Sports

BELOIT — Senior Bearcat Tyson Hall placed second; junior Tyler Walford placed third and junior Morgan Kelley placed fourth as the Ellsworth wrestling team will continue the tradition of sending grapplers to the 3A-2A-1A State tournament.

The ‘Cats placed eighth in team points (58) Saturday at the Beloit Regional wrestling tournament — their first top 10 placement in … well a long time. Smith Center made a strong showing on the backside of the bracket and placed first with 143, upsetting second place Hoisington (119).

Hall has worked hard in his fouryear wrestling career and currently maintains a 25-14 record, wrestling in the 126-pound weight class. His determination and learned skills over the years placed him in the championship match against top-seeded Jacob Sisson (26-5) of Phillipsburg, who pinned Hall in the exciting title bout.

WILSON — Kaleigh Hanzlick scored a whopping 25 points Friday night, but it wasn’t enough to stop Sylvan-Lucas, who defeated the Wilson Lady Dragons, 61-47.

The Lady Mustangs took control early with a 10-0 lead. Despite Hanzlick’s defensive efforts, Sylvan-Lucas led 31-22 at halftime.

Wilson stayed close in the third quarter, but the Lady Mustangs began pulling away. Despite the Lady Oilers catching up in the fourth quarter, they couldn’t hold the Mustangs, who improved to 11-5 overall and 7-1 in the Northern Plains League.

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MINNEAPOLIS — Strong performances helped the Ellsworth High School Bearcats wrestling team capture fourth place Feb. 7 during the 2019 North Central Activities Association wrestling tournament.

The meet was a warm-up to the upcoming state high school 3-2-1A regional tournament Friday and Saturday at Beloit High School. Thursday’s tournament gave wrestlers a taste of what’s to come on the road to the state meet the following weekend in Hays. But instead of facing six teams, this weekend’s tournament pits the Bearcats against more than 20.

Beloit easily won the league tournament with 177.5 points, followed by Minneapolis with 124.5 points and Republic County High School with 114.5 points.

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The Lady Trojans of Beloit defeated Ellsworth 48-36 Friday, in a Homecoming basketball game at Ellsworth.

The Lady Bearcats had a good first quarter and stayed close with the taller Beloit squad in the second as the Lady Trojans posted a 24-17 lead with 3:56 left on the clock in the period.

Hannah Wilson’s bucket at the 3:18 mark pulled the Lady ‘Cats within five points of the Beloit lead (24-19). Jaide Talbott’s score 20 seconds later made it a 24-21 ballgame and the Bearcat Backers in the stands came alive.

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The Beloit Trojans defeated the Bearcats, 52-37, Friday in a Homecoming basketball game at the Bearcat Lair in Ellsworth.

The Trojans used outside shooting to begin the scoring with a 3-ball at the 7:19 point of the first period. The teams entered a long defensive struggle with Bransen Schulte getting the ‘Cats on the board with a goal, 3-2, with 4:08 on the clock. Beloit hit another trey and added two goals to have a 10-2 lead before Grant Gwinner’s charity shot made it 10-3. A Beloit 3-ball and field goal ended the quarter with a Trojan 15-3 lead.

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The Oiler Way does not leave much room for vanity. With a 92ndstraight win, the Central Plains girls moved to No. 2 on the state’s all-time consecutive-win list. But there’s something nice about a round number.

Saturday night in Concordia, without much fanfare, the Lady Oilers secured their 100th consecutive win with a 72-25 rout of the Panthers.

“Right now we’re just focused on Meade,” said Lady Oiler coach Pat Stiles.“All year long we’ve just talked about getting ready for the next game. That’s the most important game. I don’t think the girls think about it too much. When everything is done they’ll be able to look back and say,‘Wow, that was pretty cool.’”

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The Ellsworth High School wrestling team had a busy week on the road with a dual in Russell Jan. 24 and the Hoisington Cardinal Classic on Friday.

Thursday’s dual at Russell High School saw the Bearcats defeat the Broncos 42-24.

On Friday, Ellsworth competed against 12 teams during the annual Cardinal Classic. In the end, the Bearcats took seventh place. Beloit won the event with 171 points, followed by Hoisington with 137 points and Cimarron with 119.5 points. Ellsworth had 68.5 points.

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WILSON — The Wilson Dragons forced a running clock in the final seconds of the 76-46 victory over Rock Hills Friday in Wilson.

Coached by first-season head coach Trenton Ptacek and assisted by former Fort Hays State University standout Jake Stoppel, the Dragons have a lot of depth, height, and raw athletic talent this season. Ptacek and Stoppel are also former Dragons and teammates.

Wilson scored the first bucket and Kory Kriley added a shot as Wilson jumped to a 4-0 lead with 6:23 left in the first period. The Grizzlies got on the scoreboard with a field goal at the 6:07 mark. Brady Mermis’ back-to-back buckets made the score 8-2 and Wilson added a shot for a 10-2 lead before the Grizzlies sank a trey at the 4:38 mark for a 10-5 tally.

WILSON — A five-member Lady Dragon team soundly thrashed Northern Plains League rival Rock Hills, 53-26, Friday at the Dragon Den in Wilson.

Of the 11 girls attending Wilson High School this winter, senior Kaleigh Hanzlick; junior Kaitlyn Hoeffer; sophomores Kaylee Boxberger, Bryna Hill, Kami Thrasher and freshman standout Macy Hanzlick comprise this season’s squad.

Thrasher is currently on the team’s injured list, but is expected to return to the hardwood soon. Thus, Wilson hosted a 1A varsity girls’ basketball game with five girls in uniform. For a lot of schools in this situation, this would almost guarantee a winless or a couple of wins during season.

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While this year’s Northern Plains League Basketball Tournament is in the books for the Wilson High School Lady Dragons, the story isn’t finished being written for the boys’ team.

With bad weather forecast, district officials decided to cancel all Friday games, and instead, played tournament games Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Lincoln and at Sylvan-Lucas High School.

Because of schedule changes, the boys’ team will play against Sylvan-Lucas on Feb. 8 at Wilson.

The fifth-seeded Dragons opened the tournament Jan. 14 against the 12th-seeded Lincoln Leopards. But the Leopards were no match for Wilson, who defeated them 53-35 in the first round.

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