— Sports Corner —

Hockey final – one to remember

?The 2010 Winter Olympics have come to an end. The United States set an Olympic medal record with 37 total medals, while host Canada broke the record for most gold medals with 14.
The last one of these 14 came from the hockey team in their 3-2 overtime win over the U.S. The Canadians survived in one of the best hockey games in Olympic history.
The old Dago rarely watches hockey games, but this was one I couldn’t get away from the television for fear of missing something.
The United States came in unbeaten and had even beaten Canada earlier 5-3. The Canadians had to play an extra game to make it to the final. Both of these teams played a game for the ages.
They both had outstanding goalies. The U.S. had Ryan Miller, who was named most valuable player in the games, while Canada had Roberto Luougo in the net. Both of them survived strong attacks on the goal time after time to thwart scores. They also had well over 30 saves each.
Both teams did what they had to do and attacked each and every time. Canada had a 2-0 lead and it seemed as though it would hold up.
The U..S. scored late to make it 2-1. Then after a furious rally with only 24 seconds remaining, they tied it up to send it to overtime.
With 7:40 played in overtime, hockey’s young super star Sidney Crosby on a good set up pass, shot it past Miller for the winner.
A collective sigh of relief came over Canada before the party began. Crosby gave Canada what they wanted, a gold medal. The young 22-year-old Crosby has already won the NHL’s Stanley Cup and now a gold medal, both in less than a year.
This was a game that will be talked about forever, as one of the greatest hockey final games ever.

Wrestlers compete at State

?The Rawlins County High School wrestlers attended the state 3-2-1-A championship at Hays this past weekend.
At 112 pounds, Dustin Vap finished fourth and had a 24-14 season record. Garth Griffith at 119 pounds placed sixth and had a 33-7 record. Kevin Wolter, 145 pounds, finished fifth and had a 36-6 season record. Lance Finley, 189 pounds, DNP, had a 39-9 record.
Rawlins County finished in 18th place with Norton, Smith Center and Oakley filling in the first, second, and third places.

Ice-cold Buffs lose to Scott City

?Ice-cold shooting, turn-overs, and being outrebounded cost the Buffs in a 27-71 loss to Scott City last Friday.
“The boys came out cold against a well-balanced 4A school,” Coach Jeff Lankas said.
Keaton Argabright led the scoring with 10 points. Tyler Rall added 7 points. Max Mickunas and Marcus Portschy both had 3 points each.
Damian Kogl and Collin Clark had 2 points apiece. Kogl had 5 rebounds, Mickunas 3. Argabright had 5 thefts in the game while Portschy and Rall led with 2 assists each.

Season ends for jayvee boys

?The Buff jayvees lost their final game of the season last Friday to Scott City 51-81.
“This was a rough outing,” Coach Mathew Withington said.
Leading scorer for the Buffs was Joey Leitner with 10 points. Billy McCain added 9. Marcus Portschy and Jack Kanak both had 8; Jason Sis, 6; Damian Kogl and Blake Bergling 4 each; Levi Wolters, 2.
“I am proud of the effort the guys put out,” Withington said. “They never gave up. We have a lot to learn for next year, but I think we are up for the challenge.”

Turnovers cost Lady Buffs

?Once again turnovers and shooting woes were contributing factors in a 27-44 loss to Scott City last Friday.
Top scorer for the Lady Buffs was Hillary Chvatal with 12 points. Emily Chessmore added 7 points. Jordan Mizer had 6 and Audrey Basgall 2 points.
Chvatal had 16 rebounds. Basgall led in assists with 4. She also had 3 steals in the game.
“This was senior night, and our four seniors gave it a good battle for most of the game against a very good Scott City team,” Terry concluded.

RCHS Jayvee girls end season

?The Rawlins County High School jayvee girls went one and two in the last three season games.
The girls defeated Christian Co. Educators 29-28 after a slow start and tied score at halftime.
Abbey Wolters led scorers with 15. Summer Castens had 12; Nicole Oelschlager, 2. Audrey Basgall and Oelschlager led in rebounding with 4 each. Wolters and Castens had 3 apiece.
The jayvee took a beating from Colby losing 16-41. Leading scorers were Wolters, 6; Sierra Castens,4; Basgall, 2; Summer Castens, 2; Oelschlager, 2.
Rebounding for the Buffs were Wolters with 9, Shelby Castens and Sierra Castens, 6 each; Oelschlager, 5; Basgall, 3; Summer Castens, 3.
The jayvees took another heavy loss from Scott City 9-34.
Wolters scored 5 and Summer Castens, 4. Rebounding, Oelschlager had 8; Basgall and Wolters, 6 each; Shelby and Sierra Castens, 3 each.

Junior high girls'
A-team finishes season

?In the first round of the NWKL tournament, the Rawlins County junior high A-team girls lost 10-21.
“It’s awfully tough to win a game when you score ten points,” Coach Brad Pfortmiller said. “We shot 4-35 from the field and 1-10 from the line.”
Keisha Green scored 5 points and had 6 steals; Brooke Paslay, 3 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals; Isabella Skolout, 2 points, 3 assists.
This game made the A-teams’ record for the season 4-5.

Quinter

The A-team defeated Quinter 26-13.
In the contest, Aubrey Dunker scored 8 points and had 8 rebounds; Green, 8 points; Emily Fields, 3 points, 5 rebounds; Nikki Hemel, 1 point, 3 rebounds; Paslay, 2 points, 11 rebounds.

Sainty

In overtime, the A-team girls bested St. Francis 29-25, leaving the Buffs with a 6-5 final season record.
“It was nice to finish the season with a couple of wins,” Pfortmiller said. “This earned us a fifth place finish in the tournament and a 6-5 record on the season in a very tough league. Hallie Doty and Hemel played well and led us to victory.”
Doty had 11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals; Dunker, 2 points, 2 blocked shots; Fields, 1 point; Green, 4 points, 8 rebounds; Hemel, 7 points, 12 rebounds; Paslay, 4 points, 13 rebounds, 7 blocked shots.
“I am proud of these girls,” Pfortmiller said. “They worked hard and have all the pieces to be successful in high school if they will get out and work on their shooting and ball handling in the off-season.”

Junior high girls take tourney

?The Rawlin County junior high girls’ B-team took first place in NWKL on Feb. 25.
In their first game against Colby, the girls won 27-11.
“Colby played us very tough and the score at halftime was only 10-7,” Coach Jenni Sramek said. “The girls came out at halftime and really stepped up their game.”
The Buffs got in foul trouble early and shot only 27 percent from the free-throw line, but the win sent the girls into the championship game with Goodland.
Scoring for the Buffs were Olivia Chvatal, 2 steals; Alissa Curry, 2 points, 1 steal; Tina Zorn, 2 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist; Nicolette Nemeth, 9 rebounds, 9 steals, 1 assist; Mattie Higley, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist; Lexy Leitner, 9 points, 5 rebounds, 6 steals, 5 assists; Dani Noble, 14 points, 11 rebounds, 9 steals.

Championship

In the championship game, the girls soundly defeated Goodland 37-19.
Noble led scorers with 20 points, 13 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 assists; Leitner, 7 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 6 assists; Nemeth, 5 points, 15 rebounds, 2 steals; Zorn, 5 rebounds, 5 steals; Mandilyn Horinek, 3 points, 2 rebounds; Curry, 2 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 2 assists.
“They played with confidence and never let Goodland run the court on them,” Sramek said.

Cougars lose in overtime
to Golden Plains

?The Cheylin Lady Cougar lost 51-60 to Golden Plains at regionals Feb. 23.
With two players out with illnesses, the Cougars were down 6-12 at the end of a quarter and 19-27 at the half. At the end of three, they were behind 28-36.
“The entire team worked a great press and capitalized in the fourth to tie the game,” Coach Debra Pochop said. “With no subs and people in foul trouble, we just couldn’t match up in overtime.”
After a 19 point surge in the fourth quarter, Cheylin had tied the score at the end of regulation play, but could not sustain the effort into overtime. They were outscored 4-13 in the overtime period.
“It was senior Naomi Reeh’s best game of her career,” Pochop said. “She played her heart out and finished the night with 21 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists.
“We are looking forward to lots of returning experience and some hard working freshman coming up for next year.”

Full stories in this week's
issue of The Square Deal.