Sports

Freshman Griffin Bergen had a banner day in action at the Southwest Invitational, in Bartley, as the Mustangs 165-pound youngster led a group of five medalists with a gold medal finish, as Sutton finished in a tie for third place in the 22-team meet, Friday, Feb. 2.

Sutton tallied 100 team points to finish tied for third place with Alma, as Red Cloud/Blue Hill earned the team title over Trego, KS, outscoring Trego 116-104.

Bergen ran his season-record to 27-9 with his title run, winning all three of his matches, opening with a 3-0 win over River Eddy of Alma, before advancing to the title bout with a 2:48 pinfall win over Cyrrus Messersmith of Maxwell.

In the championship match, it took overtime to claim gold, but Bergen worked his way to a 9-7 overtime win over Alek Molzahn, a 31-5 wrestler from Alma.

With his title capture, Bergen scored 20 team points.

Thursday night’s annual Clay County battle between the Sutton Mustangs and Sandy Creek Cougars proved to be a total defensive clash.

Both teams entered the game on fourgame winning streaks, but when the dust settled in the Cougars Den, Jon Ladehoff and his Mustangs, with their stingy defense, played the role of the spoilers, as the Mustangs 38-30 road win set Sutton up with a 9-7 record while charting their fifth-straight win. Sutton alum, Cole Wiseman and his Cougars dropped to 11-4 with the loss.

Sutton jumped out to an early 11-7 lead after the first quarter, and never looked back, as a 10-7 second quarter run put Sutton up 21-14 at halftime.

Sutton outscored the Cougars 1716 in the second half to secure their ninth win of the season with the 38-30 victory.

Sutton’s leading scorer on the night was Harrison Herndon, as the Mustang junior had 13 points followed by a 10-point effort by junior Aidan Jones.

It was a tough day on the mats for the Sutton Mustangs in action at the Southern Nebraska Conference meet, as the Sutton crew tallied 34 team points, while earning a pair of fourthplace medals along the way.

Fillmore Central claimed the team title with 140 team points, while Milford outlsted David City by a half point for the runner-up team finish, outscoring the Scouts 129-128.5.

Sophomore Korey Poppe, freshman Connor Hinrichs, and junior Billy Marshall were the lone medalists for the Mustangs, as Poppe finished fourth in the 113-pound class, Hinrichs finished fourth in the 126-pound class, while Marshall was fourth in the 190-pound class.

Poppe’s record moved to 12-8, while winning two of four matches in David City, Saturday, Jan. 27.

Wins came over Colter Sinn of Thayer Central, winning 6-4, with his second victory coming over Kayden Bolejack of Fillmore Central in the consolation semifinals, beating Bolejack by way of a 46-second pin.

Sandy Creek hosted the Sutton Fillies Thursday, Jan. 25, with the Fillies running away with the win, downing the Cougars, 44-29.

Sutton came out running, getting multiple steals and then getting many open opportunities, as the Cougars were a little flustered with turnovers and not having shots fall.

Sutton outscored the Cougars 11-3 in the first quarter, and held an 18-7 halftime lead, before the Fillies outscored Sandy Creek in the second half, 26-22.

What got the Fillies on track in the game was hitting threes and just playing tough on defense, not letting the Cougars leading scorer Emma Fisher have any easy buckets around the rim.

Sutton shot at a 37.5 percent clip, making 15 of 40 shots from the floor, while the Cougars were just 9-33 (27.3%) overall.

Sandy Creek hit eight of 14 foul shots (57.1%), while the Fillies converted seven of 12 free throws (58.3%).

Coming off their 33-point blitzing of the Blue Hill Bobcats, Jan. 19, the Cougars strong game against the Bobcats carried over to the following day, Jan. 20, as they took on the Thayer Central Titans in Southern Nebraska Conference play, as the 7-3 Titans looked to be spoilers of Sandy Creek’s back-to-back wins over the Bobcats, and St. Paul.

Sandy Creek, however, wasn’t about to fall into the Titans trap, as the Cougars came out on top 52-36 to improve to 10-3, and secure the top seed in next week’s SNC tournament.

The three pointer was falling against the Titans, as Sandy Creek would go 7 of 16 with a big dose of help from senior Zach Corman as he was 5-8 from three-point range, and led the Cougars scoring with 17 points, while sophomore Oliver Oglesby also reached double digits with 12 points.

A tough night on the glass nearly made for an upset win for the 3-10 Ravenna Bluejays, Tuesday, Jan. 16, as the ‘Jays held a strong 33-17 rebounding edge over the Sutton Fillies, but a never quit attitude by Sutton helped the Fillies earn a hard fought 42-40 overtime win to improve to 8-5 with the win, while dropping Ravenna to 3-11 with the loss.

Sutton held a 20-18 halftime lead, but Ravenna, behind an 11-6 third quarter run, and a 7-4 Sutton advantage left the game at a 33-33 tie at the end of regulation, where in the bonus period, Sutton outscored Ravenna 9-7 to gain the win.

Sutton shot just over 31 percent from the floor, making 15 of 48 total shots. The Fillies were a solid 46.2 percent from two-point range, making 12 of 26 shots from short distance, but a tough 3-22 effort from threepoint range (13.6%) hurt the Fillies offensive output.

Following a tough 37-26 road loss to Centura, Jan.

2, the Sutton Fillies big hill to climb got even bigger last Thursday and Friday, as the Fillies hosted the 11-0 Cross County, and the 3-5 Centennial girls Jan. 4, and Jan.

5, but that big hill became a little less daunting after Sutton held off the Cross County girls in overtime, claiming a 42-39 victory, but one night later, the then 7-4 Fillies would see the Broncos use an 11-7 fourth quarter rally to defeat the Fillies, 33-31.

Sutton’s Thursday night tilt started off with a bang for the Fillies, as Sutton claimed a 15-4 first quarter lead before the Broncos outscored Sutton 15-9 in the middle two quarters to take a 24-19 lead into the fourth quarter, where Sutton punched the gas pedal again, and with a 10-5 rally, forced overtime, after senior Reagan Robinson hit a layup at the end of regulation to force overtime tied at 34.

The Sutton Mustangs wrestling team earned third place overall during action at the Wilber-Clatonia duals, Friday, Jan. 5, to open the 2024 portion of their season.

The Mustangs won two of their five duals, defeating both Norfolk Catholic, 40-31, and the Louisville Lions, 47-27.

Sutton fell to Bishop Neumann 45-28, to Johnson County Central 42-39, and to Milford 57-18 in action at Wilber-Clatonia High School.

SUTTON 40 NORFOLK CATH. 31 106- Double forfeit.

113- Korey Poppe, Sutton, won by forfeit.

120- Yair Santiago, NC, pins Lane Shore, Sutton,

1:57.

126- Connor Hinrichs, Sutton, pinned Blaise Kann, NC, 1:17.

132- Carter Fisher, NC, won 7-2 over Shawn Westmoreland, Sutton.

138- Oliver Daniel, NC, won by forfeit.

144- Landon Scheidemann, won a 10-2 major decision over Jonah Ash.

150- Noah Morland, NC, won 8-0 over Javin Jordan, Sutton.

157- Mason Dusek, NC, won by forfeit.

Accomplished, according to Websters Dictionary, is something, or someone that is established beyond doubt or dispute. In the eyes of many in the Nebraska high school girls basketball world, former Sandy Creek girls basketball coach Russ Ninemire could certainly be termed as an accomplished coach.

But in the eyes, and heart of Coach Ninemire, he feels accomplished because of the many student-athletes, and coaches that he’s had the luxury of coaching, and coaching with.

Sandy Creek dropped two games in the Blizzard Blowout to Centura and then to Fort Calhoun, with their record falling to 1-8 as they prepare this week for the 2024 portion of the basketball season.

Friday the Cougars took on Centura, falling to the Centurions 52-41, as Sandy Creek came out a little slow after a long break getting back into things, but Centura came out with their running shoes onwith many fast break points to claim a 24-12 first quarter lead.

Then the Cougars got into a groove and shots were falling from deep as that would keep the game close, and after halftime, Sandy Creek’s three-point shooting continued bringing them within nine, and in the fourth quarter Centura stepped up their defense and the Cougars couldn’t get any more rhythm from deep.

Leading scorer the first night for the Cougars was Emma Fisher with 12 points, as she had four field goals and was 4-6 from the freethrow line.