Sports
NCCC women lose big to Johnson County
Brian McDowell Sports Editor Usually, when a team wins a big game over its rivals in a dramatic fashion, it will have some momentum going into the next game. Kelley Newton, the coach of the NCCC Lady Panthers, is baffled as to why that wasn’t the case with his squad on Saturday night. The Lady Panthers followed up their Wednesday night victory over Allen County with a 63-34 loss to the number-one ranked team in their conference, the Johnson C...
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Turnovers cause trouble at Tonganoxie tourney
TONGANOXIE — The Chanute girls basketball team experienced both a slow start and a slow finish in its first game of the Tonganoxie tournament. The Comets blew a one-point lead at halftime, to lose to the Eudora Cardinals 40-30 on Monday afternoon. Chanute gave up some costly turnovers in the first quarter, and trailed by six at the end of the first. The Comets aggressively responded in the second, offensively propelled by both Darian Rubow and...
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NCCC Wrestling falls in three duals in Oklahoma City
The originally scheduled home dual for NCCC was changed to a quadrangular meet at Oklahoma City University on Wednesday, Jan. 11, due to a schedule snafu by Oklahoma City U. “We changed this since OCU messed up and couldn’t fulfill their obligation to come here,” Neosho County Coach Wayne Petterson said. “We needed matches so we were invited there for a quad meet against some pretty stiff competition.” According to the coach, the Panthers ...
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Comets fall in 61-50 mauling by Grizzlies
Brian McDowell Sports Editor ALTAMONT — The long, dry season for the Chanute Blue Comets boys basketball team (1-8) continued on Friday night, as the struggling squad suffered another loss by a wide margin to a SEK rival. This time, the Labette County Grizzlies beat the Comets 61-50. Coach Max Ruark said he didn’t feel his team competed very well in this game. “We did that the last two games really well against teams that have probably more t...
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Chanute wrestling wins season’s last home duals
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The Blue Comets wrestling team hosted its last home duals of the season Thursday night, facing off against two SEK rivals, Labette County and Iola. Largely due to the thin rosters of their opponents, Chanute handily won both match-ups, beating Labette 54-21 and Iola 59-18. “Obviously, in southeast Kansas, the key to winning duals is to have a full lineup,” Chanute coach Andy Albright said, “and we’ve been fortuna...
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Chanute girls lose 3-point heartbreaker
Brian McDowell Sports Editor ALTAMONT — Comets Head Coach Dustin Fox praises the reigning SEK champion Labette Grizzlies as a team that is where Chanute wants to be. However, on Friday night, the Chanute Blue Comets basketball girls basketball team came a heartbreaking three points away from an upset of the Grizzlies. A strong defensive effort, a balanced offensive attack, and shooting 87 percent from the free throw line helped Chanute keep ...
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New Erie boys coach hopes to keep struggling team in the dance
Brian McDowell Sports Editor ERIE — The Erie Red Devils boys team lost to Neodesha 57-48 Tuesday night, in what new Head Coach Caleb Reimer described as another hard game. Keith Marquardt and Kyle Spielbusch each scored 11 points in the match-up, while Keaton Page had 10, Justin Hartzell dished nine, Christian Murphy chipped in five and Joe Lehenbauer had two. “We just came up short in the long run,” Reimer said. “We had trouble finding our...
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Chanute girls rebound their way to victory in Coffeyville
Brian McDowell Sports Editor COFFEYVILLE —Even though the only made 23 percent (13-for-56) of the shots it took, the Chanute Blue Comets girls team was able to come away with a 47-37 victory over the Coffeyville Golden Tornado Tuesday night. “It was a physical game, “Chanute Coach Dustin Fox said, “and there may have been some contact inside that wasn’t called.” He thinks that may have played a part in his team’s shooting percentage. Still, he...
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Australians bring fundamentals to NCCC Panthers
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The NCCC Panther’s men’s basketball team is getting some international flair this year, as the squad features two Australian players. Chris Patton and Tyler Hickert are bringing their talents to Chanute this season. Jeremy Coombs, the coach of the Panthers, keeps in touch with Division One coaches about different players who are coming up in the scene. When he was on the coaching staff at Nicholls State, the school...
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Chanute boys lose rough and tumble game with Coffeyville
Brian McDowell Sports Editor COFFEYVILLE — The Tuesday night showdown between the Chanute Blue Comets boys basketball team featured too much blood and not enough buckets. In a game marked by rough play and bloody players, the Comets continued their season-long struggle, losing to their SEK rivals 64-53. “They ran at us with some pressure,” Coach Max Ruark said. “At times, we did a really great job of handling the pressure and got layups out o...
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Chanute Blues extend win streak in Emporia
The Chanute Blues extended their winning streak this weekend in Emporia finishing 4-0 to win the Emporia MAYB tournament. Chanute defeated WCS D-Up from Salina 29-23 in the first game. Lane Harvey led the Blues with 12 points. Corbett Kimberlin was high point scorer in the second game with eight in the Blues’ 41-27 win over Emporia Rapidfire. The third win came in a 43-25 win over the Emporia Jr. Spartans. Brennen Feeback scored 13 points and...
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Chanute Wrestling Club Woods’ Classic results:
The Chanute Wrestling Club hosted its 17th annual Woods’ Classic tournament on Saturday at Chanute High School. The event attracted 442 wrestlers from Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. These were the placers from the Chanute Wrestling Club. 1st Place - Trey Dillow - 6 and Under 61 lbs Dillon DeMerritt - 8 and Under 49 lbs Brayden Dillow - 8 and Under HWT 2nd Place - Logan McDonald - 10 and Under 76 lbs 3rd Place - Timmy Borton - 6 and Under 46...
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Turnovers, rebounds and toughness cost Lady Panthers
Brian McDowell Sports Editor ARKANSAS CITY — Turnovers, rebounds and toughness. According to NCCC women’s basketball Coach Kelley Newton, these three factors determined the game’s outcome from the first possession of the Lady Panthers Saturday evening match-up with the Cowley County Tigers. The Tigers leapt out to a huge lead early in the game, quickly gaining a lead of 15-2 over Neosho County, who has only one win this season. The Panthers c...
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Panthers come up short in defensive battle with Cowley
Brian McDowell Sports Editor ARKANSAS CITY — It is uncharacteristic for the high-flying, quick-scoring NCCC men’s basketball team to be involved in a sluggish defensive battle, but that is exactly what awaited the Panthers in their Saturday night visit to Cowley County. Even though the match-up was radically different than the type that this team is used to, the Panthers adjusted their game, and managed to make the game competitive until the ...
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Comets fall in last-minute at Girard
Brian McDowell Sports Editor GIRARD — Chanute freshman Derek Sharp got the chance to feel like a hero for a few seconds in his Blue Comets boys basketball team’s Tuesday match-up in Girard, until the home team showed off some last -second heroics of its own. The meeting between the two squads was tightly-knit early on, tied at 10 at the end of the first quarter and Girard had a mere three-point lead at halftime. The Trojans offensively broke ...
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Chanute girls go down in 53-45 defeat to Girard
Brian McDowell Sports Editor GIRARD — A late-game scoring spurt by Chanute’s Darian Rubow was not enough to save the Chanute Blue Comets girls team from defeat 53-45 by the Girard Trojans on Tuesday night. The meeting between the two teams was tight early on, tied at the end of the first and Girard only led by three at the half. The team’s quick shut-down defender Morgan Olson got in early foul trouble, something that Chanute Coach Dustin Fox...
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Late-game NCCC comeback falls one-point short
Brian McDowell Sports Editor When Neosho County Community College was putting together its Sonic Shootout tournament, men’s basketball coach Jeremy Coombs wanted to invite good teams that could offer a legitimate challenge to his Panthers squad. During much of the team’s first game of the tournament, it appeared that, in the case of the Seward County Saints, Coombs may have overshot that mark. The Saints started the game against the tournamen...
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West Plains opens Sonic Shootout with win
Missouri State University-West Plains overcame an eight-point deficit in the first half to win the opening game of this weekend’s Sonic Shootout 60-53 in the Neosho County Community College gymnasium. The Johnson County Cavaliers jumped out to an early lead in the match-up, at one point leading 8-0. However, thanks to a blistering defensive effort and the offensive production of freshman Gage Wooten, who eventually scored 22 points in the gam...
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Coombs and Panthers prepared to host Sonic Shootout tourney
Brian McDowell Sports Editor The one thing that NCCC men’s basketball coach Jeremy Coombs wanted when a mid-season Sonic Shootout classic tournament was proposed for the school was to make sure that the teams that were invited could genuinely play. “I see a lot of these schools have these classics where they’re playing JV teams or are playing a team that’s not very good, but I wanted really good teams here,” Coombs said. Among the really good...
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Jr. Comets wrestlers fare well at several tourneys
Members of the SEK Jr. Comets Wrestling Club made appearances at several area tournaments on Saturday, Dec. 17. Here is how they did. Coffeyville: 6&U Natasha Scott 3rd place at 43 lbs. Wyatt Scott 3rd place at 40 lbs. 8&U Sam Ornelas 3rd place at 43-46 lbs. 10&U Gunner Elder 1st at 64 lbs, Mathew Vail 3rd at 79 lbs. 12&U Gage Matlock 2nd at 72-80 lbs, 14&U Calub Welch 2nd at 150-165 lbs. Derby: 8&U Trent Clements 2nd place at 55 lbs. Colto...
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