Sports News - February 15-20
Bluejays Beat Blue Devils by Tom Uher
The Pierce varsity basketball team played at Wayne on Friday, February 19. The Bluejays’ defensive effort paid off with the final score being Pierce 48, Wayne 38.
The game started off with both teams battling defensively. Neither team could get the advantage against the opponent until half way through the first. The first quarter ended with Pierce ahead 10-8 and the pace of the game according to Pierce’s game plan. The second quarter was much the same with Pierce scoring 11 to Wayne’s 10. Going into halftime Pierce led 21-18.
The second half Pierce followed the same defensive strategy. Pierce played patient offense and tough defense that did not allow Wayne to get into their offensive scheme. The Bluejays outscored Wayne 12-8 in the third quarter to make the score 33-26 going into the final quarter, then added to the lead during the fourth quarter, outscoring the Blue Devils 15-12. The game ended with a final score of 48-38.
Kenley Silhacek led the way in scoring with 17 points and 7 rebounds, followed by Brock Schroder with 9 points. Coach Mike Emory said, “We played very good defense for four quarters and shared the ball well in the second half.” Kenley Silhacek said, “The team played good defense. Everything is starting to come together.”
Frosh Boys Compete in Stanton Tourney by Laurie Venteicher
Pierce’s freshman/sophomore boys played in the Stanton Basketball Tournament on Saturday, February 20 at Stanton. They played the Pender Pendragons and the Stanton Mustangs.
Pierce outscored Pender in every quarter to defeat the Pendragons 49-21. Sophomore Devin West led all scorers with 12 points; Freshman Tyler Pettitt racked up 10 points. Nine Bluejays worked together to score their 49 points.
Pierce’s frosh boys played a close game against the Stanton Mustangs, losing 35-32. Stanton outscored Pierce in the first quarter 10 points to 3 points. Pierce’s boys stepped up their game to outscore the Mustangs 15 points to 2 points in the second quarter; however, the Mustangs outscored Pierce in both the third and fourth quarters. West led Pierce’s scorers with 15 points. Five other Bluejays scored.
The freshman and sophomore boys returned to Stanton on Saturday, February 27, to play the third-place game.
Freshman Trent Spieker said, “We played a good game against Pender; we were very aggressive. When we played Stanton, we were tired from the game before.” Coach Tim Waldner said, “Against Pender, the boys shared the ball well on offense and defensively. We took them out of what they wanted to do. In the Stanton game we played well the first half; we had too many mistakes on defense in the second half to maintain our lead.”
Freshman-Sophomore Girls Win Tourney by Morgan Mattson
The freshman/sophomore Lady Jays won a basketball tournament in Battle Creek on Saturday, February 20. The girls went to Battle Creek on two-days’ notice. Lutheran High Northeast had given up their spot in the tournament, and Pierce was asked to take their place.
On such short notice, only 7 out of 15 girls were able to make the trip. These girls were Morgan Buckendahl, Devin Gnat, Lexy Nuesch, Emily Ronspies, Branigan Stonacek, Rachel Wiedenfeld, and Payton Wragge. The girls did a good job in both games they played with Pierce winning both.
The first game was against the Tilden-Elkhorn Valley Falcons. Pierce scored only two points in the first quarter; Tilden scored three. The second quarter was identical. The third quarter was a better one for Pierce. The Lady Jays gained 16 and held Tilden to 1. To end the game, Tilden added 11 while Pierce added 8, and Pierce won 28-18.
Leading scorers against the Falcons were Rachel Wiedenfeld and Morgan Buckendahl with 9 apiece. Devin Gnat had 6 points, and Branigan Stonacek had 4.
With the win, Pierce advanced to play the second game against the Battle Creek Bravettes. This was a more productive game for the Lady Jays, who scored 8 points in the first quarter and held the Bravettes to 2. Pierce tallied 7 points in the second quarter, Battle Creek 3, so Pierce led 15-5 at the half. The Lady Jays tripled the score on the Bravettes in the third quarter, 12-4, and scored 11 more in the final period to Battle Creek’s 9. Pierce won 38-18 and brought home the trophy.
Leading scorers against the Bravettes were Rachel Wiedenfeld, leading all scorers with 14, and Branigan Stonacek with 8. Morgan Buckendahl put in 6 points; Payton Wragge and Devin Gnat had 4, and Emily Ronspies added 2.
Coach Melissa Sirek said, “The girls played well together although many of them haven’t played together all year, and the girls never gave up.”
JV Boys Lose To Wayne by Eva Chavez
The JV boys basketball team lost to the Wayne Blue Devils 38-42 on Friday, February 19 at Wayne. The Bluejays were ahead by 5 points when half time was called, but the Blue Devils finished ahead by outscoring the Jays 22-13 points in the second half.
Pierce scored 16 points in the first quarter and 9 points in the second quarter. Wayne fell short to Pierce’s scores, making 7 points in the first quarter and 13 in the second. The half ended with the Bluejays ahead 25-20. The second half resumed with Wayne scoring 9 points in the third quarter and 13 in the fourth quarter. Pierce scored 4 in the third quarter and 9 in the fourth quarter. Three of the nine points made by the Bluejays in the fourth were free throws.
The leading scorer for the Bluejays was Devin West with 15, followed by Tyler Lindsay with 7. Jarold McWilliams aided his team with 6 points. Andrew Wolff added 4. Eddie Francois, Tyler Pettit, and Trent Spieker each scored 2.
Coach Tim Waldner said, “The boys played solid through three quarters and just couldn’t get enough shots to fall in the fourth quarter. I was proud of their effort.”
Freshmen BBB vs. Wayne
Even the four three-pointers late in the fourth quarter, donated by one Zach Kremlacek, were too little too late as far as getting past Wayne High’s Freshman BBB team. Pierce found themselves down by ten after the first quarter and the Blue Devils never looked back, defeating Pierce 60-42.
The young Jays were low on man-power as they were down to a mere six players for the evening due to scheduling and injuries but still competed strong to the end with Zach Kremlacek leading the way offensively with five three-pointers. Christian Beery dropped in nine points while Eddie Francois, Ty Pettitt, and Trent Spieker each had six.
Pierce’s freshmen, along with the sophomores, will be competing in their last game of the season on Saturday in the remainder of Stanton’s 9/10 tournament starting at 9 a.m.
Jr. High BBB at Hartington CC
Cedar Catholic hosted three games for Pierce’s Jr. High Boys’ teams last Saturday, February 20, with the Trojans taking the series 2-1. The 7th graders battled valiantly the first three quarters with Hartington maintaining a 5-pt. lead. Unfortunately the CC press was too much in the fourth quarter enabling the host team to finish with the win, 52-29.
The second game included a mixture of both 7th and 8th graders and ended with another win for the Trojans despite the aggressive play of the mini-Jays. Mareikal Blake led all scorers on a turn-around fade-away hook shot. Other notable efforts were on the part of Collin Falter, Alex Retzlaff, Jake Ussery, Jensen Raabe, Matt Proffitt, Colten Hintz, Brandon Gerdes, Briton Rodenborg, and Caleb Loherberg.
The 8th graders were able to come through with a convincing win against a very large CC team. The Jays jumped out to an 11-2 lead and never looked back thanks to the offensive prowess of Chance Larsen and Lane Rohrich, both of which combined for 26 of the team’s 33 points.
