12-01-2012 winter sports

Winter Sports ‘12-’13

B The Ottawa Herald Weekender, December 1, 2012

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By GREG MASTHerald Sports Editor

The seniors have unfinished business. Most of The Ottawa High School boys basketball se-niors have been playing together since elementary school. They are committed to each other and the Cyclones program. The nine seniors stayed in the program from start to finish. This class spearheaded Otta-wa to three straight state cham-pionship games and are gunning for a fourth. The goal is to bring home the second boys basketball state title. Ottawa won state in 1971. Ottawa coach Jon McKowen said the seniors understand what it takes to play at a high level. “They have done an amaz-ing job as a group of changing their bodies and athleticism in their four years,” McKowen said. “Even if basketball is not their first sport, they worked really hard on it in the off-season. The baseball guys would come in the mornings and played every week-end they had free. “To compete at the state level, you have to do a lot of extra. It is a year-around sport. The kids have bought into it the six years I have been here. I am blessed with the attitudes and effort from every kid I have coached at Ottawa.

That definitely includes this se-nior class.” Coming up short in the state title games has fueled this group. The players spend a lot of time in the gym and playing with differ-ent teams in the summer. “In the summer, we work on individual stuff,” McKowen said. “What is their weakness? Team stuff is very minimal. Everyone of these seniors have made them better basketball players in the off-season.” McKowen said because the players go in different direc-tions during the summer it takes awhile to get the players back in sync with each other. “It is really post-Christmas until I feel we flow together,” he said. “It feels like nine new guys that have never played together before. They will catch on a lot faster because they did grow up together. “Right now we are missing a lot of open shooters. We are missing people in transition. We forget a little bit. That is OK. We don’t want it to be perfect now, but we want it to be perfect four months from now in March.” The top-ranked Cyclones are loaded with talented players, but there is more to it. McKowen said the players understand the mis-sion and how to get there.

“It is great because they see the big picture and don’t get frus-trated,” McKowen said. “Being seniors, they have matured past that. “We return three starters that have played in the state champi-onship game two years in a row. We return the first two guys off the bench from last year. Every-body else was around it whether they were on the team or not. They know what it is about. They have the same unified goal.” The seniors know how to pace themselves through the long bas-ketball season and keep things in perspective. “We have done a great job of staying focused during the regu-lar season,” McKowen said. “You will have ups and downs. You try to learn from everyone of those. That way you don’t have those ups and downs in games 20 through 26.” The Cyclones are used to re-ceiving a lot of attention, espe-cially from fans, college coaches and media coming to watch Semi Ojeleye, a three-time all-state performer. Ojeleye signed with Duke a week ago and is ranked in the top 30 of the 2013 class by recruiting services. McKowen said all the extra at-tention is nice, but does not de-tract from what is important.

“In the six years I have been here, we have only been out of rankings one or two weeks,” McKowen said. “We have been very fortunate. It is something we want because we are doing the right thing. It does not re-ally mean anything because af-ter game 20, everybody is 0-0. We play the first 20 games for seed-ing and the next three to get to state and the next three to win it.” McKowen has made defense a priority in his era. He said that is the reason why Ottawa has been successful in close games. “Kids buying into the focus on the defensive end and really playing it hard, is the difference between four or five wins,” he said. “Last year, it happened to be in the biggest games of the year. It helped us [defeat Spring Hill in sub-state]. “We are offensively talented, but we can’t expect to throw up 90 points every game. There will be games when it does not flow or see something new that we were not ready for. Defense has to carry you through the tight ones. We have not had a year where we have gave up more than 54 points a game. We do things right on the defensive end. It is what wins games. We think it will take us to our ultimate goal.”

Ottawa expects opponents to try to take away 6-foot-8 Ojeleye, who averaged 32 points a game last year and is on pace to be-come the state’s all-time leading scorer. “The other guys around him know part of their job is to be of-fensively skilled enough where they can’t throw junk defenses at us,” McKowen said. “The one thing we will be better at this year is shooting. “We know we have to become better shooters, so they can’t pack it in on us and take away some of our athleticism.” Ottawa has seen all kinds of styles of play from opponents the past few seasons. “We found a lot of teams want-ed to hold the ball last year,” McKowen said. “They want to shorten the game. We expect more of that.” An area of concern is rebound-ing. McKowen said this team can rebound, but needs to do it con-sistently. “Being disciplined to do it ev-ery time is a must,” McKowen said. The seniors bring a lot to the table. “They definitely have differ-ent talents,” McKowen said. “I hope the [one thing] that is differ-ent is they win their last game.”

OHS seniors gunning for state championship

KBCA preseason poll6A Boys 1. Blue Valley NW 2. Olathe East 3. Blue Valley North 4. Wichita North 5. Olathe South 6. SM East 7. Derby 8. Blue Valley West 9. Topeka High 10. Wichita East5A Boys 1. Kapaun Mt. Carmel

2. Emporia 3. Sawnee Mission South 4. Lansing 5. Leavenworth 6. Bishop Carroll 7. Goddard Eisenhower 8. St. Thomas Aquinas 9. KC Washington 10. KC Harmon4A Boys 1. Ottawa 2. Highland Park 3. Abilene

4. Coffeyville 5. KC Sumner 6. Wichita Collegiate 7. Basehor Linwood 8. Holton 9. Topeka Hayden 10. McPherson3A Boys 1. Scott City 2. Beloit 3. Nemaha Valley 4. Hillsboro 5. Central Heights

6. Conway Springs 7. Hosington 8. Sacred Heart-Salina 9. Colgan 10. Rock Creek2A Boys 1. Sterling 2. Meade 3. Lyndon 4. Ness City 5. Berean Academy 6. Jeff County North 7. Republic County

8. Moundridge 9. Oxford 10. Bennington1A Div. 1 Boys 1. South Haven 2. Udall 3. St. John 4. Centralia 5. Pretty Prairie 6. Hanover 7. Olpe 8. Waverly

9. LaCrosse 10. Hoxie1A Div. 2 Boys 1. Fowler 2. Frankfort 3. Wallace County 4. Baileyville-B&B 5. Otis-Bison 6. South Barber 7. Greely County 8. Hope 9. Dighton 10. Crest

Photo by Matt Bristow/The Ottawa Herald

The 2012-13 Ottawa High School boys basketball team members are front row (from left), manager Nate Rodriguez, manager Alexis Dunnivan, manager Stephanie Brands, Taylor Graf, Dallas Natt, Kaden Shaffer, Dillon Boeh, Tyler Smith, manager Kylie Foster, manager Matt Robbins, manager Lane Chambers; back row, coach Jon McKowen, coach Evan Shaffer, coach Rob Hedrick, Jordan Markley, Alex Hasty, Semi Ojeleye, Austin Blaue, Wyatt Peters, Quentin Blaue, coach Blake Lasley and coach Ian Mathews.

KBCA preseason poll

BThe Ottawa HeraldWeekender, December 1, 2012

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6A Girls 1, Wichita Heights 2. Olathe Northwest 3. Maize 4. Olathe South 5. Washburn Rural 6. Free State 7. Wichita East 8. Blue Valley 9. Wichita South 10. Manhattan5A Girls 1. Kapaun Mt. Carmel

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There will be a different look and feel to the Ottawa High School girls basketball team. Gone are the four senior start-ers, who were the backbone of three straight state tournament appearances and a sterling four-year record of 82-17. But the cup-board is far from bare. “It has been different than the last four years because we have had everything defined for us coming into the season,” Ottawa coach Cliff McCullough said. “It is like having a clean slate. You don’t know who is going to step into the forefront. We are going to turn them loose and let them go and let them play. “I am so excited about this year. We don’t know what to ex-pect. Expectations are high. I

think we have a really good bas-ketball team. We are letting the whole team play.” The Cyclones will need all the players to do their part. Ottawa does not have an all-state player such as Jordan Baldwin to pull them through the rough spots. “This definitely will be a whole entire team effort,” Mc-Cullough said. “There will not be that one person we rely on like we have had in the past. We have to come together as a team. That will take some time for us.” Many of the players played together during the summer to start the process. “In the summer, it hurt us be-cause Corie Fischer got hurt,” McCullough said. “She had a knee injury. She missed the sum-mer league. We had to have other people step up. We had to have

Tyra [Lyday] playing the point. It was really good to get so many different people in so many dif-ferent positions. “We got to look at a bunch of different people. That will ben-efit us. We also got to see some young people play. It opened our eyes to some players.” The experienced players be-gan to take a leadership role as the summer season wound down. “You saw our older kids that took on the position now it was our time,” McCullough said. “They are excited about going out and proving to people they can play basketball at a high level. They are motivated to do that.” Ottawa sports six seniors and many have a lot of varsity time. Alexis Roecker has been a start-er and a varsity player from day one. Lyday, Kylie Fischer, Paige

Weidner and Elsie Bones are three-year varsity players. Cyd-ney Lewis played varsity minutes last year. “We have experience on this team,” McCullough said. “We have played a lot of girls the last couple of years. That will benefit us. It is going to be fun watching them. It will take this whole sea-son for us to figure out who we are and how good we can be.” Sophomore Corie Fischer will be a full-time starter at point guard this season. McCullough said the experience she gained last year playing with Baldwin will be invaluable the rest of her high school career. “That is why we started her the last half of season so she could handle the ball against the Holtons and Haydens at the state tournament. She has that experi-

ence. Cydney will be the back up at point guard. I feel good about what these girls can bring to the table. “They have a passion and they want to prove to themselves they can play this game. “They can do it at the expectation and level I have for them.” McCullough also understands it will take him time to feel out this team after having the same players for the past two seasons.

“It is going to be different for me,” he said. “This is going to be one of those teams that is going to get better every single day ... ev-ery single game. These kids want to do well. They are starting to believe. They want to go out and get better.”

Cyclones expect to continue historic march


The 2012-13 Ottawa High School girls basketball team members are front row (from left), Kylie Foster, Tyra Lyday, Alexis Roecker, Elsie Bones, Paige Weidner, Cydney Lewis; back row, manager Stephanie Brands, Brianna Pfizenmeier, Corie Fischer, Brette Moore, Maddie Lancaster, manager Amy-Grace Wilson and manager Erika Doty.

See OHS, Page 8B


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Photo by Vern Brown/Anderson County Advocate

The 2012-13 Anderson County boys basketball team members are front row (from left), Steve Dial, Star Carter, Eric Small, Joey Read, Weston Gilbreth, Spencer Walter, Cameron Parks, Zach Hill-iard; second row, coach Steve Lyon, Drew Mechnig, Tyler Woodward, Ian Comfort, Craig Brallier, Eric Tastove, Jack Rickabaugh, Tanner Lickteig and Wyatt Hulett.

By MIKE WEBBERSpecial to The Herald

GARNETT — The Anderson County High School boys basket-ball team is hoping a combina-tion of a new head coach and an experienced senior class help them move to the top of the Pio-neer League and a possible sub-state championship. Steve Lyon is an experienced basketball coach spending 15 years as a junior varsity coach

and six seasons as head coach of the Bulldog girls team in the 1990s. He has been away from coach-ing basketball for three seasons, but is ready to be back on the sidelines, leading a team of near-ly 40 players. “I am inheriting a good group of players. We have seven seniors and six juniors, so it is a veteran team, which makes the transition easier for everyone,” Lyon said.

The coach will lean on three key seniors this season. They are Eric Testove, Drew Mechnig and Jack Rickabaugh. Tastove is a four-year starter in the post for the Bulldogs and Mechnig and Rickabaugh are be-ginning their third season at the varsity level. Rickabaugh is an all-around athlete and has qualified for state in golf several times. “With so many experienced

players, I expect to go deep into the bench each game. We will play a very up-tempo game, to take advantage of our depth,” Lyon said. Lyon will play a man-to-man defense in the halfcourt. Lyon is still learning about the Pioneer League, but thinks tra-ditional powers Central Heights and Wellsville will be tough. The addition of Iola and a new coach in Prairie View add new

wrinkles in handicapping the field. “I think we need to be efficient on offense, and make good pass-es. If we are good fundamentally we might be able to make a run at the end of the year. We always end up with a very tough sub-state, usually catching Ottawa or Louisburg,” Lyon said.

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GARNETT — The Anderson County High School girls basket-ball team has suffered through two straight poor seasons, win-ning just five games in that span. Those disappointing teams were filled with young players, who were thrown into the fire of varsity competition. Now those players are upper-classmen and the hope is the fire

has hardened them and made them ready for a turnaround sea-son. Third-year coach Tim Brem-merman also suffered through the hard times, but is confident that his squad of 29 players is ready to compete with the best teams in the Pioneer League. Anderson County returns three starters and three other letterwinners from last year’s squad.

“Most of those girls have been on the varsity squad for the past three seasons, so they have quite a bit of experience. We also have 16 freshmen, and I think some of the new girls may be ready to con-tribute right away,” Bremmer-man said. The returning starters are all seniors: guards Macy Adams and Amanda Moody along with for-ward Jaime Mersman. The returning letterwinners

are junior Taylor Porter and se-niors Cheyanne Ratliff and Mi-chaela Stevenson. “I can already see these girls stepping forward to be senior leaders. They are already in sync and playing well together,” Brem-merman said. The Pioneer League was se-nior-laden last season, which makes it a rather wide-open race for the league title this year, Bremmerman said.

“We have to develop the in-stinct to put away an opponent in the fourth quarter. We dropped some fourth quarter leads last year, or failed to make a shot that would have tied the game up late,” Bremmerman said. The coach believes that if this team can learn to win games at the end and limit their turnovers, they could make a run through the 4A sub-state tournament, which is in Fort Scott.

AC Bulldog girls return experienced players

Lyon takes reigns of AC Bulldog boys program

Photo by Vern Brown/Anderson County Advocate

The 2012-13 Anderson County girls basketball team members are front row (from left), Amanda Moody, Jaime Mersman, Cheyanne Ratliff, Macy Adams, Michaela Stevenson, Tayler Porter; second row, Madison Ratliff, Hannah Steele, Bailey Rockers, Ida Yoder, Vera Yoder, Kacey Coffelt, Conner Parks, MaKayla Kueser; back row, Tragen Guernsey, Cassidy Lutz, Gwen Sibley, Morgan Egidy, Reagan Jirak, Bailee Wilson, Kinlee Jones, Bel Sibley, Macy Rockers, Jami Sutton, Paige Scheckel and coach Tim Bremerman.


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The 2012-13 Central Heights High School boys basketball team members are front row (from left), Trever Burkdoll, Drew Beckwith, Austin King, Grayson Pfister, Adam Pryor; second row, Jordan Horstick, Tristan Davis, Cole Sheldon, Tanner Erhart, Zach McAfee, Tyler Hendron, Dalton Thompson; third row, Tyler Hettinger, Chance Schooler, Gavin Holler, Alex Shrimpton, Chase Brown, Wil-lie Malone; fourth row, Phillip Mayhew, Cade Hibdon, Jacob Pryor, Matt Percy, Merrick Brown, Zele Smith, Logan Speaks, Sam Skeet, Marcus Watson, Tim Savage; back row, Austin Massengale, Cade Masingale, Tanner Johnson, Jared Oshel and Trever Wichman. Not pictured is Jake Savage.

CH boys lookto rebuild team

Viking girls need returners to adapt to new roles


The 2012-13 Central Heights High School girls basketball team members are front row (from left), Madison Blevins, Kenzie Hayward, Allison Schulz, Sam Stegner, McKenna Furst, Whitney Kraus; second row, Sndney Meyer, Tami Schaefer, Amanda Raby, Brianna Erhart, Mychaela Clissold, Jessie Porter; back row, Regan Markley, Haley Sharrow, Sammie Weiderholt, Jessie Louden and Nicole Johnston.


The Central Heights High School girls basketball team fin-ished just short of making back-to-back appearances in the state tournament last season. They had a shiny 19-4 record and five senior starters. This sea-son a young team will be called on to quickly get back to the high standards the program has estab-lished the past two seasons.

Third-year coach Scott Lane is working with a small squad this season, with just 17 players and only one senior in his projected starting lineup. The Vikings generally field three teams, varsity, junior varsi-ty and freshmen, but will consoli-date to just two teams this year because of the lack of players. Central Heights doesn’t lack players without varsity experi-ence.

The Vikings return five let-terwinners: senior forward Sam Stegner, sophomore post Sydney Meyer, sophomore point guard Brianna Erhart, junior Whitney Kraus and junior forward Kenzie Hayward, who was the sixth-man last season and is the player with the most varsity experience. “With a team this young, we are spending a lot more time practic-ing the basics and fundamentals this year. We will be doing a lot

of things differently this season, I believe in adjusting to the play-ers you have and not being locked into a system,” Lane said. The Vikings have used its ar-ray of offensive skills the past couple of seasons to outscore their opponents, but this Central Heights team will not be that ex-plosive. Lane said defense will be the key, and the Vikings need to keep their opponents under 40 points

per game if they are going to be successful. Lane does not see an obvi-ous front-runner in the Pioneer League this year. He said Osawat-omie, Prairie View and Anderson County may have the most return-ing talent, but overall the league is very even. “It will probably come down to which team can come togeth-er and work together the best,” Lane said.


The Central Heights High School boys basket-ball team had a tremen-dous season a year ago. The Vikings posted a 22-4 mark and finished third at the 3A state tour-nament. A group of five senior starters fueled that special season. Now it is another group of players’ turn to keep the winning tradition alive. Viking coach Rusty Can-nady begins his fourth sea-son with 37 players, and while none of them are returning starters he does have seven players with varsity experience. There are four seniors on this year’s team that are expected to play signifi-cant roles. They are shooting guard Drew Beckwith — who played at an exceptionally high level at the state tour-nament last spring — point guard Trever Burkdoll,

Adam Pryor and Austin King. Junior forward Jordan Horstick will be asked to be the carry much of the scoring load for this year’s Vikings. Cannady described Hor-stick as a versatile play-er who makes everyone around him better both on and off the court. Four younger players who are expected to play a large role this season are Tanner Erhart, Tyler Hen-

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WELLSVILLE — Brock Camp-bell is attempting to change the attitude and the style of play in the Wellsville High School girls basketball program. The numbers of players and excitement level for basketball dipped the past few seasons. So did the wins. Wellsville went 3-18 last year. Campbell is not new to the players or coaching high school basketball. He coached the Po-mona High School boys from 2005

to 2007 and spent the past four seasons coaching Wellsville Mid-dle School girls basketball.

“I have had everyone of them,” Campbell said. “It has been an easier transition. They kind of know what I expect. I know what they can do. I know ability levels. I have some familiarity. “We are doing things different than middle school. We are doing some of the same principles.” Campbell preached to the girls about playing with an attitude to match their athletic talent. Many of the players play on winning volleyball and softball teams. The volleyball team is coming off two straight state tournament

appearances, while the softball team went to state two years ago and was close last year. “I don’t want to be that down time in between state teams,” Campbell said. “We have ath-letes. We have talent. It is transi-tioning it into basketball. “We have talked a lot about ex-pecting to win ... having a differ-ent attitude. Have confidence in yourself. Don’t sit around waiting for things to go bad, make it hap-pen.” Campbell wants this team to play quick because of its lack of

size. “I know we don’t have much height,” he said. “We have to rely on speed and quickness. We are working on a 5-out, no-in set. “We want to press and push the ball down the floor. We want to get as many transition layups as we can. We have to make sure we are making our layups.” The new system and new coach brings about a chance for players to see court time and be used in different roles.


WELLSVILLE — There is a reason why young players receive playing time at the junior varsity level. It seasons them and has them better prepared for varsity when their time comes. The Wellsville High School boys basketball team will be counting upon those players mov-ing up to the varsity from last year’s junior varsity squad. The Eagles were senior heavy

last year in coach Thatcher Deck-er’s first season. The Eagles went 9-14, which included two upsets in the sub-state tournament. The Eagles return two players with any varsity experience and both of them are young, so the early part of the season will in-volve a lot of teaching. “By Christmas I expect us to be pretty good,” Decker said. “We are guard-oriented. We have a couple of bigs that will help us. They are young. We are athletic.

We have guys that are basketball first. “This group is little more basketball focused. I am able to teach them good habits. This group has been ready for basket-ball for awhile.” All the players on the varsity are in their second year in the system, “It is easier,” Decker said. “All we had to do was review our of-fense. Last year it was the nuts and bolts.”

There will be a lot of grow-ing pains with the young players thrown together at the varsity level. Some will play different roles than they are used to. “It will be an adjustment,” Decker said. “The speed of the game [is faster]. You can’t show it on film.” The two returners are junior guard Shamus Kearney and ju-nior forward Carter Mann. Kear-ney played big minutes as a soph-omore point guard. He averaged

13 points and four assists last year. “Shamus Kearney got thrown to the fire because of injuries,” Decker said. “Carter Mann played good minutes last year. Big game situations don’t bother them.” Kearney will move from point guard to a wing guard and spent the summer and fall rehabbing from shoulder surgery.

Campbell attempts to change attitudes of girls team

Decker molding young Eagles into his image


The 2012-13 Wellsville High School boys basketball team members are front row (from left), Gage Leckner, Tony Dougan, Trent Church, Andy Dougan, Nathan Cunningham, Cam-dyn Coons; second row, Gaven Gre-tencord, Kyle Taylor, Brandon Chrisp, Blake Qualls, Dillon Ware, Caleb Pearson; third row, Lance Meyer, Carter Mann, Shamus Kearney, Trevor Shalkoski, Hunter Thuro, Trent Smith; fourth row, Tyler Brown, Shel-ton Breithaupt, Zach Strawn, Kenneth Hoppy, Brett Obern, Shane Hillman; back row, Jonathan Hackathorn, Jar-ed Klamm, Caleb Powelson, Jacob Dalrymple, Luke Meyer, Chris Adee and Cole Silsby.


The 2012-13 Wellsville High School girls basketball team members are front row (from left), Rebecka Ohl-meier, Morgan Cunningham, Erica McTaggart, Darcy Bonzo, Emily Strawn; second row, Kaylynn Pea-cock, Holli Geist, Moriah Kayhill, Jus-tine Dougan, Ashley Sparks, Emily Newhouse; third row, Sierra Savage, Rayne Wright, Gabi Martinez and Sadi LaMay. Not pictured are Mega-an Manes, Ashtyn Rottinghaus and Sarah Nash.

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POMONA — The West Frank-lin High School girls basketball team will have a lot of time to grow together with just one se-nior in the program. The Falcons may boast young-er players, but not necessarily in-experienced ones. West Franklin third-year coach Kyle Conley re-

turns two starters and eight let-terwinners from last year’s 5-16 squad. Senior guard Sierra Miller has been an all-league selection the past two seasons. She is being counted on to pro-vide leadership for this squad team. The other returning starter is junior guard McKenzie Steele,

who is a two-year starter. Other key returners include sophomore guard Bailey Whit-tington, who was very productive at the junior varsity level last sea-son; junior guard Alexis Yelland, who the coaching staff praises for her work ethic, and junior for-ward Emily Reed, who should be a match-up problem due to her high level of athleticism.

Conley could see a shift in the Flint Hills League. Northern Heights won the title last season, but has a new coach. The boys coach shifted to lead the girls. Conley looks for Council Grove to be improved along with Mis-sion Valley, which had a coaching change last season. Conley said the Falcons need to execute better on offense,

which was one of their weakness-es last year. “We have to get into great sets and execute our offense. Also our work ethic has to be good. Our goal is not be outworked by our opponent in any game,” Conley said.



POMONA — Opponents may have a hard time matching the size of the West Franklin High School boys basketball team this season. The Falcons expect to start a lineup of players between six-foot and 6-4 with a couple of oth-ers in the 6-2 to 6-4 range coming off the bench.

The Falcons return two start-ers and two lettermen from last year’s 9-12 team. Fourth-year coach James Spencer is looking to improve on West Franklin’s third place finish in the Flint Hills League. The returning starters are both seniors: two-year starter at guard Owen Reed and 6-2 for-ward Mitch Walters. The other two lettermen are senior 6-3

guard Brady Geist and junior 6-4 post Matt Gray. Geist averaged 10.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and an assist last year and earned all-league and all-area honors. Spencer expects four sopho-mores to make an impact this season. They are 6-4 post Klayton Lacey, 6-1 forward Tyler Rogers and guards Clay Altic and Will Duda.

“This is a very competitive group of kids,” Spencer said. “They kind of play with a chip on their shoulders. We have good size and strength and they want to guard people.” Spencer said the Falcons have a shot at battling for the top of Flint Hills League and make a run for a state berth. “Lyndon has a great team year after year, so even though they

lost a lot I still look for them to be near the top,” Spencer said. “But I think it is a solid league. We have a shot this year. “Our defense is the key for us to be successful this year. We need to concentrate on shutting people down, if we are going to reach the state tournament.”


Falcon girls sport young, but experienced squad

WF boys to pose matchup problems with size


The 2012-13 West Franklin High School boys basketball team members are front row (from left), Tate Jackson, Damen Abbott, Oaklee Homer, Cody Renfro, Colin Downey, Jimmie Worthy, Alex Barber; second row, Randall Watkins, Bryan Ward, Manny Peine, Kolton Eckenroed, Brady Geist, Mitch Walters, Owen Reed, Matt Gray; back row, Oleg Nelson, Caleb Short, Derek Peugeot, Isaiah Messick, Tyler Rogers, Klayton Lacey, Cody Smith, Clay Altic, Will Duda, Brett Whittington and Austin Gilkey.


The 2012-13 West Franklin High School girls basketball team members are front row (from left), Abby Morrison, Alexa Ryan, Alexis Yelland, Sierra Miller, Emily Reed, McKenzie Steele, Bailey Whit-tington; back row, Brittany Shaffer, Adreyanna Sharp, Tori Coopman, Megan Ecord, Macy Flory, Shealee Crosby, Tiffany Montano, Bailey Shaffer and Fallon Dyer.

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“Everybody has an opportunity,” Camp-bell said. “They have a great attitude. They are excited.” The coach does have players with varsi-ty basketball experience with five players returning from last year. Ashley Sparks, Erica McTaggart, Darcy Bonzo and Morgan Cunningham started last year. Mariah Kayhill was a reserve last year. Emily Strawn returned to the basketball team after not playing last year. “We have a lot of young underclassmen,” Campbell said. He is mixing those with the five seniors, which includes Rebecka Ohlmeier, who is playing basketball for the first time. “She is tall ... she is athletic,” Campbell said. The coach hopes the Eagles can hit some outside shots. He said Bonzo and sopho-more Emily Newhouse could provide that for the Eagles. Campbell understands there will be some bumps along the way and knows the rebuilding process takes time. “I am hoping in a couple of months we look a lot different than we do now,” he said.

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ANDERSON COUNTY Dec. 3 Baldwin Pre-Tourney Dec. 4 Baldwin Pre-Tourney Dec. 7 Baldiwn Pre-Tourney Dec. 20 TONGANOXIE Jan. 4 METRO Jan. 8 OSAWATOMIE Jan. 11 CENTRAL HEIGHTS Jan. 15 Baldwin Inv. (B) Jan. 17 at Wellsville (G) Jan. 18 Baldwin Inv. (B) Jan. 19 Baldwin Inv. (B) Jan. 22 Wellsville Inv. (G) Jan. 24 Wellsville Inv. (G) Jan. 25 at Wellsville Jan. 26 Wellsville Inv. (G) Jan. 29 at Prairie View Feb. 1 at Iola Feb. 5 WELLSVILLE

Feb. 8 at Osawatomie Feb. 12 at Central Heights Feb. 15 PRAIRIE VIEW Feb. 18 PAOLA Feb. 19 IOLACENTRAL HEIGHTS Dec. 3-7 Osawatomie Tourney Dec. 11 at Burlington Dec. 14 METRO Jan. 8 IOLA Jan. 11 at Anderson County Jan. 15-19 Pleasanton Toure Jan. 22 WEST FRANKLIN Jan. 25 at Jayhawk-Linn Jan. 29 at Osawatomie Feb. 1 WELLSVILLE Feb. 5 at Prairie View Feb. 8 at Iola Feb. 12 ANDERSON COUNTY

Feb. 15 OSAWATOMIE Feb. 19 at WellsvilleOTTAWA Dec. 6-8 Goodland Tourney Dec. 14 at De Soto Dec. 15 Grandview, KC (B) Dec. 18 LOUISBURG Jan. 4 PAOLA Jan. 8 BALDWIN Jan. 11 EUDORA Jan. 14-19 Basehor Inv. Jan. 22 HAYDEN Jan. 29 at Spring Hill Feb. 5 DE SOTO Feb. 8 at Louisburg Feb.12 at Paola Feb. 15 at Baldwin Feb. 19 at Eudora Feb. 21 SPRING HILL

WELLSVILLE Dec. 4 WEST FRANKLIN Dec. 6 Valley Falls (Pomona) Dec. 7 Oskaloosa (Vall. Falls) Dec. 14 EUDORA Dec. 18 Jeff Co. North Jan. 4 at Prairie View Jan. 8 at Maranatha Jan. 11 at Osawatomie Jan. 17 ANDERSON CO. (G) Jan. 15-19 Baldwin Inv. (B) Jan. 22-26 Wellsville Inv. (G) Jan. 25 ANDERSON CO. (B) Jan. 29 IOLA Feb. 1 at Central Heights Feb. 5 at Anderson County Feb. 8 PRAIRIE VIEW Feb. 12 OSAWATOMIE Feb. 15 at Iola

Feb. 19 CENTRAL HEIGHTSWEST FRANKLIN Dec. 4 at Wellsville Dec. 6 OSKALOOSA Dec. 7 at Valley Falls Dec. 11 COUNCIL GROVE Dec. 14 at Herington Dec. 18 at Lyndon Jan. 4 at Chase County Jan. 8 OSAGE CITY Jan. 11 NORTHERN HEIGHTS Jan. 14-19 Flint Hills Tourney Jan. 22 at Central Heights Jan. 29 HARTFORD Feb. 1 LEBO Feb. 5 at Madison Feb. 15 at Burlingame Feb. 19 LYNDON Feb. 21 MARMATON

EAGLES: Kearney back(Continued from Page 6B)

CH BOYS (Continued from Page 5B)

OHS: Defense to be strength(Continued from Page 3B)

A big swat

File Photo/The Ottawa Herald

Central Heights junior Jordan Horstick attempts to block a shot last year against Wellsville. Horstick will assume a bigger role this season as a starter and main scorer for the Vikings, who were ranked No. 5 in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association 3A boys preseason poll.

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“He is a complete wild-card,” Decker said. “He had shoulder surgery last summer. He did not do any-thing. He has improved. Nothing will faze him. He showed me how far he came last year.” Kearney scored 29 points in the upset of Hum-boldt in last year’s sub-state game. “Point guard was not a great fit for him,” Decker said. “I look for a big year from him.” Mann took over the team during the summer in Ke-arney’s absence. “Carter had a great sum-mer,” Decker said. “He is a great athlete. He is our best defender. He came on at the end of last year. He has grown [up] a lot.” Sophomore Cole Silsby is expected to take over the point guard duties. He led the junior varsity last year in scoring at 16 points a game.

“He is ready to learn,” Decker said. “Playing point guard for me is hard. I am so much harder on them because that is what I know best.” Others expected to play a lot are junior Luke Meyer and senior Shane Hillman. “We are still young,” Decker said. “Our guards will be very solid. We have to commit to the want to plays. We have to defend. We have to get up and down [the floor]. We have to re-bound. We will have to be the toughest team on the floor this year.” Decker said this team has a different feel to it be-cause of the newness to the varsity level. “I am excited,” he said. “I am trying to get them to understand what I am looking for. We are a family here. This group is really tough.”

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GIRLS: Rebuilding(Continued from Page 6B)

dron, Tristan Davis and Zach McAfee. “They worked hard all summer,” Cannady said. “They are a group that is self-disciplined and knows how to bring it on defense.” The players learn the Vi-king system during their el-ementary years, so there is not much new to learn once they reach high school. They just have to run those sets against tougher com-petition. Cannady figures the Pio-neer League will be a dog-fight. “Iola is new to the league this year, and I know their guards are sound,” he said. “Osawatomie has been champions or co-cham-pions of the league every year, so the path to the title runs through them. Wellsville has a couple of the better players in the league, Carter Mann and Shamus Kearney. Prairie View has a new coach, so they may have couple of new wrinkles. It should be a solid league this year.” The coach said a repeat run to the state tourna-ment could happen if the returning players learn quickly about how to win at the varsity level. “We’ll have to play sound fundamentally and be dis-ciplined, but there is no substitute for learning how to win at the varsity level.” Cannady said. “We have in-creased the strength of our nonconference opponents, so we need to learn quick-ly.”

The coach saw characteristics he likes in the short time they have been together. “This a very intense team,” Mc-Cullough said. “It nice to see they are feeding off each other’s inten-sity ... positiveness. “This group will work their butts off. I don’t see any of them taking plays off. They go hard to the basket.” The strength of the Cyclones will be their defense. Ottawa, at times, played sterling defense the past few years, but did not sustain it. “This could be the best defen-sive team I have coached in 16 years,” McCullough said. “These girls are long, they are fast, they are aggressive. They can get after it. “From top to bottom, we are faster than we were last year. Our goal is to hold every team under 40 points. I think this team can play that kind of defense. They really enjoy playing defense and that is a good thing for us. We re-ally don’t know right now how we are going to score in the halfcourt

set. Our defense will have to be really good. They know that. We have some people who have taken their game up a level offensively.” The Ottawa girls program has not had a losing season since the early 1990s. One reason is be-cause of talent another is the ex-pectations remain at a high level. Last year’s team broke through to rewrite history with its third straight state tournament appear-ance. This season, the Cyclones are not about to go away quietly. “They know going into this year they have a chance to continue history by getting to that fourth consecutive state tournament,” McCullough said. “Our expecta-tions don’t change: win the Fron-tier League, win sub-state and get back to Salina for the fourth straight time.” Ottawa will have its sub-state tournament at home, beginning in late February. The field includes Baldwin, De Soto, Eudora, Louisburg, Osawat-omie, Ottawa, Paola and Spring Hill.


12-01-2012 winter sports

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