21, also running from 4-6 p.m.

The 2024 camp will then come to a close on Saturday, March 23, with their second annual ultimate flag football tournament, which is slated to run from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

The camp is open to all children grades 2-5. The camp provides basic instruction on football fundamentals, teaches players how to drill properly, and introduces football basics, while emphasizing sportsmanship and teamwork. Most importantly, kids that take part in the sessions will have fun. The camp is designed and proctored by the Sutton Youth Football volunteer staff. No equipment will be required by the camp participants. Each participant will receive a camp t-shirt.

For the second-straight season, the Sandy Creek boys basketball team fell just one game short of a state tournament berth, as the Cougars, who wrapped up the year with a stellar 20-6 record, and captured their first Southern Nebraska Conference tournament championship since 2002, 22 years ago.

The Cougars also captured the C2-2 Sub-District championship with wins over Heartland and Exeter-Milligan/ Friend, but a tough 37-26 loss to Norfolk Catholic in the C2-8 District Final brought to an end yet another strong season for the Cougars on the hardwood.

Sandy Creek opened the year with six-straight wins before Doniphan-Trumbull upended the Cougars. A two game split with Centura and Fort Calhoun in the Blizzard Blowout Holiday Tournament set the Cougars with a 7-2 record heading into the 2024 portion of the season.

The Sandy Creek Cougars would fall to Norfolk Catholic in the C2-8 District final 37-26 on the Cougars’ home floor, as the 11 point loss ended Sandy Creek’s season with an impressive 20-6 record, and short of the Class C-2 state tournament.

Sandy Creek came out swinging taking an early lead in the first half, outscoring the Knights 5-4 in the first quarter and 12-9 in the second period, claiming a 17-13 halftime lead.

Norfolk Catholic, however, came out ready to play in the second half and stuffed the Cougars, holding Sandy Creek to just nine second half points, while outscoring the Cougars 24-9 overall to claim the 11-point win as Sandy Creek couldn’t get anything going on offense, with Norfolk was having their way with the Cougars defense finding open shots around the rim and behind the threepoint line.

As the old saying goes, “all good things must come to an end,” for the Sutton boys basketball team, the end of the 2023-24 season came to an end with a near 115 mile road trip to Southern Valley High School, south of Oxford.

The trip wasn’t just any trip for the Mustangs, however, this game was for a trip to the 2024 state tournament in Lincoln.

Sutton’s battle in the D1-7 District Final with the Tigers of Dundy County/ Stratton High School was a sluggish start for both teams, as the two teams duked it out in the first half, with the Tigers claiming a 17-13 halftime lead, before a tough third quarter by Sutton led to an eventual 46-33 win for the 21-5 Tigers, as Dundy County/ Stratton sent the Mustangs packing, while wrapping up the season with a 14-11 record.

The Sandy Creek Cougars magical late-season run came to a close, Friday, Feb. 23, as a road trip to Northeast Nebraska, and a battle with the defending Class C-2 state champion, Pender Pendragons closed out the year with a 65-31 setback at the hands of the Dragons, ending a streak of three straight wins to capture the D1-3 Sub-District championship and cap the season with a 9-18 record.

The Pendragons opened up the game on a hot streak, outscoring Sandy Creek 23-5 in the first quarter. Pender then added an 11-7 second-quarter run to lead 34-12 at the half.

A tough 19-5 Pender scoring run in the third set the game at 53-17, before the Cougars countered with a 14-12 scoring edge in the final eight minutes, setting the score at 65-31 as the final buzzer sounded on the season for the Cougars.

After coming off of their 70-38 opening round win over Heartland, in action in the C2-2 Sub-District tournament, the Sandy Creek boys basketball team entered into a battle with a different kind of cat in the title matchup, inside the Cougars Den, Thursday night, Feb. 22, as the Cougars took on the Bobcats of Exeter-Milligan/Friend, which turned out to be a competitive back-and-forth challenge, with Sandy Creek, thanks to a much needed 17-7 fourth-quarter rally, coming out on top 44-35.

First half of play Sandy Creek was a little relaxed on defense with EMF taking an early 15-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, while in the second quarter, the Cougars held EMF to one point, outscoring the Bobcats 5-1, with Sandy Creek taking a 17-16 lead at the half.

Out of the halftime break shots were falling for both sides but EMF took the lead by one, 28-27 as the two teams headed into the fourth quarter.