Wowza, the 2023-24 school year has been an amazing year for Cougar Nation, following a trip to the state semifinals in football this past fall, a dose of adrenaline was added this past week by the girls basketball team and Rowan Jarosik in the 2024 Nebraska State High School Wrestling Championships in Omaha.
I’ll begin with Rowan, going into the state meet, as a third place medalist out of the D-1 District meet in Weeping Water, perhaps one of the toughest Class D 150-pound districts in the state, Jarosik showed up and meant business in Omaha.
He opened with a chip on his shoulder, opening the meet with a 3:37 pinfall win over Colton Mader of Crawford, a district runner-up out of the D-4 District, and advanced to the quarterfinals and destroyed a district champion from the D-3 meet, Jayden Reed, pinning Reed in 1:14.
Then came the semifinal round.... Jarosik, behind yet another pin, this time in 4:44 over the D-1 district runner-up, Gatlin Reimers of Palmer punched his ticket to the title bout in the Class D 150-pound weight class.
Another clash with a D-1 district challenger, Jarrett Dodson of Centennial, the winner of the D-1 district title, who beat Jarosik in the semifinals at districts, 6-2, hung on to defeat Jarosik 4-1 in the state title match to claim gold, while Jarosik, in his third straight trip to Omaha, earned his first bit of hardware in Omaha with the silver medal, after a definite valiant effort against Dodson in the title tilt.
Congratulations Rowan, for an amazing 28-7 run this year, I’m already looking forward to next year on so many levels.
SC Girls Rock Now for the Sandy Creek girls basketball team. The Cougars struggled out of the gate this year, going 3-14 during December and January, until winning two of three Southern Nebraska Conference tournament games, then finishing the regular season 1-3 to take a 6-17 record into the D1-3 Sub-District tournament, where, as the fifth seed, Sandy Creek rolled.
Head coach Jared Blackwell and his coaching staff worked a marvelous plan in the post-season, beating Kenesaw 44-40 in the “play in game” with the Blue Devils, but then, taking down the top-seeded Silver Lake Mustangs, on their home floor, no less, not by a little, but by a lot, winning 51-35 to advance to the title game of the sub-district tournament, where after only scoring four first-half points, the Cougars pulled off a masterpiece of a win, in a defensive battle, beating Red Cloud 29-27 to keep their season alive.
Who’s next is one of the best in the past couple of years. Pender, who is the defending Class C-2 state champions, and owners of a 24-1 record this year will host the Cougars this Friday night in the D1-1 District Final, in a game that will be played at 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 23.
Obviously, Pender is no small task, and it will be a “Davey and Goliath” matchup, but there’s a reason games are played, and not just given. I know this, with Blackwell and staff on board, the Cougar girls will go in well prepared, and no matter the outcome, the SC girls have grown by leaps and bounds this year.
Congratulations Rowan on an amazing finish to your junior season, and to the Cougar girls for kicking it in gear here in February. What a finish. What a special time for Cougar Nation!!
