Sports

Serving the School Districts of Sutton, Harvard, Sandy Creek and South Central Nebraska Unified School District #5

Thursday afternoon’s Class C-2 state tournament opener at Lincoln Northeast High School will mark the first time in basketball that the Sutton Mustangs and Yutan Chieftains will square off on the hardwood.

Sutton’s history in Lincoln runs much deeper, having qualified for the state tournament 29 times, while Yutan has advanced 12 times.

Sutton has been void of the big dance since 2014, while Yutan has only qualified once since 1994, that being last year when the Chieftains finished fourth in the Class C-2 tournament.

Sutton owns four state championships and Yutan, one, as the Mustangs took titles in 1919 in Class B, in 1922 in Class A and more recently, Sutton owns a C-1 title in 1989, along with a C-2 title in 2003. Yutan’s lone state title came in 1924, winning the Class E state title.

BY TORY DUNCAN
Thursday afternoon’s Class C-2 state tournament opener at Lincoln Northeast High School will mark the first time in basketball that the Sutton Mustangs and Yutan Chieftains will square off on the hardwood.
Sutton’s history in Lincoln runs much deeper, having qualified for the state tournament 29 times, while Yutan has advanced 12 times.
Sutton has been void of the big dance since 2014, while Yutan has only qualfied once since 1994, that being last year when the Chieftains finished fourth in the Class C-2 tournament.
Sutton owns four state championships and Yutan, one, as the Mustangs took titles in 1919 in Class B, in 1922 in Class A and more recently, Sutton owns a C-1 title in 1989, along with a C-2 title in 2003. Yutan’s lone state title came in 1924, winning the Class E state title.

The Alma Cardinals, with a strong second half run, would erase Sandy Creek’s 21-16 first half lead, going on a 34-26 second half scoring spree to edge out the Cougars from advancing in the C2-9 Sub-District basketball tournament at Adams Central High School, Feb. 19.

Sandy Creek opened play on an 11-6 first quarter run, before both teams hit for 10 second quarter points to give the Cougars the five-point, 21-16 first half lead.

It would be a 13-9 third quarter run by Alma that brought the Cardinals back to within one point, trailing Sandy Creek 30-29. The second-seeded Cardinals then went on a 21-17 fourth quarter run to rally for the three-point, 50-47 win, ending the Cougars’ season with a 5-18 record.

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With big wins over BDS and Tri County in Sub-District play, the Sutton Mustangs needed to take one more step toward their dream of playing in the 2019 Nebraska State Basketball championships Monday, and that was to beat Centura High School.

The Mustangs, who hadn’t advanced to state since 2014, seemingly had the right scenario in place to make that dream come true, playing the Centurions, a team in which Sutton dismantled earlier in the season, whipping the Centura boys 73-42, back on Dec. 20 in the Sutton Dome.

This time, however, Centura coach Dave Oman and his squad had a little plan up their sleeves, that seemingly caught the Mustangs off guard on the Grand Island Senior High floor.

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Thursday night’s battle for the C2-2 Sub-District title in Fairbury was a game of momentum swings between Sutton and Tri County.
The Trojans opened the game with a 15-11 first quarter lead, before the stealthy Sutton offense kicked into high gear in the second quarter, as the Mustangs outscored Tri County 20-6, led by five points from Quenton Jones, Seth George and Garrett Nuss.
Nuss hit a three-point bucket as the halftime buzzer sounded to lift Sutton to a 31-21 halftime lead.
The Trojans trimmed the Mustang lead by two points with an 18-16 third quarter run, before this clash became interesting in the final eight minutes.
Sutton held a 47-39 lead to start the fourth quarter, and in the end it was a good thing Sutton sparked the 14-point run in the second frame.
Tri County sophomore Cole Siems claimed 18 of his game high 32 points in the final quarter to account for all but two of Tri County’s 20 points in the 20-16 run for the Trojans.

Travis Fraser, left, and Brady Hinrichs try their luck at one of the unique golfing holes created at the Deweese Fire and Rescue Department during Saturday’s Redneck Golf Tournament in Deweese. Twenty-holes were created for this year’s event.

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After finishing second at the D-1 District wrestling meet Feb. 9, Harvard junior Dalton Hansen served up a little excitement at the 2019 Nebraska state wrestling championship, as the Cardinals lightweight 106 pound rallied to gain himself his first-ever state medal, winning five of seven matches in the process.

Hansen, following an opening round 5:58 pinfall win over Tristan White of Arapahoe, ran into his own Twin Valley Conference nemisis in Jesse Sauceda. The Bulldog junior would pin Hansen in 1:16, forcing the Harvard spark plug into the consolation bracket, where he caught fire.

Hansen opened with an impressive 33-second pin over Jacoby Mann of Winside, then pulled off his biggest win of his career in the third round of the consolation bracket, holding off Samuel Foster of Sutherland 4-2 in overtime.

Senior Lee Carlson and sophomore Joe Hinrichs would claim bronze at the 2019 Nebraska state wrestling championships this past weekend, helping the Mustangs finish in the top 15 of the Class C field.

Valentine, with a huge semifinal round Friday night in Omaha, distanced themselves from Broken Bow in the team race, outscoring the Indians 165-129, while Southern Nebraska Conference champion and the C-2 District championship team, David City, placed third with 120.5 team points.

Sutton would tally 42.5 team points to place 13th overall in the final standings.

CARLSON THIRD AT 126

Senior Lee Carlson, who recently gained his 150th career win, entered the 2019 state championship meet with lofty goals of becoming a state champion with his 44-0 record, after winning the C-2 District crown in Albion.