After leading Hastings High to its most successful season in 16 years, head boys basketball coach Lance Creech has resigned to focus on his family, including having time to follow son Connor's college career.
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Writing an ending isn't easy, especially in this case. Thanks to all of the coworkers, readers, athletes, coaches, ADs and parents who I have met over the past....many, many years.
Dale Miller was a sports writer for the Independent for 22 years and four months. This is Daleโs final column for the Independent as he moves to another career opportunity.
The state's No. 8 all-time winningest boys basketball coach is returning to the bench this winter. Dave Oman will coach his 51st season at Shelton.
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Head coach Jeff Tomlin on the 2018
@GishFootball
team: โTheyโre going to have a lot of good memories of being with their buddies and all the hard work they put in. Hopefully there are good memories of their coaching staff. We made a pretty good team. Iโm awful proud of them.โ
Adams Central's Lucas Bohlen on getting a day off before Friday's C-1 semifinal against Wayne: โEspecially for me, Iโm kind of an older man. Iโve got an older type of body, so a day off and laying down will be great for me.โ
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It was a new, more aggressive
@LeBeck_Warren3
this season for
@IslanderBB
. That's a big reason for a season that made him the Independent's Super Squad honorary captain:
Shay Schanaman tossed a no-hitter in a 7-0
@GoSodbusters
win over Western Nebraska with 10 strikeouts and two walks. Over 3 consecutive starts against the Pioneers, Schanaman has allowed no runs and three hits with 31 strikeouts and five walks over 18.2 innings.
Former
@GishFootball
players Chase Reis and Gage Grinnell visited Daytona International Speedway as part of the festivities leading up to
@MsideFootball
playing in Saturday's NAIA championship game. Photo courtesy DIS.
Kenesaw's Sam Schukei lost a leg in a horrible accident at age 3. That didn't prevent him from competing at a high level in sports throughout high school. Read about the 2018 Paul Beranek Courage Award winner.
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Former Northwest standout Whitney Brown scored five points in her debut at Nebraska in tonight's win over Oral Roberts. She had a team-high four steals in 15 minutes of play.
A Class C state golf title. The first state basketball appearance in 18 years.
@CoachCooksley
is building winning programs at Broken Bow. And he's the
@theindependent
girls coach of the year.
Class C state softball: No. 8 seed Central City upsets top-seeded GACC 6-4. Freshman Karlee Seitz hit a 3-run homer, her first career, to spark a 5-run 4th inning.
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Hastings St. Cecilia remained among the state's elite while moving up a class thanks to the performance of All-Heartland Super Squad captain
@BKissinger12
All-Heartland Super Squad defensive captain
@sims_53
looked up to standout
@GishFootball
linebackers early in his career. He put together a senior season that led to younger players looking up to him.
His father and his high school coach played in the same Shrine Bowl. That's just one reason that playing in this year's game seems like a perfect fit for
@GishFootball
standout
@sims_53
The stories about the powerful leg of
@MeyerKelen2
are already legendary. But the
@OrdChanticleers
three-sport standout is much more than just an impressive kicker. The future Husker is also the Independent's boys athlete of the year.
Saturday's announcement of committing to
@UVAMensHoops
marked the end of the recruiting process for
@ittraudt
. But the preparations for NCAA Div. I basketball continue for the standout (although his phone may deserve a break).
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The
@GINW_GBB
team has had a knack of having a different player step up in every win. It was the same story during Saturday's biggest victory of the season.
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It proved tough to slow down
@IslanderBB
standout
@ittraudt
, even though teams tried everything, even triple teams. It even proved tough to slow him down...in practices.
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The list of Class A boys basketball players who averaged a double-double this season was a short one ...
@IslanderBB
senior
@AgentKoang
. He is also the Independent's All-Heartland Super Squad honorary captain.
A resilient
@GishFootball
team is one win away from the program's first state championship appearance in 28 years. Standing in the way is Bellevue West. A preview of Friday's Class A semifinal...
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Practice made for the perfect leadoff hitter/center fielder to lead
@hpstigersb
to the best season in program history. Meet All-Heartland Super Squad captain
@SophieCerveny
.
It is time for
@GishFootball
to be challenged. Undefeated and No. 2-rated Millard West will certainly do that on Friday night at Memorial Stadium.
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Kirby Wells' head coaching on-field debut with
@GISHbaseball
was postponed a year. His head coaching debut this summer for
@homefedbaseball
is up in the air. But Wells is hopeful that his players will be able to take to the field for one season this year.
It's been a smooth transition for
@__2shay
as he preps to become a starting pitcher for
@Husker_Baseball
during a summer stint with the
@GoSodbusters
. At least, that's what 32 strikeouts in 15.2 innings would indicate.
The coaches and players knew in the preseason that
@GishFootball
had a team that could reach the Class A championship game. The intangibles added up to make that a reality.
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St. Paul 27, Norfolk Catholic 6, final. Eli Larson 189 yards and 2 TDs on 24 carries, Brenden Knapp 6-for-10 for 138 yards with 1 TD plus 1 TD rushing.
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Jesse Ulrich, who had 261 yards of offense as
@OrdChanticleers
beat Bishop Neumann to advance to their 1st final: โGrowing up here all 18 years, you just dream of this as a little kid. Just to accomplish it when everyone at the beginning of the season doubted you is special.โ
Coach Anthony Noreen on OT loss by the
@TriCityStorm
to Omaha:โThe message to the guys was thereโs absolutely zero to hang our heads about. They havenโt played in a week. We're playing our fourth game in six days. Weโre down 2 with 10 minutes left and get ourselves a point."
A post-based offense may not be the modern trend in basketball, but going old school (1948?) is working for
@IslanderBB
during its current four-game winning streak.
The addition of
@hunter_strand
has given the
@TriCityStorm
a productive two-way forward. Even better, the Notre Dame recruit comes with no ego attached.
The
@IslanderBB
team returns one starter. But that is
@ittraudt
, the owner of 26 NCAA DI offers, who also happens to have packed on 30 pounds.
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Even though a shoulder injury kept
@SamHartman19
from playing on defense for some of his senior season, he again proved his versatility and toughness for
@GINWFootball
.
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The Grand Island Senior High baseball team is still waiting to get a game in this season. A former Islander standout is seeing plenty of action to the south...
After getting thrown into action in his first game as a freshman, All-Heartland Super Squad honorary offensive captain
@Evan_Johnson2
constructed a record-shattering career for
@ACPatriotsFB
.
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Overcoming adversity in the playoffs has been an impressive trait of the
@GishFootball
team during its run to the finals. But it was a tough short stretch of the regular season that helped prepare the Islanders for those situations.
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Former
@GINWFootball
standout
@ellsy_17
is getting his coaching career started as a grad assistant at Kansas State. He's also making decisions about the upcoming football season with the ADs from Alabama, Penn State, Utah and more...
High school teammates Kale Jensen and Carter Noakes each had a four RBI game -- Jensen two of them -- to help
@NortheastCCBSB
extend its recent surge with a sweep of Ellsworth CC on Wednesday.
Miller on the bullying victim: โI was unable to reach out to them after the incident, but I think eventually I will definitely reach out and obviously say Iโm sorry for all the inconvenience I caused when we were 14 with their family and the child.โ
After prevailing during an unusual area tournament championship night, the Central City/Fullerton seniors turn their attention to the Class B state tournament and an attempt to win one more championship this season.
Final:
@TriCityStorm
5, Omaha 2. Storm improves to 21-6-1-0 overall and 11-2-1-0 at home. Tri-City will enter 2019 atop the Western Conference standings.
#ushl
After back-to-back all-state performances in football and basketball, where did you find
@BSCHEIERMAN32
this spring? Competing for a varsity spot on Aurora's golf team. More on the Independent's boys co-athlete of the year:
The recent trend of the
@TriCityStorm
featuring one of the top goalies in the
@USHL
continues thanks to the consistently good performances of a highly-motivated
@Todd_scott42
.
Final: Northwest 48, Waverly 41. Northwest's last three state appearances have all ended in the finals including state titles in 2013 and '14. Whitney Brown had 19 points and Lauren Hauser added 11 points and 14 rebounds. Another rematch tomorrow vs. Crete.
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Many assumed that
@GICCbasketball
would win the C-2 state title this year. But that Crusaders never did. And that's probably why they have now doubled the number of boys basketball championships in school history.
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The Class D-1 semifinal between
@Horns_Athletics
and Howells-Dodge features a couple of programs that know a thing or two about playing for a state championship.
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The Class C2 state tournament (unofficially the Northeast Nebraska Invitational) about ready to tip off. Crofton is the first of 6 area teams to play, taking on Cross County.
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Final: Northwest 49, Crete 43. The Vikings cut down the nets for their third straight trip to Lincoln (2013-14 back-to-back champs). Whitney Brown had 23 points, Shanae Suttles was 6-for-6 from the line over the final 2:06.
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Five returning starters along with most of the bench contributors back off a Class C-2 runner-up team? Yes, there are many reasons why
@GICCbasketball
has legit state title aspirations this season.
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All-Heartland Super Squad Small School honorary offensive captain
@ktvanhousen
put up a season's worth of impressive rushing stats in the playoffs alone for D-1 champion Osceola-High Plains.
The
@GishFootball
team has closed the door on last year's Class A state runner-up season. The focus is now on the upcoming year and a goal of getting 1% better each and every day.
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The
@GISHbaseball
team isn't at home for districts like it would prefer. But with two wins tomorrow, it will next be making a trip it would love to take...one to the state tournament.
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