Sports
Chanute boys fall in Fort Scott
Brian McDowell Sports Editor FORT SCOTT — For the first half of their Friday night road match-up against the Fort Scott Tigers, the Chanute boys basketball team was able to match its SEK rivals step-for-step. However, the Comets lost control of the proceedings early in the third quarter and ended up losing 68-51 in a game that repeatedly had to be stopped to wipe sweat off the court. Despite the loss, Chanute Coach Max Ruark said that the gam...
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Erie’s Marquardt running towards McPherson
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Erie High School senior Keith Marquardt, who averaged 26 points a game this season as a runningback for the Red Devils football team, signed a letter of intent to play football for McPherson College on Wednesday. His family and his Erie football coach watched as Marquardt committed to attend the college. Despite his small stature, the 5-7, 149-pound Marquardt was one of the standout football players in the area....
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Lady Panthers sank by Pirates in last minutes of second half
Brian McDowell Sports Editor INDEPENDENCE — Halfway through the second half of their Wednesday night road match-up against the number 16 ranked team in the country, the struggling NCCC Lady Panthers were in the lead. However, the game turned quickly against Neosho County as the Panthers racked up fouls and the Independence Panthers got rebounds at key times and took advantage of those. The Lady Panthers eventually fell 65-55. “We guarded the...
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72-60 loss to Independence makes coach doubt Panthers’ will to win
Brian McDowell Sports Editor INDEPENDENCE — The NCCC Panthers men’s basketball team just doesn’t have the will to win. That is the conclusion reached by Coach Jeremy Coombs after his squad lost a battle with the Independence Pirates Wednesday night 72-60. He was frustrated at the lack of desire that his players displayed during the course of the game. “I don’t know how you can be a college basketball player and not want to win,” Coombs said....
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Going to Ottawa ‘runs’ in Harsch’s family
Brian McDowell Sports Editor For Chanute senior Macy Harsch, Ottawa University athletics are a family tradition. Her grandfather, Mike Wawrzewski, played soccer for the school and her mother, Wendy Wawrzewski, ran cross country there. This influenced Harsch’s decision to sign a letter of intent on Tuesday afternoon to run for the cross country team at Ottawa University. “I really like that I’m carrying on the tradition of my grandpa and my M...
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Humboldt victorious over Neodesha
The Humboldt Cubs boys basketball team escaped with a 50-45 home victory over Neodesha Tuesday night. The Cubs got strong performances out of Blake Crawford, Trey Johnson and Noah Thornbrugh, who each scored 13 points in the match-up. The Cubs next travel to Burlington Friday night. Both St. Paul teams win in Pleasanton Both the boys and the girls basketball teams from St. Paul were able to make life unpleasant for Pleasanton in road games on...
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Chanute’s Schooley decides to tackle Butler County
Brian McDowell Sports Editor As an all-state standout as lineman for the Chanute Blue Comets football team, Quinton Schooley’s main goal has always been to play football at a Division One university. He thinks that playing for the top ranked junior college team in the country is a good way to reach that ambition. With his mother, stepfather and Chanute football coaches looking on, Schooley signed a letter of intent Wednesday morning to play ...
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Lady Panthers led by big city sophomores
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The hoops dreams of both Autumn Zenon and Jamaica Campbell are what originally brought them to Chanute. Zenon moved here from Dallas, Texas and Campbell came from Kansas City. Both were found by and recruited to join the Panthers by former NCCC women’s basketball coach Tonika Bruce. Coming from a big city, Zenon said she had never seen anything like Chanute when she first arrived here. “It’s not a bad place,” Zen...
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Comets fall in overtime battle with Iola rivals
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The Chanute boys basketball team fought hard enough against its rivals from Iola on Tuesday night to force the game into overtime, but the Comets could not escape with a win. Playing their first home game since the Ralph Miller Classic, Chanute lost 52-44. “It was a battle,” Chanute Coach Max Ruark said. “We knew that going in. We knew they were going to play hard. I thought our guys played hard.” The Comets took...
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Chanute girls overcome slow start, but lose in overtime
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The Chanute Blue Comets girls basketball team had to overcome a lackluster first quarter performance in its hard fought, close knit Tuesday night battle with their rivals from Iola. Plus, Chanute’s Mallory Flowers had to sit out this game with a leg injury. Despite these challenges, Chanute pressed on, and dominated the middle half of a game that ended up going into overtime. Unfortunately for the Comets, they we...
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Chanute Blues complete MAYB tournament sweep in Kansas City
The Chanute Blues youth basketball team competed in Kansas City last weekend in their fourth MAYB tournament of the season. The Blues came home champions, completing the sweep of MAYB tournaments this year. The Blues remain undefeated in their age division and this is their 16th straight tournament win over their three seasons together. The Blues started the tournament against Kansas City And-1 with a dominant 57-1 win. All the Blues’ team me...
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St. Paul teams split against Northeast
Basketball teams from St. Paul had mixed results hosting Northeast on Friday night. The boys team lost 61-47. Willie Westhoff led the Indians in scoring with 16 points while Jake O’Brien had 10. The girls team beat Northeast 34-26, thanks to strong offensive performances from Nikkie Sears, who had nine points, and Camri Burke who had seven. Ashton Wood and Kacy Phillips each scored six points for the Lady Indians. CCA girls defeated in Fort S...
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NCCC finishes 4th; Vesta and Barnes champs at Kansas Cup
BALDWIN CITY — The NCCC wrestling squad finished fourth as a team amongst all colleges in the state of Kansas at the 3rd annual Kansas Cup on Sunday. Turning in a stellar day for the Panthers were Jeff Vesta at 125, repeating as the Champion at this event in as many tries, and LeRoy Barnes matching Vesta with his first Kansas Cup championship as a true freshman. Coach Wayne Petterson felt good about his team’s performance. “We beat some team...
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Free throw shot discrepancy hurts Lady Panthers in 62-55 loss
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The Coffeyville Red Ravens women’s basketball team made 35 shots from the free throw line on Saturday night, while their hosts, the NCCC Panthers, only made four. This fact alone made it difficult for the Panthers to win their match-up with Coffeyville, as Neosho County lost 62-55. NCCC Coach Kelley Newton would not comment on this discrepancy of fouls after the game. However, despite the loss, Newton praised both...
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Three consecutive second half steals puncture the Panthers in 87-70 loss to Coffeyville
Brian McDowell Sports Editor For the first half of their match-up with the number two ranked NJCAA team in the country, the NCCC Panthers men’s basketball team was able to keep pace with the Coffeyville Red Ravens. However, a stealing and scoring streak by the Red Ravens early in the second half put a stop to any momentum that Neosho County was able to establish. The Panthers ended up losing the contest by 17 points in front of a capacity cr...
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Chanute girl’s hopes dashed by early missed shots
Brian McDowell Sports Editor PARSONS — The inability to hit some early shots killed the Chanute Blue Comets girls basketball team during much of the first half of its Friday night showdown with Parsons. Chanute was unable to undo the damage in the second half, and lost to the Vikings 52-41 in its first game in almost a week. The team spent the time in between last week’s Tonganoxie tournament and Friday night preparing to face Parsons. “We k...
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First half performance dooms Comets boys in 56-36 loss to Parsons
Brian McDowell Sports Editor PARSONS — Sitting in the mostly empty gym after his Friday night basketball game against Parsons, Chanute senior Brandon Bell wadded up the aluminum that the burrito his parents just handed him was wrapped in. He hurled the ball of foil at a trash can that was about 10 feet away from him, and it flew right in. A perfect shot. “If only that had happened during the game,” Bell said wistfully. Bell and the Comets b...
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Chanute wrestling splits SEK duals in Pittsburg
Brian McDowell Sports Editor PITTSBURG — The Chanute wrestling team split a dual meet against two SEK rivals on Thursday night. Thanks to open roster spots, winning two matches was enough for the Comets to beat a short-handed Coffeyville squad 54-16. The Comets then lost to Pittsburg 51-27. Despite the evening’s mixed results, Chanute Coach Andy Albright saw several positive things from his wrestlers that stood out to him. Instead of getting ...
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NCCC baseball picked in top 20 in preseason poll
A pre-season NJCAA poll has picked the NCCC Panthers baseball team to be one of the top 20 teams in the country. The Panthers, who finished with a 46-14 record last year, were named number 20 in the poll. Seward County was the only other regional team picked in the top 20 poll, coming in at 14th place. “Rankings before the season don’t mean that much,” Panthers Coach Steve Murry said, “but it is nice to be recognized. Of course, now it puts ...
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‘Orange out Saturday’ at NCCC
NCCC’s Saturday night game against the nationally ranked team from Coffeyville will be big for the Panthers’ men’’s team. Neosho County will be offering a free pass to the game to everyone who wears orange to Saturday night’s game at the school’s gymnasium. The women’s game starts at 6 p.m., immediately followed by the men’s match-up around 8 p.m.. So, wear orange to the game, get in free, and cheer the home teams to victory. Humboldt gets n...
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