‘Cats to host Pierce; Cedar Catholic will travel to O’Neill

CEDAR CATHOLIC

Games this Week: vs. O’Neill, Thursday; vs. Crofton, Tuesday

Outlook: The Trojans coaching staff expects a better test from O’Neill after a relatively easy route against Boone Central this past week. It was 27-19 after eight minutes and the rout was on. Crofton will be a bigger test as well.

Last week’s results: Defeated Boone Central, 78-43.

Coach Matt Steffen Comments: “Boone has an athletic, but young and inexperienced team. They were very athletic, and their press gave us trouble at times. We pressed them and dropped to a zone defense, which really slowed them down. I thought for the first game, our kids played well together.  We played good defense and really had active hands.”

HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE

Games this Week: vs. Pierce, Saturday

Outlook: Pierce will present an always tough matchup with a strong man-toman defensive approach behind a wellcoached system.

Last week’s results: Lost to Ponca, 72-57; Lost to Osmond, 71-59.

Coach Nick Haselhorst Comments: “Pierce doesn’t make many mistakes. It should be a very competitive game. Last year, we had the lead with three minutes remaining, but Pierce made timely plays down the stretch and we didn’t. Our goals for this week’s games are to find our first win and continue to improve. We have improved through each of our first two games and will continue to do so this week. We are just trying to become more disciplined and detail oriented.”

“Against Ponca, it was a great effort all around we just dug too big a hole in the first quarter. Credit Osmond for making plays. Our kids played extremely hard and we made a big jump from game one to game two.”  

WYNOT

Games this Week: vs. Guardian Angels Central Catholic, 8 Thursday; at Osmond, 8 Friday; vs. Homer, 8 Tuesday.

Outlook: Guardian Angels invades Wynot and will be looking for payback after losing at home to the Blue Devils. GACC returns a number of starters from that team and will present a physical, tall challenge for Wynot.

Last week’s results: Lost to Bloomfield, 56-32; Beat Winside 47-14.

Coach Lee Heimes Comments: “Our goal is to continue to get better on defense and better spacing and shot selection on offense.  We are continuing to get better with each game we play.  

“Osmond returns four of their starters from a state runner up in class D-2.  They beat us twice last year and they are athletic and play good defense.”